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Title: The Mythology of Greece and Rome - With Special Reference to Its Use in Art
Author: Seemann, Otto
Language: English
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Greek and Roman Mythology
[Illustration: Fig. 53.—Head of Niobe. Florence.]
THE MYTHOLOGY OF GREECE AND ROME
With Special Reference to Its Use in Art
Edited by
G. H. BIANCHI, M.A.
Late Scholar of St. Peter’S College, Cambridge Brotherton Sanskrit
Prizeman, 1875
With Sixty-four Illustrations
New and Revised Edition
London: Chapman and Hall, Ld.
Made and Printed in Great Britain.
Richard Clay & Sons, Limited.
Printers, Bungay, Suffolk.
[Illustration]
PREFACE.
No apology can be needed for introducing to the public a work like the
present. There has long been a want of a book which should, in a
moderate compass, give a clear and readable account of these legends;
for Dictionaries of Mythology do not give a view of the subject as a
whole; and the price of most other works on the Greek and Roman myths
would prevent their being used as class-books. These considerations have
led the publishers to bring out this book in an English dress.
If any should be inclined to ask what Mythology has to do with men of
the present day, the reply is plain. The works of art in our galleries
and museums require a certain amount of knowledge of the mythology of
the Greeks and Romans for the full appreciation of their subjects. There
is hardly any literature in Europe which has not been more or less
coloured by these legends; and in our own day their power to inspire the
poet has by no means ceased. Nay, they have incorporated themselves into
our very language: “Herculean strength” is almost as common an
expression now as it was two thousand years ago; and we still talk of
“chimerical” expectations, describe a man as “tantalised,” and use the
Sphinx as the symbol of the mysterious.
The present work, translated from the German of O. Seemann, seems well
adapted to convey a knowledge of these myths. It is illustrated with
cuts after some of the masterpieces of ancient and modern art.
Particular attention has been paid to this branch of the subject, and
the principal works of art in each case are mentioned.
The distinction between Greek and Roman deities and heroes has been
preserved, but the conventional spelling has been retained. A full index
is appended, in which the quantities of the vowels are carefully marked.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION.
I. SUBJECTS OF GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY 11
II. POPULAR IDEAS CONCERNING THE GODS 13
PART I.—COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY 17
PART II.—THE GODS.
THE GODS OF OLYMPUS.
A.—SUPERIOR DEITIES.
Zeus (Jupiter) 22
Hera (Juno) 31
Pallas Athene (Minerva) 34
Apollo 40
Artemis (Diana) 48
Ares (Mars) 51
Aphrodite (Venus) 56
Hermes (Mercurius) 62
Hephæstus (Vulcanus) 68
Hestia (Vesta) 71
Janus 74
Quirinus 77
B.—SECONDARY DEITIES.
1. Attendant and Ministering Deities—
Eros (Amor) 78
The Muses 80
The Charites (Gratiæ) 83
Themis and the Horæ (Seasons) 84
Nice (Victoria) 85
Iris 86
Hebe (Juventas) 87
Ganymedes 88
2. The Phenomena of the Heavens—
Helios (Sol) 89
Selene (Luna) 91
Eos (Aurora) 92
The Stars 93
The Winds 93
3. Gods of Birth and Healing—
Asclepius (Æsculapius) 94
Inferior Deities of Birth and Healing 96
4. Deities of Fate—
The Mœræ (Parcæ) 98
Nemesis, Tyche (Fortuna), and Agathodæmon (Bonus Eventus) 98
THE GODS OF THE SEA AND WATERS.
Poseidon (Neptunus) 100
Amphitrite 104
Triton and the Tritons 105
Pontus and his Descendants—
_Nereus and his Daughters_ 105
_Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto_ 106
Proteus 107
Glaucus 107
Ino Leucothea, and Melicertes 108
The Sirens 109
The Race of Oceanus 109
THE GODS OF THE EARTH AND LOWER WORLD.
Gæa (Tellus) 112
Rhea Cybele (Magna Mater Idæa) 113
Dionysus, or Bacchus (Liber) 114
The Nymphs 123
The Satyrs 125
Silenus 126
Greek and Roman Wood-Spirits—
_Pan_ 128
_Silvanus_ 131
_Faunus and Fauna_ 131
Priapus 133
Saturnus and Ops 133
Vertumnus and Pomona 135
Flora 136
Pales 136
Terminus 137
Demeter (Ceres) 137
Persephone (Proserpina) 143
Hades (Pluto) 146
The Lower World 147
The Erinyes (Furiæ) 150
Hecate 153
Sleep and Death 154
ROMAN DEITIES OF THE HOUSE AND FAMILY.
The Penates 156
The Lares 157
The Larvæ, Lemures, and Manes 158
PART III.—THE HEROES.
INTRODUCTORY 159
THE CREATION AND PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MANKIND 162
PROVINCIAL HEROIC LEGENDS—
The Lapithæ and the Centaurs 165
Theban Legend—
_Cadmus_ 170
_Actæon_ 171
_Amphion and Zethus_ 172
Corinthian Legend—
_Sisyphus_ 179
_Glaucus_ 180
_Bellerophon and the Legend of the Amazons_ 180
Argive Legend—
_Io_ 185
_Danaüs and the Danaïds_ 186
_Prœtus and his Daughters_ 187
_Perseus_ 188
The Dioscuri 194
Heracles (Hercules) 197
_The Birth and Youth of Heracles_ 198
_Heracles in the Service of Eurystheus_ 199
_Deeds of Heracles after his Service_ 206
_Death and Apotheosis_ 211
_Heracles as God_ 212
Attic Legend—
_Cecrops_ 217
_Erechtheus, or Erichthonius_ 218
_Theseus_ 219
Cretan Legend—
_Minos and the Minotaur_ 227
_Talos_ 229
COMBINED UNDERTAKINGS OF THE LATER HEROIC AGE—
The Calydonian Hunt 230
The Argonauts 232
The Theban Cycle 237
The Trojan Cycle 241
The Heroic Races of the Trojan War—
_The Dardanidæ, or Race of Dardanus_ 241
_The Pelopidæ, or Race of Pelops_ 242
_The Æacidæ, or Race of Æacus_ 245
_Nestor, the Locrian Ajax, Diomedes, and Odysseus_ 247
The War 249
The Return 257
MYTHIC SEERS AND BARDS 262
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIG. PAGE
1. Bust of Cronus. Vatican Museum, 20
2. Cameo of Athenion 21
3. Zeus of Otricoli. Vatican Museum, 27
4. Jupiter Verospi. Vatican Museum, 29
5. Coins of Elis with Phidias’ Zeus. (After
Overbeck.) 30
6. Barberini Juno. Vatican Museum, 32
7. Head of Hera, perhaps after Polycletus. Naples, 33
8. Pallas Giustiniani. Vatican, 38
9. Athene Polias. Villa Albani, 39
10. Pallas Athene. Naples, 40
11. Apollo Belvedere. Vatican, 44
12. Head of Apollo Belvedere, 45
13. Apollo Citharœdus. Munich, 47
14. Diana of Versailles, 50
15. Mars Ludovisi, 55
16. Bust of Ares. Sculpture Gallery at Munich, 56
17. Venus of Milo. Louvre, 60
18. Venus Genetrix. Villa Borghese, 61
19. Resting Hermes. Bronze Statue at Naples, 66
20. Statue of Hermes. Capitoline Collection, 67
21. Hephæstus. Bronze Figure in the British Museum, 70
22. Vesta Giustiniani. Torlonia Collection, 74
23. Head of Eros. Vatican, 78
24. Eros trying his Bow. Capitoline Museum, 79
25. Polyhymnia. Berlin Museum, 80
26. Melpomene. Vatican, 81
27. Euterpe. Vatican, 82
28. The Horæ. Relief from the Villa Albani, 85
29. Victoria. United Collections in Munich, 86
30. Hebe. From Antonio Canova, 88
31. Ganymedes and the Eagle. From Thorwaldsen, 89
32. Asclepius. Berlin, 95
33. Head of Asclepius. British Museum, 96
34. Night and the Fates. From Carstens, 97
35. Poseidon. Dolce Gem, 103
36. Dionysus and Lion. From the Monument of
Lysicrates, 116
37. The so-called Sardanapalus in the Vatican, 119
38. Youthful Dionysus. From the Chateau Richelieu, now
in the Louvre, 120
39. Marble Head of Youthful Dionysus at Leyden, 121
40. Sleeping Ariadne. Vatican, 122
41. Dannecker’s Ariadne. Frankfort-on-the-Main, 123
42. Head of Satyr. Munich Sculpture Gallery, 126
43. Pan. From a Mural Painting at Herculaneum, 130
44. Demeter Enthroned. Painting from Pompeii. Naples, 142
45. Persephone Enthroned. Painting from Pompeii.
Naples, 145
46. Head of Hades. Palazzo Chigi. Rome, 147
47. Three-formed Hecate. Capitoline Museum, 154
48. Metope of the Parthenon, 166
49. From the Frieze of the Temple at Bassæ 167
50. Centaur teaching a boy to play upon the Pipe.
Relief by Kundmann, 169
51. Actæon. Group. British Museum, 172
52. Farnese Bull. Naples, 174
53. Head of Niobe. Florence, _Frontispiece_.
54. Niobe. Florence, 178
55. Amazon. Berlin, 183
56. Perseus and Andromeda. Marble Relief in the Museum
at Naples, 192
57. Rondanini Medusa. Munich, 193
58. Farnese Hercules, 215
59. Elgin Theseus. British Museum, 225
60. Theseus Lifting the Rock. Relief in the Villa
Albani, 226
61. Laocoön. Group, 255
62. Priam before Achilles. Relief by Thorwaldsen, 260
63. Rape of Helen. Campana Collection. Paris, 261
64. Orpheus and Eurydice. Marble Relief in the Villa
Albani, 263
[Illustration]
GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY.
INTRODUCTION.
I.—SUBJECTS OF GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY.
Myths may be described as poetic narratives of the birth, life, and
actions of the old heathen gods and heroes or demigods. Both myth and
legend[1] are distinguished from the “Mährchen,” or popular tale, by not
being, like the latter, a mere product of the imagination, but always
being founded on some preceding reality, whether that be an
oft-recurring phase of nature, or a distinct and real occurrence. It is
often most difficult to recognise with any precision the true germ of a
myth, on account of the numerous additions and alterations made by the
poets. And therefore the question, whether a particular tradition be a
myth or not, is very hard to answer: on one side we are tempted to view,
in the god or demigod, the hero of a tribe magnified to superhuman
proportions by the admiration of posterity; and, on the other side,
comparison of the legends of different families of nations points us to
the operations of nature, not only in the demigod or the hero, but in
the animals of fable and the traditions of the nursery.
Footnote 1:
The German word “sage” (legend) is really only a translation of the
Greek word “mythos,” and is often used in that sense. But lately the
custom has tacitly sprung up of employing the term “mythos” when
speaking of the life or actions of the gods, and “sage” when speaking
of those of heroes.
A large proportion of these myths are due to men’s observations of
Nature, and her various active and creative forces, which appeared to
their lively Southern fancy as manifestations of single supernatural
beings. These were regarded, now as friendly, now as hostile, to man;
and men therefore strove as eagerly to gain their favour as to appease
their wrath. Of the appearance of the deities who thus manifested
themselves in the workings of nature, men necessarily formed at first
very crude and fantastic ideas. But later, when men emerged from the
simple conditions of the early patriarchal epoch, and began to dwell in
regular political communities, they gradually ceased to regard the gods
as mere personifications of natural forces. They began to regard them as
beings acting in accordance with unchangeable moral laws, and endowed
with forms similar to those of men (Anthropomorphism). They brought the
gods into connection with each other by means of genealogies in a great
measure artificial, and built up a vast political system, which has its
centre in Zeus, the “father of gods and men.”
Strange to say, however, it was only among the Greeks that this system
of development prevailed. The nations of Italy still continued to regard
their gods as mere natural forces—that looked down on them in a cold,
strange fashion—of whose form and mode of life they had no clear idea.
It was only later, when the Romans came into intellectual contact with
their Greek neighbours, and began to study their language and
literature, that they adopted the popular Greek conceptions concerning
the gods. They now transferred existing myths, and fathered them on
those of their own gods and goddesses who bore the closest resemblance
to the Greek divinities, and harmonised best with their natural
interpretation. Thus it was that the Roman Jupiter was identified with
the Greek Zeus, Juno with Hera, Minerva with Athene; though for peculiar
deities, such as Janus, they could find no Greek prototype.
II.—POPULAR IDEAS CONCERNING THE GODS.
We learn most concerning the conceptions the ancients formed of their
gods from the numerous Greek and Roman poets whose works have come down
to us, and who contributed so largely to the construction of the myths.
First, both in antiquity and importance, are the poems attributed to
Homer, in which we find the whole political system of Olympus, with Zeus
at its head, already constructed.
Henceforth the gods, in outward appearance at least, are endowed with
forms entirely human; more grand and beautiful and majestic, but still
not verging on the monstrous or fantastic.
Not only in beauty and grandeur, but also in strength and vigour, do the
gods surpass men. Let but Zeus shake his ambrosial locks, and the whole
of Olympus trembles. The other deities are also endowed in proportion
with great strength. As corporeal, indeed, they are limited in regard to
space, and cannot therefore be omnipresent; but this restriction affects
them far less than mortals, for they can compass the greatest distances
at lightning speed. In a moment Athene drops from the heights of Olympus
down to Ithaca; and Poseidon, the ocean-god, passes in three or four
steps from Samothrace to Ægæ in Eubœa. Moreover, the gods can see and
hear at a much greater distance than men. In regard to hearing, indeed,
they seem to have unlimited powers. Prayers ascend to them from every
place, irrespective of their personal presence. In the same manner Zeus,
from his high throne in Olympus, sees all that passes among men, and,
sitting on the highest summit of Mount Ida, he can follow all the events
of the battle that rages before Troy.
On the other hand, the gods are subject to the same bodily wants as men.
They refresh themselves in the same way with sleep, and have to support
themselves with food and drink. Here again, however, they are far less
fettered than mortals, for they can hold out much longer without
satisfying these wants. Nor is their food so coarse as that of men; they
live on ambrosia and nectar. Another natural necessity is clothing, on
the tasteful ordering of which the goddesses even bestow extraordinary
care, and in this, as in many other respects, greatly resemble the
daughters of Eve. Although later art delights in representing some of
the deities either slightly clothed or quite naked, yet we cannot justly
conclude from this that the popular belief of the ancients conceived
thus of those gods.
Gods endowed with frames like those of mortals must necessarily be born
in the same way, and develope gradually both in mind and body. But here,
again, everything proceeds with the utmost rapidity. For instance, the
new-born Hermes rises from his cradle to steal the cattle of Apollo,
and, coming into the world in the morning, he is found in the afternoon
playing on the lyre, which he has himself invented. The most important
point, however, in which they surpass mortals is that, when once in full
possession of bodily and intellectual powers, they never grow old, but
remain ever young and beautiful, ever free from disease and death.
Compared with the race of men, who are subject to need and pain, they
are the “happy,” “blessed” gods, the gods “who live at ease,” who can
readily gratify every desire. But this does not by any means prevent
their suffering occasionally from the pangs of sorrow and grief; they
are vulnerable alike in body and soul, and exposed to every kind of
painful sensation. So completely did the Greeks subject their gods to
human passions.
As regards mental qualifications they are naturally far superior to men.
In the first place, they stand higher morally; they shun all that is
evil, impure, and unjust, and visit with punishment the impiety and
injustice of man. This, again, does not prevent their giving way to
every description of vice and folly, such as deceit, lying, hatred,
cruelty, jealousy, &c. They are far from holy, therefore, in the sense
in which we speak of the Supreme Being. Still less are they conceived as
omniscient or omnipotent. Their powers indeed are great, and so is their
knowledge. They are able to interrupt the course of nature—to send
sudden storms, pestilences, and other evils—to endow themselves or
others with any forms they like, and to do many other things, of which
we read in fairy tales. But even Zeus, to whom a far greater measure of
power is accorded than to other gods, and on whose will the government
of the universe depends, is himself subjected to the immutable decrees
of fate; whilst the possibility of deceiving and duping him is by no
means excluded.
Where then are we to seek for the explanation of these apparent
inconsistencies? We have already said that the active and creative
forces of Nature were personified by the imagination of men. Let us take
one of the first conceptions likely to spring up—that of the love of the
heaven for the earth, from which all nature is born. Different names
will be used in different localities; men will at last forget that they
all once meant the same, and out of the simple personification will
spring a series of divine marriages; or if one be recognised by the
whole nation as the wife, the other brides will sink into mistresses.
So with the everlasting war of the sun with the clouds; we shall not
only find several gods of the light in Greece, but almost every tribe
had a particular hero, whose great deeds we shall generally find to be
those of the sun. Yet in the midst of all this confusion, men had a
feeling that there was something above them better and holier than they,
to which that which is good and holy alone was pleasing. This idea was
more and more attached to Zeus himself, as the notion grew that Zeus was
the supreme god, the king of heaven.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
PART I.—COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY.
By Cosmogony, we understand the legends relating to the creation of the
world; by Theogony, those relating to the origin of the gods. On both
points we have to deal with the Greeks alone, since the Romans never
indulged in any researches of this kind. All that their poets have to
say on the subject is, without exception, borrowed from the Greeks.
According to the common account the world was formed out of Chaos. By
this, however, we must not understand a huge and shapeless mass, but
merely dark, unbounded space. The accounts of the poets vary very
materially as to how the world proceeded from Chaos. The most popular
view is that according to which Gæa or Ge (the earth) first issued from
Chaos; whereupon Tartarus (the abyss beneath the earth) immediately
severed itself, and Eros (the love that forms and binds all things)
sprang into existence. Gæa then begot of herself Uranus (heaven), the
mountains, and Pontus (the sea).
The first gods who peopled this new world were begotten of the earth
partly by Uranus and partly by Pontus. From her union with Uranus sprang
the Titans, the Cyclopes, and the Centimanes; from her union with Pontus
various sea-deities.
1. The race of Uranus. According to Hesiod there were twelve Titans: six
males—Oceanus, Cœus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Cronus; and six
females—Thia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phœbe, and Tethys. The
interpretation of these divinities is somewhat difficult, but they
doubtless represented the elementary forces of nature. The Cyclopes were
three in number—Brontes (thunder), Steropes (lightning), and Arges
(sheet-lightning): these, we can clearly see, refer to the phenomena of
the storm. The Centimanes (hundred-handed), again, are three in
number—Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes. These, too, represent destructive
forces of nature—perhaps the earthquake, the tempestuous sea, and the
storm-wind.
2. The race of Pontus. By Pontus Gæa became the mother of the fabulous
sea-deities—Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia. These, again,
had numerous descendants. Nereus represents the sea in its quiet state:
we shall have to speak of him and his daughters later on. Thaumas
represents to us the majesty of the sea. He is the father of Iris (the
rainbow), and of the Harpies (storm-winds). Lastly, Phorcys and Ceto,
from whose union the frightful Gorgons and Grææ proceeded, typify all
the dangers and terrors of the sea.
Many marriages also took place among the Titans themselves. The numerous
sea-nymphs are descended from Oceanus and Tethys; from Hyperion and Thia
come the deities of the light—Helios (sun), Selene (moon), and Eos
(dawn); from Cœus and Phœbe the deities of the night—Leto (dark night)
and Asteria (starry night).
The most important of all the Titans, however, are Cronus and Rhea, who
pave the way for the universal dominion of their son Zeus.
Uranus, fearing lest his last-born sons, the powerful Cyclopes and
Centimanes, might one day seize his power, buried them directly after
birth in the deep abyss beneath the earth. This displeased Gæa, their
mother, who thereupon prompted the Titans to conspire against their
father, and induced Cronus, the youngest and bravest of them, to lay
violent hands on Uranus. Uranus was mutilated, cast into chains, and
compelled by his sons to abdicate his sovereignty, which now passed to
Cronus. But Cronus was not long destined to enjoy the fruits of his
crime. The curse of Uranus, who prophesied that he would suffer a like
fate at the hands of his own son, was fulfilled. So anxious was he to
avert such a catastrophe, that he swallowed his children immediately
after their birth. Five had already suffered this fate—Hestia, Demeter,
Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. But their mother Rhea, grieved at their lot,
determined to rescue her next son, Zeus, by a stratagem. In the place of
her child, she gave to her suspicious and cruel husband a stone wrapped
in swaddling clothes, which he swallowed without further examination.
Zeus, who was thus rescued, was reared by the nymphs in a grotto on
Mount Dicte, in Crete. The she-goat Amalthea served as his nurse, whilst
the bees brought him honey to eat. In order that the cries of the child
might not betray his presence to his suspicious father, the Curetes, or
attendant priests of Rhea, drowned his voice in the clashing of their
weapons. Zeus remained thus hidden until he had become a mighty though
youthful god. He then attacked and overthrew his father Cronus, whom he
also compelled, by means of a device of Gæa, to bring forth the children
that he had devoured. One part of the Titans—Oceanus, Themis, Mnemosyne,
and Hyperion—submitted without hesitation to the dominion of the new
ruler of the world. The others, however, refused allegiance; but Zeus,
after a contest of ten years, overthrew them, with the help of the
Cyclopes and Centimanes. As a punishment, they were cast into Tartarus,
which was then closed by Poseidon with brazen gates. Thessaly, the land
which bears the clearest traces of natural convulsions, was supposed to
have been the scene of this mighty war. Zeus and his adherents fought
from Olympus; the Titans from the opposite mountain of Othrys.
Comparison of the legends of other nations does not show us any such
elaborate genealogy. Zeus has his counterparts almost everywhere, and
Uranus himself appears in India; but Cronus, in the sense of the father
of Zeus, is probably traceable to the common epithet of Zeus, Cronion,
which was assumed in later times to be a patronymic. It was natural to
deduce from the idea that one power of nature sprang from another, the
expression that the god of the first power was the child of the god of
the second; it would perhaps be more correct to say that it was the same
thing to the early races of men. As to the wars, which were so great a
stumbling-block to the Greek philosophers, we may notice that the
supreme god must, of course, have been the son of a supreme god; and
yet, if his predecessor were supreme, must have dispossessed him.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.—Bust of Cronus. Vatican Museum.]
The Titans, not being actually objects of worship, were not
frequently represented in ancient art. Cronus is the only exception,
which may be explained by the fact that the Romans identified him
with their own Saturn, or harvest-god. He is generally depicted with
a severe and gloomy expression of countenance, the back of his head
being veiled, as a symbol of his reserved character. In the Vatican
Museum at Rome there is a bust of this kind in good preservation, an
engraving of which we give (Fig. 1).
After his victory over the Titans, Zeus shared the empire of the world
with his two brothers, Poseidon and Hades. The former he made ruler of
the ocean and waters; the latter he set over the infernal regions;
everything else he retained for himself. This new order of things,
however, was by no means securely established. The resentment of Gæa led
her to produce with Tartarus, her youngest and most powerful son, the
giant Typhoeus, a monster with a hundred fire-breathing dragons’ heads,
whom she sent to overthrow the dominion of Zeus. A great battle took
place, which shook heaven and earth. Zeus, by means of his never-ceasing
thunderbolts, at length overcame Typhoeus, and cast him into Tartarus,
or, according to later writers (Pindar and Virgil), buried him beneath
Mount Ætna in Sicily, whence at times he still breathes out fire and
flames toward heaven.
Some poets tell of another rebellion, that of the Giants, against the
dominion of Zeus. These are said to have sprung from the drops of blood
which fell on the earth from the mutilated body of Uranus. From the
plains of Phlegra, in Thessaly, they sought to storm Olympus by piling
Pelion on Ossa. But after a bloody battle, in which all the gods took
part, the two were conquered, and sent to share the fate of the
vanquished Titans. The dominion of Zeus was now securely established,
and no hostile attack ever after disturbed the peaceful ease of the
inhabitants of Olympus.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.—Cameo of Athenion.]
The early history of Zeus, as well as his contests for the empire of
the universe, commonly called the Giganto-machia, was a favourite
subject with Greek art. In the more ancient of these works the
Giants do not differ, either in form or appearance, from the Gods
and Heroes. In later works they are represented with the bodies of
dragons, only the upper portion of the body being human. They appear
thus on the celebrated cameo of the Naples Museum, where Zeus, in
his chariot drawn by four fiery horses, is in the act of charging
them (Fig. 2).
[Illustration]
PART II.—THE GODS.
I.—THE GODS OF OLYMPUS.
A.—SUPERIOR DEITIES.
=1. Zeus (Jupiter).=—Chief of the celestial deities is Zeus, called by
the Romans Jupiter, the controller and ruler of the universe. As being
the god of heaven _par excellence_, the “Skyfather,” he is to both
nations the source of all life in nature, and from his gracious hand are
shed blessing and abundance. All the phenomena of the air were supposed
to proceed from him. He gathers and disperses the clouds, casts forth
his lightning, stirs up his thunder, sends down rain, hail, snow, and
fertilising dew on the earth. With his ægis—an impenetrable shield hung
with a hundred golden tassels, in the midst of which the fearful head of
the Gorgon is fastened—he produces storm and tempest. The ægis, though
often meaning shield, is properly a goat-skin fastened to and supporting
the true shield; later it appears as a short cloak, and even as a
breastplate, covered with scales, and fringed with serpents. It is not
often found in representations of Zeus; though a statue of him at Leyden
shows it, and in a cameo he is seen with it wrapped around his left arm:
similarly it was common to wrap the chlamys or scarf round the left arm,
for purposes of defence. The ægis usually belongs to Athene, who borrows
it from her father in the _Iliad_. She is seen wearing it in Fig. 9. In
this word we probably see a confusion of two ideas, different, though of
similar origin; from the same root that gives us the “springing” goat we
have the storm-cloud “tossed” over the sky.
The ancients, however, were not content to regard Zeus merely as a
personification of Nature; they regarded him also from an ethical
standpoint, from which side he appears far more important and awful.
They saw in him a personification, so to speak, of that principle of
undeviating order and harmony which pervades both the physical and moral
world. The strict unalterable laws by which he rules the community of
the gods form a strong contrast to the capricious commands of his father
Cronus. Hence Zeus is regarded as the protector and defender of all
political order. From him the kings of the earth receive their
sovereignty and rights; to him they are responsible for a conscientious
fulfilment of their duties. Those among them who unjustly exceed their
powers and pervert justice he never fails to punish. Zeus, moreover,
also presides over councils and assemblies, keeps watch over their
orderly course, and suggests to them wise counsels. One of the most
important props of political society is the oath; and accordingly, as
Zeus Horkios (ὅρκιος, _deus fidius_ of the Romans), he watches over
oaths, and punishes perjury. He also watches over boundaries, and
accompanies the youths of the land as they march to the defence of their
country’s borders, giving them the victory over the invaders. All civil
and political communities enjoy his protection; but he particularly
watches over that association which is the basis of the political
fabric—the family. The head of every household was therefore, in a
certain sense, the priest of Zeus. It was he who presented the offerings
to the god in the name of the family. At his altar, which generally
stood in the middle of the court (in small households this was
represented by the hearth), all strangers, fugitives, and suppliants
found shelter. As Zeus Xenius (_hospitalis_) he protects the wanderer,
and punishes those who violate the ancient laws of hospitality by
mercilessly turning the helpless stranger from their door.
The superstition of early times saw in all the phenomena of the heavens
manifestations of the divine will. Thus the chief deity of heaven was
naturally regarded as the highest source of inspiration, and was
believed to reveal his will to men in the thunder, the lightning, the
flight of birds, or dreams. As the supreme oracular deity, Zeus not only
had an oracle of his own at Dodona in Epirus, which was the most ancient
in Greece, but also revealed the future by the mouth of his favourite
son Apollo. Though he possessed no proper oracle among the Romans, yet
the latter looked with all the more care and anxiety on the phenomena of
the air and sky, the right interpretation of which formed a special and
difficult branch of knowledge.
Zeus was the earliest national god of the Greeks. His worship extended
throughout the whole of Greece, though some of his shrines had a special
importance. The most ancient of them was that at Dodona, where the
Pelasgian Zeus was worshipped at a time prior to the existence of any
temples in Greece. He was here represented in the celebrated form of the
sacred oak, in the rustling of whose branches the deity revealed himself
to the faithful. He was also worshipped on the summit of Mount Tomarus,
at the foot of which lay Dodona—mountain-tops being naturally the
earliest seats of his worship. But all the earlier shrines were
overshadowed by the great national seat of the worship of Hellenic Zeus
at Olympia, on the northern banks of the river Alpheus, in Elis, where
the renowned Olympian games were celebrated. The magnificent statue of
Zeus, by Phidias, was an additional inducement to devotees, who flocked
thither from every quarter.
Neither was the worship of Jupiter any less extensive in Italy. The most
renowned of all his shrines was undoubtedly the temple erected by
Tarquin on the Capitol at Rome. This, after being nearly destroyed by
fire in the time of Sulla, was restored to more than its pristine
splendour. The original earthen image was replaced by a statue of gold
and ivory, the work of the Greek artist Apollonius, after the model of
the Olympian Zeus.
Before proceeding to discuss the god as he appears in art, we must take
a glance at his numerous family. The mythology of the Greeks stands in
notorious contrast to that of the Romans, in attributing to Zeus a great
number of mortal as well as immortal spouses, and an unusually numerous
posterity. Here we must remark that, in spite of the occasional jokes of
the comic poets on the numerous amours of the god, and the consequent
jealousy of Hera, there was nothing farther from the intention of the
Greeks than to represent the supreme deity of heaven as a sensual and
lascivious being. The explanation lies partly in the great number of
contemporaneous local forms of worship that existed independently of
each other, and partly in the fact that the lively fancy of the Greek
pictured every new production under the guise of procreation. In that
part of mythology which teaches the genealogy of the gods, the earliest
wife of Zeus was Metis (prudence), the daughter of Oceanus. Zeus
devoured her, fearing lest she should bear a son, who would deprive him
of the empire it had cost him so much to attain. It was soon after this
that he produced Pallas Athene from his own head. His second
goddess-wife was Themis, one of the Titans, by whom he became the father
of the Horæ and the Mœræ (Fates). Dione appears as the wife of Zeus of
Dodona, and the mother of Aphrodite; whilst Arcadian Zeus was wedded to
Maia, by whom he had Hermes. By Demeter (Ceres) he became the father of
Persephone (Proserpine, goddess of vegetation); by Eurynome, a daughter
of Oceanus, of the Charites (Graces); by Mnemosyne, of the Muses; by
Leto (Latona), of Apollo and Artemis. The youngest of all his divine
wives, who was recognised by later mythology as his only legitimate
queen, was his sister Hera. By her he became the father of Ares (Mars),
Hephæstus (Vulcan), and Hebe.
Among his mortal mistresses the most celebrated is Semele, the daughter
of Cadmus, king of Thebes, and mother of Dionysus. The others—Leda,
Danaë, Alcmene, Europa, and Io—will be mentioned hereafter.
The mythology of the Romans, as we have already remarked, first depicted
Jupiter as devoid of all family ties. It was only after their religion
had been Hellenised that men termed him the son of Saturn and Ops, made
Juno his wife and Minerva his daughter.
Statues of Zeus were necessarily very numerous, both from the great
extent of his worship and the great number of his temples that
existed in Greece. Of all these the most renowned was the
magnificent statue of Zeus at Olympia, the work of the Athenian
sculptor Phidias (500–432 B.C.). The figure was seated on a lofty
throne, and was more than 40 feet high. It was made of gold and
ivory, or more probably a statue of wood was overlaid with plates of
ivory and gold. The uncovered parts—the face, throat, breast, and
hands—were of ivory. In his right hand was a figure of Victory, also
of gold and ivory; in his left was a royal sceptre, on the top of
which perched an eagle. The numerous lengthy descriptions that exist
can give us but a faint idea of the lofty majesty that the sculptor
diffused over the countenance of the god. The object of Phidias was
to represent him to mankind, not only as the omnipotent ruler of
Olympus, far superior to all gods and men, both in power and wisdom;
but also as the gracious father of all, and the kindly dispenser of
all good gifts. The hair, which rose straight from the brow, and
then fell in equal divisions on either side, imparted to the face a
lion-like expression of conscious power. This was rendered still
more effective by the high forehead and strongly-formed nose. At the
same time, the expression of the slightly-opened lips lent an idea
of kindly benevolence. The story goes that Phidias, after completing
the statue, prayed of the god a sign that he was well pleased with
his work. Zeus thereupon caused a flash of lightning to descend
through the open roof of the temple, and thus acknowledged his own
image.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.—Zeus of Otricoli. Vatican Museum.]
[Illustration: Fig. 4.—Jupiter Verospi. Vatican Museum.]
This sublime masterpiece of Phidias, which was reckoned among the
seven wonders of the world, continued in existence, though not
without injury, for upwards of 800 years. It appears to have been
destroyed by fire in the time of Theodosius III.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.—Coins of Elis with Phidias’ Zeus. (After
Overbeck.)]
The following are the most important of the existing statues of Zeus
by Greek and Roman sculptors. The first in point of artistic worth
is a bust of Zeus, in Carrara marble—now in the Vatican Museum at
Rome—which was discovered in the last century at Otricoli (Fig. 3).
The union of serene majesty and benevolence is the chief feature in
the sublime countenance. Next comes a colossal statue in marble,
known as the Jupiter of Verospi, also in the Vatican Museum (Fig.
4). Lastly, there is a bust of Zeus, discovered at Pompeii, and now
in the Museum at Naples, besides an equally beautiful bronze statue
in the British Museum, found at Paramythia in Epirus. On comparing
all the extant art monuments of Zeus, we may gather that the object
of ancient art was to present him especially as the benign ruler of
the universe, sitting enthroned in conscious majesty and blissful
ease on the heights of Olympus. His characteristic features are the
clustering hair, falling like a mane on either side of his fine
arched brow, and the rich wavy beard. His attributes consist of the
sceptre, as a symbol of his sovereignty; the thunderbolt; the eagle;
the votive bowl, as a symbol of his worship; the ball beneath or
near his seat, as a symbol of the universe he rules; and, lastly, a
figure of Victory. His head is sometimes adorned with a garland of
oak-leaves, the oak being sacred to him; and sometimes with an
olive-branch or plain band, the latter being a mark of sovereignty.
In Fig. 5 we give an engraving of two coins of Elis, one of which is
in the Florentine and the other in the Paris Museum.
=2. Hera (Juno).=—Hera, according to Homer, was the eldest of the
daughters of Cronus and Rhea. She is the feminine counterpart of Zeus,
her brother and husband. She represents the air or atmosphere; for which
reason she, like Zeus, was supposed to control the phenomena of the air
and sky, and, as queen of heaven, shared with him all the honours of his
position. Her conjugal relations to Zeus, which form the substance of
all the myths that refer to her, afforded the poets a rich and
productive material for serious and sportive poetry. They sang of the
solemn marriage of Zeus and Hera, the remembrance of which was
celebrated at springtide with festive offerings and marriage rites
before the shrine of the goddess. Neither did they fail to tell of the
conjugal strife of the royal pair, and of the cruel fate which overtook
the mortal women who enjoyed the favours of Zeus. It was thus that
jealousy and contention became the leading features in the character of
the goddess; whereas, both in her worship and in the representations of
artists, she appears as a gracious and kindly deity, the especial
protectress of her own sex.
The natural signification of Hera appears to have quickly disappeared
among the Greeks, and she seems to have been chiefly honoured as the
guardian of the marriage tie. The nobleness of the woman who preserves
inviolate the sanctity of this bond finds in her its most sublime
expression. As the special patroness of marriage, she was supposed to
watch over its sanctity, to vouchsafe the blessing of children, and to
protect women in childbirth.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.—Barberini Juno. Vatican Museum.]
The worship of Hera was originally not very extensive. The cradle of her
worship was Argos, on which account she is often termed Argive. Argos,
Mycenæ, and Sparta are pointed out in the time of Homer as her favourite
towns. Her worship naturally extended as her new character of goddess of
marriage became more prominent. In Bœotia and Eubœa her worship was very
ancient, but her chief shrine was the Heræum, between Argos and Mycenæ.
Here was a most magnificent statue of the goddess, made of ivory and
gold, the work of the Sicyonian artist, Polycletus.[2]
Footnote 2:
Polycletus, a native of Sicyon, was a sculptor, architect, and caster
in bronze. He was a contemporary of Phidias, and, next to him, the
most celebrated artist of antiquity.
Juno (properly Jovino) takes the same place as goddess of childbirth and
patroness of marriage among the Romans as Hera did among the Greeks. In
addition to this she was venerated, under the name of Juno Regina, as
the tutelary deity of the city and empire of Rome. Her chief shrine was
on the Capitol, where she had a separate chapel in the temple of
Jupiter. The Matronalia, the chief festival of the goddess, was
celebrated on the first day of March, when all the matrons of the city
marched in procession to her temple on the Esquiline, and there offered
her flowers and libations. The victims usually sacrificed to Juno were
young heifers: her sacred birds were the goose and the crow, to which
the peacock of the Greek Hera was afterwards added.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.—Head of Hera, perhaps after Polycletus. Naples.]
The most celebrated of the art monuments that relate to Juno is the
Juno Ludovisi, a colossal marble bust of remarkable beauty, which,
thanks to casts and photographs, is tolerably well known. Her lofty
and commanding countenance is the ideal of perfect womanly beauty,
combining in a rare degree woman’s chief ornaments—dignity and
grace.
After this comes the Juno Barberini of the Vatican Museum, an entire
and upright figure of great size (Fig. 6), distinguished by the
admirable draping of the garments. The Farnese Juno, now in the
Naples Museum, also deserves mention. In the same museum there is a
singularly beautiful head of Hera (Fig. 7), which perhaps lays claim
to reflect the conception of Polycletus.
The characteristic features of Juno are a somewhat prominent chin,
expressing unbending determination of will; somewhat curling lips,
well-defined nostrils, large full eyes, and a high and noble
forehead. The attributes of the goddess consist of the sceptre and
diadem, significant of her power; the veil (often omitted in the
statues of later artists), as a symbol of the married woman; the
votive bowl in the hand, the pomegranate as a symbol of love, and
the peacock or goose at her feet, also at times the cuckoo, as
herald of spring.
=3. Pallas Athene (Minerva).=—The accounts which the Greeks gave of the
birth of Pallas vary considerably. The most common is that which has
been already mentioned. According to this, Zeus produced her from his
head, which he had ordered Hephæstus to cleave open. The great goddess
of war, in full armour, with poised spear, then sprang forth from her
father’s head, chanting a war-song, whilst a mighty commotion both on
sea and land announced the great event to the world. In her physical
character Pallas appears as the goddess of the dawn. The birth of the
dawn from the forehead of the sky is not only a natural idea, but one
which can be traced in the legends of other nations. Several of the
other stories of her birth are connected with the name Tritogenia, the
daughter of Tritos, a god, whose name, though not actually found in
Greek mythology, may be traced in Amphitrite, Triton, and the Lake
Tritonis. This name, which originally expressed the birth of the dawn
from the water, was afterwards explained in various ways, and the first
part was even derived from a provincial Greek word meaning head. Looked
at from her ethical side, she appears as the goddess of wisdom, a
reflection and personification of that profound wisdom and sagacity with
which Father Zeus controls the destinies of the world. Hence we may
easily gather the other features of her character. She is, in the first
place, the protectress of states; and all that their welfare requires in
peace or war proceeds from her. Thus she appears as goddess of peace as
well as war. In the latter capacity she accompanies the army on its
march, inspires the soldiers with ardour for the fray, and rewards them
with victory and rich spoils; she also affords her mighty protection to
towns and cities at home. In Homer she figures, besides, as the kindly
guide and protectress of individual heroes, such as Odysseus, Achilles,
Diomedes. It was she who first taught mankind to manage the horse, and
to build ships and chariots; she also invented the war-trumpet and
flute. As goddess of war she usually wears, besides helmet, shield, and
spear, the dreadful ægis. The latter, in art monuments, is represented
as a breastplate covered with dragon’s scales, and surrounded with
serpents, in the midst of which is the dreadful head of Medusa, which
has the effect of turning every one that looks on it into stone.
As goddess of peace, Athene is equally lavish in blessing. Everything
necessary either to the physical or intellectual welfare of mankind was
believed to proceed from her, and to be subject to her influence.
Accordingly, useful inventions of all kinds are ascribed to her. It was
she who first gave men the rake and the plough; it was she who invented
the distaff and loom, as well as the art of dyeing woven stuffs, and
many other feminine accomplishments.
By later writers this skill in art is extended to other things, and she
is represented as the patroness of every branch of science, art, and
manufacture.
She is also called Athene Hygiea, because she was believed to send pure
atmosphere, to ward off pestilence, and to promote the growth and health
of the youth of the land.
We cannot wonder, therefore, that the worship of a goddess so
benevolent, and exercising such an important influence on human life,
was very extensive in Greece. Nowhere did she receive a higher degree of
veneration than at Athens, of which city she was really the tutelary
deity. Her most important shrine was the Parthenon (temple of the virgin
goddess), which was erected by Pericles on the Acropolis, and the
remains of which, even in the present day, excite the wonder and
admiration of the world. The whole land of Attica was, indeed, in a
certain measure, the peculiar property of the goddess, which she won
after her well-known contest with Poseidon. Zeus had decreed the
sovereignty over Attica to that deity who should bestow on the land the
most useful present. Poseidon thereupon created the horse; but Athene
caused the olive-tree to grow, and was thus held to have won the
victory. The sacred olive-tree, which was thus called into existence,
was shown in the Temple of Erechtheus on the Acropolis, and possessed
such a wonderful vitality that, when the Persians burnt it after
capturing the town, it immediately put forth a fresh shoot. Argos and
Corinth were also renowned seats of the worship of Pallas Athene; and
she also enjoyed the highest veneration in Sparta, Bœotia, Thessaly,
Arcadia, and Rhodes.
The Roman Minerva, whose name was derived from a root meaning “to
think,” was Hellenised at a very early period, and identified with the
Greek Pallas. In Rome, however, the warlike character of the goddess was
completely merged in that of the peaceful inventress and patroness of
the art and sciences, and of all handiwork of women. She was here
worshipped, in company with Jupiter and Juno, as the tutelary deity of
the city and empire, and had, in consequence, her own shrine in the
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. She also had temples on the Aventine and
Cœlian hills, to which a third was added by Pompey, in 61 B.C., in the
Campus Martius.
_Festivals of the goddess._—The Panathenæa, the chief festival of the
Greek Pallas, were celebrated with great pomp every four years. A solemn
procession passed through the streets of Athens up to the Acropolis; and
an offering was made to the goddess in the shape of a costly garment
(peplus), artistically embroidered by the Athenian maidens. Horse races,
athletic and musical contests, took place at the same time. Another
festival of less importance, called the Lesser Panathenæa, was
celebrated every year at Athens in honour of the goddess.
At Rome the chief festival of Minerva, the Quinquatrus Majores, was held
on the 19th of March, and was, in later times, extended to five days. It
was especially observed by all engaged in intellectual pursuits, and by
artists and artisans. As Minerva was also patroness of schools, the
schoolboys also took part in the celebration, and enjoyed a welcome
holiday.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.—Pallas Giustiniani. Vatican.]
The virgin goddess was at all times a favourite subject with ancient
art. Even in the earliest times, before casting in bronze or marble
sculpture was known, while the images of the gods were as yet rudely
carved in wood, Pallas was a frequent subject of delineation. These
wooden images usually represented the goddess as standing upright
with poised spear in front of the battle, and were then called
Palladia. Men delighted to believe them to have fallen from heaven,
and to be a sure means of protection against hostile attack. When
Greek art was in its prime, the first masters vied with each other
in the representation of the goddess. Phidias outdid them all in his
renowned statue of Athene Parthenos, which stood in the temple on
the Acropolis. The figure was 39 feet high, and was constructed of
ivory and gold. Its majestic beauty naturally formed one of the
chief attractions of the magnificent temple. It disappeared, without
leaving any clue behind it, during the stormy period of the invasion
of the nomadic tribes. In proceeding to give an account of the most
important existing statues of the goddess, we must first mention a
magnificent marble bust which King Ludwig I. of Bavaria procured for
the Munich collection, and which was formerly in the Villa Albani,
at Rome. The goddess here wears a tight-fitting helmet, the top of
which is decorated with a serpent, the emblem of wisdom. Her
breastplate, which is bordered with serpents, falls like a cape over
her shoulders, and is fastened in the middle by the Gorgon’s head, a
terrible but striking contrast to the pure and noble countenance of
the goddess. A fine bust, with a delicate and youthful expression of
countenance, is preserved in the Vatican Museum at Rome.
Another, not less beautiful, but with grave and almost masculine
features, was discovered in the excavations of Pompeii, and is now
in the Naples Museum.
Among existing (full-length) statues, the Pallas Giustiniani, of the
Vatican Museum at Rome, is held to be the finest (Fig. 8). This
probably once stood in a Roman temple, having been found in a place
where there was formerly a temple of Minerva. This statue, in
accordance with the Roman conception, bears a more peaceable
character, although neither the spear nor helmet are wanting. Next
come two statues found near Velletri, one of which is in the
Capitoline Museum at Rome, whilst the other forms a chief ornament
of the Louvre collection in Paris. Both represent the goddess in the
character of a benign deity fostering all peaceful works, with a
gentle but earnest expression of countenance.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.—Athene Polias. Villa Albani.]
[Illustration: Fig. 10.—Pallas Athene. Naples.]
The Farnese Minerva of the Naples Museum and the “Hope” copy in
London betray similar characteristics. On the other hand, in a
statue discovered at Herculaneum (now at Naples), Minerva appears as
a warlike goddess, in an evidently hostile attitude (Fig. 10). This
is also the case with the celebrated statue at the Louvre, which, on
account of the necklace worn by the goddess, is generally called
_Minerve au Collier_; and again in a statue of the Villa Albani, in
which a lion’s skin thrown over the head takes the place of the
helmet (Fig. 9).
On combining the characteristic features of Minerva, we may gather
that her most prominent trait is a lofty seriousness, well befitting
the chaste, grave character of the virgin goddess. The closed lips
and the prominent chin betray a determined and resolute disposition,
whilst her mien and bearing give token of strength and dignity.
Among the favourite animals of Minerva we may mention the serpent,
the owl, and the cock. The first is a symbol of wisdom, the second
of profound meditation, and the last of eager desire for the fray.
The attributes of Minerva consist of the ægis, which serves as a
shield, the spear, and the helmet. The helmet is sometimes adorned
with the figures of griffins, significant of the overpowering might
of the wearer. The statues are all fully clothed, in accordance with
the chaste character of the goddess.
=4. Apollo.=—As Athene is the favourite daughter of Zeus, so Apollo
ranks as the most glorious and beautiful of his sons. Like other sons of
Zeus, he is a god of light, and, indeed, the purest and highest
representative of this mighty power in nature. His mother, Leto
(Latona), is a representative of the darkness of the night. According to
the sacred legend, she was compelled when pregnant to wander about,
because mankind, dreading the appearance of the mighty god, refused to
receive her. This myth was afterwards altered by later writers, who
assign the jealousy of Hera as the cause of her wanderings. Leto at
length found a refuge on Delos, which was once a floating island, and
had to be fastened to the bottom of the sea by means of lofty columns.
As the bright god of heaven, to whom everything impure and unholy is
hateful, we find Apollo, soon after his birth, preparing to do battle
with the evil powers of darkness. With his arrows he slew both the giant
Tityus and the serpent Python, the latter a monster that inhabited the
valley of the Plistus, near Delphi, and destroyed both men and cattle.
These and similar myths are merely a panegyric on the conquering power
exercised by the genial warmth of Spring over the dark gloom of Winter.
But though Apollo thus appears as the foe of all that is evil and
impure, ancient myths, nevertheless, represent him also as a terrible
god of death, sending virulent pestilences and dealing out destruction
to men and animals by means of his unerring arrows. This may be easily
explained, however, by glancing at the natural signification of the god.
The rays of the sun do indeed put to flight the cold of winter, but as
their heat increases they themselves ultimately become the cause of
disease and death. This is beautifully portrayed in the fable of the
death of Hyacinthus.
To proceed further in the analysis of his character as god of light,
Apollo next appears as the protector of streets and houses. A conical
pillar was usually erected at the side of the doors of houses as a
symbol of him, and a defence against all sorceries. Connected with this
is his repute as a god of health; one who is indeed able to send disease
and death, but who, on the other hand, is all-powerful to protect
against physical maladies. This feature in his character, however, is
more extensively developed in the person of his son, Asclepius
(Æsculapius). But it is not only outward ills that this wonder-working
deity can cure: as the true redeemer from sin and crime, he alone can
afford consolation to guilty souls. Even those pursued by the Furies he
sometimes receives in tenderness and pity, a fine instance of which is
found in the story of Orestes. It is here that we must seek the
explanation of his character as god of music; in the fact that it
exercises so soothing and tranquillising an influence on the soul of
man. His favourite instrument was the lyre, which he was wont to play
with masterly skill at the banquets of the gods, whilst the Muses
accompanied him with their wondrous strains. Apollo was therefore
regarded as the leader of the Muses (Musagetes); and all the great
singers of antiquity, such as Orpheus and Linus, are mythically
represented as his sons.
But Apollo attained his greatest importance among the Greeks as god of
prophecy. His oracles continued to exercise an important influence on
social and political life, even down to the latest times. The
inspiration of Apollo was distinguished by the fact that the god
revealed the future less by means of outward signs than by inducing an
ecstatic condition of mind bordering on madness in those persons through
whom he wished to proclaim his oracles. These were generally women and
maidens, who, either at oracular shrines proper, or dwelling alone as
Sibyls, gave forth the responses of the god. In early times they were
somewhat numerous. There was an oracle at Clarus, near Colophon; an
oracle at Didyma, near Miletus; and an oracle on the Ismenus, near
Thebes. These were eventually all thrown into the shade by that of
Delphi. The responses of this oracle exercised, during a long period of
Grecian history, an all-powerful influence, especially on the Dorian
tribes. The convulsions of the Pythia, or priestess of Apollo, were
brought about partly by the chewing of laurel leaves, and partly by the
gaseous vapours that issued from a cleft in the earth beneath the sacred
tripod. The ecstatic condition in which she gave the responses, which
were comprehensible only to the initiated priests, manifested itself in
a foaming at the mouth and in convulsions of the body.
Delphi naturally became the chief seat of the worship of Apollo. The
gorgeous temple was rebuilt in the time of the Pisistratidæ, after the
destruction of the old one by fire. Its wealth from offerings became so
great that their value was computed at 10,000 talents (more than
£2,000,000). In the neighbourhood of Delphi the Pythian games were
celebrated in the third year of every Olympiad.
The shrine of the god at Delos, his birthplace, was little less
renowned. The sanctuary itself was situated at the foot of Mount
Cynthus; but the whole island was sacred to the god, for which reason no
one was buried there. Here, too, games, said to have been instituted by
Theseus, were celebrated every four years in honour of the god. Apollo
had, besides, a great number of less celebrated shrines and temples, not
only in Greece, but also in Asia Minor, and wherever the Greek colonies
extended.
The Apollo of the Romans, as his name indicates, was transferred to Rome
from Greece. At a comparatively early period men began to feel the want
of a prophetic deity, as the Roman gods, although they vouchsafed hints
as to the future, confined their responses to a mere Yea or Nay.
Moreover, in the character of god of healing, he was early admitted into
the Roman system, as we gather from the fact that the first temple
really dedicated to Apollo was erected in 429 B.C., under the pressure
of a grievous pestilence. The worship of Apollo was especially exalted
by the Emperor Augustus, who ascribed his victory at Actium chiefly to
the assistance of the god. He accordingly erected a magnificent temple
to Apollo on the Palatine, which was embellished with the celebrated
statue of Apollo Citharœdus, by Scopas.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.—Apollo Belvedere. Vatican.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.—Head of Apollo Belvedere.]
This remark leads us to contemplate the different statues of the
god. Apollo constantly bears a very youthful appearance, and is
always beardless. His figure is strong and handsome, his head
covered with fair clustering locks, and his face expressive of
majesty, but marked withal by a cheerful serenity. Such is the
original and fundamental type, which was usually followed in the
representation of the god. It was principally developed by Scopas
and Praxiteles, who belonged to the later Attic school, which
flourished from the end of the Peloponnesian war to the reign of
Alexander the Great. The principal creation of Scopas was a marble
statue, representing the god as a Pythian Citharœdus with the lyre
in his hand, clothed in a long robe reaching to the feet.
This invaluable work was procured by Augustus for the temple he
erected to Apollo on the Palatine. Praxiteles, a younger
contemporary of Scopas, acquired considerable renown by his bronze
figure of a youthful Apollo pursuing a lizard (Apollo Sauroctonus).
In existing art monuments sometimes the conception of a warlike,
vengeful deity obtains, in which case the god is represented as
nude, or nearly so, and armed with quiver and bow. At other times
he wears a mild and benevolent aspect; he is then distinguished by
his lute, and completely enveloped in a chlamys. Of the former
kind is the most beautiful and celebrated of all his existing
statues, the Apollo Belvedere, which was discovered in 1503, near
Nettuno, the ancient Antium, and is now in the Vatican. The proud
self-consciousness of a conquering deity is inimitably expressed
in his whole attitude. He stands with his right hand and leg
against the trunk of a tree, his left arm outstretched, with the
ægis, probably as a symbol of fear and terror, in his hand. The
serpent creeping up the tree is a symbol of the powers of darkness
vanquished by the god (Fig. 11). It may also be taken as the
symbol of life and healing, like the serpent of Asclepius (see p.
96). We have also given a larger engraving of the head of the
Belvedere Apollo, in order to afford a clearer idea of its
wondrous beauty (Fig. 12).
The so-called Apollino, of the Florence gallery, a youthful figure
resting after battle, is a work of scarcely less beauty. The shape
of the body, which is entirely nude, is wonderfully soft and
delicate. With his left arm the god leans upon a tree; in his left
hand he negligently holds the bow, whilst his right hand is raised
to his head in a meditative fashion. The Farnese Apollo of the
Naples Museum possesses an equally graceful form. The god is here
represented as a musician; in his left hand he holds the lyre,
whilst his right glides over the strings. The animated expression of
his face, indicating his entire devotion to his art, is exquisitely
beautiful. The goose at his feet, which was regarded even by the
ancients as a music-loving bird, appears to drink in with rapture
the heavenly tones.
In those works which represent the god as a Pythian lute-player in a
long Ionian garment, we perceive an almost feminine figure and a
visionary expression of face. The most important works of this kind
are the Apollo Citharœdus of the Munich collection (Fig. 13),
formerly called the Muse of Barberini, which is marked by a somewhat
quieter attitude; and the so-called Apollo Musagetes of the Vatican
collection, which is characterised by a lively dancing movement of
the figure, and is generally regarded as an imitation of the
masterpiece of Scopas already mentioned. A pure and heavenly
inspiration seems to pervade the features of the laurel-crowned god;
his mighty lyre, to the tones of which he appears to be singing, is
suspended from a band across the chest, and is aptly adorned with
the portrait of Marsyas, his vanquished rival.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.—Apollo Citharœdus. Munich.]
Lastly, the graceful statue of Apollo Sauroctonus (Lizard-slayer)
deserves mention. Many copies of it still exist, the chief of which
is a marble statue in the Vatican collection. The delicate figure of
the god, midway between youth and boyhood, leans carelessly against
the trunk of a tree, up which a lizard is creeping. The god is
eagerly watching its movements, in order to seize a favourable
moment to nail it to the tree with his arrow.
The principle attributes of Apollo are the bow, arrows, quiver,
laurel crown, and lyre. To these may be added, as symbols of his
prophetic power, the tripod and the omphalos (navel), the latter
being a representation of the earth’s centre in the temple at
Delphi, on which he is often depicted as sitting. The god also
appears standing on the omphalos; as in the case of a marble statue
lately found in the theatre of Dionysus. His sacred animals were the
wolf, the hind, the bat, the swan, the goose, and the dolphin; the
three last being music-loving creatures.
=5. Artemis (Diana).=—Artemis is the feminine counterpart of her twin
brother Apollo, with whom she entirely harmonises when regarded from her
physical aspect. Like him, she is a beautiful and propitious deity; but
like him, too, she can deal out, at times, death and destruction among
mankind. Like Apollo, she promotes the growth of the young plant, and is
equally the foe of all that is evil and impure. Like him, she is skilled
in the use of the bow, of which she avails herself, however, not only
for the destruction of monsters, but also at times to chastise the
insolence of man—witness the death of the children of Niobe. Her
favourite amusement is the chase; armed with quiver and bow she ranges
mountain and valley, accompanied by a band of nymphs. The chase ended,
she delights to bathe in some fresh spring, or to lead off some
favourite dance on the flowery meadows, surrounded by her nymphs, all of
whom she overtops by a head. Then the heart of her mother, Leto,
rejoices as she gazes on the innocent sports of her lovely daughter.
As a virgin goddess she was especially venerated by young maidens, whose
patroness she remained till their marriage, and to whom she afforded an
example of chastity. The story of Actæon, who was changed into a stag
and then torn to pieces by his own dogs, shows that she did not suffer
any injury to her virgin modesty to go unpunished. (For this story see
the Theban legends.)
Originally, Artemis appears to have been the goddess of the moon, just
as her brother Apollo is unmistakably identical with the sun. This
conception, however, continued to grow fainter and fainter, until, in
the later days of confusion of religions, it was again revived. Artemis
was frequently confounded with Selene or Phœbe (Luna).
The national Artemis of the Greeks was originally quite distinct from
the Artemis Orthia, a dark and cruel deity, to whom human sacrifices
were offered in Laconia. Lycurgus abolished this barbarous custom, but
caused instead a number of boys to be cruelly whipped before the image
of the goddess on the occasion of her annual festival. This is the same
Artemis to whom Agamemnon was about to offer, in Aulis, his daughter
Iphigenia, previous to the departure of the Greeks for Troy. The
Scythians in Tauris likewise had a goddess whom they propitiated with
human sacrifices. This caused her to be confounded with Artemis Orthia,
and the story arose that Iphigenia was conveyed by the goddess to
Tauris, from which place she subsequently, assisted by her brother
Orestes, brought the image of the goddess to Greece.
The Ephesian Artemis, known to us as “Diana of the Ephesians,” was
distinct from all that have been mentioned. She was, in fact, an
Asiatic, not a Hellenic deity.
The Roman Diana, who was early identified with the Greek Artemis, was
likewise originally a goddess of the moon. As such, she possessed a very
ancient shrine on Mount Algidus, near Tusculum. Like the Greek Artemis,
she was also regarded as the tutelary goddess of women, and was invoked
by women in childbirth. This was also the case with Artemis, although
the matrons of Greece looked for more protection in this respect at the
hands of Hera. She gained, however, a certain political importance in
Rome after having been made by Servius Tullius the tutelary deity of the
Latin League. As such, she possessed a sacred grove and temple on the
Aventine.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.—Diana of Versailles.]
Artemis is a favourite subject with the masters of the later Attic
school. She is always represented as youthful, slender and light of
foot, and without womanly fulness. Her devotion to the chase is
clearly betokened by the quiver and bow which she generally bears,
and by the high girt robe and Cretan shoes, which allow her to pass
unencumbered through the thickets of the forest.
Among existing statues, the most celebrated is the so-called Diana
of Versailles, which came from the Villa of Hadrian, at Tibur (Fig.
14). It is now a chief ornament of the Louvre collection, and is a
worthy companion to the Belvedere Apollo, although it does not quite
equal this in beauty. In this statue the goddess does not appear as
a huntress, but rather as the protectress of wild animals. She is
conceived as having just come to the rescue of a hunted deer, and is
in the act of turning with angry mien on the pursuers. With her
right hand she grasps an arrow from the quiver that hangs at her
back, and in her left she holds the bow.
A really beautiful statue of the Vatican collection depicts the
goddess in a most striking attitude. She has just sent forth her
deadly arrow, and is eagerly watching its effect. The hound at her
side is just about to start in eager pursuit of the mark, which was
evidently therefore a wild animal. In her left hand is the bow,
still strung, from which her right hand has just directed the arrow.
Her foot is likewise upraised in triumph, and her whole deportment
expresses the proud joy of victory. The chief attributes of Diana
are bow, quiver, and spear, and also a torch, as an emblem of her
power to dispense light and life. The hind, the dog, the bear, and
the wild boar were esteemed sacred to her.
=6. Ares (Mars).=—Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, represents war from
its fatal and destructive side, by which he is clearly distinguished
from Athene, the wise disposer of battles. He was, it is probable,
originally a personification of the angry clouded sky. His home,
according to Homer, was in Thrace, the land of boisterous, wintry
storms, among whose warlike inhabitants he was held in high esteem,
although his worship was not so extensive in Greece. Homer, in the
_Iliad_, paints in particularly lively colours the picture of the rude
“manslaying” god of war. He here appears as a deity who delights only in
the wild din of battle, and is never weary of strife and slaughter. Clad
in brazen armour from head to foot, with waving plume, helmet, and
high-poised spear, his bull’s hide shield on his left arm, he ranges the
battlefield, casting down all before him in his impetuous fury. With
strength he combines great agility, and is, according to Homer, the
fleetest of the gods. Strong though he be, however, he is overmatched in
battle by Athene; a palpable indication that prudent courage often
accomplishes more than impetuous violence.
The usual attendants and servants of Ares are Fear and Terror. By some
writers they are described as his sons, yet in Homer they fight against
him. There is little to be said of the principal seats of his worship in
Greece. In Thebes he was regarded as the god of pestilence; and
Aphrodite, who elsewhere appears as the wife of Hephæstus, was given him
to wife. By her he became the father of Harmonia, who married Cadmus,
and thus became the ancestress of the Cadmean race in Thebes. According
to an Athenian local legend, his having slain a son of Poseidon gave
rise to the institution of the Areopagus. He was here regarded as the
god of vengeance. A celebrated statue by Alcamenes adorned his temple at
Athens. Among the warlike people of Sparta the worship of Ares was also
extensive.
This deity was regarded with a far greater degree of veneration in Rome,
under the appellation of Mars, or Mavors. He seems to have occupied an
important position even among the earliest Italian tribes. It was not as
god of war, however—for which, amid the peaceful pursuits of
cattle-rearing and husbandry, they cared little—but as the god of the
spring triumphing over the powers of winter that he was worshipped. It
was from his bounty that the primitive people looked for the prosperous
growth of their flocks and the fruits of their fields; it was Mars on
whom they called for protection against bad weather and destructive
pestilence.
In warlike Rome, however, this deity soon laid aside his peaceful
character, and donned the bright armour of the god of war. He was even
regarded as being, after Jupiter, the most important god of the state
and people of Rome. Numa himself gave him a flamen of his own, and
created or restored in his honour the priesthood of the Salii. The
occasion, according to the sacred legend, was on this wise. As King Numa
one morning, from the ancient palace at the foot of the Palatine, raised
his hands in prayer to Jove, beseeching his protection and favour for
the infant state of Rome, the god let fall from heaven, as a mark of his
favour, an oblong brazen shield (ancile). At the same time a voice was
heard declaring that Rome should endure as long as this shield was
preserved. Numa then caused the sacred shield, which was recognised as
that of Mars, to be carefully preserved. The better to prevent its
abstraction, he ordered an artist to make eleven others exactly similar,
and instituted for their protection the college of the Salii, twelve in
number, like the shields, who were selected from the noblest families in
Rome. Every year in the month of March, which was sacred to Mars, they
bore the sacred shields in solemn procession through the streets of
Rome, executing warlike dances and chanting ancient war-songs. From the
days of Numa the worship of “Father Mars” continued to acquire an
ever-increasing popularity. Before the departure of a Roman army on any
expedition, the imperator retired to the sanctuary of the god in the old
palace, and there touched the sacred shields and the spear of the statue
of Mars, crying aloud at the same time, “Mars, watch over us!” According
to popular belief, the god himself went unseen before the host as it
marched to battle, whence he was called “Gradivus.” In the war with the
Lucanians and Bruttians (282 B.C.), when the consuls were hesitating
whether to begin the attack, an unknown youth of extraordinary stature
and beauty encouraged the troops to begin the assault on the enemy’s
camp, and was himself the first to scale the wall. When he was
afterwards sought for, in order that he might receive his richly merited
reward, he had disappeared, leaving no trace behind him. As it could
have been none other than Father Mars, the consul, Fabricius, decreed
him a thanksgiving of three days’ duration.
Mars naturally received a due share of all booty taken in war. Defeat
was ascribed to his wrath, which men strove to avert by extraordinary
sin-offerings.
Popular belief made Mars the father, by a vestal virgin, of Romulus and
Remus, the legendary founders of the city. His wife appears to have been
Nerio; but she enjoyed no honours at Rome.
In attendance on Mars we find Metus and Pallor, who answer to the Greek
deities already mentioned; and also his sister Bellona, corresponding to
the Enyo, who was worshipped in Pontus and Cappadocia, though not in
Greece proper. Bellona had a temple in the Campus Martius.
[Illustration: Fig. 15—Mars Ludovisi.]
The Campus Martius (Field of Mars), the celebrated place of exercise of
the Roman youth, stretched from the Quirinal westwards to the Tiber, and
was dedicated to the god of war. Augustus, after the overthrow of the
murderers of Cæsar, his adoptive father, erected a temple to Mars, which
was built in Greek style, and far surpassed in grandeur and splendour
all the other temples of the god. Three columns of it are still
standing, mute witnesses of vanished splendour. A large number of
religious festivities were celebrated in the month of March in honour of
Mars. The procession of the Salii formed the chief feature of the
festival; but there were also races and games. On the Ides of October
also a chariot race took place in honour of Mars, at which the singular
custom prevailed of offering the near horse of the victorious team to
the god. The inhabitants of the two oldest quarters of the city
contended for the head of the slaughtered animal, and whoever got it was
supposed to reap great blessings from its possession.
Ancient artists represented Mars as a tall and powerful young man,
whose activity, however, is as apparent as his strength. His
characteristic features are short curly hair, small eyes, and broad
nostrils, significant of the violence and passionateness of his
nature. The most celebrated of existing statues is the Mars Ludovisi
of the Villa Ludovisi, at Rome. It has often been conjectured that
this is an imitation of the renowned work of Scopas. The deity is
depicted as resting after battle; and, in spite of the usual
turbulence of his disposition, he here appears to have surrendered
himself to a more gentle frame of mind. The little god of love
crouching at his feet gazes into his face with a roguish, triumphant
smile, as though rejoiced to see that even the wildest and most
untameable must submit to his sway, and thus shows us what has
called forth this gentle mood. (Fig. 15.) The Mars Ludovisi is an
original work, Greek in its origin, though belonging to a somewhat
late period. The Borghese Mars of the Louvre, on the other hand, is
undoubtedly of Roman origin. It is supposed to represent Ares bound
by the craft of Hephæstus.
[Illustration:
Fig. 16.—Bust of Ares. Sculpture Gallery at Munich.]
Besides these two principal statues, the bust of Mars of the Munich
collection deserves mention. It is distinguished by a peculiarly
expressive head, of which we give an engraving (Fig. 16).
The attributes of Mars are the helmet (decorated with the figures of
wolf-hounds and griffins), shield, and spear. The animals sacred to
him were the wolf, the horse, and the woodpecker.
=7. Aphrodite (Venus).=—In the _Iliad_, Aphrodite is represented as the
daughter of Zeus and Dione, the goddess of moisture, who, as the wife of
the god of heaven, was held in high esteem among the old Pelasgians. The
same notion of the goddess being produced from moisture is seen in the
legend, which relates that Aphrodite was born of the foam of the sea,
and first touched land on the island of Cyprus, which was henceforth
held sacred to her. She was probably a personification of the creative
and generative forces of nature, and figured among the Greeks as goddess
of beauty and sexual love. We must not forget that this conception does
not cover the whole character of the goddess. She not only appears as
Aphrodite Pandemus (the earthly Aphrodite), a goddess of the spring, by
whose wondrous power all germs in the natural and vegetable world are
quickened, but we also hear of Aphrodite Urania, a celestial deity, who
was venerated as the dispenser of prosperity and fertility; and also an
Aphrodite Pontia (of the sea), the tutelary deity of ships and mariners,
who controlled the winds and the waves, and granted to ships a fair and
prosperous passage. As the worship of Aphrodite was extremely popular
among the numerous islands and ports of the Grecian seas, we can well
imagine that it was in this latter character that she received her
greatest share of honour.
The poets paint Aphrodite as the most beautiful of all the goddesses,
whose magic power not even the wisest could withstand. Even wild animals
were conscious of her influence, and pressed round her like lambs. She
was endowed with the celebrated love-begetting magic girdle, which she
could lay aside at will and lend to others. And as she thus gave rise to
passion in others, she herself was not free from its influence. This is
evidenced by the numerous stories of her amours with the gods or
favoured mortals, which it is so difficult to bring into harmony with
each other. Sometimes Ares, sometimes Hephæstus, is said to be her
husband. The latter account, which originated in Lemnos, was the more
popular; doubtless because its very strangeness in mating the sweetest
and most lovely of the goddesses with the lame and ugly god of fire had
a certain charm. No children are mentioned as springing from the union
of Aphrodite with Hephæstus; but Eros and Anteros, as well as Demus and
Phobus, are said to be her children by Ares. Other legends, generally of
a local character, unite her to Dionysus, or to Hermes.
The story of her love for the beautiful Adonis clearly represents the
decay of nature in autumn, and its resuscitation in spring. Adonis, whom
Aphrodite tenderly loved, was killed, when hunting, by a wild boar.
Inconsolable at her loss, Aphrodite piteously entreated Father Zeus to
restore his life. Zeus at length consented that Adonis should spend one
part of the year in the world of shadows, and the other in the upper
world. Clearly the monster that deprived Adonis of life is only a symbol
of the frosty winter, before whose freezing blast all life in nature
decays.
In the story of Troy, Aphrodite plays an important part. She was the
original cause of the war, having assisted Paris in his elopement with
Helen. This was his reward for his celebrated judgment, in which he
awarded the prize of beauty to Aphrodite in preference to Hera or
Athene. Besides the Trojan prince Anchises enjoyed her favours, and she
became by him the mother of the pious hero Æneas.
The goddess appears ever ready to assist unfortunate lovers; thus she
aided the hero Peleus to obtain the beautiful sea-nymph Thetis. On the
other hand, she punishes with the utmost severity those who from pride
or disdain resist her power. This appears in the legend of Hippolytus,
son of Theseus, King of Athens, whom she ruined through the love of his
step-mother Phædra; also in the story of the beautiful youth Narcissus,
whom she punished by an ungratified self-love, because he had despised
the love of the nymph Echo.
The Seasons and the Graces appear in attendance on Aphrodite. Their
office is to dress and adorn her. She is also accompanied by Eros,
Pothus, and Himerus (Love, Longing, and Desire), besides Hymen, or
Hymenæus, the god of marriage.
The Roman Venus (the Lovely One) was regarded by the earlier Italian
tribes as the goddess of spring, for which reason April, the month of
buds, was held sacred to her. She early acquired a certain social
importance, by having ascribed to her a beneficent influence in
promoting civil harmony and sociability among men.
After her identification with the Aphrodite of the Greeks, she became
more and more a goddess merely of sensual love and desire. She had three
principal shrines—those of Venus Murcia, Venus Cloacina, and Libitina.
The first of these surnames points to Venus as the myrtle goddess (the
myrtle being an emblem of chaste love); her temple was situated on the
brow of the Aventine, and was supposed to have been erected by the
Latins, who were planted there by Ancus Marcius.
The temple of Venus Cloacina (the Purifier) was said to have been
erected in memory of the reconciliation of the Romans and Sabines, after
the rape of the Sabine women. The surname of Libitina points to her as
goddess of corpses. All the apparatus of funerals were kept in this
temple, and her attendants were at the same time the public undertakers
of the city.
To these ancient shrines was added another in the time of Julius Cæsar,
who erected a temple to Venus Genetrix, the goddess of wedlock, in
fulfilment of a vow made at the battle of Pharsalus.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.—Venus of Milo. Louvre.]
Aphrodite, or Venus, is notoriously an especially common subject of
representation among the artists of antiquity. The task of giving
expression to the most perfect female beauty, arrayed in all the
charms of love, by means of chisel or brush, continually spurs the
artist to fresh endeavours. It was especially among the masters of
the later Attic school, who devoted themselves to the representation
of the youthful and beautiful among the gods in whom the nude
appeared least offensive, that statues of Venus were attempted. The
Venus of Cnidus, by Praxiteles, was the most important work of that
master; and the people of Cnidus were so proud of it that they
engraved her image on their coins. The fact that they ventured to
portray the goddess as entirely nude may be regarded as a sign both
of the falling away of the popular faith and of the decay of art.
Henceforth, except in the case of statues for the temples, it became
an established custom to represent Venus and other kindred deities
as nude. Venus is further distinguished by a fulness of form, which
is, nevertheless, combined with slenderness and grace. The
countenance is oval; the eyes are not large, and have a languishing
expression; the mouth is small, and the cheeks and chin full and
round.
Of the numerous existing statues we can here mention only the most
important. First among them in artistic worth is a marble statue
larger than life, which was found in 1820 on the island of Melos
(Milo), and is now in the Louvre at Paris (Fig. 17). In this
statue only the upper part of the body is nude, the lower
portions, from the hips downward, being covered with a light
garment. One scarcely knows which to admire most in this splendid
statue—the singularly dignified expression of the head, or the
charming fulness and magnificent proportions of the limbs. The
arms are quite broken off, so that we cannot determine the
conception of the artist with any certainty. It is supposed that
the goddess held in her hand either an apple, which was a symbol
of the Isle of Melos, or the bronze shield of Ares. Her looks
express proud and joyous self-consciousness.
In the Venus of Capua (so called because found among the ruins of
the Amphitheatre) she again appears as a victorious goddess (Venus
Victrix). This statue is now in the Museum at Naples. The shape of
the nude body is not so vigorous or fresh as that of the Venus of
Milo, but somewhat soft and ill-defined.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.—Venus Genetrix. Villa Borghese.]
The Medicean Venus, formerly in the Villa Medici at Rome, is better
known. It is a work of the later Attic school, in which, at the end
of the second century B.C., Greek art once more blooms for a while.
It is the work of the Athenian artist Cleomenes, though probably
chiselled in Rome. As Venus Anadyomene (rising from the sea) the
goddess appears entirely nude. This is the most youthful in
appearance of all her statues, and is distinguished by the perfect
regularity and beauty of its form, though there is no trace of the
lofty dignity of the goddess. “What a descent,” says Kraus in his
_Christian Art_, “is there from the Venus of Milo to this coquette,
whose apparently bashful posture is only meant to challenge the
notice of the beholder.”
The “Venus crouching in the bath” of the Vatican collection, and the
“Venus loosing her sandal” of the Munich Gallery, are creations
similar in style. In some imitations of the Cnidian Venus, the most
important of which are in Rome and Munich, the goddess wears a more
dignified demeanour; and also in the wonderfully graceful Venus
Genetrix of the Villa Borghese, at Rome (Fig. 18).
The attributes of Venus vary much according to the prevailing
conception of the goddess. The dove, the sparrow, and the dolphin,
and among plants the myrtle, the rose, the apple, the poppy, and the
lime-tree, were sacred to her.
=8. Hermes (Mercurius).=—Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia, a daughter
of Atlas. He was born in a grotto of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, whence he
is called Cyllenius. We know the stories of his youth chiefly from the
so-called Homeric Hymn.
From this we learn how Hermes, soon after his birth, sprang from his
mother’s lap to seek the oxen of Apollo. Finding outside the cave a
tortoise, he stretched strings across its shell, and thus made a lyre,
to which he sung the loves of Zeus and Maia. Then hiding the lyre in his
cradle, he went out to seek for food. Coming to Pieria in the evening,
he stole thence fifty cows from the herds of Apollo, and drove them to
the river Alpheüs. Here he slew two of them, and roasted the flesh, but
could not swallow it. Then returning home in the early morning, he
passed through the key-hole like the morning breeze, and lay down in his
cradle. Apollo, however, soon remarked the theft, and hurried after the
impudent robber. Hermes now played the innocent, and obstinately denied
the charge; but Apollo was not to be deceived, and forced the young
thief to accompany him to the throne of Zeus to have their quarrel
decided. Zeus ordered Hermes to restore the cattle, but Apollo gladly
made them over to Hermes on receiving the newly-invented lyre. Thus
Hermes became the god of shepherds and pastures, whilst Apollo
henceforth zealously devoted himself to the art of music.
As a token of their thorough reconciliation, Apollo gave his brother god
the golden Caduceus, or magic wand, by means of which he could bestow
happiness on whomsoever he would; and henceforth both dwelt together in
the utmost harmony and love, the favourite sons of their father Zeus.
Various interpretations have been given of the nature of Hermes. Some
have seen in him the thunderstorm, some the dawn, and some the morning
breeze. The name Hermes, compared with the corresponding Indian words,
seems to make his connection with the morning certain. Several points in
the legend just related guide us to the breeze rather than the dawn; the
invention of music, the kine carried off—which, nevertheless, he cannot
eat (the wind cannot consume as fire does what it breaks down and
carries off)—and the passing through the key-hole “like the morning
breeze.” So also his function of guide and conductor of the soul, which
we shall speak of presently.
The following are the most important features in the character of
Hermes:—Not only does he promote the fruitfulness of flocks and herds,
but he also bestows prosperity and success on all undertakings,
especially those of trade and commerce. As the guardian of the streets
and roads, and the friendly guide of those travelling on business,
Hermes must have appeared especially worthy of honour among the Greeks,
who were at all times sharp and greedy men of business. Accordingly, men
erected in his honour, on the roads, what were called Hermæ—mere blocks
of stone, or posts, with one or more heads: these latter were at
cross-roads, and also served as finger-posts. Hermæ[3] were also often
to be seen in the streets of towns and in public squares. Not only did
Hermes protect and guide merchants whilst travelling, but he also
endowed them with shrewdness and cunning to outwit others. And as a god
who had himself commenced his career by a dexterous theft, he was fain
to allow thieves and rogues to invoke his protection before entering on
their operations; just as in the present day robbers and bandits in
Italy or Greece see nothing strange in asking their patron saint to
bestow on them a rich prey. Every chance gain—in gambling, for
instance—and every fortunate discovery were attributed to Hermes.
Footnote 3:
In this meaning, however, some have derived the word from a different
root, and supposed it to mean originally only “pillars.”
Though playing such an important part in human life, Hermes also appears
as the fleet messenger and dexterous agent of Zeus. It is in this guise
that the epic poets love to depict him. With his golden-winged shoes he
passes more swiftly than the wind over land and sea, executing the
commissions of his father Zeus or the other inhabitants of Olympus. Thus
he is sent by Zeus to command the nymph Calypso to release Odysseus, and
to warn Ægisthus against the murder of Agamemnon. At times, difficult
tasks are allotted to him; for instance, the destruction of the
hundred-eyed guardian of Io, on which account Homer calls him the
Argus-slayer. Doubtless in this myth the hundred-eyed Argus represents
the starry heavens; Argus is slain by Hermes, that is, in the morning
the stars cease to be visible. As messenger and herald of the gods, he
is a model for all earthly heralds, who, in ancient times, were the
indispensable agents of kings in every difficult business. Hence he
bears the herald’s staff, or _caduceus_. This is the same wand once
given him by Apollo, consisting of three branches, one of which forms
the handle, whilst the other two branch off like a fork, and are joined
in a knot. The origin of this herald’s staff appears to have been the
olive branch wreathed with fillets of wool. It was only at a later
period that the two last were converted into serpents. By means of this
wand Hermes can either induce deep sleep or rouse a slumberer, but he
uses it chiefly in guiding souls to the infernal regions. This leads us
to speak of the important office of Hermes as Psychopompus, or conductor
of the soul. Every soul, after death, commenced its journey to the
region of shadows under the guidance of the god. On extraordinary
occasions, where, for instance, the spirits were summoned in the oracles
of the dead, Hermes had to reconduct the souls of the departed to the
upper world, thus becoming a mediator between these two regions, in
other respects so far divided.
As dreams come from the lower world, Hermes was naturally regarded as
the deity from whom they proceeded; on which account people were wont to
ask him for good dreams before going to sleep.
The highest conception of Hermes, however, is that of the god who
presides over the bringing up of children; and, indeed, what god was
more fitted to be presented as an example to Grecian youth than the
messenger of the gods, equally dexterous in mind and body? He is the
fleetest of runners and the most skilful of disc-throwers and boxers;
and though he does not, like Apollo, represent any of the higher forms
of intellectual life, still he possesses in the highest degree that
practical common sense which was so greatly valued among the Greeks. The
wrestling school and the gymnasium were consequently regarded as his
institutions, and adorned with his statues. In further development of
his relation to the education of the young, later poets even made him
the inventor of speech, of the alphabet, and of the art of interpreting
languages. The custom which prevailed among the Greeks of offering him
the tongues of the slaughtered animals, shows clearly that they also
considered him as the patron of eloquence.
There is little to be said of the Roman Mercury. As his name (from
_mercari_, to trade) signifies, he was considered by the Romans solely
as god of trade. His worship was introduced at the same time as that of
Ceres—some years after the expulsion of the Tarquins, at a season of
great scarcity—but appears to have become confined to the plebeians. The
guild of merchants regarded him as their tutelary deity, and offered
sacrifices to him and his mother Maia on the Ides of May.
The plastic representation of Hermes made equal progress with his
ideal development. The first statues of the god, founded on the
ancient Hermæ already mentioned, represented him as a shepherd,
sometimes as the herald and messenger of the gods, always as a
powerful, bearded man. Later, he assumed a more youthful appearance,
and was represented as a beardless youth in the very prime of
strength, with broad chest, lithe but powerful limbs, curly hair,
and small ears, mouth, and eyes; altogether a wonderful combination
of grace and vigour. If we add to this the expression of kindly
benevolence which plays around his finely-cut lips, and the
inquiring look of his face as he bends forward thoughtfully, we have
the principal characteristic features of the god.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.—Resting Hermes. Bronze Statue at Naples.]
Among existing statues, a full-sized “Hermes at rest,” in bronze,
which was found at Herculaneum, and is now in the Naples Museum, is
perhaps most worthy of mention. He here appears as the messenger of
the gods, and has just sat down on a rock to rest. The winged
sandals form his only clothing, and these are, strictly speaking,
not really sandals, but simply straps covering the foot, to which
wings are fastened close to the ankles (Fig. 19).
[Illustration: Fig. 20.—Statue of Hermes. Capitoline Collection.]
A splendid marble statue of the Vatican collection, which, was once
taken for Antinous, portrays the god as the patron of wrestling; the
Caduceus which he holds in his left hand is, however, a modern
addition. In the Hermes Ludovisi of Rome we have a graceful
representation of Hermes Logius, the patron of the art of rhetoric.
The wings are here not placed on the feet, or even directly on the
head, as is often the case, but are fastened to a low round
travelling-hat.
A pretty bronze statuette in the British Museum depicts Hermes as
the god of trade and commerce, with a well-filled purse in his hand.
Such is also the conception of a fine statue of the Capitoline
collection at Rome (Fig. 20). The principal attributes of the god
have already been incidentally mentioned: they are wings on the
feet, head, or cap; the herald’s staff, the votive bowl, and the
purse.
=9. Hephæstus (Vulcan).=—Hephæstus, the god of fire and the forge, was
commonly regarded as a son of Zeus and Hera. He was so lame and ugly
that his mother in shame cast him from heaven into the sea. But Eurynome
and Thetis, the Oceanids, took pity on him, and tended him for nine
years in a deep grotto of the sea, in return for which he made them many
ornaments. After being reconciled to his mother, he returned to Olympus
under the guidance of Dionysus. According to another not less popular
account, it was not his mother who treated him so cruelly, but Zeus.
Hephæstus, on the occasion of a quarrel between Zeus and Hera, came to
the help of his mother, whereupon the angry god of heaven seized him by
the foot and hurled him from Olympus. The unfortunate Hephæstus fell for
a whole day, but alighted at sundown on the isle of Lemnos with but
little breath in his body. Here the Sintians, who inhabited the island,
tended him till his recovery. Later writers say that it was from this
fall that he became lame. The same fundamental idea lies at the root of
these various legends, viz., that fire first came down from heaven in
the form of lightning. Hephæstus originally represented the element of
fire, and all the effects of fire are accordingly referred to him. The
fires of the earth break forth from the open craters of volcanoes; it
must therefore be Hephæstus who is working in the midst of the fiery
mountain, where he has his forges and his smithies. So says the legend
of Mount Mosychlus, in Lemnos, the chief seat of his worship. Scarcely
less celebrated, from its connection with him, was Mount Ætna, in
Sicily. After it was observed that the wine was particularly good in the
neighbourhood of volcanic mountains, the story of the intimate
friendship between Hephæstus and Dionysus was concocted.
The most beneficial action of fire is manifested in its power to melt
metals and render them useful to man in the shape of implements and
tools of all kinds. Hence the conception of the character of Hephæstus
tended ever more and more to represent him as the master of all
ingenious working in metals, and as the patron of artificers and
craftsmen using fire. In this character he was brought into close
connection with the art-loving goddess Athene, and hence we see why both
these divinities enjoyed so many kindred honours and had so many
festivals in common at Athens, the chief seat of Greek science and art.
It was also chiefly in the character of artificer that Hephæstus was
treated of by the poets, who delight to describe the gorgeous brazen
palace which he built himself on Olympus, in which was a huge workshop
with twenty cunningly-devised pairs of bellows. He also constructed
there the imperishable dwellings of the gods. Many also were the
ingenious implements which he constructed, such as the walking tables,
or tripods, which moved of their own accord into the banqueting-chamber
of the gods, and then returned to their places after the meal was over.
He also made himself two golden statues of maidens, to assist him in
walking, and bestowed on them speech and motion. Among the other works
of his mentioned by the poets are the ægis and sceptre of Zeus, the
trident of Poseidon, the shield of Heracles, and the armour of Achilles,
among which, also, was a shield of extraordinary beauty.
[Illustration:
Fig. 21.—Hephæstus. Bronze Figure in the British Museum.]
The worship of Hephæstus was not very extensive in Greece. The most
important seat of his worship was the isle of Lemnos, where he was
supposed to dwell on Mount Mosychlus with his workmen, the Cabiri, who
answer to the Cyclopes of Ætna. He was held in great esteem at Athens,
where, at different festivals, torch races were held in his honour.
Young men ran with burning torches, and whoever first reached the goal
with his torch alight received the prize. He was, moreover, highly
venerated by the Greeks in Campania and Sicily, a fact which may be
easily explained by the fiery mountains of these places.
The Romans called this god Vulcanus, or, according to its more ancient
spelling, Volcanus. They honoured in him the blessings and beneficial
action of fire. They also sought his protection against conflagrations.
Under the influence of the Greek writers, the original and more common
conception of the god gave place to the popular image of the smith-god,
or Mulciber, who had his forges in Ætna, or on the Lipari Isles, and who
vied with his comrades in wielding the hammer. In correspondence with
the Greek myths, Venus was given him to wife; by this men doubtless
sought to convey the idea that truly artistic works can only be created
in harmony with beauty.
The chief shrine of the god in Rome was the Volcanal, in the Comitium,
which was not really a temple, but merely a covered fire-place. In the
Campus Martius, however, was a real temple close to the Flaminian
Circus, where the festival of the Volcanalia was celebrated with every
kind of game on the 23rd day of August.
Greek and Roman artists generally represented this god as a
powerful, bearded man of full age. He is distinguished by the
shortness of his left leg, by the sharp, shrewd glance of his
cunning eye, and his firm mouth. His attributes are the smith’s
tools, the pointed oval workman’s cap, and the short upper garment
of the craftsman or humble citizen.
With the exception of some small bronzes in London and Berlin, and a
newly discovered marble bust of the Vatican collection, we possess
no antique statues of the god worth mentioning. The engraving (Fig.
21) is from a bronze in the British Museum.
=10. Hestia (Vesta).=—It must have been at a comparatively late period
that Hestia, the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, attained a general
veneration, as her name is not mentioned either in the _Iliad_ or
_Odyssey_. Hestia is the guardian angel of mankind, who guards the
security of the dwelling, and is, in consequence, regarded as the
goddess of the family hearth, the centre of domestic life. The hearth
possessed among the ancients a far higher significance than it does in
modern life. It not only served for the preparation of meals, but was
also esteemed the sacred altar of the house; there the images of the
household gods were placed, and thither, after the old patriarchal
fashion, the father and priest of the family offered sacrifice on all
the important occasions of domestic life. No offering was made in which
Hestia, the very centre of all domestic life, had not her share.
And as the state is composed of families, the goddess of the domestic
circle naturally becomes the protectress of every political community.
On this account, in Greek states the Prytaneum, or seat of the governing
body, was dedicated to Hestia; there she had an altar, on which a fire
was ever kept burning. From this altar colonists, who were about to
leave their native land in search of new homes, always took some fire—a
pleasing figurative indication of the moral ties between the colony and
the mother country.
As the hearth-fire of the Prytaneum was an outward and visible sign to
the members of a state that they were one great family, so the Hestia of
the temple at Delphi signified to the Greeks their national connection
and the unity of their worship. Her altar in this temple was placed in
the hall before the cave of the oracle; on it was placed the celebrated
omphalus (navel of the earth, likewise an emblem of the goddess), Delphi
being regarded by the Greeks as the centre of the whole earth. Here,
too, a fire was kept ever burning in honour of Hestia. The character of
the goddess was as pure and untarnished as flame itself. Not only did
she herself remain a virgin, though wooed by both Poseidon and Apollo,
but her service could be performed only by chaste virgins. She does not
appear to have had a separate temple of her own in Greece, since she had
a place in every temple.
The service of Vesta occupied a far more important place in the public
life of the Romans. Her most ancient temple, which was supposed to have
been built by Numa Pompilius, was situated on the slope of the Palatine
opposite the Forum. It was built in a circle, and was of moderate
dimensions, being, indeed, little more than a covered fire-place. In it
the eternal fire, a symbol of the life of the state, was kept burning.
Here, too, the service was performed by virgins, whose number was at
first four, but was afterwards increased to six. Their chief occupation
was to maintain the sacred fire, and to offer up daily prayers at the
altar of the goddess for the welfare of the Roman people. The extinction
of the sacred flame was esteemed an omen of coming misfortune, and
brought severe punishment on the negligent priestess. The choice of
vestals lay with the Pontifex Maximus. They were chosen between the ages
of six and ten years, always out of the best Roman families. For thirty
years they remained bound to their sacred office, during which time they
had to preserve the strictest chastity. After the lapse of thirty years
they returned to civil life, and were permitted to marry if they liked.
Another sanctuary of Vesta existed in Lavinium, the metropolis of the
Latins, where the Roman consuls, after entering on their office, had to
perform a solemn sacrifice. The festival of Vesta was celebrated on the
9th of June, on which occasion the Roman women were wont to make a
pilgrimage barefooted to the temple of the goddess, and place before her
offerings of food.
In the domestic life of the Romans the hearth and the hearth-goddess
Vesta occupied as important a position as among the Greeks. The worship
of Vesta is closely connected with that of the Penates, the kindly,
protecting, household gods, who provided for the daily wants of life,
and about whom we shall have more to say before concluding the subject
of the gods.
[Illustration:
Fig. 22.—Vesta Giustiniani. Torlonia Collection.]
Agreeably to the chaste, pure character of the goddess, she could
only be represented in art with an expression of the strictest moral
purity; she generally appears either sitting or standing, her
countenance characterised by a thoughtful gravity of expression. Her
principal attributes consist of the votive bowl, the torch, the
simpulum, or small cup, which was used in making libations, and the
sceptre. In consequence of the dignity and sanctity of her
character, she was always represented as fully clothed, which may
account for the fact that the ancients had so few statues of the
goddess. We may, therefore, consider it fortunate that such a
splendid example as the Vesta Giustiniani, which belongs to the
private collection of Prince Torlonia, at Rome, has come down to us.
It is supposed to be an original work of the best period of Greek
art. The goddess is represented as standing in a calm posture, her
right hand pressed against her side, whilst with the left she points
significantly towards heaven, as though wishing to impress on
mankind where to direct their prayers and thoughts (Fig. 22).
=11. Janus.=—Among the most important gods of the Romans was the
celebrated Janus, a deity quite unknown to the Greeks. In his original
character he was probably a god of the light and sun—the male
counterpart, in fact, of Jana, or Diana, and thus very similar to the
Greek Apollo. As long as he maintained this original character, derived
from nature, he was regarded as the god of all germs and first
beginnings, and possessed, in consequence, an important influence both
on the public and private life of the Romans. We must confine ourselves
to mentioning some of the most important traits resulting from this view
of his character. First, Janus is the god of all beginnings of time. He
begins the new year, whose first month was called January after him, and
was dedicated to him. Thus, New Year’s Day (_Kalendæ Januariæ_) was the
most important festival of the god; on this occasion the houses and
doors were adorned with garlands and laurel boughs, the laurel being
supposed to exercise a potent influence against all magic and diseases.
Relatives and friends exchanged small presents (principally sweets; for
example, dates and figs wrapped in laurel leaves) and good wishes for
the coming year. The god himself received offerings of cake, wine, and
incense, and his statue was adorned with fresh laurel boughs. This
offering was repeated on the first day of every month, for Janus opened
up every month; and as the Kalends were sacred to Juno, he was therefore
called Junonius. In the same way Janus was supposed to begin every new
day, and called _Matutinus Pater_. He also appears as the doorkeeper of
heaven, whose gates he opened in the morning and closed in the evening.
From being the god of all temporal beginnings, he soon became the patron
and protector of all the beginnings of human activity. The Romans had a
most superstitious belief in the importance of a good commencement for
everything, concluding that this had a magical influence on the good or
evil result of every undertaking. Thus, neither in public nor private
life did they ever undertake anything of importance without first
confiding the beginning to the protection of Janus. Among the most
important events of political life was the departure of the youth of the
country to war. An offering was therefore made to the god by the
departing general, and the temple, or covered passage sacred to the god,
was left open during the continuance of the war, as a sign that the god
had departed with the troops and had them under his protection. The
consul never neglected, when he entered on his office, to ask the
blessing of Janus, and the assemblies never began their consultations
without invoking Janus. In the same way the private citizen, in all
important occurrences and undertakings, sought by prayers and vows to
acquire the favour of Janus. The husbandman, before he commenced either
to sow or to reap, brought to Janus Consivius an offering of cake and
wine. The merchant, when he entered on a journey of business, and the
sailor, when he weighed anchor and started on a long and dangerous
voyage, never omitted to invoke the blessing of the god. This view of
the god also explains the custom of calling on Janus first in every
prayer and at every sacrifice, since, as keeper of the gates of heaven,
he also appeared to give admittance to the prayers of men.
As the god of all first beginnings, Janus is also the source of all
springs, rivers, and streams of the earth. On this account the fountain
nymphs were generally looked on as his wives, and Fontus and Tiberinus
as his sons.
The power of Janus in causing springs to rise suddenly from the earth
was experienced, to their cost, by the Sabines. The latter, in
consequence of the rape of their women, had overrun the infant state of
Rome, and were about to introduce themselves into the town on the
Palatine through an open gate, when they suddenly found themselves
drenched by a hot sulphur spring that gushed violently from the earth,
and were obliged to retire.
In the legend alluded to, Janus appears as the protector of the gates of
the city. As the god who presided over the fortunate entrance to and
exit from all houses, streets, and towns, Janus was held in high honour
among the people. His character as guardian of gates and doors brought
him into close connection with the Penates and other household gods;
hence the custom of erecting over the doors an image of the deity with
the well-known two faces, one of which looked out and the other in.
Janus had no temple, in the proper sense of the word, at Rome. His
shrines consisted of gateways in common places of resort and at
cross-roads, or of arched passages, in which the image of the god was
erected. The Temple of Janus in the Forum at Rome, which has been
already alluded to, was a sanctuary of this kind closed with doors, and
was probably the most ancient in the city. Its doors stood open only in
time of war.
Roman art never succeeded in executing a plastic representation
peculiar to Janus, the double head being only an imitation of the
Greek double Hermæ. In course of time entire figures of Janus
appeared, but these always had a double face. They were generally
bearded, but in later times one face was bearded, the other
youthful. Not one specimen of these works of art has been preserved,
so that we only know these forms from coins. The usual attributes of
Janus were keys and staff.
=12. Quirinus.=—Quirinus was also a purely Roman divinity, but having
been reckoned among the great deities of heaven, he must therefore be
mentioned here. In his symbolic meaning he bore a great resemblance to
Mars; and as Mars was the national god of the Latin population of Rome,
so Quirinus was the national god of the Sabines who came to Rome with
Titus Tatius. Together with Jupiter and Mars, he formed the tutelary
Trinity of the Roman empire. His shrine was on the Quirinal, which was
originally inhabited by the Sabines, and which was named after him. Numa
gave Quirinus a priest of his own. He had a special feast on the 17th of
February, but his worship appears to have assimilated itself more and
more to that of Mars. He was subsequently identified with Romulus.
B.—SECONDARY DEITIES.
_1. Attendant and Ministering Deities._
[Illustration: Fig. 23.—Head of Eros. Vatican.]
=1. Eros (Amor).=—Of the deities who appear in the train of Aphrodite,
Eros alone seems to have enjoyed divine honours; Longing and Desire
being no more than allegorical figures typifying some of the influences
that emanate from the goddess of love. Eros was commonly reputed the son
of Aphrodite and Ares, and was generally depicted as a boy of wondrous
beauty, on the verge of youth. His characteristic weapon is a golden
bow, with which he shoots forth his arrows from secret lurking-places,
with an unfailing effect that represents the sweet but consuming pangs
of love. Zeus himself is represented as unable to withstand his
influence—an intimation that love is one of the most terrible and mighty
forces of nature.
As unrequited love is aimless, Anteros was conceived by the imagination
of the poets as the brother and companion of Eros, and consequently a
son of Aphrodite. As the little Eros, says the myth, would neither grow
nor thrive, his mother, by the advice of Themis, gave him this brother
as a playfellow; after which the boy was glad so long as his brother was
with him, but sad in his absence.
Eros was not only venerated as the god who kindles love between the
sexes, but was also regarded as the author of love and friendship
between youths and men. On this account his statue was generally placed
in the gymnasia between those of Hermes and Heracles; and the Spartans
sacrificed to him before battle, binding themselves to hold together
faithfully in battle, and to stand by one another in the hour of need.
[Illustration:
Fig. 24.—Eros trying his Bow. Capitoline Museum.]
This deity was termed by the Romans Amor, or Cupido, but this was solely
in imitation of the Greek Eros, since he never enjoyed among them any
public veneration.
The significant fable of the love of Cupid for Psyche, a personification
of the human soul, is of comparatively late origin, though it was a very
favourite subject in art.
Artists followed the poets in the delineation of Eros, in so far as
they generally depicted him as a boy on the confines of youth. An
Eros by the renowned artist Praxiteles was esteemed one of the best
works of antiquity. It was brought to Rome by Nero, but was
destroyed by fire in the reign of Titus. In later times the god of
love was represented as much younger, because the mischievous pranks
attributed to him by the poets were more adapted to the age of
childhood.
[Illustration: Fig. 25.—Polyhymnia. Berlin Museum.]
A considerable number of statues or statuettes of Eros have come
down to us from antiquity. Among the most celebrated is the Torso
(mutilated statue) of the Vatican, of the glorious head of which we
give an engraving (Fig. 23). There is also an “Eros trying his bow”
(Fig. 24) in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, and an “Eros playing
with dice” in the Berlin Museum. Lastly, there is the celebrated
group of the Capitoline Museum, which represents the embraces of
Cupid and Psyche.
Eros generally appears with wings in the art monuments of antiquity.
His insignia are bow and arrows, in addition to a burning torch. The
rose was held especially sacred to him, for which reason he often
appears crowned with roses.
In connection with Venus and in company with Amor we find Hymenæus,
a personification of the joys of marriage, who was, however, only
recognised by later writers and by later art. He is portrayed as a
beautiful youth, winged like Eros, but taller, and of a more serious
aspect. His indispensable attribute is the marriage torch.
[Illustration: Fig. 26—Melpomene. Vatican.]
=2. The Muses.=—Pindar gives the following account of the origin of the
Muses. After the defeat of the Titans, the celestials besought Zeus to
create some beings who might perpetuate in song the mighty deeds of the
gods. In answer to this prayer, Zeus begot with Mnemosyne (Memory) the
nine Muses. They sing of the present, the past, and the future, while
Apollo’s lute accompanies their sweet strains, which gladden the hearts
of the gods as they sit assembled in the lofty palace of Father Zeus, in
Olympus. Looked at in connection with nature, there is little doubt but
that the Muses were originally nymphs of the fountains. The veneration
of the Muses first arose in Pieria, a district on the eastern declivity
of Mount Olympus in Thessaly, from whose steep and rocky heights a
number of sweet rippling brooks descend to the plains. The perception of
this natural music led at once to a belief in the existence of such
song-loving goddesses. Their seat was subsequently transferred from the
declivities of Olympus to Mount Helicon in Bœotia, or to Mount
Parnassus, at the foot of which the Castalian fountain, which was sacred
to them, had its source. Originally the Muses were only goddesses of
song, though they are sometimes represented with instruments on vases.
In early times, too, they only appear as a chorus or company, but at a
later period separate functions were assigned to each, as presiding over
this or that branch of art. Their names were Clio, Melpomene,
Terpsichore, Polyhymnia, Thalia, Urania, Euterpe, Erato, and Calliope.
[Illustration: Fig. 27.—Euterpe. Vatican.]
According to the art-distribution made, probably, at the time of the
Alexandrine school, Calliope represents epic poetry and science
generally, her attributes being a roll of parchment and a pen. Clio
is the muse of history, and is likewise characterised by a roll and
pen, so that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish her from
Calliope. Euterpe represents lyric poetry, and is distinguished by
her double flute. Melpomene, the muse of tragedy, generally appears
with a tragic mask, a club or sword, and a garland of vine leaves.
Terpsichore is the muse of dancing, and has a lyre and plectrum. To
Erato is assigned erotic poetry, together with geometry and the
mimic art; she generally bears a large stringed instrument. Thalia,
the muse of comedy, is distinguished by a comic mask, an ivy
garland, and a crook. Polyhymnia presides over the graver chant of
religious service; she may be recognised by her dress, wrapped
closely round her, and her grave, thoughtful countenance, but is
without attribute of any kind. Lastly, Urania, the muse of
astronomy, holds in one hand a celestial globe, and in the other a
small wand.
Several European museums possess ancient groups of the Muses, among
which, perhaps, the finest is that preserved in the Vatican. From
this group are copied our engravings of Melpomene and Euterpe (Figs.
26 and 27). The original of Polyhymnia (Fig. 25) is in the Berlin
Museum.
The Romans venerated a number of fountain-nymphs of song and prophecy
under the name of Camenæ, among whom the Egeria of the history of Numa
is well known. The Roman writers seem to have identified these goddesses
with the Muses at pleasure.
=3. The Charites (Gratiæ).=—The Charites generally appear in the train
of the goddess of love, whom it was their duty to clothe and adorn. They
are often found, however, in attendance on other gods, since all that is
charming and graceful, either to the senses or the intellect, was
supposed to proceed from them.
Their names are Aglaïa, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. They were commonly
represented as the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, the Oceanid. Later
writers, however, make them the daughters of Dionysus and Aphrodite.
They were venerated as the source of all that makes human life more
beautiful and pleasant, without whom there could be no real enjoyment of
life. Thus, even the gods would not sit down to banquets without the
Charites; and whenever men came together to feast, they first called on
them and offered them the first bowl. Music, eloquence, art, and poetry
received the higher consecration only at their hands; whence Pindar
terms his songs a gift from them. Wisdom, bravery, kindly benevolence,
and gratitude—in fine, all those qualities which become men most, and
make them agreeable in the eyes of their fellow-men, were supposed to
proceed from the Charites.
The Graces of the Romans were simply transferred from the mythology of
the Greeks, and have, therefore, the same meaning as the Charites.
Art represented the Charites or Graces as blooming maidens, of
slender, comely form, characterised by an expression of joyous
innocence. In their hands they often hold flowers, either roses or
myrtles. They are less often distinguished by definite attributes
than by a mutual intertwining of arms. In earlier Greek art they
always appear fully clothed; but gradually their clothing became
less and less, until at length, in the age of Scopas and Praxiteles,
when nude figures had become common, it entirely disappeared. There
are, however, few ancient statues of the Charites in existence.
=4. Themis and the Horæ (Seasons).=—In intimate connection with the
Charites we find the Horæ, the daughters of Zeus and Themis. They were
generally represented as three in number—Eunomia, Dice, and Irene. They
represent the regular march of nature in the changes of the seasons, and
Themis, who personifies the eternal laws of nature, and as the daughter
of Uranus and Gæa ranks among the most ancient deities, is consequently
their mother. Themis is the representative of the reign of law among
gods and men; at Zeus’ command she calls together the assemblies of the
gods. She also occupies a similar position on earth, as presiding over
national assemblies and the laws of hospitality. Her daughters, the
Horæ, appear in a similar though in a subordinate and attendant
character. In Homer they figure as the servants of Zeus, who watch the
gates of heaven, now closing them with thick clouds, now clearing the
clouds away. They also appear as the servants and attendants of other
divinities, such as Hera, Aphrodite, Apollo, and the Muses. Like their
mother, they preside over all law and order in human affairs; and under
their protection thrives all that is noble and beautiful and good.
We know but little concerning the worship of the Horæ among the Greeks.
The Athenians celebrated a special festival in their honour, but they
recognised only two—Thallo, the season of blossom, and Carpo, the season
of the ripened fruit. The adoption of four Horæ, corresponding to the
four seasons of the year, appears to have arisen at a later period.
[Illustration: Fig. 28.—The Horæ. Relief from the Villa Albani.]
In plastic art Themis is generally represented with a balance in one
hand and a palm branch in the other. The Horæ generally appear as
lovely girls dancing with their garments tucked up, and adorned with
flowers, fruit, and garlands. Subsequently they were distinguished
by various attributes, typical of the different seasons. Such is the
case in the engraving (Fig. 28), after a relief in the Villa Albani.
=5. Nice (Victoria).=—Nice is nothing but a personification of the
irresistible and invincible power exercised by the god of heaven by
means of his lightning. She also appears in the company of Pallas
Athene, who was herself honoured by the Athenians as the goddess of
victory. Victory does not seem to have had many separate temples or
festivals, since she generally appears only in attendance on her
superior deities.
[Illustration: Fig. 29.—Victoria. United Collections in Munich.]
Far more extensive was the veneration of Victoria at Rome, a fact for
which the warlike character of the people easily accounts. Her chief
shrine was on the Capitol, where successful generals were wont to erect
statues of the goddess in remembrance of their exploits. The most
magnificent statue of this kind was one erected by Augustus in
fulfilment of a vow after his victory at Actium. The proper festival of
the goddess took place on the 12th of April.
In both Greek and Roman art Victory was represented as a winged
goddess. She is distinguished by a palm branch and laurel garland,
which were the customary rewards of bravery among the ancients.
Large statues of the goddess are seldom met with, though she is
often depicted on vases, coins, and small bronzes. The museum of
Cassel has a small bronze statue of the goddess, whilst a fine
_alto-relievo_ in terra-cotta exists in the Royal Collection at
Munich (Fig. 29).
=6. Iris.=—Iris was originally a personification of the rainbow, but she
was afterwards converted into the swift messenger of the gods, the
rainbow being, as it were, a bridge between earth and heaven. In this
character she makes her appearance in Homer, but, later still, she was
again transformed into a special attendant of Hera. Her swiftness was
astounding; “Like hail or snow,” says Homer, “that falls from the
clouds,” she darts from one end of the world to the other—nay, dives to
the hidden depths of the ocean and into the recesses of the lower world,
executing the commands of the gods.
In art Iris was represented with wings, like Nice, to whom she, in
many respects, bears a strong resemblance. She may be distinguished
from the latter, however, by her herald’s staff (Caduceus). A very
much injured specimen, from the east pediment of the Parthenon at
Athens, is now preserved in the British Museum.
=7. Hebe (Juventas).=—Hebe was the daughter of Zeus and Hera, and,
according to her natural interpretation, represented the youthful bloom
of Nature. In the fully developed mythology of the Greeks she appears as
the cupbearer of the gods, to whom, at meals, she presents the sweet
nectar. It may at first seem strange that the daughter of the greatest
of the divinities of Greece should be relegated to so inferior a
position. This, however, is easily explained by the old patriarchal
custom of the Greeks, by which the young unmarried daughters, even in
royal palaces, waited at table on the men of the family and the guests.
In post-Homeric poetry and legend Hebe no longer appears as cupbearer of
the gods, the office having been assigned to Ganymedes. This was either
in consequence of the promotion of the son of the King of Troy, or on
account of Hebe’s marriage with the deified Heracles.
Hebe occupies no important place in the religious system of the Greeks;
she seems to have been chiefly honoured in connection with her mother
Hera, or now and then with Heracles.
[Illustration: Fig. 30.—Hebe. From Antonio Canova.]
Juventas, or Juventus, is the corresponding deity of the Romans; but, as
was the case with so many others, they contrived to bring her into a
more intimate connection with their political life by honouring in her
the undying and unfading vigour of the state. She had a separate chapel
in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.
With regard to the artistic representation of Hebe, statues of this
goddess appear to have been very rare in ancient times; at least,
among all the numerous statues that have been discovered, none can
be safely identified with Hebe. She is the more often met with on
ornamental vases and reliefs, on which the marriage of Heracles and
Hebe is a favourite subject. She is usually depicted as a
highly-graceful, modest maiden, pouring out nectar from an upraised
vessel. She appears thus in the world-renowned masterpiece of the
Italian sculptor Canova, so well known from casts. In default of an
ancient statue, we give an engraving of this work (Fig. 30).
=8. Ganymedes.=—A similar office in Olympus was filled by the son of
Tros, the King of Troy, Ganymedes, who was made immortal by Zeus, and
installed as cupbearer of the gods. Neither Homer nor Pindar, however,
relate the episode of Zeus sending his eagle to carry off Ganymedes.
This feature of the story, which is a favourite subject of artistic
representation, is first found in Apollodorus. The Roman poet, Ovid,
then went a step farther, and made the ruler of Olympus transform
himself into an eagle, in order to carry off his favourite.
[Illustration: Fig. 31.—Ganymedes and the Eagle. From Thorwaldsen.]
The rape of the beautiful boy is often portrayed in ancient art. The
most famous monument is a bronze group of Leochares, an artist who
flourished in the fourth century B.C. A copy of it still exists in
the celebrated statue of Ganymedes in the Vatican collection. In
modern art the story has been treated with still greater frequency.
There is an extremely beautiful group of this kind by Thorwaldsen,
in which Ganymedes is represented as giving the eagle drink out of a
bowl (Fig. 31).
_2. The Phenomena of the Heavens._
=1. Helios (Sol).=—Helios (Latin _Sol_), the sun-god, belongs to that
small class of deities who have preserved their physical meaning intact.
His worship was confined to a few places, the most important of which
was the island of Rhodes. An annual festival, attended with musical and
athletic contests, was here celebrated with great pomp in honour of the
sun-god. He is portrayed by the poets as a handsome youth with flashing
eyes and shining hair covered with a golden helmet. His daily office was
to bring the light of day to gods and men, which he performed by rising
from Oceanus in the east, where the Ethiopians live, and completing his
course along the firmament. For this purpose the post-Homeric poets
endow him with a sun-chariot drawn by four fiery horses; and though
Homer and Hesiod do not attempt to explain how he passed from the west
where he sets, to the east where he rises, later poets obviate the
difficulty by making him sail round half the world in a golden boat
(according to others a golden bed); and thus he was supposed again to
arrive at the east. In the far west Helios had a splendid palace, and
also a celebrated garden, which was under the charge of the Hesperides.
He is described as the son of the Titans Hyperion and Thea, whence he
himself is called a Titan. By his wife Perse, a daughter of Oceanus, he
became the father of Æëtes, King of Colchis, celebrated in the legend of
the Argonauts, and of the still more celebrated sorceress Circe. Another
son of Helios was Phaëthon, who, in attempting to drive his father’s
horses, came to an untimely end.
Helios sees and hears every thing; whence he was believed to bring
hidden crimes to light, and was invoked as a witness at all solemn
declarations and oaths.
All the stories relating to Helios were gradually transferred to the
Roman Sol, who was originally a Sabine deity, chiefly by means of the
Metamorphoses of Ovid. The untiring charioteer of the heavens was also
honoured as the patron of the race-course; but he never attained a
prominent position in religious worship.
Helios, or Sol, is depicted as a handsome youth, his head encircled
by a crown, which gives forth twelve bright rays corresponding to
the number of the months, his mantle flying about his shoulders as
he stands in his chariot. It was chiefly in Rhodes, however, that
Helios was made the subject of the sculptor’s art. Here, in 280
B.C., was erected in his honour the celebrated colossal statue which
has acquired a world-wide celebrity under the name of the Colossus
of Rhodes, and which was reckoned as one of the seven “wonders of
the world.” It was the work of Chares of Lindus, and was 105 feet in
height.
=2. Selene (Luna).=—As Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo, so is
Selene the twin sister of Helios; he representing the sun, she the moon.
Selene, however, never really enjoyed divine honours in Greece. The
poets depict her as a white-armed goddess, whose beautiful tresses are
crowned with a brilliant diadem. In the evening she rises from the
sacred river of Oceanus, and pursues her course along the firmament of
heaven in her chariot drawn by two white horses. She is gentle and
timid, and it is only in secret that she loves beautiful youths and
kisses them in sleep. Poets delight to sing of the secret love she
cherished for the beautiful Endymion, the son of the King of Elis. She
caused him to fall into an eternal sleep, and he now reposes in a rocky
grotto on Mount Latmus, where Selene nightly visits him, and gazes with
rapture on his countenance.
In later times she was often confounded with Artemis, Hecate, and
Persephone. The same remarks apply to the Roman Luna. The latter,
however, had a temple of her own on the Aventine, which was supposed to
have been dedicated to her by Servius Tullius. Like her brother Sol, she
was honoured in Rome in connection with the circus, and was held to
preside over the public games.
In sculpture, Selene, or Luna, may be recognised by the half moon on
her forehead, and by the veil over the back of her head; she also
bears in her hand a torch. The sleeping Endymion was a frequent
subject of representation on sarcophagi and monuments.
=3. Eos (Aurora).=—Eos, the goddess of the dawn, was also a daughter of
Hyperion and Thea, and a sister of Selene and Helios. She was first
married to the Titan Astræus, by whom she became the mother of the
winds—Boreas, Zephyrus, Eurus, and Notus (north, west, east, and south
winds). This is a mythological mode of intimating the fact that the wind
generally rises at dawn. After Astræus, who, like most of the Titans,
had rebelled against the sovereignty of Zeus, and had been cast into
Tartarus, Eos chose the handsome hunter Orion for her husband. The gods,
however, would not consent to their union, and Orion was slain by the
arrows of Artemis, after which Eos married Tithonus, the son of the King
of Troy. She begged Zeus to bestow on him immortality, but, having
forgotten to ask for eternal youth, the gift was of doubtful value,
since Tithonus at last became a shrivelled-up, decrepid old man, in whom
the goddess took no pleasure.
Memnon, King of Æthiopia, celebrated in the story of the Trojan war, was
a son of Eos and Tithonus. He came to the assistance of Troy, and was
slain by Achilles. Since then, Eos has wept without ceasing for her
darling son, and her tears fall to the earth in the shape of dew.
Eos is represented by the poets as a glorious goddess, with beautiful
hair, rosy arms and fingers—a true picture of the invigorating freshness
of the early morning. Cheerful and active, she rises early from her
couch, and, enveloped in a saffron-coloured mantle, she harnesses her
horses Lampus and Phaëthon (Brightness and Lustre), in order that she
may hasten on in front of the sun-god and announce the day.
The views and fables connected with Eos were transferred by the Roman
writers to the person of their goddess Aurora[4] without undergoing any
alteration.
Footnote 4:
The Mater Matuta of the Romans was a deity very similar to the Eos of
the Greeks. She was the goddess of the early dawn, and was held in
high estimation among the Roman women as a deity who assisted them in
childbirth. Like the Greek Leucothea, she was also regarded as a
goddess of the sea and harbours, who assisted those in peril.
Representations of this goddess are found now and then on vases and
gems. She either appears driving a chariot and four horses, as
harnessing the steeds of Helios, or as gliding through the air on
wings and sprinkling the earth with her dew.
=4. The Stars.=—Only a few of the stars are of any importance in
mythology. Phosphorus and Hesperus, the morning star and the evening
star, which were formerly regarded as two distinct beings, were
represented in art in the guise of beautiful boys with torches in their
hands. There were also several legends relating to Orion, whom we have
already alluded to as the husband of Eos. He himself was made a
constellation after having been slain by the arrows of Artemis, while
his dog was Sirius, whose rising announces the hottest season of the
year. All kinds of myths were invented about other constellations; among
others, the Hyades, whose rising betokened the advent of the stormy,
rainy season, during which the sailor avoids going to sea. The story
went that they were placed among the constellations by the gods out of
pity, because they were inconsolable at the death of their brother Hyas,
who was killed by a lion whilst hunting. Connected with them are the
Pleiades, _i.e._, the stars of mariners, so called because on their
rising in May the favourable season for voyages begins. They were seven
in number, and were likewise set in the heavens by the gods. Finally, we
must not forget to mention Arctus, the Bear. Tradition asserted that
this was none other than the Arcadian nymph Callisto, who had been
placed among the constellations by Zeus when slain in the form of a
she-bear by Artemis. She had broken her vows of chastity, and borne a
son, Arcas, to Zeus.
=5. The Winds.=—The four chief winds have been already alluded to as the
sons of Eos. They were especially venerated by those about to make
voyages, who then solicited their favour with prayers and offerings.
Otherwise, they maintained their character of pure natural forces, and
were, consequently, of little importance in mythology. The rude north
wind, Boreas, or Aquilo, was especially dreaded on account of his stormy
violence, and was hence regarded as a bold ravisher of maidens. Thus an
Attic legend asserts that he carried off Orithyia, the daughter of
Erechtheus, as she was playing on the banks of the Ilissus. She bore him
Calaïs and Zetes, well known in the story of the Argonauts. Boreas,
however, stood in high favour among the Athenians, who erected an altar
and chapel to him, because, during the Persian war, he had partially
destroyed the fleet of Xerxes off Cape Sepias.
As Boreas is the god of the winter storm, so Zephyrus appears as the
welcome messenger of Spring; on which account one of the Horæ was given
him to wife. Zephyrus was called Favonius by the Romans, to intimate the
favourable influence he exercised on the prosperous growth of the
vegetable world.
These, together with the other chief winds, Notus (south wind) and Eurus
(east wind) were sometimes said to reside in separate places; at other
times they were said to dwell together in the Wind-mountain, on the
fabulous island of Æolia, where they were ruled over by King Æolus.
_3. Gods of Birth and Healing._
[Illustration: Fig. 32.—Asclepius. Berlin.]
=1. Asclepius (Æsculapius).=—It was only in later times that the
necessity of having special gods of birth and healing made itself felt;
at all events, Asclepius, or Æsculapius, as he is called by the Romans,
does not appear as a god in Homer. The worship of this deity, who was
said to be the son of Apollo, appears to have originated in Epidaurus,
the seat of his principal shrine, and thence to have become generally
diffused. In Epidaurus his priests erected a large hospital, which
enjoyed a great reputation. The common method of cure consisted in
allowing those who were sick to sleep in the temple, on which occasion,
if they had been zealous in their prayers and offerings, the god
appeared to them in a dream and discovered the necessary remedy.
The worship of this deity was introduced into Rome in the year 291 B.C.,
in consequence of a severe pestilence which for years had depopulated
town and country. The Sibylline books were consulted, and they
recommended that Asclepius of Epidaurus should be brought to Rome. The
story goes that the sacred serpent of the god followed the Roman
ambassadors of its own accord, and chose for its abode the Insula
Tiberina at Rome, where a temple was at once erected to Æsculapius. A
gilded statue was added to the temple in the year 13 B.C. The method
already mentioned of sleeping in the temple was also adopted here.
[Illustration:
Fig. 33.—Head of Asclepius. British Museum.]
In art, Asclepius is represented as a bearded man of ripe years,
with singularly noble features, from which the kindly benevolence of
a benefactor of mankind looks forth. He is generally accompanied by
a serpent, as a symbol of self-renovating vital power, which he is
feeding and caressing, or which is more commonly represented as
creeping up his staff. Such is the conception in the engraving (Fig.
32), which is after a statue preserved at Berlin. As the god of
healing, he has also other attributes—a bowl containing the healing
draught, a bunch of herbs, a pine-apple, or a dog; the latter being
a symbol of the vigilance with which the physician watches disease.
There are numerous extant statues of the god, although the great
statue in gold and ivory of the temple at Epidaurus has been
entirely lost. A fine head of colossal proportions was discovered on
the Isle of Melos, and is now an ornament of the British Museum
(Fig. 33). There is, on the other hand, a very fine statue without a
head in existence at Athens, near the temple of Zeus. There are,
moreover, celebrated statues in Florence, Paris, and Rome (Vatican);
in the last case, of a beardless Æsculapius.
=2. Inferior Deities of Birth and Healing.=—The Greeks also honoured
Ilithyia as a goddess of birth. This appears to have been originally a
surname of Hera, as a deity who succoured women in childbirth. Hygiea
was looked on as a goddess of health, and was described as a daughter of
Asclepius.
The Romans had no need of a special goddess presiding over birth,
although they honoured a deity often identified with Hygiea, whom they
called Strenia, or Salus. As guardian of the chamber of birth, they
honoured Carna, or Cardea, who was supposed to drive away the evil
Striges (screech owls) that came at night to suck the blood of the
new-born child. Carna was further regarded as the protectress of
physical health. Another of these inferior deities, of whom men sought
long life and continued health, bore the name of Anna Perenna (the
circling year).
[Illustration: Fig. 34.—Night and the Fates. From Carstens.]
_4. Deities of Fate._
=1. Mœræ (Parcæ).=—The Mœræ, better known by the Latin name of Parcæ,
really denote that portion of a man’s life and fortune which is
determined from his birth; so that, in this sense, there are as many
Mœræ as individuals. The Greeks, however, who were wont to revere all
such indefinite numbers under the sacred number three, generally
recognised three. These they regarded as the dark and inexplicable
powers of fate, daughters of the night. Their names were Clotho
(spinner), Lachesis (allotter), and Atropos (inevitable).
Only two Parcæ were originally known to the Romans, but a third was
afterwards added to make their own mythology harmonise with that of the
Greeks.
The popular conception of the Parcæ as grave hoary women was not
followed in art, where they always appear as young. In the first
instance, their attributes were all alike, separate functions not
yet having been allotted to them. But at a subsequent period it was
Clotho who spun, Lachesis who held, and Atropos who cut the thread
of life. This arrangement was first adopted by later artists, who
generally give Clotho a spindle, Lachesis a roll of parchment, and
Atropos a balance, or let the last point to the hour of death on a
dial. Such is the case in a talented creation of Carstens, in which
the conception of modern times is brought into harmony with the
ideal of antiquity (Fig. 34).
=2. Nemesis, Tyche (Fortuna), and Agathodæmon (Bonus Eventus).=—Nemesis
really denotes the apportionment of that fate which is justly deserved,
and a consequent repugnance to that which is not. Homer does not
acknowledge Nemesis as a goddess, and so it is probable that her claim
to public veneration dates from a later period. She was regarded as a
goddess of equality, who watches over the equilibrium of the moral
universe, and sees that happiness and misfortune are allotted to man
according to merit. Hence arose, subsequently, the idea of an avenging
deity, who visits with condign punishment the crimes and wickedness of
mankind. In this character she resembles the Furies. The Romans likewise
introduced Nemesis into their system; at least her statue stood on the
Capitol, though popular superstition never regarded her with a friendly
eye.
The various conceptions of Nemesis are again displayed in works of
art. The kindly, gentle goddess, who dispenses what is just, is
depicted as a young woman of grave and thoughtful aspect, holding in
her hand the instruments of measurement and control (cubit, bridle,
and rudder). As the stern avenger of human crimes, she appears with
wings in a chariot drawn by griffins, with a sword or whip in her
hand.
Tyche, the goddess of good fortune, was, according to common accounts,
the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She was usually honoured as the
tutelary deity of towns, and as such had temples and statues in many
populous cities of Greece and Asia. In course of time, however, the idea
gained ground that Tyche was the author of evil as well as of good
fortune. She resembled, in this respect, the Fortuna of the Romans, who
was regarded as the source of all that is unexpected in human life.
Servius Tullius was said to have introduced into Rome the worship of
Fortuna, whose favourite he had certainly every reason to regard
himself. He erected a temple to her under the name of Fors Fortuna, and
made the 24th of June the common festival of the goddess. Later, her
worship became still more extensive. Under the most different surnames,
some of which referred to the state (_Fortuna populi Romani_), and
others to every description of private affairs, she had a great number
of temples and chapels erected in her honour. She had also celebrated
temples in Antium and Præneste.
Ancient artists endowed this goddess with various attributes, the
most important of which was the rudder, which she held in her hand
in token of her power to control the fortunes of mankind. She is
also endowed with a sceptre for the same purpose, and with a horn of
plenty as the giver of good fortune; sometimes she is also
represented with the youthful Plutus in her arms. The later
conception of an impartial goddess of fate is apparent in those
art-monuments which depict her standing on a ball or wheel. Among
the larger existing works, we may mention a copy preserved in the
Vatican of a Tyche by Eutychides of Sicyon, which was formerly
exhibited in Antioch. The goddess here wears a mural crown on her
head as the tutelary deity of towns, and has a sheaf of corn in her
right hand.
Besides Fortuna, the Romans honoured a deity called Felicitas as the
goddess of positive good fortune. Lucullus is said to have erected a
temple to her in Rome, which was adorned with the works of art brought
by Mummius from the spoils of Corinth. Even this did not suffice for the
religious needs of the people, and we find that the belief in personal
protecting deities grew rapidly among both Greeks and Romans. These
deities were termed by the Greeks “dæmones,” and by the Romans “genii.”
They were believed to be the invisible counsellors of every individual,
accompanying him from birth to death, through all the stages of life,
with advice and comfort. Offerings of wine, cake, incense, and garlands
were made to them, particularly on birthdays.
II.—THE GODS OF THE SEA AND WATERS.
=1. Poseidon (Neptunus).=—Poseidon, or Neptunus, as he was called by the
Romans, was the son of Cronus and Rhea. Homer calls him the younger
brother of Zeus, in which case his subjection to the latter is only
natural. According to the common account, however, Zeus was the youngest
of the sons of Cronus, but acquired the sovereignty over his brothers by
having overthrown their cruel father. Poseidon was accordingly indebted
to his brother for his dominion over the sea and its deities, and was
therefore subject to him. He usually dwelt, not in Olympus, but at the
bottom of the sea. Here he was supposed to inhabit, with Amphitrite his
wife, a magnificent golden palace in the neighbourhood of Ægæ.
Originally, like Oceanus and Pontus, he was a mere symbol of the watery
element, but he afterwards attained an entirely independent personality.
Even in Homer he no longer appears as the sea itself, but as its mighty
ruler, who with his powerful arms upholds and circumscribes the earth.
He is violent and impetuous, like the element he represents. When he
strikes the sea with his trident, the symbol of his sovereignty, the
waves rise with violence, dash in pieces the ships, and inundate the
land far and wide. Poseidon likewise possesses the power of producing
earthquakes, cleaving rocks, and raising islands in the midst of the
sea. On the other hand, a word or look from him suffices to allay the
wildest tempest. Virgil, in the first book of the _Æneid_, has given a
beautiful description of the taming of the fierce elements by the god.
Poseidon was naturally regarded as the chief god of all the seafaring
classes, such as fishermen, boatmen, and sailors, who esteemed him as
their patron and tutelary deity. To him they addressed their prayers
before entering on a voyage, to him they brought their offerings in
gratitude for their safe return from the perils of the deep.
Poseidon, therefore, enjoyed the highest reputation among the seafaring
Ionians. His temples, altars, and statues were most numerous in the
harbours and seaport towns, and on islands and promontories. Among the
numerous shrines of this deity we may mention that of Corinth, in the
neighbourhood of which were celebrated in his honour the Isthmian games,
which subsequently became a national festival in Greece, Pylus, Athens,
and the islands of Rhodes, Cos, and Tenos.
It was only natural that many legends, local and provincial, should
exist about a god who played such an important part in the lives of
seafaring folk. In the Trojan epos he figures as a violent enemy of
Troy, his indignation having been provoked by the injustice of the
Trojan king, Laomedon. Poseidon had built the walls of Troy at the
king’s request with the aid of Apollo, but Laomedon having cheated him
in the matter of the stipulated reward, Poseidon thereupon sent a
terrible sea-monster, which laid waste the crops and slew the
inhabitants. They had recourse to the oracle, which counselled the
sacrifice of the king’s daughter Hesione. The unhappy maiden was exposed
to the monster, but was rescued by Heracles. The fable of this monster,
which is manifestly a symbol of the inundation of the sea, is repeated
in many succeeding stories (_e.g._, in the story of Perseus, who rescued
in a similar way Andromeda, the daughter of the king of Æthiopia). There
are numberless stories, in which Poseidon appears as the father of the
different national heroes. The most important is, perhaps, the legend of
Theseus, of which we shall speak later on. There was scarcely a Grecian
town or district which did not lay claim to divine origin for the person
of its founder or ancestral hero. Again, the conception of the wild
stormy nature of the sea caused Poseidon to be represented as the father
of various giants and monsters. By the nymph Thoösa he became the father
of the savage Polyphemus, slain by Odysseus, who thus provoked the
implacable enmity of Poseidon. The giant Antæus, who fought with
Heracles, was also said to be a son of Poseidon; besides many other
monsters, such as Procrustes, Cercyon, and the Aloïdæ.
The favourite animal of Poseidon was the horse, which he was supposed to
have created. This may, perhaps, be due to the fact that the imagination
of the Greeks pictured to itself the horses of Poseidon in the rolling
and bounding waves. In Athens the origin of the horse was referred to
the contest between Athene and Poseidon, as to who should make the land
the most useful present. In Corinthian legend Poseidon appears as the
father of the winged horse Pegasus by Medusa. This story is connected
with the taming of the horse, which was ascribed to Poseidon. On account
of his intimate connection with the horse, Poseidon was especially
regarded as the patron of the games, and had, in consequence, an altar
of his own on all race-courses. The competitors, before the races,
solicited his favour with prayers and sacrifices.
[Illustration: Fig. 35.—Poseidon. Dolce Gem.]
The dolphin and the pine-tree were held sacred to Poseidon, the latter
probably because it was so extensively used in shipbuilding. Black
steers, horses, rams, and wild boars were sacrificed to him.
The Romans not being a seafaring people, Neptune never stood in such
high estimation among them as among the Greeks. In Rome his prominent
characteristic was his connection with the horse and the race-course.
These were placed under his special protection, for which reason the
only temple he had in Rome stood in the Circus Flaminius.
The representation of Poseidon, or Neptune, in art harmonises
tolerably well with the descriptions of the poets. He is accordingly
represented as similar to his brother Zeus in size and figure, with
broad deep chest, dark wavy hair, and piercing eyes.
Artists intimated the greater violence of his nature by giving him
more angularity of face, and a more bristling and disordered head of
hair than Zeus. The expression of his countenance is more grave and
severe, and the kindly smile that plays around the mouth of Zeus is
altogether wanting.
Ancient statues of Poseidon are comparatively rare. The Vatican
Museum possesses a fine bust, and also a marble statue of the god.
He is generally distinguished by the trident in his right hand;
sometimes in its place we find a tiller. A band similar to a diadem
denotes his dominion over the sea. Our engraving of the god is after
a beautiful gem of the Dolce collection (Fig. 35).
=2. Amphitrite.=—After Poseidon had attained an almost exclusive
veneration as god of the sea, Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, was given
him to wife. According to the usual account, he carried her away from
Naxos. Others say that she fled to Atlas to avoid the rude wooing of the
god, but Poseidon’s dolphin found her and fetched her back. She had
three children by Poseidon—Triton, Rhode, and Benthesicyme.
In plastic art, Amphitrite is generally depicted as a slim and
beautiful young woman, either nude or half clothed, riding in the
chariot of Poseidon at his side, or by herself. On gems she also
appears enthroned on the back of a mighty Triton, or riding a
seahorse or dolphin. Her hair generally falls loosely about her
shoulders. She is distinguished by the royal insignia of the diadem
and sceptre, at times she also wields the trident of her husband.
The worship of Amphitrite was entirely unknown to the Romans, who
recognised the sea-goddess Salacia as the wife of Neptune.
=3. Triton and the Tritons.=—Triton was the only son of Poseidon and
Amphitrite; he never appears, however, to have enjoyed divine honours.
This perhaps explains how it came to pass that he was subsequently
degraded to the level of a fabulous sea-monster. The poet Apollonius
Rhodius describes him as having a body, the upper parts of which were
those of a man, while the lower parts were those of a dolphin. Such too
is his appearance in works of art. Poets and artists soon revelled in
the conception of a whole race of similar Tritons, who were regarded as
a wanton, mischievous tribe, like the Satyrs on land.
The Tritons, as sea-deities of fantastic form, are of little
importance in higher art, though they were all the more frequently
employed in fountains and water-works. The fore-legs of a horse were
sometimes added to the human body and dolphin’s tail, thus giving
rise to the figure termed the Ichthyocentaur.
=4. Pontus and his Descendants.=—We have already spoken of Pontus and
his race in our account of the Theogony. Here we can only mention those
of his children who either enjoyed divine honours, or are of importance
in art. The eldest among them was Nereus.
_1. Nereus and his Daughters._—Nereus presents to us the calm and
pleasant side of the sea. He appears as a kindly, benevolent old man,
the good spirit of the Ægean sea, where he dwells with his fifty lovely
daughters, the Nereids, ever ready to assist the storm-beaten sailor in
the hour of need. Like all water-spirits, Nereus possessed the gift of
prophecy, though he did not always choose to make use of it. Heracles
sought him on his way to the garden of the Hesperides, in order to learn
how he might get possession of the golden apples. In spite of his urgent
entreaties, Nereus endeavoured to elude him by assuming every kind of
shape, though he was at length vanquished by the persistence of the
hero, who would not let him go until he had obtained the necessary
information.
By his wife Doris, the daughter of Oceanus, he became the father of
fifty, or, according to some, of a hundred daughters, who were all
venerated as kindly, beneficent sea-nymphs. They are a charming, lovely
tribe, who win the hearts of the sailors—now by their merry sports and
dances, now by their timely assistance in the hour of danger. This
joyous band generally forms the train of Poseidon and Amphitrite.
Besides Amphitrite, the chosen bride of Poseidon, we find among them
Thetis, the beautiful mother of Achilles, so celebrated in ancient
poetry, who usually figures as their leader. Her beauty and grace were
so great that Zeus himself became her lover. He surrendered her,
however, to Peleus, son of Æacus, because an oracle had declared that
the son of Thetis should become greater than his father.
In art Nereus generally appears as an old man with thin grey locks.
He is commonly distinguished by a sceptre, or even a trident. The
Nereids were depicted as graceful maidens, in earlier times slightly
clothed, but later entirely nude, riding on dolphins, Tritons, or
other fabulous monsters of the deep.
_2. Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto._—Whilst Nereus and his daughters represent
the sea in its peaceful aspect, Thaumas, the second son of Pontus,
represents it as the world of wonders. By Electra, a daughter of
Oceanus, he became the father of Iris, the messenger of the gods, and
also of the Harpies. The latter personify the storm-winds. Originally
fair maidens, they were afterwards represented as winged creatures, half
man and half bird; they had the faces of maidens, but their bodies were
covered with vultures’ feathers; they were pale and emaciated in
appearance, and were continually tormented with an insatiable hunger.
They are best known from the story of the Argonauts, where they appear
as the tormentor of the blind king Phineus, whose table they continually
robbed of its viands, which they either devoured or spoiled. They were
regarded by the ancients as the ministers of sudden death, and were said
to be either two or three in number. Phorcys and Ceto, the brother and
sister of Thaumas, present to us the sea under its terrible aspect. This
pair, from whose union sprang the Gorgons, the Grææ, and the dragon of
the Hesperides, typify all the terrors and dangers of the deep. We shall
have more to say concerning the Gorgons and Grææ in the story of
Perseus.
=5. Proteus.=—Proteus is a deity of inferior rank. He is represented as
an old man (the servant of Poseidon) endowed with the gift of prophecy.
He plays the same part in the story of Troy as Nereus does in that of
Heracles. His usual abode was the island of Pharos. It was thither that
Menelaus turned after he had been driven to the coast of Egypt, on his
return from Troy, to seek the advice of the “unerring old man of the
sea.” But Proteus, being in no amiable mood, sought to elude the
importunity of the hero by converting himself into a lion, a dragon, a
panther, a wild boar, and many other forms. At length, however, he was
vanquished by the persistence of Menelaus, and vouchsafed an answer. He
was supposed to be the keeper of the fish who inhabit the depths of the
sea, and of the other marine animals.
In works of art he generally appears like a Triton, i.e., with body
ending in a fish’s tail. He is usually distinguished by a crook.
=6. Glaucus.=—Among the inferior sea-deities, Glaucus deserves mention
as playing a part in the story of the Argonauts. He was really only a
local god of the Anthedonians in Bœotia, and his worship was not
extended to other places in Greece. But though he had no splendid
temples, he stood in very high estimation among the lower classes of
sailors and fishermen; indeed we find universally that the common
people, in all their cares, turned rather to the inferior deities, whom
they supposed to stand closer to them, than to the higher and more
important gods. According to the story, Glaucus was originally a
fisherman of Anthedon, who attained in a wonderful manner the rank of a
god. One day, after having caught some fish, he laid them half dead on
the turf close by. He was astonished to see, however, that on coming in
contact with a certain herb, which was unknown to him, they were
restored to life and sprang back into the sea. He himself now ate of
this wonderful herb, and immediately felt himself penetrated by so
wondrous a sensation of bliss and animation that, in his excitement, he
too sprang into the sea. Oceanus and Thetis hereupon cleansed him from
all his human impurities, and gave him a place among the sea-gods. He
was venerated on many of the islands and coasts of Greece as a friendly
deity, ever ready to assist the shipwrecked sailor or the castaway.
In art he is represented as a Triton, rough and shaggy in
appearance, his body covered with mussels or sea-weed. His hair and
beard show that luxuriance which characterises sea-gods.
=7. Ino Leucothea, and Melicertes.=—Like Glaucus, Ino, the daughter of
Cadmus, attained at once immortality and divine rank by a leap into the
sea. She was a sister of Semele, the mother of Dionysus, and the wife of
Athamas, king of Orchomenus. It was she who, after the unhappy death of
Semele, took charge of the infant Dionysus. Hera, however, avenged
herself by driving Athamas mad, whereupon he dashed Learchus, his eldest
son by Ino, against a rock. He was about to inflict the same fate on
Melicertes, his second son, when in frantic haste the unhappy mother
sought to save her child by flight. Athamas, however, pursued her as far
as the Isthmus, when Ino, seeing no hope of escape, cast herself from
the rock Moluris into the sea. Here she was kindly received by the
Nereids, who converted both her and her son into sea-deities. She
henceforth bore the name of Leucothea, and her son that of Palæmon. They
were both regarded as benevolent deities of the stormy sea, who came to
the assistance of those who were shipwrecked or in other peril. They
appear in this guise in the _Odyssey_, where Odysseus, who saw only
certain death before him, is represented as having been saved by a scarf
thrown to him by Leucothea.
=8. The Sirens.=—The Sirens must also be reckoned among the sea-deities.
They are best known from the story how Odysseus succeeded in passing
them with his companions without being seduced by their song. He had the
prudence to stop the ears of his companions with wax, and to have
himself bound to the mast. The Sirens were regarded as the daughters
either of the river-god Achelous by one of the nymphs, or of Phorcys and
Ceto. Only two Sirens are mentioned in Homer, but three or four were
recognised in later times and introduced into various legends, such as
that of the Argonauts, or the Sicilian story of the rape of Persephone.
Demeter is said to have changed their bodies into those of birds,
because they refused to go to the help of their companion, Persephone,
when she was carried off by the god of the lower world.
In art they are represented, like the Harpies, as young women with
the wings and feet of birds. Sometimes they appear altogether like
birds, only with human faces; at other times with the arms and
bodies of women, in which case they generally hold instruments of
music in their hands. As their songs were death to those who were
seduced by them, they are often depicted on tombs as spirits of
death.
=9. The Race of Oceanus.=—Lastly, we must enumerate among the
water-deities the numerous descendants of Oceanus, viz., the Oceanids,
and also the rivers that are spread over the earth. The latter were
believed to have their common source in the ocean encircling the earth,
and thence to flow beneath the ground until they reached the surface in
springs.
Oceanus himself appears in the myths which treat of the genealogy of the
gods as the eldest son of Uranus and Gæa, and therefore, like his wife
Tethys, a Titan. As he did not take part in the rebellion of the other
Titans against the dominion of Zeus, he did not share their dreadful
fate, but was allowed to remain in undisturbed enjoyment of his ancient
domain. He was supposed to dwell on the most western shores of the
earth, which he never left even to attend the assemblies of the gods.
On account of their great importance to the fertility of the soil, the
river-gods enjoyed a great reputation among the Greeks, although their
worship was entirely of a local nature. Only Achelous, the greatest of
all the Greek rivers, appears to have enjoyed general veneration. The
river-gods were believed to dwell either in the depths of the rivers
themselves, or in rocky grottoes near their sources. They were depicted
either as delicate youths, or as men in their prime, or as old men,
according to the magnitude of the river. They all possess a conformity
with the nature of their element, viz., that power of transformation
which we discover in the other sea-deities. They also appear, like other
water-spirits, to possess the gift of prophecy.
Among the Romans all flowing waters were held sacred. Fontus, the son of
Janus, was especially esteemed as the god of springs and fountains in
general; but, as among the Greeks, each river had its special deity. The
most important of these was Tiberinus. The springs were popularly
supposed to be inhabited by nymphs gifted with the powers of prophecy
and magic, who sometimes honoured mortals with their favours, as Egeria
did King Numa.
In art the river-gods were commonly represented in the guise of
those animals whose forms they were most in the habit of assuming.
They thus appear as serpents, bulls, or even as men with bulls’
heads. They were also portrayed, however, in purely human guise,
with the exception of having small horns on either side of the head.
Their attributes consist of urns and horns of plenty, symbols of the
blessings that proceed from them.
III.—THE GODS OF THE EARTH AND LOWER WORLD.
We now come to a class of deities who stand in the most decided contrast
to the gods of the heaven and the sea, whom we have previously
described. It consists of those deities whose power is incessantly
exerted either on the surface or in the depths of the earth, and who are
accordingly brought into the closest connection with the life of man.
The worship of these deities assumed among the Greeks a passionate and
excited character, at first entirely strange to the Romans, though it
gradually crept in here also.
Though the ancients saw in the earth, on the one hand, the fruitful
source of all life in nature, they did not seek to disguise the fact
that it is, on the other hand, also the open sepulchre into which all
earthly existence sinks when its time is over. The worship of these
deities was therefore celebrated with festivals of joy and mirth at the
season of the revival of nature, and with mournful solemnities at the
season of its decay. The devotees manifested both their mirth and
mourning in a loud, noisy, passionate manner, usually designated
orgiastic. An element of mystery never failed to introduce itself into
the worship of these deities, who, in virtue of their dwellings, were
able to inspire a greater feeling of awe than the bright forms of the
gods of heaven. Their wrath also, which manifested itself in the
sterility of the soil, was the subject of especial fear. Mysteries
proper, or secret rites, existed only among the Greeks, but never found
their way into the religious systems of Italy. We shall enumerate first
the deities of the upper world, who preside over the growth of flocks
and the fruits of the earth, and then those who inhabit the lower world.
=1. Gæa (Tellus).=—First among them is Gæa, or Mother Earth herself.
This deity appears in the Cosmogony (or myths relating to the formation
of the universe) as one of the primeval creative forces, having herself
proceeded immediately from Chaos. In later times she acquired a more
personal and plastic character, although she never attained any real
importance in the religious system of the Greeks, owing to the existence
of more definite and substantial deities, such as Rhea, Hestia, Demeter,
and Themis. The worship of Tellus in Rome was more important, although
here, too, it was somewhat thrown into the shade by the worship of Ceres
and kindred deities.
The chief significance of Gæa lies in the fact that she is the source of
all life and increase in nature. She is hence regarded as a mother who
tends with loving care all her children. Under this aspect her praises
are sung by Hesiod, and also in an ancient Dodonaic hymn. Like Demeter
and other deities who dispense prosperity and abundance, she appears as
tending and nourishing the young, and is often represented thus on
ancient monuments.
At the same time Gæa is the common grave of mankind, and draws all
things, with inexorable severity, down into her dark womb. She thus
becomes a goddess of death and the lower world, and was on this account
invoked, together with the Manes, as a witness of all solemn compacts
and oaths.
A very ancient shrine of this goddess existed at Delphi, and the oracle
there had once, said the Delphians, belonged to her.
In Rome, where she was also venerated as a goddess of marriage, her
temple stood on the site of the house of Spurius Cassius. Festive
offerings were made to her before and after seed-time. On the occasion
of the Paganalia, she and Ceres were propitiated by the sacrifice of a
pregnant sow, which was supposed to promote the prosperity of the coming
year.
=2. Rhea Cybele (Magna Mater Idæa).=—Rhea is well known as the daughter
of Uranus and Gæa, and the wife of Cronus, by whom she became the mother
of Zeus and the other Cronidæ. She seems to have enjoyed only a limited
measure of divine honours, until she was identified with the Phrygian
goddess Cybele, who, like the Egyptian Isis, was an Asiatic symbol of
fertility. She was worshipped throughout Lydia and Phrygia under the
appellation of the “Mighty Mother.” Thence her worship, which was of a
peculiarly noisy character, made its way through the Greek colonies into
Greece itself, and towards the end of the second Punic war was, at the
instance of the Sibylline books, introduced into Rome. Attalus, king of
Pergamus, was on this occasion good enough to present the Romans with a
sacred stone, which was regarded by the inhabitants of Pessinus as the
great mother herself. After its arrival at Ostia, this stone was carried
to Rome amid a solemn procession of Roman matrons. The day of its
arrival (10th April) was ever afterwards kept as a festival, at which
games were celebrated under the superintendence of the prætor. The
worship of Cybele, however, never seems to have become naturalised in
Rome, perhaps because Romans were not allowed to officiate as her
priests.
The true home of the worship of Cybele was the district of Pessinus, a
rough and rocky mountain land. It was here that she made her noisy
processions, seated in a chariot drawn by lions or panthers, amid the
boisterous music of her weird attendants, the Corybantes and Curetes.
The myths that relate to the goddess bear a wild, fantastic character,
similar to that of her rites. The best known among them is the story of
her favourite, Attis, or Atys. He was a Phrygian youth of a beauty so
exceptional that the great mother of the gods chose him for her husband.
At first he returned her affection, but afterwards he proved faithless,
and was about to marry a daughter of the king of Pessinus. But the
vengeance of the angry goddess overtook him, for when the wedding guests
were assembled at the festive banquet the goddess appeared in their
midst, and filled those present with panic fear, and troubled their
minds. Atys fled to the mountains, where he slew himself in a fit of
frenzy. Afterwards, the goddess instituted a great mourning in memory of
him, which took place about the time of the vernal equinox. The priests
of the goddess marched, amid the loud noise of kettle-drums and fifes,
to the mountains, in order to search for the lost youth; and when at
length he, or an image representing him, was found, the priests, in an
ecstasy of joy, danced about in wild excitement, gashing themselves with
knives.
Representations of Rhea Cybele are rare. A statue representing her
seated on a throne is shown in the Vatican. Her usual attribute is a
kettle-drum.
=3. Dionysus, or Bacchus (Liber).=—Dionysus, or Bacchus, was regarded by
Greeks and Romans alike as the god of wine and vineyards. In his more
extended meaning he represents the blessings of the autumn. It is he who
causes the fruits to ripen for the use of man; it is likewise he who
dispenses to mankind all the advantages of civilisation and refinement,
and of well-ordered political affairs.
Thebes was described as the birthplace of the god. His mother was
Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, whom Zeus, the great god of heaven,
honoured with his love. This very love, however, proved fatal to Semele,
for the ever-jealous Hera came to her in the guise of her nurse, Beroë,
and succeeded in exciting her suspicions as to the truth of her lover’s
divinity. She insidiously persuaded Semele to make her lover swear to do
what she desired, and then to put him to the test. Semele did so, and
then besought Zeus to appear to her in the full majesty of his divine
form. In vain did Zeus adjure her to take back her foolish request; she
insisted on its fulfilment, and perished miserably, being burnt to ashes
by the flame of Zeus, who approached her in a flash of lightning. Her
unborn child was preserved by Zeus, who ordered Hermes to carry it to
the nymphs of Nysa to be brought up. A later legend makes Ino, the
sister of Semele, the foster-mother of Dionysus. The locality of this
Nysa is somewhat uncertain, but it is generally supposed to be a
district of Mount Pangæus in Thrace.
Dionysus, after growing up amid the solitude of the forest and
strengthening himself by his contests with its wild beasts, at length
planted the vine. Both the god and his attendants soon became
intoxicated with its juice; after which, crowned with wreaths of laurel
and ivy, and accompanied by a crowd of nymphs, satyrs, and fauns, he
ranged the woods, which resounded with the loud and joyful cries of his
inspired worshippers. The legend says that his education was then
completed by Silenus, the son of Pan. In company with his preceptor and
the rest of his train, he then set forth to spread his worship and the
cultivation of the vine among the nations of the earth. He did not
confine himself to mere vine-planting, however, but proved a real
benefactor of mankind by founding cities, and by introducing more
civilised manners and a more pleasant and sociable mode of life among
men. On such as refused his favours his wrath fell with dreadful effect.
Agave, the mother of the Theban king Pentheus, who had refused to
receive him, and the rest of the Theban women, were driven mad by him;
and in their frenzy they mistook the king for a wild boar and tore him
to pieces.
[Illustration: Fig. 36.—Dionysus and Lion. From the Monument of
Lysicrates.]
The most celebrated among the myths which testify to the wondrous power
of Dionysus is the story of the punishment of the Tyrrhenian pirates. On
the occasion of his passage from Icaria to Naxos, these pirates put
Dionysus in chains, purposing to take him to Italy, and there sell him
as a slave. At a nod from the youthful god the chains fell from his
limbs; he appeared as a lion, while a bear was seen at the other end of
the ship. Vines and ivy tendrils wound themselves round the mast and
sails of the ship, which stood still, whilst the strains of the nymphs
burst forth. The sailors, terrified by the transformation of the god,
leaped overboard, and were changed into dolphins. A fine representation,
in relief, of this scene still exists on the monument of Lysicrates, at
Athens. The most beautiful feature in it is the figure of the god
playing with his lion in the most joyous unconsciousness (Fig. 36). With
the name of Naxos, which was a chief seat of his worship, is connected
the celebrated story of his marriage with Ariadne, the daughter of
Minos, king of Crete. The Attic hero, Theseus, after escaping the
dangers of the Labyrinth by her means, had taken her away with him from
Crete in order to marry her. He deserted her, however, whilst asleep on
the island of Naxos, either of his own accord or because warned of the
god in a dream. The indescribable anguish and consternation of Ariadne,
on awaking to find herself alone and deserted on a foreign strand, was
only equalled by her joyous surprise when Bacchus, returning from his
travels in India, found her and made her his bride. The poets, indeed,
do not relate that Zeus then bestowed on her that immortality which he
had already given his son on account of his glorious achievements and
extraordinary merit toward mankind; but such appears to have been the
popular tradition. At Athens a sort of harvest thanksgiving was
celebrated in honour of both Dionysus and his bride, at which vines with
the grapes on them were borne in solemn procession through the streets
of the city.
The worship of Dionysus extended not only over the whole of Greece, but
also to Italy, Asia Minor, Thrace, and Macedonia, and to every place
where the vine was cultivated by the Greeks. The god was extolled as
Lyæus, the deliverer from care, and great festivals were instituted in
his honour, which were of a disorderly character, but very popular among
the common people. At the time of the winter solstice there was
mourning, because at this season the vine seemed to die away, and the
god was believed to be suffering persecution at the hands of the evil
spirits of winter, and obliged to flee in consequence to the sea or
lower world. It was, therefore, thought right to suffer with him, and
people manifested their grief at his disappearance by every kind of wild
gesture. At the winter festivals of Dionysus, which were celebrated
every other year, only women and girls took part. The festivals of the
god at the beginning of spring, when the new wine was tasted for the
first time, were purely festivals of gladness, like the greater Dionysia
at Athens. On these occasions the reawakening of nature was celebrated
with boundless joy and boisterous mirth. All kinds of jokes and
mischievous pranks were indulged in, and festive processions and
theatrical performances followed each other in quick succession.
The following festivals were celebrated at Athens in honour of
Dionysus:—
1. The _Lesser_ or _Rural Dionysia_. This was the vintage festival
proper, which did not take place in Attica till the end of November or
beginning of December, because they liked to let the grapes hang as long
as possible. A he-goat was first solemnly sacrificed to the god; this
was followed by a festive procession bearing the sacred things, and the
festival concluded with all kinds of country amusements, dancing,
masquerading, and revelling. The chief amusement of the young men was
dancing on the leather bag. Out of the skin of the slaughtered goat was
made a leather bag, which was inflated and smeared with oil: the young
men then attempted to dance on it.
2. The _Lenæa_, or feast of the wine-press, was celebrated in the month
of January at Athens, in the place where, according to an old tradition,
the first wine-press had stood. Here stood the Lenæon, one of the two
chief temples of the god. The chief feature of the festival was a
magnificent procession with the sacred symbols of the god. This was
followed by a great banquet, the viands for which were furnished by the
city of Athens. The new wine which was drunk on these occasions did not
tend to diminish the hilarity of the worshippers, so that all kinds of
mischievous jokes were perpetrated.
[Illustration:
Fig. 37.—The so-called Sardanapalus in the Vatican.]
3. The _Anthesteria_ were celebrated in February, on the 11th, 12th, and
13th days of the month Anthesterion. They were supposed to commemorate
the return of Dionysus from the lower world, or, in other words, the
reawakening of nature from the sleep of winter. The first day was called
πιθοιγία (cask-opening), because on this day the new wine was first
broached. The second and chief day of the festival was called χόες
(cups). A procession and a great banquet took place, at which the guests
were crowned with flowers. Many liberties were permitted to the slaves
on this occasion, as at the Roman Saturnalia. The third day was called
χύτροι (pots), because vessels were displayed filled with all kinds of
boiled vegetables. These were regarded in the light of offerings for the
souls of the dead, who were popularly supposed to revisit the upper
world on this occasion.
[Illustration:
Fig. 38.—Youthful Dionysus. From the Chateau Richelieu, now in the
Louvre.]
4. The _Greater_ or _City Dionysia_ formed the chief festival of the
god, and the proper spring-feast of the Athenians. It was celebrated
with extraordinary splendour in the month of March, and lasted several
days, bringing together a vast concourse of strangers from all parts.
The city, renowned alike for the refined artistic taste and the keen wit
of its inhabitants, then donned its holiday garb, and innumerable merry
antics were played by the crowds assembled in the streets and squares.
The chief feature of the festival was a solemn procession, in which an
old wooden statue of the god was borne through the streets. There were
likewise banquets and comic processions in masks, and grand
representations of new comedies and tragedies. The proceedings concluded
with the presentation of prizes to the successful competitors.
The Italian nationalities likewise celebrated a festival on the 17th of
March, called the Liberalia, in honour of Liber, or Liber Pater, the
Italian god of the vine. It was distinguished throughout by the simple
countrified character of the proceedings, and resembled the Lesser
Dionysia of the inhabitants of Attica. People amused themselves with all
kinds of jokes and antics, and with masquerades, the masks for which
were cut from the bark of trees. The chief object of the festival was to
pray for the fertility of the vines. These innocent festivals had
nothing to do with the voluptuous Bacchanalia which were afterwards
introduced into Rome in imitation of the Greek mysteries, and which the
most rigorous interference of the authorities was unable to suppress.
If we try to conceive briefly the significance of the worship of
Dionysus in the religion of the ancients, we shall find that in his
primitive character the god was a personification of the active,
productive power of nature. As Demeter was supposed to give corn and the
other fruits of the field, so Dionysus was supposed to give the fruits
of trees, and especially of the vine. He was likewise regarded as the
author of the blessings of civilisation, so that, on this point, he
supplements the idea of the great culture-goddess Demeter, with whom,
both among the Greeks and Romans, he had many temples and festivals in
common. Looking at his character from another side, we find him coming
into contact with Apollo, since he was supposed not only to endow men
with a kindly, cheerful disposition, but also to inspire them with a
love of music, on which account he was honoured with Apollo as the
friend and leader of the Muses.
[Illustration:
Fig. 39.—Marble Head of Youthful Dionysus at Leyden.]
Artistic representations of Dionysus have come down to us on
numerous monuments. In earlier art he was generally depicted as
majestic and grave, and on that account represented with a beard. We
have given an instance of this earlier conception in the so-called
Sardanapalus of the Vatican (Fig. 37). In later art he became more
youthful, and was characterised by a delicate roundness of form. The
statues of this period are distinguished by the almost feminine
expression of face with which they endow the god, as well as by the
rounded limbs and the graceful ease of every attitude. The statue of
a youthful Dionysus in the Louvre at Paris is an instance of this
later mode of conception (Fig. 38). So likewise is the head of
Dionysus at Leyden, which is distinguished by a sweet expression of
reverie. His soft hair, which falls about his shoulders in delicate
ringlets, is generally intertwined with a garland of vine leaves or
ivy (Fig. 39). The other attributes of the god are the thyrsus, or
Bacchic wand, the diadem, the skin of a wild beast falling across
his chest, which often forms his sole clothing, and the drinking-cup
in his hand. He is generally accompanied by lions, tigers, or
panthers; and the bull and ram, as the symbols of fertility, were
held sacred to him, while the latter was also his usual sacrifice.
Among plants, besides the vine and the ivy, the laurel was held
sacred to him on account of its powers of inspiration.
[Illustration: Fig. 40.—Sleeping Ariadne. Vatican.]
[Illustration: Fig. 41.—Dannecker’s Ariadne. Frankfort-on-the-Main.]
Of all the prominent personages in the stories of Dionysus, Ariadne
has received most attention at the hands of the sculptor. The most
celebrated of such ancient monuments is a marble figure of great
beauty, larger than life, representing the sleeping Ariadne. It is
now preserved in the Vatican Museum at Rome (Fig. 40). Among the
productions of modern sculptors, the Ariadne of Dannecker, at
Frankfort-on-the-Main, which represents her as the bride of Theseus,
riding on a panther, justly enjoys a very high reputation (Fig. 41).
=4. The Nymphs.=—We now come to a class of inferior terrestrial
divinities who are often found in the train of Bacchus. The most
numerous and important of these are the Nymphs. They personify the
restless activity and energy of nature, over the whole of which their
power extends. They manifest their presence in the murmuring, rippling
streams and brooks, as well as in the sprouting vegetation of wood and
meadow. They are tender, graceful maidens, who, though kindly disposed
towards men, yet avoid human habitations, and prefer the peaceful
solitude of the woods and mountains, where they lead a merry, joyous
life among the clefts and grottoes.
Sometimes they devote themselves to useful pursuits, and spin and weave;
sometimes they engage in graceful dances, and sing merry songs, or bathe
their delicate limbs in the white spray of lonely brooks. They gladly
join the train of those superior deities supposed to preside in the
realms of nature. Thus we see them joining in the Bacchic revelry with
Dionysus, or figuring in the train of Aphrodite, or ranging field and
wood as they hunt in the company of Artemis.
According to the divisions of nature, over which the Nymphs were
supposed to preside, we may distinguish the following classes:—
1. The _Water-Nymphs_, to whom, in their wider signification, the
Oceanids and Nereids also belong. Here, however, we have only to deal
with the water-nymphs of the brooks and fountains of the land, who are
distinguished by the name of _Naiads_. As the kindly nourishers of
plants, and as thereby ministering indirectly to the sustenance of both
man and beast, they enjoyed a large measure of veneration among the
ancients, although, being inferior deities, they could claim no temples
of their own. Like the sea-nymphs, they possessed the gift of prophecy,
and appear as the patrons of poetry and song.
_2. Nymphs of the Mountains_, or _Oreads_, to whom belong the nymphs of
the valleys and glens (Napææ). These were very numerous, and received
special names from the particular mountains or districts they inhabited.
The most celebrated among them was the Bœotian nymph Echo. She was
consumed by love for the beautiful youth Narcissus, a son of the
river-god Cephisus, and finding that he did not reciprocate her
affection, she pined away in ever-increasing grief, until at length her
emaciated frame was changed into rock, and nothing but her voice
remained. But Aphrodite avenged this injury to her sex on Narcissus, who
had in his vain self-love thus contemned the beautiful nymph. As he was
hunting one day on Mount Helicon, he bent down to quench his thirst from
a spring clear as crystal, and the goddess caused him to fall in love
with his own shadow, which was reflected in the water. The object of his
desires being unattainable, he too pined away from grief, and the flower
named after him has ever since continued an emblem of heartless beauty.
3. The _Dryads_, or _Hamadryads_ (wood-nymphs). These appear to have
been a conception of later times. It was supposed that their existence
depended on that of the trees they inhabited, so that when the latter
were destroyed the nymphs also perished. Not sharing immortality,
therefore, they cannot properly be reckoned among the gods.
The veneration of nymphs was very ancient in Greece, and was thence
transferred to Rome. Goats, lambs, milk, and oil were offered to them.
In art they are depicted as lovely maidens, generally only slightly
clad, and adorned with flowers and garlands. The Naiads are also
represented as drawing water, or with attributes relating to their
element.
=5. The Satyrs.=—In contrast to the Nymphs, or female personifications
of the life of Nature, we find a number of inferior wood and
water-deities of the male sex, called Satyrs, Sileni, and Panes, between
whom it is difficult to distinguish clearly. Generally by Satyrs (Fauni)
we understand the wood and mountain-spirits proper, who are inseparably
connected with Dionysus, whose attendant train they form. Coarse
sensuality and a wanton spirit of mischief are the leading features of
their character. On account of their animal propensities they were
fabled to be only half human in appearance, with blunt noses and
otherwise ignoble features, bristling hair, goat-like ears, and a goat’s
tail. Like the Muses, they love music and dancing, their instruments
being the Syrinx and the flute, together with cymbals and castanets.
Like their master, they were passionately addicted to excessive
indulgence in wine; but whereas in the former this produced only a
rapturous enthusiasm and an exalted frame of mind, with them its effects
were purely sensual, and excited them to insane and unseemly pranks of
all kinds.
[Illustration:
Fig. 42.—Head of Satyr. Munich Sculpture Gallery.]
The Satyrs were not an uncommon subject of representation among
ancient artists. The conception was based on the original hideous
half-man, half-animal type; and in art, as well as in poetry, the
blunt nose, the pointed ears, and the goat’s tail form their
characteristic features. The Bacchic insignia of a band round the
brow and an ivy garland also belong to them. There are some
particularly fine antique statues of satyrs in the art-collections
of Munich and Rome.
The engraving (Fig. 42) shows the highly-expressive face of a satyr
in the Munich collection.
=6. Silenus.=—Silenus, according to the common tradition, was an old
satyr who tended and brought up Dionysus, and afterwards became the
faithful companion of his wanderings. He is depicted by the poets as a
somewhat elderly man, with blunt nose and bald head, hairy chest and
thighs, and a stomach so large that he can scarcely walk. He generally
appears riding on an ass in front of the Bacchic company, with a satyr
on either side supporting his half-drunken form.
The artists of antiquity seem to have devoted themselves frequently
to the subject of Silenus. They either represented him as the nurse
and preceptor of the youthful Bacchus, holding the child in his arms
and regarding him with a look of affection, in which the comic
element is entirely lacking, or they present him to us as the
insatiable but good-natured wine-bibber. His standing attribute is
the wine-skin, besides which, like other members of the Bacchic
train, he bears a thyrsus and ivy garland.
Besides Silenus, who was celebrated as the preceptor of Dionysus, there
was a whole tribe of Sileni. Whether this is due to the fact that the
older satyrs were called Sileni, or whether they form a special class of
deities presiding over the flowing, gushing water, cannot be determined
with any certainty.
Among the Sileni were two personages who play a part in the story of
Dionysus. These were Marsyas and Midas. The former, like all satyrs, was
an accomplished master of the flute, and challenged Apollo to a trial of
skill which proved fatal to him. The conditions of the contest were that
he who was vanquished should put himself entirely in the power of his
adversary. Apollo won, and made a cruel use of his victory by hanging
Marsyas on a pine tree and flaying him alive.
Midas was the mythic founder of the kingdom of Phrygia, in Asia Minor,
whither he had emigrated from Macedonia. Tradition makes him a son of
Cybele, and, as her favourite, endowed with fabulous wealth. But, like
many of the sons of men in the present day, the richer he grew the
greater was his thirst for gold, until it betrayed him at length into an
act of great folly. One day, the drunken Silenus strayed from the
company of Bacchus into the garden of Midas. The latter received him
with great hospitality, and after entertaining him sumptuously for ten
days brought him to Bacchus. Pleased with his kindness, the god rewarded
him with the gratification of any wish he might make. Midas now wished
that everything he touched might turn to gold. Naturally the
gratification of this wish well-nigh proved his ruin; and he only
escaped by washing, at the command of the god, in the river Pactolus,
which has ever since washed down gold in its sands. A later fable makes
Midas the judge in the rivalry of Apollo and Pan, on which occasion he
decided in favour of the latter, for which the god changed his ears into
those of an ass. Modern criticism has seen in the rich Midas one of the
many personifications of the sun, who, as he rises over the earth, turns
all things to gold.
=7. Greek and Roman Wood-Spirits.=—_1. Pan._—Pan was a very ancient god
of the woods and meadows. He was at first honoured only by the
inhabitants of the mountain-land of Arcadia and by other pastoral
tribes. Subsequently his divinity was more generally acknowledged and
more highly esteemed. Common accounts make him the son of Hermes by the
nymph Penelope, a daughter of Dryops. His mother was not a little
terrified at his birth, since he was hairy all over, and had horns and
goat’s feet. His father wrapped him in a hare-skin, and bore him to
Olympus, where the assembled gods showed no small pleasure at the sight
of the strange little wood-demon. From time immemorial Pan was regarded
by the shepherds of Greece as their most doughty protector; for which
reason the mountain caves in which they gathered their herds together at
night, or in threatening weather, were held sacred to him. There were
many such caves of Pan in the mountains of Arcadia, and also one at the
foot of the Acropolis at Athens, besides others on Mount Parnassus in
Bœotia, and elsewhere. Pan was esteemed a god of great cheerfulness and
activity of character, who loved to range the woods as a huntsman, and
was on this account regarded with little less veneration by huntsmen
than by shepherds. He was also looked on as the patron of fishing and
bee-keeping.
As the god of shepherds, Pan was also a lover of music, and on returning
in the evening from the chase, says the Homeric story, he was wont to
play sweet tunes on his pan-pipe (Syrinx), whilst the Oreads, or
mountain-nymphs, sang the praises of the gods and led off their spirited
dances. The poets have founded a story on his discovery of the Syrinx.
They invented a fabulous nymph called Syrinx, with whom Pan was supposed
to have fallen violently in love. The nymph, however, did not return his
affection, and fled from his embraces. Pan pursued her, and in her
extremity she sought the aid of Gæa, who transformed her into a reed.
Out of this reed Pan, by joining seven pieces together, made an
instrument which he called the Syrinx, after the nymph.
Pan was as passionately fond of dancing as of music. According to
Pindar, he was the most accomplished dancer among the gods. His
favourite amusement was to dance in company with the mountain-nymphs, on
which occasions he regaled them with every kind of droll leap, in the
performance of which his goat’s feet stood him in good stead.
As a wood-deity, Pan also possessed the gift of prophecy; indeed,
according to some, it was he who first imparted this gift to Apollo. He
certainly had a very ancient oracle at Acacesium in Arcadia.
Wild mountainous country and the thick untrodden forest are both alike
apt to impress the lonely traveller with feelings of awe. All such
sensations of sudden and unaccountable fear were ascribed to Pan
(Panic). He was also said to delight in terrifying travellers with all
kinds of strange noises. Hence, at a later period, arose the story that
in the contest with the Titans he rendered good service to Zeus by
blowing on a shell trumpet which he had invented, whereupon the Titans
were seized with a sudden terror. This, however, is only another version
of Triton’s services at the battle with the giants. It is well known
that the Athenians introduced the worship of Pan, to which they had been
hitherto strangers, into their city after the battle of Marathon, in
consequence of the assistance which they believed they had received from
the god.
Such are the more ancient and simple features of the character of Pan.
He assumed a higher significance when men began to regard him as the
companion of the “Mighty Mother,” and assigned him a place in the
Bacchic circle. Men now saw in him a productive force of nature like the
Phrygian Attis; indeed, in consequence of a misinterpretation of his
name, he was made the creator and god of the universe. He seems to have
originally signified the “purifying” breeze, which at one time whistled
through the reeds, or at another moaned dismally in the forest,
frightening the belated traveller.
After he had once been introduced into the company of Dionysus, poets
and artists alike set themselves to work to invent a number of Panes and
little Pans (Panisci), who were easily confounded with the Satyrs and
Sileni.
The chief shrine of Pan was at Acacesium in Arcadia. Cows, goats, and
sheep were sacrificed to him, besides offerings of milk, honey, and new
wine.
[Illustration: Fig. 43.—Pan. From a Mural Painting at Herculaneum.]
In art we must distinguish the earlier and later types of the god.
In the former, which dates from the best days of Greek art, he is
conceived as entirely human in appearance, with the exception of two
sprouting horns on either side of the forehead. Later, he was
depicted with larger horns, a long goat’s beard, and goat’s feet. We
give an engraving of this later conception (Fig. 43), which is taken
from a mural painting at Naples. The usual attributes of Pan are a
Syrinx and shepherd’s crook, sometimes also a pine garland.
_2. Silvanus._—Among the Roman wood-deities, Silvanus occupies a
position most akin to that of Pan, although they are not exactly
identical. His name, derived from _silva_ (wood), points him out as the
god of the forest, where he was supposed to dwell, a deity kindly
disposed towards mankind, and propitious to the welfare of trees,
plants, and cattle. At times, however, he appears, like Pan, as a
mischievous sprite, who delights to trick and terrify the lonely
traveller. His sphere of activity was not confined to the woods, since
he was also regarded as the author of fruitfulness in gardens and
orchards. In this character Silvanus bears a close resemblance to
Terminus, the god of boundaries and landed property, inasmuch as he
preserves fields, gardens, and houses from harm. The first of the fruits
of the field were offered to him. He had two shrines in Rome, one on the
Viminal and another on the Aventine.
Artists and poets agree in representing Silvanus as an old man with
a rustic head-gear, scattering blooming lilies and other flowers. He
is usually distinguished by a pruning-knife.
_3. Faunus and Fauna._—Closely resembling Silvanus is another deity
called Faunus, one of the most ancient national gods of Italy. He
appears as the good spirit of the mountains, pastures, and plains. He
was regarded by the shepherds as their best protector, since he made
their cattle fruitful and drove off noxious beasts of prey. In the
former character he was also called Inuus (the fertiliser); in the
latter Lupercus (the warder-off of wolves).
Like Pan, he appears to have his seat in the woods, whence he sometimes
terrifies and annoys travellers. At night, too, he creeps into men’s
houses, and torments them with evil dreams and horrible apparitions
(Incubus).
Like Pan, too, Faunus possessed the gift of prophecy, and answered both
by direct revelations and by dreams. In this character he was called
Fatuus, and had a celebrated oracle in the grove at Tibur, on the spring
Albunea.
Having once invented a number of Fauns, the poets soon began to identify
them with the Satyrs of the Greeks.
In honour of this decidedly national deity, different festivals were
celebrated, at which rams were sacrificed and libations of wine and milk
made. The Faunalia were celebrated on the Nones of December, on which
occasion the guests at the festive board surrendered themselves to the
most unrestrained mirth, and granted many liberties also to their
slaves. The Lupercalia, however, formed the proper expiatory festival of
Faunus. This festival was celebrated on the 15th of February, and was
remarkable for the number of ancient customs which were observed. The
chief of these was the course of the Luperci, or priests of Faunus, who,
after making their offering, ran from the shrine of the god (Lupercal),
on the Palatine, through the streets of Rome, their only clothing being
an apron cut from the skin of the slaughtered animal. They struck all
whom they met with thongs, also cut from the same blood-stained skin.
Barren women placed themselves in the way of the Luperci, believing that
by means of the strokes the reproach of barrenness would be taken away
from them. As a day of atonement, this day was termed _dies februatus_
(from _februare_, to purify), whence the name of the month.
The feminine counterpart of Faunus, though not his wife, was Fauna, a
propitious, kindly goddess of the plains. She is also called Maia, or
Bona Dea. The women made an offering to her every year at night, on
which occasion males were strictly excluded.
In art Faunus bears exactly the same appearance as Pan, with whom,
indeed, he was often identified.
=8. Priapus.=—The worship of Priapus, the god of fields and gardens,
appears to have been long of a purely local character, confined
principally to the districts on the Hellespont, since he is not even
mentioned by earlier writers. He was the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite,
and presided over the exuberant fertility of nature. He was supposed to
exercise influence over the fruitfulness of flocks and herds, whilst
fishing and the rearing of bees were also placed under his protection.
His special sphere, however, was the protection of gardens and
vineyards. Asses were sacrificed to him, a fact which gave rise to all
sorts of comical stories relating to the hostility of Priapus to this
animal. Besides this, he received the first fruits of the garden and
field and drink-offerings of milk and honey. The worship of Priapus was
introduced into Italy at the same time as that of Aphrodite, and he was
identified with the native Mutunus.
This deity was scarcely noticed in higher art. In the gardens of
Italy, however, rough-hewn pillars of wood, similar to those of
Hermes, were erected in his honour. He is usually distinguished by a
pruning-knife and club.
=9. Saturnus and Ops.=—Before passing to Demeter, or Ceres, the great
goddess of civilisation, to whom by Greeks and Romans alike the
blessings of the harvest were ascribed, and who forms the best link
between the gods of the upper and lower worlds, we must pause to
consider some gods of agriculture and cattle-rearing peculiar to the
Romans. Among them are Saturn and Ops, who belong to the most ancient
national deities of Italy. To Saturn was ascribed the introduction of
agriculture, together with the cultivation of the vine and other fruits.
He was, therefore, venerated as the great benefactor of mankind, who not
only promoted the physical welfare of men, but who also introduced a
higher standard of civilisation. After the Romans had become acquainted
with the mythology of the Greeks, they identified him with Cronus. In
consequence of this, the story arose that, after his dethronement by
Jupiter, Saturn fled to Italy, where he was hospitably received by
Janus. There he is said to have brought together the inhabitants, who
had hitherto wandered about without any fixed homes, and to have united
them in regular political communities, over which he himself ruled. This
was the golden age. In remembrance of the happy age when men were not
yet troubled by sorrow or need, the Saturnalia were celebrated during
three days, beginning from the 17th of December. This festival, which
with changed meaning still continues in the Carnival of the present day,
was celebrated in Rome with particularly great splendour. Unbounded
festivity reigned throughout the whole town, and vented itself in every
description of joke and prank. The distinctions of class were suspended,
the courts and schools kept holiday, and the shops were closed. The
chief day was the 19th of December, which was especially a festive day
for the slaves, for on this day there were practically no slaves in
Rome. No services were required of them, and they were allowed to don
the clothes of their masters and to eat and drink as much as they liked,
whilst their masters waited on them at table. And this custom allowed a
class, otherwise subject to so many afflictions, to forget their sorrows
for at least one day in a year. Wealthy Romans generally kept open house
on this day, and vied with each other in the splendour of their
hospitalities; and of course a solemn sacrifice was made to Saturn. The
woollen bandages which, during the greater part of the year, enveloped
the feet of his statue in order that he might not depart without
vouchsafing a blessing, were on this day unloosed, and throughout the
night the temple was illuminated with wax tapers. This festival, which
was extremely popular among the Romans, was also celebrated with games
in the circus.
The chief temple of Saturn, which was begun by Tarquinius Superbus and
finished in the first years of the Republic, was situated on the ascent
to the Capitol from the Forum. Beneath it was a vault containing the
state treasury, or _ærarium_, the guardianship of the state treasures
being committed to this god as the dispenser of every blessing.
Regarded as the wife of Saturn, and therefore identified with Rhea, Ops
was the goddess of the seed-time and harvest. On this account her
worship was closely connected with that of Saturn, and she had a place
in his temple on the Capitoline. A festival was celebrated in honour of
her on the 25th of August, when the newly-gathered corn was threshed.
When taken together, Saturn and Ops were regarded as deities who
presided over marriage and the education of children, it being an easy
step from the deity of the sprouting, ripening seed, to that of the
budding, thriving season of human life.
Saturn is always represented as an old man, and is generally
distinguished by a pruning-knife or sickle.
=10. Vertumnus and Pomona.=—Vertumnus and Pomona much resemble Saturn
and Ops, the only difference being that the former exert their influence
solely on the growth and welfare of the fruits of the garden and
orchard. Vertumnus properly signifies the self-changing one; referring,
probably, to the manifold changes which the fruit undergoes from the
time of its first appearance in blossom to that of its maturity. For the
same reason the god was said to possess the faculty of assuming any
shape he liked. The first of the flowers and fruits were offered to him.
Pomona, as her name signifies, was the goddess of the fruit harvest, and
called by the poets the wife of Vertumnus. Each deity had a special
priest (flamen), though the latter naturally held only an inferior
position.
In art Vertumnus generally appears as a beautiful youth, his head
crowned with a garland of ears of corn or laurel, with a horn of
plenty, as a symbol of the blessings he bestows, in his right hand.
He is sometimes distinguished by a dish filled with fruit, or a
pruning-knife. Pomona is generally represented as the season of
Autumn, a beautiful maiden with boughs of fruit-trees in her hand.
=11. Flora.=—Among the inferior deities of the plain was Flora, the
goddess of blossoms and flowers, who was held in great honour by the
Sabines, and everywhere in the interior of Italy. Her worship is said to
have been introduced into Rome by Numa, who assigned the goddess a
priest of her own. She attained a higher significance by becoming a
goddess of maternity, whom women invoked before their confinement. Her
festival was celebrated with great rejoicings from the 28th of April to
the 1st of May (Floralia). The doors of the houses were adorned with
flowers, and wreaths were worn in the hair. After the first Punic war,
the festival, which was remarkable throughout for its merry and
tumultuous character, was also celebrated with games, hares and deer
being hunted in the circus.
Artists appear to have represented Flora as the season of Spring, in
the guise of a beautiful girl crowned with flowers. There is a fine
marble statue of this kind, larger than life, in the museum at
Naples, called the Farnese Flora.
=12. Pales.=—Pales was the ancient pastoral goddess of the Italian
tribes, from whom the name Palatine, which originally meant nothing but
a pastoral colony, was derived. She was especially venerated by the
shepherds, who besought her to send fruitfulness and health to their
flocks. A festival in her honour was celebrated on the 21st of April,
the anniversary of the foundation of the city (Palilia), at which very
ancient rustic customs were observed. The most remarkable of these was
the kindling of a large straw fire, through which the shepherds rushed
with their flocks, thinking thus to purify themselves from their sins.
Milk and baked millet-cakes were offered to the goddess. There is no
statue of her now in existence.
=13. Terminus.=—Terminus, although he had nothing to do either with the
welfare of the crops or the fruitfulness of the flocks, may yet be
reckoned among the field deities, as the god who specially presided over
boundaries. All landmarks were held sacred to him, and their erection
was attended with religious ceremonies. In order that his people might
fully appreciate the sanctity of boundaries, King Numa instituted a
special festival in honour of the god, called the Terminalia, and
annually celebrated on the 23rd of February. The proprietors of lands
bordering on each other were wont on this occasion to crown the boundary
stone with garlands, and to make an offering of a flat cake to the god.
In his wider signification Terminus was regarded as the god under whose
protection the boundaries of the state reposed, and in this character he
had a chapel in the temple of Minerva on the Capitol. A statue of the
god also stood in the midst of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which
is explained by the following story:—After Tarquinius had conceived the
plan of building the great temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, the limited
space necessitated the removal of several existing shrines, which could
only occur with the consent of the deities themselves. They all
expressed by means of auguries their readiness to make way for the
highest god of heaven, except Terminus, who refused, and whose shrine
had therefore to be included in the temple of Jupiter.
Statues of Terminus are exactly like the Hermæ of the Greeks, and
have no importance in art.
=14. Demeter (Ceres).=—Demeter was a daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Her
name signifies Mother Earth, and she is, therefore, an expression of the
ancient conception of the earth-goddess, with a special reference to
nature and human civilisation. She was also named Deo, and by comparison
of these two words, her name has been interpreted as Dawn-Mother, from
the same root as Zeus, the sky. The thriving of the crops was ascribed
to her influence; she was further regarded as the patroness of all those
arts which are more or less intimately connected with agriculture, and
which men first learned from her. Demeter thus rises to the rank of a
goddess of civilisation. She rescued men by means of agriculture from
the lower grades of hunters and shepherds, and brought their former rude
and barbarous manners into subjection to law and morality. She thus
becomes that “bountiful daughter of Heaven,” who, as Schiller sings in
his _Lay of the Bell_,
“of old
Called the wild man from waste and wold,
And, in his hut thy presence stealing,
Roused each familiar household feeling;
And, best of all the happy ties,
The centre of the social band,—
The instinct of the Fatherland.”
Regarded in this light, she comes into contact with Dionysus, whose
beneficial influence on human civilisation and manners we have already
described. This accounts for the intimate connection of these two
deities in the Eleusinian mysteries, where Dionysus-Iacchus even appears
as the son of Demeter and the husband of Cora-Persephone. Owing to the
important part she played in the institution of law and order among
mankind, she was venerated as the goddess of marriage, marriage being
the necessary foundation of civil society. She was also regarded as the
tutelary goddess of national assemblies.
Of the numerous legends which are linked with the name of this goddess,
none perhaps is more celebrated, or more pregnant with meaning in regard
to her worship, than the rape of her daughter Persephone, or Cora. The
latter was once playing with the daughters of Oceanus in a flowery
meadow, where they were picking flowers and making garlands. Persephone
happened to quit her companions for a moment to pluck a narcissus she
had perceived, when suddenly the ground opened at her feet, and Pluto,
or Hades, the god of the infernal regions, appeared in a chariot drawn
by snorting horses. Swift as the wind he seized and carried off the
terrified maiden in spite of her struggles, and vanished again into the
regions of darkness before her companions were aware of the catastrophe.
All this occurred, however, with the knowledge of Zeus, who had, unknown
to Demeter, promised her daughter to Pluto. When Demeter missed her
darling child, and none could tell her where she had gone, she kindled
torches, and during many days and nights wandered in anxiety through all
the countries of the earth, not even resting for food or sleep. At
length Helios, who sees and hears everything, told Demeter what had
happened, not disguising, however, that it had occurred with the consent
of Zeus. Full of wrath and grief, the goddess now withdrew from the
society of the other gods into the deepest solitude. Meanwhile all the
fruits of the earth ceased, and a general famine threatened to
extinguish the human race. In vain Zeus sent one messenger after
another, beseeching the angry goddess to return to Olympus. Demeter
swore that she would neither return nor allow the fruits of the earth to
grow until her daughter was restored to her. At length Zeus was fain to
consent, and despatched Hermes to the lower world to bring Persephone
back. Persephone joyfully prepared to obey this command, but as she was
about to depart Hades gave her a pomegranate-seed to eat, whereupon she
found herself bound to him and unable to return. By means of Zeus,
however, a compact was made by which Persephone was to spend two-thirds
of the year in the upper world with her mother, and the remaining
portion with her husband. And thus every year at springtide she ascends
from her subterraneous kingdom to enjoy herself in her mother’s company,
but returns again late in autumn to the regions of darkness and death.
It is not difficult to discover the meaning of this myth. It is simply
an allegorical representation of the spectacle that is annually renewed
before our eyes—the dying away and coming to life again of the vegetable
world. Whilst Cora is dwelling during the winter months in the realms of
Hades, Nature appears to wear a garb of mourning for her lost daughter.
In the Eleusinian mysteries this inevitable decease and resurrection of
the vegetable world was conceived as a symbol of higher meaning, setting
forth the immortality of the soul. Every living being shares the fate of
Cora; every life becomes the prey of cold, inexorable death, only to
arise from the darkness of the grave more beautiful and glorious than
before.
Closely connected with this beautiful and expressive myth is another
which refers to the institution of the Eleusinian mysteries. When
Demeter, after the loss of her daughter, was wandering over the earth in
the guise of a poor old woman, she came to Eleusis. The daughters of
Celeüs, the king of the city, found her sitting on a stone by the
Maidens’ Well as they came thither to draw water, and offered the old
woman service in their father’s house as nurse to their youngest brother
Demophon. The goddess consented, and was kindly received in the house of
Celeüs, where she was at once installed as nurse to the young prince.
She became so fond of the child that she resolved to make him immortal
by anointing him with ambrosia, and then laying him at night in the glow
of the fire. She was discovered at her work, however, by the mother of
the child, whose cries disturbed her, and thus prevented her from
fulfilling her benevolent intention. She now revealed herself to Celeüs,
and commanded him to build her a temple in Eleusis. When it had been
hastily completed, with the help of the goddess, she initiated Celeüs
and some other princes of Eleusis—Triptolemus, Eumolpus, and Diocles—in
the solemn rites of her service. On Triptolemus, who is called the son
of Celeüs, she imposed the task of disseminating a knowledge of
agriculture and of her own worship throughout the earth, and for this
purpose lent him her own chariot and dragons. On this he travelled
through the countries of the earth, making known everywhere the
blessings of agriculture, and uniting men in regular political
communities. He was not well received in all places, and the goddess had
sometimes to step in and punish those who contemned her benefits. Such
was the case with the Scythian king Lynceus and the Thessalian prince
Erysichthon; but at length her cause triumphed, and the worship of the
bountiful goddess spread itself over the whole world.
The chief seat of her worship was the city of Eleusis, which was
beautifully situated on the bay of Salamis. It retained this honour even
after it had lost its independence and come into the possession of the
Athenians. The Eleusinian mysteries were celebrated both here and at
Athens, in honour of Demeter and the deities associated with her. They
probably contained a symbolical history of Cora.
There was a distinction between the greater and lesser mysteries. The
latter were celebrated at Athens in the month of Anthesterion
(February), and were a kind of preparation for the greater mysteries,
which took place in September, and were celebrated during nine days,
partly at Athens and partly at Eleusis. In these secret rites only those
could take part who had been initiated. The chief feature of the
festival was a great and solemn procession on the sixth day from Athens
to Eleusis, a distance of about twelve miles. All those who took part in
it—often as many as 30,000—were crowned with myrtle, and bore torches in
their hands, as the procession started from Athens at the earliest dawn.
The festival of the Thesmophoria, which was celebrated at the beginning
of November, in honour of Demeter in her character of lawgiver and
goddess of marriage, was less important than the Eleusinia. It lasted
for five days, and only married women were allowed to take part in it.
[Illustration: Fig. 44.—Demeter Enthroned. Painting from Pompeii.
Naples.]
The Ceres of the Romans, though undoubtedly an ancient Italian goddess,
was the very counterpart of the Greek Demeter, with whom, after the
successful introduction of her worship during the first years of the
Republic, she was entirely identified.
The chief festival of Ceres and her associate deities, Liber and Libera,
fell on the 19th of April, which, as the proper spring month, was
especially dedicated by the inhabitants of Italy to deities presiding
over agriculture. The Cerealia were opened by a grand procession, in
which every one was clothed in white. It was further celebrated with
solemn sacrifices and games in the circus, the management of which lay
with the plebeian ædiles.
The usual sacrifice, both among Greeks and Romans, was the sow (the
symbol of fruitfulness), but, besides this, cows and the first fruits of
the trees and hives were offered to her.
In the representations of the goddess an expression of lofty dignity
is blended with condescending benevolence and gentleness. Her
principal attributes are a torch, a sheaf of corn, a garland of ears
of corn interwoven in her hair, and a basket filled with flowers at
her side. Among the few antique statues, a large marble figure in
the Capitoline Museum at Rome deserves especial mention. The
engraving (Fig. 44), which is after a Pompeian painting, depicts
Demeter as the bountiful goddess of agriculture. She is seated on a
throne, and holds a torch consisting of two calices in her right
hand, and a bunch of corn in her left.
=15. Persephone (Proserpina).=—In Persephone, the goddess of the lower
world, whom the Athenians preferred to call by her mystic name of Cora,
two distinct conceptions are embodied. On the one hand she appears as
the wife of the dark god of the lower world—like him, a gloomy,
awe-inspiring deity, who pitilessly drags down all that lives into the
hidden depths of the earth; whence the grave is called the chamber of
Persephone. Such is the view of her taken by Homer and later epic poets.
These represent her as sitting enthroned at the side of her grim lord,
the joyless queen of the infernal regions, to dwell in which were worse
than to be a slave on earth. On the other hand she appears as Cora, the
lovely daughter of the all-bountiful Mother Earth; a personification, in
fact, of that never-dying force of nature which, year by year, causes
the most luxuriant vegetation to spring up before our eyes, only,
however, to die away again in the autumn. In a somewhat narrower sense
Persephone may be regarded as a type of the grain, which long remains in
the ground where it has been sown as though dead, but afterwards breaks
forth into new life. It was only natural to associate with this last
conception ideas of the immortality of the soul, of which, in the secret
doctrines of the mysteries, Persephone was a symbol. Though we know but
little concerning the details of the mysteries, we are yet aware that
their chief object was to disseminate better and purer ideas of a future
life than the popular faith of the Greeks afforded. It was commonly
believed that the souls of men after death led a dull, miserable
existence in the world of shadows. Those initiated in the mysteries,
however, were taught that death was only a resurrection of the soul to a
brighter and better life, on the condition, of course, that a man had
fully pleased the gods and rendered himself worthy of such a happy lot.
Persephone, or Proserpina, as she is called in Latin, was a deity
originally entirely strange to the Romans, who borrowed all their ideas
of the lower world from the Greeks. Nevertheless, they identified her
with Libera, an ancient rustic goddess of fertility, the feminine
counterpart of Liber, under which name she signifies the same as the
Greek Cora. Black, barren cows were sacrificed to Persephone as an
infernal goddess, but she does not appear to have had any temples of her
own.
[Illustration: Fig. 45.—Persephone Enthroned. Painting from Pompeii.
Naples.]
Persephone is of no great importance in art, and statues of her are
rare. She is represented either as the fair daughter of Demeter, or
as the grave, severe queen of the world of shadows. In the latter
character she may generally be recognised by her sceptre and diadem.
Her other attributes are ears of corn, a poppy, and a torch, as a
symbol of her connection with the Eleusinian mysteries, besides the
pomegranate and narcissus. The engraving (Fig. 45), after a painting
in the Naples Museum, represents her as the Stygian queen.
=16. Hades (Pluto).=—The same twofold nature which we meet with in
Persephone may be observed also in her husband, Hades, or Aïdoneus (the
invisible), as he is called by the epic poets, on account of the
mysterious gloom in which his kingdom as well as his person was
enveloped. He first appears as the unrelenting, inexorable foe of human
life, on whom one cannot even think without fear and trembling. For this
reason, says Homer, “he is of all the gods the most detested among
mortals.” This conception, however, was subsequently supplanted by one
of a less dismal nature, in which the other side of his character is
brought into prominence. From this point of view he is represented not
only as sending nourishment to plants from the deep bosom of the earth,
but also as offering unbounded riches to mankind in the shape of the
precious metals which lie in his subterraneous passages and chambers. In
this sense he was also called Pluto, or Pluteus—that is, the god of
riches.
Hades belonged to the earliest deities of Greece, being, like Poseidon,
a brother of Zeus. When the three brothers partitioned the universe
among themselves, Hades received the dark regions of the earth as his
exclusive kingdom, the portals of which he was said to keep closed, in
order that no soul might return to the upper world without his consent.
He was also termed Polydectes (the receiver of many), from the fact of
his seizing on all men, without distinction, at their appointed time,
and conveying them to his dismal realms. The ideas which men first
entertained, as to the mode in which Hades exercised his power over
mortals, exactly corresponded with their grim conception of the god. He
was looked on as a powerful and dreaded robber, who, as in the case of
Persephone, seizes on his prey and carries it off with his swift horses.
Later, a milder conception of the god was introduced. The task of
carrying the souls of the dead to the lower world was delegated to
Hermes, who thus became a servant of Pluto, the Zeus of the infernal
regions, just as he was otherwise a servant of the Zeus of heaven. But
though the original dismal conception of this deity as the inexorable
god of death was much diminished in course of time, yet Hades,
nevertheless, always conveyed an idea of something grim and mysterious
to the Greek mind; which is perhaps the reason why so few myths, beyond
that of the rape of Proserpina, were circulated concerning him. He can,
in fact, scarcely be said to have had a place in the public worship of
the Greeks.
[Illustration:
Fig. 46.—Head of Hades. Palazzo Chigi. Rome.]
The Roman conception of this deity differed little from that of the
Greeks, having been, in fact, borrowed entirely from a Greek source. By
them he was called Pluto, or Pater Dis. He had no temple in Rome, but
had, in common with Proserpina, a subterranean altar in the Campus
Martius, which was uncovered and used once a-year. Only black animals
were sacrificed to him.
Artists naturally hesitated to portray a being whose very name they
feared to pronounce, and consequently antique statues of Hades are
very rare. His characteristic features—a grim expression of
countenance, tightly-closed lips, and long tangled hair—are embodied
in a marble head, in the possession of Prince Chigi at Rome, of
which we give an engraving (Fig. 46). His principal attributes are a
sceptre, a votive bowl, and sometimes a two-pronged fork, or a key.
=17. The Lower World.=—To our consideration of Hades we must add some
remarks on the ideas which the ancient Greeks and Romans had of the
other life and of the abodes of the dead. It may be well to remark, at
the outset, that the Romans do not originally appear to have believed in
a kingdom of the dead in the interior of the earth, and that all their
ideas on this subject were borrowed from the writings of the Greeks.
Neither do their ideas on this subject, nor even those of the Greeks,
appear to have been invariably the same at all times. Even in the poetry
of Homer we come across two very different views as to the situation of
the realms of the dead. According to that which we find in the _Iliad_,
it was situated beneath the disc-shaped earth, only a thin layer
separating it from the upper world. This is made evident on the occasion
of the great battle of the gods in the 20th book, where we read—
“Pluto, the infernal monarch, heard alarmed,
And, springing from his throne, cried out in fear,
Lest Neptune, breaking through the solid earth,
To mortals and immortals should lay bare
His dark and drear abode of gods abhorred.”
According to another view which prevails in the _Odyssey_, the world of
shadows was not situated beneath the earth, but lay far to the westward,
on the other side of Oceanus, or on an island in the same; so indefinite
and vague were men’s ideas as to the locality of the kingdom of death in
the time of Homer, and so undeveloped were their conceptions as to the
lives of departed souls. The lower world appears as a desolate, dismal
region, where departed spirits lead a shadowy, dreamy existence, to
reach which is no happiness. There is no difference in their lots; for
we as yet hear nothing of the judgment of the dead. The Elysian fields,
to which the special favourites of the gods were transferred, form no
part of the lower world in Homer, but were supposed to lie in an
entirely distinct region in the far West (the isles of the blest). Later
on, the outlines of the lower world become more clearly defined. It was
now supposed to be a region in the centre of the earth, with several
passages to and from the upper world. Through it flowed several
rivers—Cocytus, Pyriphlegethon, Acheron, and Styx. The last of these
encompassed the lower world several times, and could only be crossed by
the aid of Charon, the ferryman, who was depicted as a sullen old man
with a bristling beard. The Greeks therefore used to place an obolus
(small copper coin) in the mouths of their dead, in order that the soul
might not be turned back by Charon for lack of money. On the farther
side of the river the portals were watched by the dreadful hell-hound
Cerberus, a three-headed monster, who refused no one entrance, but
allowed none to leave the house of Pluto. All souls, on reaching the
lower world, had to appear before the tribunal of Minos, Rhadamanthus,
and Æacus. Those whose lives had been upright were then permitted to
enter Elysium, where they led a life of uninterrupted bliss; whilst
those who on earth had been criminal and wicked were consigned to
Tartarus, where they were tormented by the Furies and other evil
spirits. Those whose lives had not been distinctly good or bad remained
in the asphodel meadow, where as dim shadows they passed a dull, joyless
existence.
The punishments of great criminals in the infernal regions were a
fruitful theme for the imagination of the poets. The most celebrated
criminals were Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus, Ixion, and the Danaids. We
have said that the idea of the judgment of the dead is not found in the
earliest legends. Hence we must expect to find, in some cases, that the
crimes supposed to have drawn down the wrath of the gods were either
later inventions, or had very little connection with the punishment
inflicted. Thus to take the case of Tantalus, the original idea appears
to have been the burning sun looking upon sweet fruits and streams of
water, and drying them up instead of being able to enjoy them. It is
possible that another part of the legend, the offering of his children
for the gods of heaven to eat, may have a similar origin. So the story
of Sisyphus seems to point to the sun daily toiling up the steep hill of
heaven, yet ever obliged to recommence his weary task. So the name Ixion
seems to be derived from a word meaning wheel, and to be yet another
allusion to the orb of day. As men began to forget the reality
underlying these words, and to think that some real person suffered
these woes, it was only natural that they should try to find a reason.
Generally, perhaps always, some point in the story could be twisted into
a crime deserving of punishment (compare the legend of Œdipus). The
punishment of Tityus, who had offered violence to Leto, consisted in
being chained to the earth, whilst two vultures continually gnawed at
his ever-growing liver. Tantalus, the ancestor of the Atridæ, Agamemnon
and Menelaus, had been deemed worthy to hold intercourse with the gods,
until he thought fit to put their omniscience to the test by setting
before them the flesh of his son Pelops. This crime he was condemned to
expiate by the torments of continual hunger and thirst. Above his head
were suspended the most beautiful fruits; but when he attempted to
snatch them, a gust of wind blew them beyond his reach. At his feet
flowed a stream of the purest water; but when he tried to quench his
thirst, it suddenly vanished into the ground. Sisyphus, formerly king of
Corinth, had provoked the wrath of the gods by his numerous crimes, and
was condemned, in consequence, to roll a block of stone up a high
mountain, which, on reaching the top, always rolled down again to the
plain. Ixion, a not less insolent offender, was bound hand and foot to
an ever-revolving wheel. Lastly, the Danaids, or daughters of Danaus,
who, at their father’s command, had slain their husbands on the wedding
night, were condemned to pour water continually into a cask full of
holes, which could never be filled.
=18. The Erinyes (Furiæ).=—The Erinyes, or Furies, were denizens of the
lower world, who executed the commands of Hades and Persephone. They
were ultimately three in number, and their names were Tisiphone, Alecto,
and Megæra; and this number, like that of the Graces, the Fates, and
others, is due to the fact that the Greeks expressed any undefined
number by the sacred numeral three. In their original signification they
appear as the avengers of every violation, either on the part of gods or
men, of the moral laws of the universe. When, at a later period, the
idea of an avenging Nemesis had become more and more developed, the
significance of the Erinyes diminished, and their avenging duties were
confined to the family.
As the inexorable pursuers of every injury done to the sacred ties of
blood—especially the murder of kindred—they received a much greater
degree of attention at the hands of the Greek tragic poets, by whom they
were frequently brought on the stage. The pictures thus drawn of the
relentless activity of the Erinyes are both powerful and striking.
Nothing can equal the keen scent with which they trace the crime, or the
untiring speed with which they pursue the criminal. As a symbol of this
latter quality, the poets have endowed them with brazen feet. Their
appearance is wan and Gorgon-like; wild lust for blood is written in
their features, and the serpents which twine round their heads in the
place of hair deal out destruction and death on their unhappy victims.
Flight avails them nought, for there is no region whither the avenging
Furies cannot follow, no distance that they cannot compass. With torch
swung on high they dog the steps of the unhappy wretch, like swift
huntresses following in the track of their hard-pressed game, and never
rest until they have driven him to madness and death.
What, then, was the origin of the belief in these dreadful beings? Two
explanations have been given, and in each case we shall see in them the
powers of nature. Whether we are to look upon them as the storm-clouds
darting lightnings upon the criminal, or as the bright dawn rising over
the earth and pointing out his hiding-place, we must recognise the idea
of the punishment of sin, inflicted by the powers of heaven. If, as
seems most probable (_cf._ the genealogy given them by Æschylus and
Sophocles), we are to take the latter explanation, we shall have some
reason for the names of “kindly” and “venerable,” applied to them by the
Greeks, partly, no doubt, owing to the ancient custom of avoiding words
of ill-omen. Yet poetical mythology treated this as a transformation of
their nature, and associated it with a special event, namely, the
institution of the Areopagus at Athens, and the purification of the
matricide Orestes effected by this venerable court. The story relates
that Orestes, after having slain his mother Clytæmnestra and her
infamous paramour Ægisthus, in revenge for the murder of his father
Agamemnon, wandered for a long time about the earth in a state bordering
on madness, owing to the persecution of the Erinyes. At length, however,
he was befriended by Apollo and Athene, the kindly deities of the
luminous Æther. Apollo first purified him before his own altar at
Delphi, and then defended him before the court of the Areopagus, which
had been founded by Athene. Orestes was here acquitted, for Athene, when
the votes for and against him were equal, declared that then and in all
future time the criminal should have the benefit of the doubt. The
Furies, indeed, were at first very wroth, and threatened the land with
barrenness both of women and soil; but Athene succeeded in pacifying
them, by promising that a shrine should be erected to them on the hill
of the Areopagus. After they had taken possession of this sanctuary,
they were thenceforth venerated by the Athenians, under the names of
Semnæ (venerable), or Eumenides (benevolent), as propitious deities who,
though they still continued to punish crimes, were ever ready to grant
mercy to the repentant sinner, and to give succour to all good men.
There were different traditions concerning the origin of the Erinyes.
According to Hesiod, they owed their existence to the first execrable
crime committed since the beginning of the world, for they were the
daughters of Earth, and sprang from the drops of blood that fell from
the mangled body of Uranus. They here appear, therefore, as an
embodiment of the curses which the angry father invoked on the head of
his unnatural son. Sophocles, on the other hand, calls them the
daughters of Gæa and Scotos (darkness of night). Æschylus simply terms
them the daughters of the Night. Besides the shrine in Athens already
mentioned, they had another near the city, a sacred grove in Colonus,
which was celebrated as the last refuge of the unfortunate Œdipus. In
Athens they had an annual festival, at which libations of milk and honey
were made to them.
In art the Erinyes are represented as swift huntresses, armed with
spear, bow, and quiver. Torches, scourges, or snakes were also put
in their hands. They were, moreover, provided with wings on their
shoulders or head as a token of their swiftness.
=19. Hecate.=—Among the mystic deities of the lower world we must not
omit to mention Hecate. By the Romans, indeed, she was never publicly
venerated, though she was not exactly unknown to them. Common tradition
made her a daughter of the Titan Perseus and Asteria. She ruled
principally over the secret forces of Nature, which perhaps explains the
spectral and awe-inspiring form which this goddess assumed. She was
supposed to preside over all nocturnal horrors, and not only to haunt
the tombs and cross-roads herself in company with the spirits of the
dead, but also to send nightly phantoms from the lower world, such as
the man-eating spectre Empusa, and other fabulous goblins.
As her name seems to signify, Hecate (far-striking) was originally a
moon-goddess, not like either Artemis or Selene, but representing the
new moon in its invisible phase. The ancients not being able to account
for the different phases of the moon, naturally came to the conclusion
that, when invisible, it was tarrying in the lower world. The public
worship of the goddess was not very extensive, but her importance in
connection with the mysteries was all the greater. Men were wont to
affix small pictures of her to houses and city gates, which were
supposed to prevent any bad spells from affecting the town or house. On
the last day of every month her image on the house doors was crowned
with garlands, and viands were set before it in her honour, which were
afterwards eaten by the poor, and termed the meals of Hecate. Wooden
images of the goddess with three faces were generally set up where three
roads met, and here dogs were sacrificed to her as sin-offerings for the
dead. This usually took place on the thirtieth day after death. As in
the case of other infernal deities, black lambs were sacrificed to her,
besides libations of milk and honey.
[Illustration:
Fig. 47.—Three-formed Hecate. Capitoline Museum.]
Hecate was generally represented as three-formed (_triformis_),
which probably has some connection with the appearance of the full,
half, and new moon. In order to explain more clearly the nature of
such a representation, we give an engraving (Fig. 47) after a bronze
statuette in the Capitoline Museum at Rome. The figure facing us
holds in her hands a key and a rope, which point her out as the
portress of the lower world; over her brow is a disc, representing,
probably, the dark surface of the new moon. The figure on the right
holds in either hand a torch, in virtue of her character as a mystic
goddess, whilst on her brow is a half-moon and a lotus-flower.
Lastly, the third figure bears, as a symbol of the full moon, a
Phrygian cap with a radiant diadem fastened on it, which gives forth
seven rays; in her right hand is a knife, in her left the tail of a
serpent, of which no satisfactory interpretation has hitherto been
discovered.
=20. Sleep and Death.=—Sleep and Death were conceived by the ancients as
twin brothers. According to Hesiod, they were children of Night alone.
They dwelt in the lower world, whence they visited the earth to steal
over mortals; the former a kindly benevolent spirit, the latter grim and
cruel. Apart from this conception, which was especially developed by
later poets and artists, Death was sometimes depicted as quite distinct
from Sleep, and in a still less amiable guise. The different forms of
violent death were personified as female deities of formidable aspect,
called the Ceres; or Apollo and Artemis among the inhabitants of heaven,
and Pluto and Persephone among those of the lower world, were
represented, as the deities of death. The Romans had a personal god of
death, whom they called Orcus; he was represented as an armed warrior
dealing out mortal wounds among mankind. But none of these special gods
of death had any great importance, either in religion or art. Artists,
indeed, laboured sedulously to diminish the dreadful appearance of
Thanatus (death), and to render him more and more like his brother
Hypnus (sleep).
Thanatus and Hypnus often appear in company, either sleeping or
standing; the former usually bears a reversed torch, the latter a
poppy-stalk or a horn, out of which he is pouring some liquid. They
are both generally represented in the bloom of youth. In Fig. 34,
which is after a drawing of Asmus Carstens, they appear as the
children of Night, and are here brought into immediate connection
with the other powers, Nemesis and the Parcæ, who control the
destinies of man.
Besides Sleep and Death, Hesiod also mentions Dreams as the children of
Night. Other writers, however, call them the sons of Sleep, who dwell in
the far West, close to the realms of Hades. This house of dreams has, in
Homer’s well-known description, two gates—one of ivory, through which
pass flattering, deceptive dreams, and one of horn, whence the true
dreams proceed. Morpheus was made the special god of dreams by the
poets, and termed the son of Hypnus.
IV.—ROMAN DEITIES OF THE HOUSE AND FAMILY.
Before passing to the heroic legends, some remarks are necessary
concerning the inferior deities, who played such an important part in
the domestic worship of the Romans. We have already incidentally
remarked that the people of Italy generally passed by the greater gods
of the heaven and earth in anxious awe. Their invocation and adoration
was left to public worship, whilst, in their less important domestic
concerns, men had recourse to certain inferior deities, whom they
thought nearer to them; just as in the present day, in Italy, the common
people prefer to communicate their prayers and wishes to their patron
saints rather than to the Almighty himself.
=1. The Penates.=—The Penates were the kindly domestic deities of the
Romans—the guardians of the household, who especially provided for its
daily wants. Of their name, number, and sex nothing is known—not because
the facts have been lost to us, but because the Romans themselves were
content with this indefinite conception. Similar good spirits, exerting
an active influence in the household, were recognised by popular German
superstition, without experiencing any necessity of having distinct
names for them. The shrine of the Penates consisted of the hearth, the
central point of the house, which not only served for the preparation of
meals, but was also especially dedicated to religious purposes. It stood
in the “atrium,” the only large room in the Roman house, where the
family met for meals and received visitors. On the hearth, a fire was
continually kept burning in honour of Vesta and the Penates. Around it,
after the introduction of images of the gods, were placed the statues of
the Penates. These were generally small and puppet-like, and, among the
poorer classes, were only roughly cut out of wood. There was no domestic
occurrence, either of joy or mourning, in which the Penates did not take
part. Like the Lares, of whom we shall speak presently, they
participated in the daily meal, portions being set on certain plates for
that purpose before the images. There were also State Penates, the
ancients regarding the state as nothing but an extended family. The
temple of Vesta was to the state what the hearth was to the household.
Here was the seat of their worship, and here it was that the Roman
Pontifex Maximus brought those offerings which, in private households,
were the part of the head of the family. In the innermost sanctuary of
the temple of Vesta there were statues of these Penates, of great
sanctity, since Æneas was reported to have brought them with him from
Troy. We have no trustworthy information as to their number or
appearance, for, with the exception of the Pontifex and the Vestal
Virgins, none ever entered the holy place. It is scarcely necessary to
add that they were believed to exercise an especial influence on the
welfare and prosperity of the state and people of Rome.
=2. The Lares.=—The Lares, like the Penates, were the tutelary deities
of the house and family, and on that account often confounded with them.
They were commonly supposed to be the glorified spirits of ancestors,
who, as guardian deities, strove to promote the welfare of the family.
The seat of their worship was also the family hearth in the atrium,
where their images of wood or wax were generally preserved in a separate
shrine of their own (Lararium). The Lares received an especial degree of
veneration on the first day of every month; but, like the Penates, they
took part in all the domestic occurrences, whether of joy or sorrow.
Like the Penates, they also received their share at every meal on
particular dishes, and were crowned with garlands on the occasion of
every family rejoicing. When a son assumed the _toga virilis_ (came of
age), he dedicated his _bulla_[5] to the Lares, amid prayers and
libations and burning of incense. When the father of the house started
on a journey or returned in safety, the Lares were again addressed, and
their statues crowned with wreaths, flowers and garlands being their
favourite offerings.
Footnote 5:
A gold or silver ornament, like a medal, which was worn round the neck
during childhood.
The same conception which pervades the domestic Lares may be perceived
in a more extensive form in the Lares of the Gens, the city, and the
state itself. The Lares do not appear, in fact, to have differed in many
respects from the heroes worshipped by the Greeks. At all events,
Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of the city, were regarded as
its Lares, and, in the time of Augustus, the genius of the emperor was
associated with them.
=3. Larvæ, Lemures, and Manes.=—Just as the Lares were regarded as the
good and happy spirits of ancestors, the souls of others were supposed
to wander about in the guise of evil demons and spectres, giving rise to
weird terrors, and casting bad spells on the senses of those whom they
met. Such was especially believed to be the fate of those who had not
received burial, or in whose case the prescribed ceremonies had been
neglected, and who being, in consequence, unable to find rest, were
doomed to flit about the earth. Such spirits were called Larvæ, or
Lemures. The propitiatory festival of the Lemuria, or Lemuralia, which
was said to have been instituted in memory of the murdered Remus, was
celebrated annually in their honour on the 9th, 11th, and 13th of May.
Every paterfamilias was supposed during these days to perform certain
midnight ceremonies, and to repeat certain forms, which had the effect
of banishing any evil spirits.
In contrast to the Lares and Larvæ, the souls of the dead were also
commonly venerated as Manes, or good spirits. These were believed after
burial to have been converted into beings of a higher order, who dwelt,
indeed, in the interior of the earth, but exercised, notwithstanding, a
considerable influence on the affairs of the upper world. It was
possible to summon them from the lower world by means of sacrifices. A
general festival of the dead took place in February, when the Manes were
propitiated with offerings and libations. These offerings were placed on
the tombs of the deceased, and, of course, varied extremely, according
to the means of the donors.
[Illustration]
PART III.—THE HEROES.
I.—INTRODUCTORY.
On passing to heroic mythology, a world still more rich in marvels than
that with which we have already become acquainted presents itself to our
view. The greater extent of this department of mythic lore is easily
comprehensible, if we take into consideration the multitude of separate
existences into which Greek life was split up, even from the earliest
times. Each of the numberless countries, islands, cities, and towns
endeavoured to trace back its peculiar institutions to mythical founders
and ancestors; and as these were always described either as the sons or
as the favourites of the gods, there accordingly sprang up, in course of
time, a vast number of local heroic legends. These fabulous founders of
states, however, were not the only heroes of Greek mythology. The
attempt to pierce the clouds of obscurity which enveloped the early
history of mankind, and the desire of a more enlightened age to bridge
over the intervening gulf, and fill it with beings who should form a
connecting link between the sublime forms of the great inhabitants of
Olympus and the puny race of mortals, naturally gave rise to a whole
series of heroic legends. These were partly the property of entire
nationalities, or even of the whole Hellenic race, and partly of a local
or provincial character. Moreover, as the gods collectively were divided
into gods proper and dæmones—that is to say, spirits resembling the
gods, but inferior to them in wisdom and power, whose workings men saw
in air and earth and sea—even so the race of mortals was divided into
heroes and men, between whom a similar difference subsisted. The latter
are, in their nature, not different from the former—both are alike
mortal, and must at length fall a prey to inexorable death. But the
heroes are endowed with a degree of physical strength and dexterity,
courage and endurance under difficulties, such as never fall to the lot
of ordinary men. It was not, however, by any means all who lived in this
early mythical period who were accounted heroes; but, just as in Genesis
vi. 2 a distinction is made between the “sons of God” and the “daughters
of men,” so in the present instance the heroes were the mighty ones—the
ruling spirits of the age—those whose marvellous exploits contributed to
remove the obstacles to civilisation and culture, who delivered
countries from cruel robbers and savage beasts, who drained marshes,
made roads through untrodden forests, and regulated the course of
rivers. By their actions they proved themselves men of no ordinary
powers, endowed with divine strength, and, therefore, apparently of
divine origin. It appeared, at least, that such beings must have had an
origin different from that of ordinary men, who were made out of clay,
or sprang from trees or stones. Some of these heroes may perhaps have
had a real existence, having probably been the ancestors of the later
dominant races, to whom a dim tradition reached. Others were undoubtedly
a product of the imagination. To these may be added a third class, and
this is by far the most numerous, including those who were originally
personifications of various natural phenomena, and, as such, deified and
venerated in local forms of worship, but who were later, in consequence
of the birth of new political communities, expelled from their place in
public worship, and only continued to exist in the popular faith in the
inferior character of heroes. Many such heroes were afterwards again
promoted to the rank of gods, though with an altered meaning (_e.g._,
Heracles).
Any real veneration of heroes by prayers and sacrifices can scarcely be
said to have existed before the migration of the Heraclidæ—at least
there is no mention of it in Homer. Even later, except in the case of
those heroes who were raised to the rank of gods for their great deeds,
and who were, therefore, worshipped in temples of their own, the worship
of heroes is scarcely to be distinguished from that of the dead. Homer
makes no distinction between the fate of heroes after death and that of
ordinary mortals, all being doomed alike to the gloomy realms of Hades.
As we have already observed, it was only certain special favourites, or
sons of Zeus, who were excepted from this gloomy lot, and were
transported in their bodily shape to the Isles of the Blest. Hesiod, on
the other hand, says that all heroes—whom he, in the first instance,
terms demigods—were transported to the Isles of the Blest, where Cronus
ruled over them. Here, for the first time, the idea of a just
retribution in the other world takes a definite shape; for Hesiod
obviously conceives a residence in Elysium to be the reward of
meritorious actions performed in the upper world. This idea was
subsequently more fully developed, especially in the mysteries, and men
were gradually elevated to a belief in the immortality of the soul. The
spirits of the dead were believed, even after they were in their graves,
to exert continually a mysterious influence; on which account men strove
to gain their favour by means of offerings, thereby removing every real
distinction between the worship of heroes and that of the dead.
Amid the multitude of legends of this kind, we shall only dwell upon
those which occupy a prominent position either in poetry or in art. We
shall begin with those which relate to the creation and early
civilisation of mankind, after which we shall pass to the most
celebrated provincial legends, and conclude with those that refer to the
more important of the common undertakings of the later heroic age.
II.—THE CREATION AND PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MANKIND.
The legends concerning the origin of the human race differ very widely.
The most ancient are undoubtedly those which describe men as springing
from the trees or rocks. Another tradition asserts that the human race
was of later growth, having been first called into existence by Zeus and
the gods of Olympus. A third account makes the Titan Prometheus, the son
of Iapetus, the creator of mankind, but leaves it uncertain whether this
took place before or after the flood of Deucalion. Prometheus, according
to this account, made men of clay and water, after which Athene breathed
a soul into them. There were likewise various accounts concerning the
primeval condition of mankind. According to one, the human race raised
itself, with the assistance of the gods, from a state of helpless
barbarism: this progress was the subject of numerous legends. Another
account represents men as living originally in a holy and happy
communion with the gods (the golden age), and asserts that they first
became savage after having lost this good fortune by their presumption.
Of the myths that relate to the introduction of the first elements of
civilisation among mankind by divine aid, there is none, except those
already mentioned concerning Dionysus and Demeter, more celebrated than
the story of Prometheus. The Titan Iapetus had, by Clymene, the daughter
of Oceanus, four sons—the stout-hearted Atlas, the presumptuous
Menœtius, the crafty Prometheus, and the foolish Epimetheus. With the
name of Prometheus is linked the idea of the first commencement of
civilisation among mankind by the introduction of fire. Prometheus is
said to have stolen fire from heaven, and to have taught its use to man.
By being employed for all the common purposes of daily life, however,
this pure celestial element became polluted; whereupon Zeus visited the
author of this sacrilege with a fearful punishment. He ordered
Prometheus to be chained to a rock, where, during the day-time, an eagle
devoured his liver (the seat of all evil desires), which always grew
again during the night.
It is very difficult to see the origin of this series of legends, but
the foundation seems to be the discovery of fire by man. At any rate,
one word, closely resembling the name Prometheus, appears in India as
the name of the stick used to produce fire by friction. If this be the
case, we shall see in parts of the Greek legend instances of the
ever-recurring principle, that when the real derivation of a word is
lost, men try to give it an explanation by attaching it to the nearest
word in the existing language (_cf._ the derivation of Pan mentioned p.
130). When the notion of “forethought” had once been attached to his
name, it would be natural to invent a complementary legend about his
brother Epimetheus (afterthought).
The legend of Prometheus appears in its grandest form in Æschylus’ play,
“Prometheus Bound.”
The idea that, together with the introduction of civilisation, many
evils which were before unknown to man came into existence, is expressed
in the myth of Pandora. Zeus determined to leave mankind in possession
of Prometheus’ gift; but he ordered Hephæstus to make an image of a
beautiful woman, which the gods then endowed with life and adorned with
all kinds of gifts, whence she was called Pandora. Aphrodite bestowed on
her the seductive charms that kindle love, Athene instructed her in
every art, Hermes endued her with a smooth tongue and a crafty
disposition, whilst the Seasons and Graces adorned her with flowers and
fine dresses. Zeus then sent her, under the guidance of Hermes, to the
foolish Epimetheus, who, in spite of the warning of his brother not to
accept any present from Zeus, received Pandora and made her his wife.
There was in the house of Epimetheus a closed jar, which he had been
forbidden to open, and which contained all kinds of diseases and ills.
Pandora removed the cover and these escaped, and men who had before been
free from disease and care have ever since been tormented. Pandora
closed the jar in time to keep in Hope. Thus both Greek legend and
Biblical tradition alike represent woman as the first cause of evil and
death.
The legend of the five ages of mankind transports us to quite another
region of tradition. According to this, the gods first created a golden
race of men, who lived free from care and sorrow, while the earth, of
its own accord, furnished them with all that was necessary to support
life. Subject neither to the infirmities of age nor to the pangs of
sickness and disease, men at last sank peacefully, as into a sweet
sleep, to death. In what manner the golden age disappeared is not
related; we are only told that this race, notwithstanding its
disappearance, still continues to exist in the upper world, in the shape
of good spirits, who guard and protect mortals. After this, the gods
created a second (silver) race of men, who were, however, far inferior
to their predecessors, both in mind and body. They passed their time in
idle and effeminate pursuits, and refused to pay the gods due honours.
Zeus, in his wrath, thereupon blotted them out from the face of the
earth, and created the third (brazen) race of mankind out of ash wood.
This race proved headstrong and violent. They were of giant stature and
great strength, and took pleasure in nothing but battle and strife.
Their weapons, houses, and utensils were of bronze, iron not yet being
known. Zeus was not compelled to destroy this evil race, since they
destroyed themselves in their bloodthirsty strife. According to another
account, they were destroyed by the flood of Deucalion.
Deucalion appears to have been a son of Prometheus, while his wife
Pyrrha was the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora. Zeus having
determined to destroy the corrupt race of the third or bronze age by a
flood, Prometheus warned his son, who built himself an ark, into which
he retired with his wife when the waters began to rise. Nine days and
nights he was tossed on the waters; at length his vessel rested on Mount
Parnassus in Bœotia. He disembarked, and immediately offered a sacrifice
of thanksgiving to Zeus the preserver. Pleased at his gratitude, Zeus
granted his prayer for the restoration of the human race; and Deucalion
and Pyrrha were commanded by Hermes to cast stones behind them, from
which sprang a new race of men. Such is the legend in its most ancient
form; later writers engrafted on it still farther incidents of Biblical
tradition, until at last the Greek Noah was represented as having taken
living animals with him into the ark, and as having let loose a dove
after his landing on Parnassus.
III.—PROVINCIAL HEROIC LEGENDS.
=1. The Lapithæ and the Centaurs.=—We shall commence with the Thessalian
legend of the Lapithæ and Centaurs, on account of its great antiquity
and its importance in sculpture. We read in the Homeric poems how the
hoary Nestor on one occasion boasts of having, in his younger days,
taken part with his friends Pirithoüs and Cæneus, and the other princes
of the Lapithæ, in their contest with the savage Centaurs. In Homer’s
account the Centaurs are merely depicted as an old Thessalian mountain
tribe of giant strength and savage ferocity, utterly unable to control
their rude, sensual nature. Nor do we find here any mention of their
being half horses and half men; they are merely said to have inhabited
the mountain districts of Œta and Pelion, in Thessaly, and to have been
driven thence by the Lapithæ into the higher mountain-lands of Pindus.
Their contest with the Lapithæ is sometimes conceived as a symbol of the
struggle of Greek civilisation with the still existing barbarism of the
early Pelasgian period. This may be the reason why Greek art, when in
its bloom, devoted itself so especially to this subject. The origin of
this contest is referred to the marriage feast of Pirithoüs and
Hippodamia, to which the principal Centaurs had been invited. On this
occasion the Centaur Eurytion, heated with wine, attempted to carry off
the bride; this gave rise to a contest which, after dreadful losses on
both sides, ended in the complete defeat of the Centaurs. The Centaurs,
however, since they were thus able to sit with the Lapithæ at meat, must
have been endowed with purely human forms.
Theseus and Nestor, the friends of Pirithoüs, both took part in the
battle. Another prominent warrior was the gigantic Cæneus (Slayer), who
had been rendered invulnerable by Poseidon, but whom the Centaurs slew
on this occasion by burying him beneath a mass of trees and rocks.
There is, however, also a natural explanation of the tales of these
strange beings. The father of the Centaurs is Ixion, who, as we have
already seen, may be interpreted to be the sun. The crime said to have
been the cause of his punishment was his love for Hera (the goddess of
the atmosphere). If we take these points, together with the legend that
Ixion begat the Centaurs of Nephele, the cloud, we may be prepared to
see in the horse-formed Centaurs a parallel to the cows of the sun, the
bright clouds which pass over the sky. There is the more ground for
this, as similar beings appear in Indian mythology, and their name has,
with much probability, been identified with that of the Centaurs.
[Illustration: Fig. 48.—Metope of the Parthenon.]
As we have already mentioned, the Centaurs play an important part in
art. The custom of depicting them half horse and half man came into
vogue after the time of Pindar, and was quickly adopted in
sculpture. In the representations of earlier art the face of a man
is joined to the body and hind legs of a horse. But in its higher
stage of development, after the time of Phidias, this was replaced
by a more elegant conception, and the body of a man from the navel
upwards was joined to the complete body of a horse, so that the
Centaurs of this period have the four feet of a horse and the hands
and arms of a man. Such is their appearance on numerous extant art
monuments, of which we shall mention the most important.
In the first place, there are the reliefs from the frieze of the
Theseum at Athens. This temple, which is still in a good state of
preservation, was converted during the middle ages into a chapel of
St. George. It is supposed to have been built at the instance of
Cimon, after he had brought back the bones of the Attic hero from
Scyros. Besides other important pieces, which we shall mention
hereafter, the temple has, on its western or hinder frieze, a
representation of the contests of the Centaurs and Lapithæ at the
wedding of Pirithoüs, done in Parian marble. It is executed in such
a manner that it is impossible to discover which party will get the
upper hand; and this has enabled the artist, whose name has not come
down to us, to introduce a lively variety into the different scenes
of the combat.
[Illustration: Fig. 49.—From the Frieze of the Temple at Bassæ.]
We have another series of most splendid representations from the
battle of the Centaurs, full of life and spirit, on some dilapidated
metopes[6] of the Parthenon at Athens. This splendid specimen of
Doric architecture is 227 feet in length and 101 feet in breadth. It
was ruined in 1687, during the war between the Venetians and Turks,
by a shell which broke through the midst of the marble roof. A large
part of the ninety-two metopes of the outer frieze contain a number
of the most beautiful and life-like scenes from the battle of the
Giants and that of the Centaurs. Of these metopes, thirty-nine still
remain on the temple, though they are all in a terribly mutilated
condition; seventeen are in the British Museum, and one in the
Louvre at Paris. Those from the south side are comparatively in the
best state of preservation; these are seventeen in number, the whole
number on the south side having been thirty-two. They represent,
exclusively, scenes from the battle of the Centaurs. Here a bearded
Centaur is carrying off a woman, whom he holds in his powerful
grasp; there, another is galloping away over the body of his fallen
enemy; another is engaged in a fierce contest with a human foe;
whilst a fourth lies slain on the field. The engraving we append may
give a faint idea of the beauty and bold design of this splendid
creation (Fig. 48). To these grand monuments of Greek art we must
add the frieze of the temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassæ, near
Phigalia in Arcadia, which was discovered in 1812, and is now in the
British Museum. It represents, likewise, a series of the most vivid
scenes from the battle of the Lapithæ and Centaurs. In the
individual groups and scenes of the battle, which is here completed
before our eyes, there is the same variety and animation, so that we
must ascribe it to some great artist (Fig. 49).
Footnote 6:
The squares between the triglyphs of the frieze which are intended
to support the gable, every one of which is generally adorned with
a separate sculpture in relief.
Besides these sculptures in relief, some splendid single statues of
Centaurs have come down to us from antiquity. Among these, the first
place must be assigned to the two Centaurs in the Capitoline Museum.
They are executed in black marble, and were found in the villa of
Hadrian at Tivoli, where so many ancient art treasures have been
brought to light.
Among the Centaurs, Chiron, who was famous alike for his wisdom and his
knowledge of medicine, deserves mention as the preceptor of many of the
heroes of antiquity. So far superior was he to his savage kindred, both
in education and manners, that he was commonly reported to have had a
different origin, and was therefore described as a son of Cronus and
Philyra, or Phyllira, one of the Oceanids. Homer, who knew nothing of
the equine shape of the Centaurs, represents him as the most upright of
the Centaurs, and makes him the friend of Peleus and the preceptor of
the youthful Achilles, whom he instructed in the art of healing and
gymnastic exercises. He was, moreover, related to both these heroes, his
daughter Endeïs having been the mother of Peleus. Subsequently, other
mythical heroes were added to the number of his pupils, such as Castor
and Polydeuces, Theseus, Nestor, Meleager, and Diomedes. Music, too, was
now represented as a subject of his instruction, though this is perhaps
due to a misinterpretation of the name of his mother. He inhabited a
cave on Mount Pelion; later mythology, however, transferred his
residence, after the Centaurs had been driven from Pelion by the
Lapithæ, to the promontory of Malea. Here, by an unlucky accident, he
was wounded with a poisoned arrow by his friend Heracles, and, the wound
being incurable, he voluntarily chose to die in the place of Prometheus.
[Illustration: Fig. 50.—Centaur teaching a Boy to play upon the Pipe.
Relief by Kundmann.]
The idea of the connection of the Centaurs with the arts and
sciences originated in the story of Chiron and Achilles, and has
since furnished modern art with the subjects for some of its most
valuable works. Fig. 50 represents a Centaur teaching a boy to play
on the flute, and is after an _alto-relievo_ of the Viennese
sculptor Kundmann.
=2. Theban Legend.=—_1. Cadmus._—Among Theban legends, none is more
celebrated than the founding of Thebes by Cadmus. Cadmus was a son of
the Phœnician king Agenor. After Zeus carried off his sister Europa to
Crete (_vide_ the _Cretan Legends_), he was despatched by his father in
search of her. Accompanied by his mother Telephassa, he came to Thrace
and thence to Delphi, where he was commanded by the oracle to relinquish
his quest. It further ordered him to follow a young heifer with the mark
of a crescent on either side, and to build a town on the place where the
heifer should lie down. Cadmus obeyed, and, finding the heifer in
Phocis, he followed her. She led him into Bœotia, and at length lay down
on a rising ground. On this spot Cadmus founded a town, which he called
Cadmea, after himself, though he had first to experience a perilous
adventure. Before sacrificing the heifer, he sent some of his companions
to fetch water from a neighbouring spring, where they were slain by a
dragon belonging to Ares which guarded the spring. Cadmus then went
himself, and slew the dragon, the teeth of which he sowed in the ground
by the advice of Pallas. Hereupon armed men sprang from the ground; they
immediately turned their arms against each other, and were all slain
except five. Cadmus built his new town with the assistance of these men,
who thus became the ancestors of the noble families of Thebes. In
expiation of the dragon’s death, Cadmus was obliged to do service to
Ares for eight years. At the end of this period Ares pardoned Cadmus and
gave him Harmonia—his daughter by Aphrodite—to wife. Harmonia became the
mother of four daughters—Autonoë, Ino, Semele, and Agave. After reigning
for a long time at Thebes, Cadmus was compelled in his old age to retire
to the Enchelians in Illyria; but whether he was driven out by Amphion
and Zethus (who appear in Homer as the founders of Thebes) or withdrew
from some other cause is not manifest. He and his wife were afterwards
changed into serpents, and transferred, by the command of Zeus, to the
Elysian fields.
In this story we see another form of the combat of the hero with the
monster, and can probably give it the same explanation. The dragon
guards the waters, and the hero, by killing it, frees them. Do we not
see in this the combat of the sun with the cloud; and in the armed men
who turn their weapons against one another, the clouds that seem to
fight with one another in the thunderstorm? Yet even admitting this
interpretation, it may be that we have in the name of Cadmus an allusion
to the civilisation and the arts received by the Greeks from the East.
So, too, with the alphabet, the invention of which Hellenic tradition
ascribed to him.
[Illustration: Fig. 51.—Actæon Group. British Museum.]
_2. Actæon._—We have already incidentally mentioned the fortunes of
three of the daughters of Cadmus—Ino, Semele, and Agave. The eldest,
Autonoë, married Aristæus, the son of Apollo, and became by him the
mother of Actæon. Actæon was handed over to Chiron to be reared as a
stout hunter and warrior; but he had scarcely reached the prime of youth
when he was overtaken by a lamentable fate. Whilst hunting one day on
Mount Cithæron, he was changed by Artemis into a stag, and was torn in
pieces by his own dogs. The cause of her anger was either that Actæon
had boasted that he was a more skilful hunter than Artemis, or that he
had surprised the virgin goddess bathing. The latter tradition
ultimately prevailed, and, in later times, even the rock whence he
beheld Artemis was pointed out on the road between Megara and Platæa. He
received heroic honours in Bœotia, and his protection was invoked
against the deadly power of the sun in the dog-days. The story of Actæon
is probably nothing but a representation of the decay of verdant nature
beneath an oppressive summer heat.
The story of Actæon’s transformation and death was a favourite
subject for sculpture. A small marble group, representing Actæon
beating off two dogs which are attacking him, was found in 1774, and
is now preserved in the British Museum (Fig. 51).
_3. Amphion and Zethus._—Besides the royal family of Cadmus, which was
continued in Thebes after his departure by his son Polydorus, we come
across the scions of another ruling family of Thebes which came from
Hyria, or Hysia, in Bœotia, in the persons of Amphion and Zethus.
Nycteus, king of Thebes, had a wonderfully beautiful daughter called
Antiope, whose favours Zeus enjoyed on approaching her in the form of a
Satyr. On becoming pregnant, she fled from the resentment of her father
to Sicyon, where the king, Epopeus, received her and made her his wife.
This enraged Nycteus, who made war on Epopeus in order to compel him to
deliver up his daughter Antiope. He was obliged to retire without
accomplishing his purpose, but, on his death, he entrusted the execution
of his vengeance to his brother Lycus, who succeeded him. Lycus defeated
and slew Epopeus, destroyed Sicyon, and took Antiope back with him as
prisoner. On the way, at Eleutheræ on Cithæron, she gave birth to the
twins Amphion and Zethus. These were immediately exposed, but were
subsequently discovered and brought up by a compassionate shepherd.
Antiope was not only kept prisoner in the house of Lycus, but had also
to submit to the most harsh and humiliating treatment at the hands of
his wife Dirce. At length she managed to escape, and by a wonderful
chance discovered her two sons, who had grown, on lonely Cithæron, into
sturdy youths. The story of her wrongs so enraged them that they
resolved to wreak a cruel vengeance on Dirce. After having taken Thebes
and slain Lycus, they bound Dirce to the horns of a wild bull, which
dragged her about till she perished. According to another story, Dirce
came to Cithæron to celebrate the festival of Bacchus. Here she found
her runaway slave, whom she was about to punish by having her bound to
the horns of a bull. Happily, however, Amphion and Zethus recognised
their mother, and inflicted on the cruel Dirce the punishment she had
destined for another. Her mangled remains they cast into the spring near
Thebes which bears her name.
[Illustration: Fig. 52.—Farnese Bull. Naples.]
The punishment of Dirce forms the subject of numerous pieces of
sculpture. The most important among them is the Farnese Bull (_Toro
Farnese_) in the museum at Naples (Fig. 52). This world-renowned
marble group is supposed, with the exception of certain parts which
have been restored in modern times, to have been the work of the
brothers Apollonius and Tauriscus, of Tralles in Caria, Apollonius
and Tauriscus belonged to the Rhodian school, which flourished in
the third century B.C. This colossal group—undoubtedly the largest
which has descended to us from antiquity—was first erected in
Rhodes, but came, during the reign of Augustus, into the possession
of Asinius Pollio, the great art-patron. It was discovered in 1547
in the Thermæ of Caracalla at Rome, and was set up in the Palazzo
Farnese. It was thence transferred to Naples in 1786, as a portion
of the Farnese inheritance. The following is a brief explanation of
the group, though, of course, the most complete account could give
but an imperfect idea of its beauty. The scene is laid on the rocky
heights of Cithæron. The position of the handsome youths on a rocky
crag is as picturesque as it is dangerous, and serves not only to
lend the group a pyramidal aspect pleasing to the eye, but also to
set before us their marvellous strength. There are several tokens
that the occurrence took place during a Bacchic festival: the wicker
_cista mystica_ in use at the festivals of Dionysus—the fawn skin
which Dirce wears—the ivy garland that has fallen at her feet—the
broken thyrsus, and, lastly, the Bacchic insignia which distinguish
the shepherd boy, who is sitting on the right watching the
proceedings with painful interest—all point to this fact. The lyre
which rests against the tree behind Amphion is a token of his
well-known love of music. The female figure in the background is
Antiope.
The story goes on to relate that the two brothers, after the expulsion
and death of Lyons, acquired the sovereignty of Thebes, though Amphion
always figures as the real king. The two brothers were widely different
in disposition and character. Zethus appears to have been rude and
harsh, and passionately fond of the chase. Amphion, on the other hand,
is represented as a friend of the Muses, and devoted to music and
poetry. He soon had an opportunity of proving his wondrous skill when
they began to enclose Thebes, which had been before unprotected, with
walls and towers; for whilst Zethus removed great blocks and piled them
one on another by means of his vast strength, Amphion had but to touch
the strings of his lyre and break forth into some sweet melody, and the
mighty stones moved of their own accord and obediently fitted themselves
together. This is why Amphion is always represented in sculpture with a
lyre and Zethus with a club. We can scarcely doubt that these Theban
Dioscuri, like the Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who are well known
to be only symbols of the morning and evening star, were originally
personifications of some natural phenomenon; though we are no longer in
a position to say what it was.
Amphion is further celebrated on account of the melancholy fate of his
sons and daughters. He married Niobe, the daughter of the Phrygian king
Tantalus, and sister of Pelops. Great was the happiness of this
marriage; the gods seemed to shower down their blessings on the royal
pair. Many blooming and lovely children grew up in their palace, the
pride and delight of their happy parents. From this paradise of purest
joy and happiness they were soon to pass into a night of the deepest
mourning and most cruel affliction through the presumption of Niobe—the
same presumption which had led her father Tantalus to trifle with the
gods and consummate his own ruin. The heart of Niobe was lifted up with
pride at the number of her children,[7] and she ventured to prefer
herself to Latona, who had only two; nay, she even went so far as to
forbid the Thebans to offer sacrifice to Latona and her children, and to
claim these honours herself. The vengeance of the offended deities,
however, now overtook her, and all her children were laid low in one day
before the unerring arrows of Apollo and his sister. The parents did not
survive this deep affliction. Amphion slew himself, and Niobe, already
paralysed with grief, was turned into stone by the pity of the gods, and
transferred to her old Phrygian home on Mount Sipylus, though even the
stone has not ceased to weep.
Footnote 7:
The number of Niobe’s children varies materially. Homer (_Il._ xxiv.,
602) gives her six sons and as many daughters. According to Hesiod and
Pindar, she had ten sons and ten daughters; but the most common
account, and that followed by the tragic poets, allows her fourteen
children. Everywhere the number of sons and daughters appears to be
equal. The story of Niobe was frequently treated of by the tragic
poets, both Æschylus and Sophocles having written tragedies bearing
her name.
Such is the substance of this beautiful legend, though its details vary
considerably in the accounts of the poets and mythologists. The most
circumstantial and richly-coloured account of it is contained in the
_Metamorphoses_ of Ovid. The poets have continually striven to impose a
purely ethical interpretation on the story, by representing the
destruction of the children of Niobe as the consequence of the great sin
of their mother; but it is more probably a physical meaning which lies
at the root of the legend. It is, in fact, a picture of the melting of
the snow before the hot scorching rays of the sun. This incident the
fertile imagination of the Greeks portrayed in the most beautiful
metaphors. But just as a subject so purely tragic as the history of
Niobe found its first true development in tragic poetry, so likewise it
only attained its proper place in sculpture after art had laid aside its
earlier and more simple epic character, and set itself to depict, in
their full force, the inward passions of the soul. This tendency towards
pathos and effect is characteristic of the age of Praxiteles and Scopas,
and the later Attic school.
To this age (4th century B.C.) belonged the group of Niobe, which
was so highly celebrated even among the ancients, and which was seen
by Pliny in the temple of Apollo Sosianus at Rome, although people
even then hesitated whether to ascribe it to Praxiteles or Scopas.
None but one of these great masters could have been the author of
this tragedy hewn in stone. Although the original figures of this
magnificent group have disappeared, yet copies of most of them are
still in existence. With regard to the celebrated Florentine Niobe
group, the dissimilarity of its treatment and the various kinds of
marble employed serve to show that it is not a Greek original, but a
Roman imitation. It was found at Rome in 1583, near the Lateran
Church, and was purchased by Cardinal Medici to adorn his villa on
the Monte Pincio. In 1775 it was brought to Florence, where it has
remained since 1794 in the gallery of the Uffizi.
There has never been but one opinion as to the beauty of this group.
First among the figures—not only in size, but also in artistic
perfection—is that of Niobe herself. The unhappy queen displays in
her whole hearing so majestic and noble a demeanour, that, even if
none of the other splendid results of Greek sculpture had come down
to us, this alone would bear ample testimony to the high perfection
and creative power of Greek art. The following description of the
arrangement of the group is taken from Lübke’s _History of Plastic
Art_:—
[Illustration: Fig. 54.—Niobe. Florence.]
“Apollo and Artemis are to be supposed outside the group; they have
accomplished their work of vengeance and destruction from an
invisible position in the heavens. This is denoted by each movement
of the flying figures, who either gaze upwards in affright towards
the heavens, or seek to cover themselves with their garments. One of
the sons is already stretched dead on the earth; another leans in
mortal agony against a rock, fixing his eyes, already glazed in
death, on the spot whence destruction has overtaken him. A third
brother is striving in vain to protect with his robe his sister, who
has fallen wounded at his feet, and to catch her in his arms;
another has sunk on his knees, and clutches in agony at the wound in
his back; whilst his preceptor is endeavouring to shield the
youngest boy. All the others are fleeing instinctively to their
mother, thinking, doubtless, that she who had so often afforded
protection could save them also from the avenging arrows of the
gods. Thus from either side the waves of this dreadful flight rush
towards the centre, to break on the sublime figure of Niobe as upon
a rock. She alone stands unshaken in all her sorrow, mother and
queen to the last. Clasping her youngest daughter, whose tender
years have not preserved her, in her arms, and bending over as
though to shield the child, she turns her own proud head upwards,
and, before her left hand can cover her sorrow-stricken face with
her robe, she casts towards the avenging goddess a look in which
bitter grief is blended with sublime dignity of soul (Fig. 54). In
this look there is neither defiance nor prayer for mercy, but a
sorrowful and yet withal lofty expression of heroic resignation to
inexorable fate that is worthy of a Niobe. This admirable figure,
then, is pre-eminently the central point of the composition, since
it expresses an atonement which, in a scene of horror and
annihilation, stirs the heart to the deepest sympathy.”
Zethus was not more fortunate than Amphion in his domestic affairs. He
married Aëdon (nightingale), the daughter of Pandareos. Pandareos was
the friend and companion of Tantalus, for whom he stole a living dog
made of brass from the temple of Zeus in Crete, and was on that account
turned into stone.
Aëdon was jealous of the good-fortune of Niobe in having so many
beautiful children; she herself having only one son, Itylus. She
resolved, one night, to slay the eldest son of Niobe, but she killed, in
mistake, her own child instead. Zeus took compassion on her, and changed
her into a nightingale. In this guise she still continues to bewail her
loss in long-drawn mournful notes. Tradition says nothing as to the
death of Zethus, although the common grave of the Theban Dioscuri was
pointed out in Thebes. After his death, Laius, the son of Labdacus and
grandson of Polydorus, restored in his person the race of Cadmus to the
throne of Thebes. (See the legend of the Labdacidæ later on.)
=3. Corinthian Legend.=—_1. Sisyphus._—Corinth, or Ephyra, as it was
formerly called, was said to have been founded by Sisyphus, the son of
Æolus. Its inhabitants, on account of the position of their city between
two seas, were naturally inclined to deify that element, and it is not
improbable that Sisyphus was merely an ancient symbol of the restless,
ever-rolling waves of the sea. This interpretation, however, is by no
means certain; and the idea of Sisyphus in the lower world ever rolling
a huge stone to the top of a mountain might equally well refer to the
sun, which, after attaining its highest point in the heavens at the time
of the summer solstice, glides back again, only to begin its career anew
on the shortest day. In any case, the rolling of the stone does not
appear to have been originally a punishment. It was only later—after
people had become familiar with the idea of retribution in the lower
world—that it assumed this character. In order to account for it, a
special crime had to be found for Sisyphus. According to some, he was
punished at the instance of Zeus, because he had revealed to the
river-god Asopus the hiding-place of his daughter Ægina, whom Zeus had
secretly carried off from Phlius. According to another tradition, he
used to attack travellers, and put them to death by crushing them with
great stones. The Corinthians being crafty men of business, it was
natural that they should accredit their mythical founder with a refined
cunning. Of the numerous legends which existed concerning him, none was
more celebrated than that of the cunning mode in which he succeeded in
binding Death, whom Ares had to be despatched to release.
_2. Glaucus._—Tradition describes Glaucus as a son of Sisyphus by
Merope. He also appears to have had a symbolic meaning, and was once
identical with Poseidon, though he was afterwards degraded from the rank
of a god to that of a hero. He is remarkable for his unfortunate end. On
the occasion of some funeral games, celebrated in Iolcus in honour of
Pelias, he took part in the chariot race, and was torn in pieces by his
own horses, which had taken fright.
_3. Bellerophon and the Legend of the Amazons._—The third national hero
of Corinth was Bellerophon, or Bellerophontes. Here the reference to the
sun is so obvious, that the signification of the myth is unmistakeable.
He was termed the son of Poseidon or Glaucus, and none could appreciate
this genealogy better than the Corinthians, who daily saw the sun rise
from the sea. We must first, however, narrate the substance of the
story. Bellerophon was born and brought up at Corinth, but was obliged
from some cause or other to leave his country. That he killed Bellerus,
a noble of Corinth, is nothing but a fable arising from an unfortunate
misinterpretation of his name. He was hospitably received by Prœtus,
king of Tiryns, whose wife at once fell in love with the handsome,
stately youth. Finding, however, that Bellerophon slighted her passion,
she slandered him to her husband, and Prœtus forthwith sent him to his
father-in-law, Iobates, king of Lycia, with a tablet, mysterious signs
on which bade Iobates put the bearer to death. At this juncture the
heroic career of Bellerophon begins. Iobates sought to fulfil the
command of Prœtus by involving his guest in all kinds of desperate
adventures. He first sent him to destroy the Chimæra, a dangerous
monster that devastated the land. The fore part of its body was that of
a lion, the centre that of a goat, and the hinder part that of a dragon.
According to Hesiod, it had three heads—that of a lion, a goat, and a
dragon. According to the same poet, the Chimæra was a fire-breathing
monster of great swiftness and strength, the daughter of Typhon and
Echidna. Bellerophon destroyed the monster by raising himself in the air
on his winged horse Pegasus, and shooting it with his arrows. Pegasus
was the offspring of Poseidon and Medusa, from whose trunk it sprung
after Perseus had struck off her head. Bellerophon captured this
wonderful animal as it descended at the Acro-Corinthus to drink of the
spring of Pirene. In this he was assisted by the goddess Athene, who
also taught him how to tame and use it. Here, then, he appears to have
already possessed the horse at Corinth; though another tradition relates
that Pegasus was first sent to him when he set out to conquer the
Chimæra. The origin of the story is ascribed to a fiery mountain in
Lycia; but, as all dragons and suchlike monsters of antiquity are
represented as breathing forth fire and flames, we are perhaps scarcely
justified in having recourse to a volcano. This characteristic is, in
fact, merely a common symbol of the furious and dangerous character of
these monsters. The contest of Bellerophon is far more likely to be a
picture of the drying up, by means of the sun’s rays, of the furious
mountain torrents which flood the corn-fields. Others, again, have
thought that the Chimæra represents the storms of winter conquered by
the sun.
The next adventure in which Iobates engaged Bellerophon was an
expedition against the Solymi, a neighbouring but hostile mountain
tribe. After he had been successful in subduing them, Iobates sent him
against the warlike Amazons, hoping that among them he would be certain
to meet his death. We here, for the first time, come across this
remarkable nation of women, with whom other Greek heroes, such as
Heracles and Theseus, are said to have fought; and it will not,
therefore, be foreign to our object to dwell here on their most
important features.
[Illustration: Fig. 55—Amazon. Berlin.]
The Amazons appear in legend as early as Homer, though he only mentions
them incidentally. They were said to be a nation of women, who suffered
no men among them, except so far as it was necessary to keep up the
race. The women, on the other hand, were trained from their earliest
years in all warlike exercises; so that they were not only sufficiently
powerful to defend their own land against foreign invaders, but also to
make plundering incursions into other countries. Their dominions, the
situation of which was at first indefinitely described as in the far
north or far west, were afterwards reduced to more distinct limits, and
placed in Cappadocia, on the river Thermodon, their capital being
Themiscyra in Scythia, on the borders of Lake Mæotis, where their
intercourse with the Scythians is said to have given rise to the
Sarmatian tribes. Later writers also speak of the Amazons in Western
Libya. Of the numerous stories rife concerning them, none is more
tasteless than that of their cutting off or burning out the right
breast, in order not to incommode themselves in the use of the bow. From
the Thermodon they are said to have made great expeditions as far as the
Ægean sea; they are even reported to have invaded Attica, and made war
on Theseus. They also play a prominent part in the story of Heracles, by
whom they were defeated; and in the Trojan war, when, under their queen
Penthesilea, they came to the assistance of Priam against the Greeks.
The Amazons were frequently represented in Greek art. They are here
depicted as fine, powerful women, resembling Artemis and her nymphs,
though with stouter legs and arms. They generally appear armed,
their weapons being a long double-edged battle-axe (_bipennis_) and
a semicircular shield. An anecdote related by Pliny proves what a
favourite subject the Amazons were with Greek artists. He says that
the celebrated sculptors, Phidias, Polycletus, Phradmon, and
Cresilas, made a wager as to who should create the most beautiful
Amazon. Polycletus received the prize, so that we may conclude that
he brought this statue—the ideal Amazon of the Greeks—to its highest
perfection. Unfortunately, we know nothing of it, except that it was
of bronze, and stood with the statues of the other artists in the
temple of the Ephesian Artemis. The Amazon of Phidias, we are told,
was represented as leaning on a spear; Cresilas, on the other hand,
endeavoured to portray a wounded Amazon. Besides these statues, we
hear a great deal of the Amazon of Strongylion, celebrated for the
beauty of her legs, which was in the possession of Nero.
We still possess a considerable number of Amazon statues, some of
which are supposed to be imitations in marble of the renowned statue
at Ephesus. There are, moreover, several statues of wounded Amazons,
some of which are believed to be copies of the work of Cresilas.
There is also another marble statue, considerably larger than life,
which takes a still higher rank. It was originally set up in the
Villa Mattei, but since the time of Clement XIV. it has been in the
Vatican collection. It is apparently a representation of an Amazon
resting after battle; she is in the act of laying aside her bow, as
she has already done her shield, battle-axe, and helmet. In doing so
she raises herself slightly on her left foot, an attitude which is
as charming as it is natural.
Lastly, we must not omit to mention a statue that has newly come
into the possession of the Berlin Museum, which is supposed to be
after a work of Polycletus (Fig. 55).
We must now return to the history of Bellerophon. After returning in
triumph from his expedition against the Amazons, the life of the young
hero was once more attempted by Iobates, who caused him to be surprised
by an ambuscade. Bellerophon, however, again escaped, slaying all his
assailants. Iobates now ceased from further persecution, and gave him
his daughter in marriage, and a share in the kingdom of Lycia.
Bellerophon, in full possession of power and riches, and surrounded by
blooming children, seemed to have reached the summit of earthly
prosperity, when he was overtaken by a grievous change of fortune. He
was seized with madness, and wandered about alone, fleeing the society
of men, until he at length perished miserably. Pindar says that he
incurred the enmity of the gods by attempting to fly to heaven on his
winged horse Pegasus; whereupon Zeus sent a gadfly to sting the horse.
Pegasus cast off Bellerophon, and flew of his own accord to the stables
of Zeus, whose thunder-chariot he has ever since drawn. The sad fate of
Bellerophon was the subject of a touching tragedy of Euripides, some
parts of which are still in existence. Heroic honours were paid to
Bellerophon in Corinth, and he also had a shrine in the celebrated
cypress-grove of Poseidon.
=4. Argive Legend.=—_1. Io._—The first personage who meets us on the
very threshold of the mythic age of Argos is Inachus, the god of the
Argive river of that name. Inachus was venerated by the inhabitants as
the first founder of Argive civilisation after the flood of Deucalion.
By his union with Melia, the daughter of Oceanus, he became the father
of Io, famed for her beauty, whose history, which is of great antiquity,
has been so greatly embellished by the poets and legendary writers. The
following is the substance of the story:—
Io was the priestess of Hera. Her great beauty attracted the notice of
Zeus. On remarking this, Hera, in her jealousy, changed Io into a white
heifer, and set the hundred-eyed Argus Panoptes (the all-seeing) to
watch her. Zeus, however, sent Hermes to take away the heifer. Hermes
first lulled the guardian to sleep with his wand and then slew him,
whence he is called Argiphontes (slayer of Argus). Hera avenged herself
by sending a gadfly to torment Io, who, in her madness, wandered through
Europe and Asia, until she at length found rest in Egypt, where, touched
by the hand of Zeus, she recovered her original form, and gave birth to
a son. This son, who was called Epaphus, afterwards became king of
Egypt, and built Memphis. The myth, as we have already remarked, has
received many embellishments, for the wanderings of Io grew more and
more extensive with the growth of geographical knowledge. The true
interpretation of the myth is due to F. W. Welcker, whose meritorious
researches in Greek mythology have proved of such great value. Io (the
wanderer) is the moon, whose apparently irregular course and temporary
disappearance was considered a most curious phenomenon by the ancients.
The moon-goddess of antiquity was very frequently represented under the
figure of a heifer; and Isis herself, the Egyptian goddess of the moon,
was always depicted with horns. The guardian of the heifer, the
hundred-eyed Argus, is a symbol of the starry heaven. Whether we see in
Hermes the dawn or the morning breeze, in either case the slaying of
Argus will simply mean that the stars become invisible at sunrise. There
is nothing extraordinary in representing the apparent irregularity of
the moon’s course, inexplicable as it was to the ancients, under the
guise of mental disorder. Similar representations occur in the stories
of the solar heroes, Bellerophon and Heracles. In the south-east—the
direction in which Egypt lay from Greece—Io again appears as full moon,
in her original shape.
_2. Danaüs and the Danaïds._—According to the legend, Danaüs was a
descendant of Io. Epaphus, the son of Io, had a daughter Libya, who bore
to Poseidon two sons, Agenor and Belus. The former reigned over
Phœnicia, the latter over Egypt. Belus, by his union with Anchinoë, or
Achiroë, the daughter of the Nile, became the father of Ægyptus and
Danaüs. Between these two brothers—the former of whom had fifty sons and
the latter fifty daughters—a deadly enmity arose; this induced Danaüs to
migrate from Egypt and seek the old home of his ancestress Io. He
embarked with his fifty daughters in a ship—the first that was ever
built—and thus came to Argos, where Gelanor, the reigning descendant of
Inachus, resigned the crown in his favour. As king of Argos, Danaüs is
said to have brought the land, which suffered from want of water, to a
higher state of cultivation by watering it with wells and canals. He is
also said to have introduced the worship of Apollo and Demeter. The
story proceeds to relate that the fifty sons of Ægyptus followed their
uncle to Argos, and compelled him to give them his fifty daughters in
marriage. Danaüs, in revenge, gave each of his daughters on the wedding
day a dagger, and commanded them to slay their husbands in the night.
All obeyed his command except Hypermnestra, who spared her husband
Lynceus, and afterwards even succeeded, with the assistance of
Aphrodite, in effecting his reconciliation with her father. Lynceus
succeeded Danaüs in the kingdom, and became, by his son Abas, the
ancestor of both the great Argive heroes, Perseus and Heracles. At a
later period, the fable sprang up that the Danaïds were punished for
their crimes in the lower world by having continually to pour water into
a cask full of holes. It has been frequently remarked that this
punishment has no conceivable connection with the crime. Neither must we
forget that the idea of retribution in the lower world was of a
comparatively late date. Originally, too, the idea prevailed that the
pursuits of the upper world were continued after death in the realms of
Hades. And herein lies the key to the interpretation of the myth, which
is evidently connected with the irrigation of Argos ascribed to Danaüs.
_3. Prœtus and his Daughters._—Acrisius and Prœtus were twin sons of
Abas, the son of Lynceus and Hypermnestra. Between these two brothers an
implacable hostility existed, which was said by the poets to have
commenced even in their mother’s womb. Prœtus received, as his share of
the patrimony, the kingdom of Tiryns; but he was subsequently expelled
by his brother, and took refuge at the court of Iobates, king of Lycia.
Iobates gave him his daughter Antea, or Sthenebœa, in marriage, and
afterwards restored him to his kingdom of Tiryns. Prœtus, with the aid
of the Lycian workmen whom he had brought with him (Cyclopes), built a
strong fortress, which enabled him not only to maintain peaceable
possession of Tiryns, but also to extend his dominion as far as Corinth.
The legend then passes to the history of his three daughters, the
Prœtides, whose pride was so excited by their father’s greatness and
their own beauty that they began to think themselves superior to the
gods. Their arrogance, however, was soon punished, for they were visited
with a foul disease and driven mad. They now fled the society of
mankind, and wandered about among the mountains and woods of Argos and
Arcadia. At length Prœtus succeeded in procuring the services of the
celebrated soothsayer and purifier Melampus, who undertook the
purification and cure of his daughters. It was reported of Melampus that
serpents had licked his ears whilst asleep, and that he acquired, in
consequence, a knowledge of the language of birds. He successfully
accomplished the cure of the Prœtides, and received, as a reward, the
hand of the princess Iphianassa, in addition to which both he and his
brother Bias received a share in the sovereignty of Tiryns. Thus it was
that the race of the Amythaonidæ, who all inherited the gift of seeing
into futurity, and from whom the celebrated soothsayer Amphiaraüs
himself was descended, came to Argos.
_4. Perseus._—Acrisius, the brother of Prœtus, had a daughter called
Danaë, whose fortune it was to gain the love of the great ruler of
Olympus. Her father, Acrisius, was induced by an oracle, which foretold
that he should be killed by his own grandson, to immure Danaë in a
subterraneous chamber. Zeus, however, in his love for her, changed
himself into a shower of golden rain, and thus introduced himself
through the roof of her prison. Thus was the god-like hero Perseus born.
There can be no doubt that this myth, too, is founded on the idea of the
bridal union of heaven and earth; this is one of the pictures of nature
which the mind most readily forms. Danaë represents the country of
Argos; her prison is the heaven, enveloped, during the gloomy months of
winter, with thick clouds. Her offspring by Zeus represents the light of
the sun, which returns in the spring-time and begins, like a veritable
hero, its contest with the powers of death and darkness. The Gorgon
Medusa has the same significance in the history of Perseus that the
hideous Python has in that of Apollo.
The legend then proceeds to relate that Acrisius, having heard of the
birth of his grandson, to avert the fate threatened by the oracle,
ordered mother and child to be confined in a chest and cast into the
sea. But human wisdom avails nought against the inevitable decrees of
heaven. The chest was cast by the waves on the rocky island of Seriphus,
where it was found by the fisherman Dictys; and Danaë and her child were
hospitably received and cared for by Dictys and his brother Polydectes,
the ruler of the island. The latter, however, subsequently wished to
marry Danaë, and on her rejecting his advances made her a slave. Fearing
the vengeance of Perseus, he despatched him, as soon as he was grown up,
on a most perilous adventure. This was no other than to bring him the
head of the Gorgon Medusa—a terrible winged woman, who dwelt with her
two sisters, the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, on the farthest western
shore of the earth, on the border of Oceanus. Perseus set out, though he
was in the greatest perplexity how to accomplish so perilous a task.
Hermes, however, at this juncture came to his aid; and Athene, the
special patroness of heroes, inspired him with courage. These deities
first showed him how to procure the necessary means for accomplishing
his undertaking, which consisted of an invisible helmet, a magic wallet,
and a pair of winged sandals. All these were in the hands of the Nymphs,
by whom probably the water-nymphs are meant. The way to their abode he
could only learn from the Grææ. These creatures, who were likewise the
daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, were reported to have come into the world
as old women; their very appearance was appalling, and they had but one
eye and one tooth between them, of which they made use in turn. They,
too, dwelt on the outskirts of the gloomy region inhabited by the
Gorgons, whence they are called by Æschylus their sentinels. Under the
guidance of Apollo and Athene, Perseus came to the Grææ. He then robbed
them of their one eye and one tooth, and thus forced them to tell him
the way to the habitations of the Nymphs. From the latter he at once
obtained the objects he sought; and having donned his winged sandals, he
hastened to the abode of the Gorgons, whom he fortunately discovered
asleep. Athene then pointed out to him Medusa—the other two sisters,
Stheno and Euryale, being immortal—and enjoined him to approach them
carefully backwards, as the sight of their faces would infallibly turn
any mortal into stone. With the help of her mirror-like shield and the
sickle of Hermes, Perseus succeeded in cutting off the head of Medusa
without looking round; and having placed the head in his wallet, he
hastened away. His helmet, which rendered him invisible, enabled him to
escape the pursuit of the other Gorgons, who had meanwhile awaked. From
the trunk of Medusa sprang the winged horse Pegasus, and Chrysaor, the
father of Geryones. On his return to Seriphus, Perseus turned the
unrighteous Polydectes into stone by means of the Gorgon’s head, which
he then presented to Athene; and after making his benefactor, Dictys,
king of the island, he turned his steps towards his native place, Argos.
Such are the essential features of the myth—concerning which, in spite
of its antiquity, we have no earlier sources of information—such is the
original framework on which was afterwards built up the history of the
further adventures of the hero. The most celebrated of these was the
rescue of Andromeda, which formed the subject of a drama of Euripides,
and was also highly popular among artists and poets. The following is a
brief account of this exploit:—Cassiopea, the wife of Cepheus, king of
Æthiopia, ventured to extol her own beauty above that of the Nereids,
who thereupon besought Poseidon to avenge them. He granted their
request, and not only overwhelmed the land with disastrous floods, but
sent also a terrible sea-monster, which devoured both man and beast. The
oracle of Ammon declared that the land could only be saved by the
sacrifice of the king’s daughter, Andromeda, to the monster. Cepheus,
after some time, yielded to the entreaties of his people, and Andromeda
was chained to a rock close to the sea. In this situation she was found
by Perseus, on his return from his adventure with the Gorgons. He
forthwith attacked and slew the sea-monster, and released the trembling
maiden, who soon after married her preserver. Later writers, not
satisfied with this adventure, added that Perseus was also obliged to
vanquish a rival in Phineus, the king’s brother, to whom Andromeda had
been already promised. Phineus, together with his warriors, was changed
into stone by means of the Gorgon’s head.
The legend concludes with the return of the hero to Argos, where he was
reconciled to his grandfather Acrisius, who had at first fled in terror
to Larissa. On the occasion, however, of some games which the people of
Larissa had instituted in his honour, Perseus was unfortunate enough to
kill Acrisius with his discus, thus involuntarily fulfilling the
prophecy of the oracle. In this feature of the story we recognise an
unmistakeable reference to the symbolic meaning of Perseus; for the
discus here represents, as in the story of the death of Hyacinthus, the
face of the sun. Perseus, unwilling to enter on the inheritance of the
grandfather he had slain, exchanged the kingdom of Argos for that of
Tiryns, which was handed over to him by its king, Megapenthes, the son
of Prœtus. He here founded the cities of Midea and Mycenæ, and became,
through his children by Andromeda, the ancestor of many heroes, and,
among others, of Heracles. His son Electryon became the father of
Alcmene, whilst Amphitryon was descended from another of his sons.
According to Pausanias, heroic honours were paid to Perseus, not only
throughout Argos, but also in Athens and the island of Seriphus.
Perseus occupies a prominent position in Greek art. His common
attributes are the winged sandals, the sickle which he made use of
to slay Medusa, and the helmet of Hades. In bodily form, as well as
in costume, he appears very like Hermes.
[Illustration: Fig. 56.—Perseus and Andromeda. Marble Relief in the
Museum at Naples.]
Among the art monuments which relate to his adventures is a marble
relief from the Villa Pamfili, now in the Capitoline Museum at Rome,
depicting the rescue of Andromeda. The sea-monster lies dead at the
feet of Perseus, who is assisting the joyful Andromeda to descend
from the rock. The attitude and expression of both figures are very
striking: on the one side, maidenly modesty; on the other, proud
self-reliance. It is worth remarking that Perseus, in addition to
his winged shoes, has also wings on his head. The same conception is
perceptible, with a few minor points of difference, in several
Pompeian paintings, and on a marble relief of the Naples Museum
(Fig. 56). Representations of Medusa are mostly confined to masks,
which are often found on coats of mail, shields, leaves of folding
doors, and instruments of all kinds. There are two types,
representing an earlier and a later conception of Medusa. Earlier
art set itself to depict the horrible only in the head of Medusa;
and artists, therefore, strove to impart to the face as strong an
expression of rage and ferocity as was possible, representing her
with tongue lolling forth, and boar-like tusks. It is worthy of
remark that, in the earlier examples of these masks—which are
frequently met with on coins, gems, and pottery—the hair generally
falls stiff and straight over the forehead, serving to render the
horrible breadth of the face still more striking, while the snakes
appear to be fastened round the neck like a necklace. Very different
is the conception adopted by the later and more sensuous school.
This laboured principally to give expression to the gradual ebbing
away of life in the countenance of the dying Gorgon, an effect which
was rendered still more striking by transforming the hideous Gorgon
face of earlier times into an ideal of the most perfect beauty. The
most splendid example of this later conception, which had been
creeping in since the age of Praxiteles, is to be found in the
Medusa Rondanini of the Munich collection—a marble mask of most
beautiful workmanship, which was brought from the Rondanini Palace
at Rome (Fig. 57). This Medusa, like many others of the later type,
has wings on the head.
[Illustration: Fig. 57.—Rondanini Medusa. Munich.]
=5. The Dioscuri.=—On passing to Laconia and Messenia, the southern
districts of the Peloponnesus, we come in contact with the legend of the
Dioscuri. Tyndareüs and his brother Icarius were said to have founded
the most ancient sovereignty in Lacedæmon. They were driven thence,
however, by their half-brother Hippocoön, and were kindly received by
Thestius, the ruler of the ancient city of Pleuron in Ætolia, who gave
Tyndareüs his daughter Leda in marriage. Icarius received the hand of
Polycaste, who bore him Penelope—afterwards the wife of Odysseus; while
Leda was the mother of the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux).
Tyndareüs was afterwards reinstated in his Lacedæmonian kingdom at
Amyclæ by Heracles. Besides these two sons, Leda had also two daughters,
Clytæmnestra and Helene (Helen), who are celebrated in connection with
the Trojan war. An ancient legend also existed to the effect that Leda
had been beloved by Zeus, who had approached her under the guise of a
swan. The greatest incongruity prevails as to which of the children
could claim a divine origin. In Homer, Helen alone is represented as the
daughter of Zeus; while Clytæmnestra, together with Castor and
Polydeuces, appear as the children of Tyndareüs. At a subsequent period,
the name of “Dioscuri” (sons of Zeus) and a belief in their divine
origin arose simultaneously. Later still, Castor was represented as a
mortal, and the son of Tyndareüs; and Polydeuces as immortal, and the
son of Zeus. After Castor, however, had fallen in the contest with the
sons of Aphareus, his brother Polydeuces, unwilling to part from him,
prevailed on Zeus to allow them to remain together, on condition of
their spending one day in Olympus and the next in Hades. They thus led a
life divided between mortality and immortality. The following is an
account of their heroic deeds:—On attaining manhood, Castor
distinguished himself by his skill in the management of horses; whilst
Polydeuces became renowned as a skilful boxer, though he too had skill
in riding. They first made war on Theseus, who had carried off their
sister Helen, then ten years old, and set her free by the conquest of
Aphidnæ. They next took part in the expedition of the Argonauts, in
which Polydeuces gained still further renown by his victory with the
cestus over the celebrated boxer Amycus. They were also present at the
Calydonian boar hunt. Their last undertaking was the rape of the
daughters of Leucippus, king of Messenia. This was the cause of their
combat with their cousins Idas and Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus, to
whom the damsels had been betrothed. According to others, however, it
sprang from a quarrel as to the division of some booty that they had
carried off together. Castor was slain by Idas, whereupon Polydeuces in
his wrath slew Lynceus, while Idas himself was overwhelmed by a
thunderbolt from Zeus.
The interpretation of this myth is by no means void of difficulty. It is
commonly supposed that they were ancient Peloponnesian divinities of
light, who, after the Dorian invasion, were degraded to the rank of
heroes. They are often interpreted as personifications of the morning
and evening star, or of the twilight (dawn and dusk). This view died out
after the second deification that they underwent. They were venerated,
not only in their native Sparta, but throughout the whole of Greece, as
kindly, beneficent deities, whose aid might be invoked either in battle
or in the dangers of shipwreck. In this latter character they are lauded
by an Homeric hymn, in which they are represented as darting through the
air on their golden wings, in order to calm the storm at the prayer of
the terror-stricken mariner. It has often been remarked, and with a
great appearance of truth, that these Dioscuri flitting about on their
golden wings are probably nothing more than what is commonly called St.
Elmo’s fire—an electric flame which, is often seen playing round the
tops of the masts during a storm, and which is regarded by the sailors
as a sign of its speedy abatement; indeed the name Elmo has been
supposed a corruption of Helene. In Sparta, the Dioscuri were regarded
as the tutelary deities of the state, as well as an example of warlike
valour for the youth of the country. Their shrines here were very
numerous. Their ancient symbol, which the Spartans always took with them
on a campaign, consisted of two parallel beams joined by cross-bars.
They had other festivals and temples besides those of Sparta; in
Mantinea, for instance, where an eternal fire was kept burning in their
honour; also in Athens, where they were venerated under the appellation
of Anaces. Their festival was here celebrated with horse-racing. The
Olympic games also stood under their special protection, and their
images were set up in all the palæstra. They were, in fact, everywhere
regarded as extremely benevolent and sociable deities, who foster all
that is noble and beautiful among men.
The Dioscuri were believed to have assisted the Romans against the
Latins at the Lake Regillus; and the dictator, A. Postumius, vowed a
temple to them, which was erected in the Forum, opposite the temple of
Vesta. In commemoration of this aid, the Equites made a solemn
procession from the temple of Honos, past the temple of the Dioscuri, to
the Capitol every year on the Ides of July.
In art the Dioscuri are represented as heroic youths of noble mien
and slim but powerful forms. Their characteristic marks are conical
caps, the points of which are adorned with a star. They generally
appear nude, or clothed only with a light chlamys, and nearly always
in connection with their horses, either riding, standing by and
holding them, or leading them by the bridle. The most celebrated
representation of the Dioscuri that has come down to us from
antiquity consists of the marble statues called the Colossi of Monte
Cavallo, in Rome. These are eighteen feet in height, and the
proportions of the figures, together with those of the horses, are
exquisite. They are set up on the Quirinal, which has received from
them the name of Monte Cavallo. They are not, indeed, original
works, but are probably imitations of bronzes of the most
flourishing period of Greek art, executed in the time of Augustus.
=6. Heracles (Hercules).=—Of all the myths of the countries originally
inhabited by the Æolians the myth of Heracles is the most glorious. This
hero, though his fame was chiefly disseminated by means of the Dorians,
was yet by birth the common property of the Æolian race—their national
hero, in fact, just as he afterwards became the national hero of the
whole of Greece. No other Greek myth has received so many subsequent
additions—not only from native, but also from foreign sources—as this;
which is, in consequence, the most extensive and complicated of all
Greek myths. We shall, therefore, have to confine ourselves to the
consideration of its most characteristic features, and those which are
the most important in the history of art.
In Homer, who is here again our most ancient authority, the leading
features of the myth are traced—the enmity of Hera towards the hero; his
period of subjection to Eurystheus, and the labours by which he
emancipated himself (though special mention is made only of his seizure
of Cerberus); his expeditions against Pylus, Ephyra, Œchalia, and Troy.
The verses in the _Odyssey_ (xi. 602–4), which refer to his deification
and subsequent marriage with Hebe, are probably a later insertion. In
the _Iliad_, Heracles is spoken of as a great hero of olden time, “whom
the Fates and the grievous wrath of Hera subdued.” In Homer, too, he
appears as a purely Grecian hero, his warlike undertakings having never
yet led him beyond Troy, and his armour differing in no respect from
that of other heroes. The description of him in Hesiod’s _Theogony_ and
in the _Shield of Heracles_ is somewhat more minute, but is otherwise
essentially the same. From what source the deification of Heracles
sprang—whether it was due to Phœnician influences or not—has hitherto
remained an undetermined question; we only know that it appears as an
accomplished fact about 700 B.C.
I. THE BIRTH AND YOUTH OF HERACLES.—This portion of the legend found its
chief development in Bœotia. Amphitryon, a son of Alcæus and grandson of
Perseus, was compelled to flee from Tiryns with his betrothed
Alcmene—likewise a descendant of Perseus by her father Electryon—on
account of a murder, and found an asylum at the court of Creon, king of
Thebes. From this place he undertook an expedition against the robber
tribes of the Teleboæ (Taphians), in consequence of a promise made to
Alcmene, whose brother they had slain. After the successful termination
of this expedition, the marriage was to have been celebrated at Thebes.
But, in the meanwhile, the great ruler of Olympus himself had been
smitten with the charms of Alcmene, and, taking the form of the absent
Amphitryon, had left her pregnant with Heracles, to whom she afterwards
gave birth at the same time with Iphicles, the son of Amphitryon. The
sovereignty over all the descendants of Perseus, which Zeus had destined
for Heracles, was snatched from him by the crafty jealousy of Hera, who
prolonged the pains of Alcmene and hastened the delivery of the wife of
Sthenelus, the uncle of Amphitryon, by two months. Not content with
having subjected the hero to the will of the weak and cowardly
Eurystheus, Hera, according to a subsequent account of the poets, sent
two serpents to kill the child when he was about eight months old.
Heracles, however, gave the first proof of his divine origin by
strangling the serpents with his hands. An account of this scene has
descended to us in a beautiful poem of Pindar. In Thebes, the boy grew
up and was put under the care of the best preceptors. But, though he
excelled in every feat of strength and valour, he made no progress in
musical arts, and even slew his master Linus on account of a somewhat
harsh reproof which his inaptitude entailed on him. As a punishment,
Amphitryon sent him to Mount Cithæron to mind the flocks, a mode of life
which Heracles continued until he had completed his eighteenth year. It
was to this period that the sophist Prodicus, a contemporary of
Socrates, referred his beautiful allegory of the _Choice of Heracles_.
After attaining his full growth (according to Apollodorus he was four
cubits in height) and strength, the young hero performed his first great
feat by killing the lion of Cithæron. Whether it was this skin or that
of the Nemean lion which he afterwards used as a garment is not certain.
His next act was to free the Thebans from the ignominious tribute which
they were compelled to pay to Erginus, king of Orchomenus, by a
successful expedition, in which Amphitryon, however, lost his life.
Creon, the king of Thebes, in gratitude gave the hero his daughter
Megara in marriage, while Iphicles married her sister.
II. HERACLES IN THE SERVICE OF EURYSTHEUS—THE TWELVE LABOURS.—We now
come to the second epoch in the life of the hero, in which he performed
various labours at the bidding of Eurystheus, king of Mycenæ or Tiryns.
The number of these was first fixed at twelve in the Alexandrian age,
when Heracles was identified with the Phœnician sun-god, Baal; probably
from the analogy afforded in the course of the sun through the twelve
signs of the Zodiac. The subjection of Heracles to his unmanly cousin
Eurystheus is generally represented as a consequence of the stratagem by
which Hera obtained for the latter the sovereignty over all the
descendants of Perseus. At a later period Heracles was said to have
become insane, in consequence of the summons of Eurystheus to do his
bidding. The following is an account of the labours of Heracles:—
_1. The Fight with the Nemean Lion._—The district of Nemea and Cleonæ
was inhabited by a monstrous lion, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna,
whose skin bade defiance to every weapon. Heracles, after using his
arrows and club against the animal in vain, at last drove it into a
cave, and there strangled it with his hands. He afterwards used the head
of the lion as a helmet, and the impenetrable skin as a defence.
_2. The Lernæan Hydra._—This was a great water-serpent, likewise the
offspring of Typhon and Echidna. The number of its heads varies in the
accounts of poets, though ancient gems usually represent it with seven.
It ravaged the country of Lerna in Argolis, destroying both men and
beasts. In this adventure Heracles was accompanied by Iolaüs, the son of
his brother Iphicles, who, on this as on other occasions, appears as his
faithful companion. After driving the monster from its lair by means of
his arrows, he advanced fearlessly, and, seizing it in his hands, began
to strike off its heads with his sword. To his amazement, in the place
of each head he struck off two sprang up. He then ordered Iolaüs to set
on fire a neighbouring wood, and with the firebrands seared the throats
of the serpent, until he at length succeeded in slaying it. He then
dipped his arrows in its gall, thus rendering the wounds inflicted by
them incurable.
_3. The Erymanthian Boar._—This animal inhabited the mountain district
of Erymanthus in Arcadia, from which place it wasted the corn-fields of
Psophis. Heracles drove the boar up to the snow-covered summit of the
mountain, and then caught it alive, as Eurystheus had commanded him.
When he arrived at Mycenæ with the terrible beast on his back,
Eurystheus was so terrified that he hid himself in a vessel. This comic
scene is frequently depicted on vases. It was on this occasion that
Heracles destroyed the Centaurs. On the road the hero, hungry and
thirsty, was hospitably received by the friendly Centaur Pholus, who
holds the same place among the Arcadian Centaurs as Chiron does among
those of Thessaly. Pholus broached, in honour of his guest, a cask of
wine lying in his cave, which was the common property of all the
Centaurs. The fragrance of the wine attracted the other Centaurs living
on Mount Pholoë, and they immediately attacked the tippling hero with
pieces of rock and trunks of trees. Heracles, however, drove them back
with arrows and firebrands, and completely vanquished them after a
terrible fight. On returning to the cave of Pholus, he found his friend
dead. He had drawn an arrow out of a dead body to examine it, but
accidentally let it fall on his foot, from the wound of which he died.
_4. The Hind of Cerynea._—This animal, which was sacred to the Arcadian
Artemis, had golden horns and brazen hoofs, the latter being a symbol of
its untiring fleetness. Heracles was commanded to bring it alive to
Mycenæ, and for a whole year he continued to pursue it over hill and
dale with untiring energy. At length it returned to Arcadia, where he
succeeded in capturing it on the banks of the Ladon, and bore it in
triumph to Mycenæ.
_5. The Stymphalian Birds._—These voracious birds, which fed on human
flesh, had brazen claws, wings, and beaks, and were able to shoot out
their feathers like arrows. They inhabited the district round Lake
Stymphalis in Arcadia. Heracles slew some, and so terrified the rest by
means of his brazen rattle that they never returned. This latter
circumstance is apparently an addition of later times, to explain their
reappearance in the history of the Argonauts.
_6. Cleansing of the Stables of Augeas._—The sixth task of Heracles was
to cleanse in one day the stables of Augeas, king of Elis, whose wealth
in cattle had become proverbial. Heracles repaired to Elis, where he
offered to cleanse the stables, in which were three thousand oxen, if
the king would consent to give him a tenth part of the cattle. Augeas
agreed to do so; Heracles then turned the course of the Peneus or the
Alpheus, or, according to some, of both rivers, through the stalls, and
thus carried off the filth. Augeas, however, on learning that Heracles
had undertaken the labour at the command of Eurystheus, refused to give
him the stipulated reward, a breach of faith for which Heracles, later,
took terrible vengeance on the king.
_7. The Cretan Bull._—In the history of Minos, king of Crete, we find
that Poseidon once sent up a bull out of the sea for Minos to sacrifice,
but that Minos was induced by the beauty of the animal to place it among
his own herds, and sacrificed another in its stead; whereupon Poseidon
drove the bull mad. The seventh labour of Heracles consisted in
capturing this bull and bringing it to Mycenæ. It was afterwards set
free by Eurystheus, and appears later, in the story of Theseus, as the
bull of Marathon.
_8. The Mares of Diomedes._—Diomedes was king of the Bistones, a warlike
tribe of Thrace. He inhumanly caused all strangers cast upon his coasts
to be given to his wild mares, who fed on human flesh. To bind these
horses and bring them alive to Mycenæ was the next task of Heracles.
This, too, he successfully accomplished, after inflicting on Diomedes
the same fate to which he had condemned so many others.
_9. The Girdle of Hippolyte._—Admete, the daughter of Eurystheus, was
anxious to obtain the girdle which the queen of the Amazons had received
from Ares; and Heracles was accordingly despatched to fetch it. After
various adventures he landed in Themiscyra, and was at first kindly
received by Hippolyte, who was willing to give him the girdle. But Hera,
in the guise of an Amazon, spread a report that Heracles was about to
carry off the queen, upon which the Amazons attacked Heracles and his
followers. In the battle which ensued Hippolyte was killed, and the
hero, after securing the girdle, departed. On his journey homewards
occurred his celebrated adventure with Hesione, the daughter of
Laomedon, king of Troy. This king had refused Poseidon and Apollo the
rewards he had promised them for their assistance in building the walls
of Troy. In consequence of his perfidy, Apollo visited the country with
a pestilence, and Poseidon sent a sea-monster, which devastated the land
far and wide. By the advice of the oracle, Hesione, the king’s daughter,
was exposed to be devoured by the animal. Heracles offered to destroy
the monster, if Laomedon would give him the horses which his father Tros
had received as a compensation for the loss of Ganymedes. Laomedon
agreed, and Heracles then slew the monster. Laomedon, however, again
proved false to his word, and Heracles, with a threat of future
vengeance, departed.
_10. The Oxen of Geryones._—The next task of Heracles was to fetch the
cattle of the three-headed winged giant Geryones, or Geryoneus (Geryon).
This monster was the offspring of Chrysaor (red slayer) and Callirrhoë
(fair-flowing), an Oceanid, and inhabited the island of Erythia, in the
far West, in the region of the setting sun, where he had a herd of the
finest and fattest cattle. It was only natural that Heracles, in the
course of his long journey to Erythia and back, should meet with
numerous adventures; and this expedition has, accordingly, been more
richly embellished than any other by the imagination of the poets. He is
generally supposed to have passed through Libya, and to have sailed
thence to Erythia in a golden boat, which he forced Helios (the sun) to
lend him by shooting at him with his arrows. Having arrived in Erythia,
he first slew the herdsman who was minding the oxen, together with his
dog. He was then proceeding to drive off the cattle, when he was
overtaken by Geryon. A violent contest ensued, in which the three-headed
monster was at length vanquished by the arrows of the mighty hero.
Heracles is then supposed to have recrossed the ocean in the boat of the
sun, and, starting from Tartessus, to have journeyed on foot through
Iberia, Gaul, and Italy. We pass over his contests with the Celts and
Ligurians, and only notice briefly his victory over the giant Cacus,
mentioned by Livy, which took place in the district where Rome was
afterwards built, because Roman legend connected with this the
introduction of the worship of Hercules into Italy. At length, after
many adventures, he arrived at Mycenæ, where Eurystheus sacrificed the
oxen to the Argive goddess Hera.
Heracles has now completed ten of his labours, but Eurystheus, as
Apollodorus relates, refused to admit the destruction of the Lernæan
Hydra, because on that occasion Heracles had availed himself of the help
of Iolaüs, or the cleansing of the stables of Augeas, because of the
reward for which he had stipulated; so that the hero was compelled to
undertake two more. This account does not, however, harmonise with the
tradition of the response of the oracle, in deference to which Heracles
surrendered himself to servitude, and which offered the prospect of
twelve labours from the first.
_11. The Apples of the Hesperides._—This adventure has been even more
embellished with later and foreign additions than the last. The golden
apples, which were under the guardianship of the Hesperides, or nymphs
of the west, constituted the marriage present which Hera had received
from Gæa on the occasion of her marriage with Zeus. They were closely
guarded by the terrible dragon Ladon, who, like all monsters, was the
offspring of Typhon and Echidna. This, however, was far less
embarrassing to the hero than his total ignorance of the site of the
garden of the Hesperides, which led him to make several fruitless
efforts before he succeeded in reaching the desired spot.
His first object was to gain information as to the situation of the
garden, and for this purpose he journeyed through Illyria to the
Eridanus (Po), in order to inquire the way of the nymphs who dwelt on
this river. By them he was referred to the treacherous sage Nereus, whom
he managed to seize whilst asleep, and refused to release until he had
obtained the desired information. Heracles then proceeded by way of
Tartessus to Libya, where he was challenged to a wrestling match by the
giant Antæus, a powerful son of Earth, who was, according to Libyan
tradition, of a monstrous height (some say sixty cubits). He was
attacked by Heracles, but, as he received new strength from his mother
Earth as often as he touched the ground, the hero lifted him up in the
air and squeezed him to death in his arms.
From Libya Heracles passed into Egypt, where the cruel king Busiris was
in the habit of seizing all strangers who entered the country and
sacrificing them to Zeus. Heracles would have suffered a similar fate,
had he not broken the chains laid upon him, and slain the king and his
son. His indulgence at the richly-furnished table of the king was a
feature in the story which afforded no small amusement to the comic
writers, who were especially fond of jesting on the subject of the
healthy and heroic appetite of Heracles. From Egypt the hero made his
way into Æthiopia, where he slew Emathion, the son of Tithonus and Eos,
for his cruelty to strangers. He next crossed the sea to India, and
thence came to the Caucasus, where he set Prometheus free and destroyed
the vulture that preyed on his liver. After Prometheus had described to
him the long road to the Hesperides, he passed through Scythia, and came
at length to the land of the Hyperboreans, where Atlas bore the pillars
of heaven on his shoulders. This was the end of his journey, for Atlas,
at his request, fetched the apples, whilst Heracles supported the
heavens. Here again the comic poets introduced an amusing scene. Atlas,
having once tasted the delights of freedom, betrayed no anxiety to
relieve his substitute, but offered, instead, to bear the apples himself
to Eurystheus. Heracles, however, proved even more cunning than he, for,
apparently agreeing to the proposition, he asked Atlas just to relieve
him until he had arranged more comfortably a cushion for his back. When
Atlas good-humouredly consented, Heracles of course left him in his
former position, and made off with the apples. Another account states
that he descended himself into the garden and slew the hundred-headed
dragon who kept guard over the trees.
_12. Cerberus._—The most daring of all the feats of Heracles, and that
which bears the palm from all the others, and is in consequence, always
put at the end of his labours, was the bringing of Cerberus from the
lower world. In this undertaking, which is mentioned even by Homer, he
was accompanied by Hermes and Athene, though he had hitherto been able
to dispense with divine aid. He is commonly reported to have made his
descent into the lower world at Cape Tænarum in Laconia. Close to the
gates of Hades he found the adventurous heroes Theseus and Pirithoüs,
who had gone down to carry off Persephone, fastened to a rock. He
succeeded in setting Theseus free, but Pirithoüs he was obliged to leave
behind him, because of the violent earthquake which occurred when he
attempted to touch him. After several further adventures, he entered the
presence of the lord of the lower world. Hades consented to his taking
Cerberus, on condition that he should master him without using any
weapons. Heracles seized the furious beast, and, having chained him, he
brought him to Eurystheus, and afterwards carried him back to his place
in the lower world. The completion of this task released Heracles from
his servitude to Eurystheus.
III. DEEDS OF HERACLES AFTER HIS SERVICE.—_1. The Murder of Iphitus and
Contest with Apollo._—The hero, after his release from servitude,
returned to Thebes, where he gave his wife Megara in marriage to Iolaüs.
He then proceeded to the court of Eurytus, king of Œchalia, who had
promised his beautiful daughter Iole in marriage to the man who should
vanquish himself and his sons in shooting with the bow. The situation of
Œchalia is variously given; sometimes it is placed in Thessaly,
sometimes in the Peloponnesus, on the borders of Arcadia and Messenia,
and sometimes in the island of Eubœa, close to Eretria. Heracles gained
a most complete victory; but Eurytus, nevertheless, refused to give him
his daughter, reproaching him with the murder of his children by Megara,
and with his ignominious bondage to Eurystheus. Heracles, with many
threats of future vengeance, withdrew, and when, not long afterwards,
Iphitus, the son of Eurytus, fell into his hands, he cast him from the
highest tower of his citadel in Tiryns. This somewhat treacherous action
being at variance with the general character of the hero, the story
subsequently arose that Iphitus was a friend of Heracles, and had
advocated his cause with Eurytus, and that Heracles only treated him
thus in a fit of insanity. The bloody deed was fraught with the gravest
consequences. After seeking purification and absolution in vain among
men, Heracles came to Delphi, in order to seek the aid and consolation
of the oracle. But Apollo, with whom the royal family of Œchalia stood
in high favour, rejected him; whereupon Heracles forced his way into the
temple, and was already in the act of bearing away the holy tripod, in
order to erect an oracle of his own, when he was confronted by the angry
deity. A fearful combat would doubtless have ensued, if the father of
gods and men himself had not interfered to prevent this unnatural strife
between his favourite sons by separating the combatants with his
lightning. Heracles was now commanded by the Pythian priestess to allow
himself to be sold by Hermes into slavery for three years, to expiate
the murder of Iphitus.
_2. Heracles in the Service of Omphale._—This portion of the story is of
Lydian origin, but was cleverly interwoven with the Greek legend. The
Lydians, in fact, honoured a sun-hero called Sandon, who resembled
Heracles in many respects, as the ancestor of their kings. The oriental
character of the Lydian Heracles at once manifests itself in the fact
that he here appears as entirely devoted to sensual pleasures, becoming
effeminate in the society of women, and allowing himself to be clothed
in female attire, whilst his mistress Omphale donned his lion-skin and
club, and flaunted up and down before him. He did not always linger in
such inactivity, however; sometimes the old desire for action urged him
forth to gallant deeds. Thus he vanquished and chastised the Cercopes, a
race of goblins who used to trick and waylay travellers. He also slew
Syleus, who compelled all passing travellers to dig in his vineyard;
which formed the subject of a satyric drama of Euripides.
_3. His Expedition against Troy._—After performing several other feats
in the service of Omphale, Heracles again became free. He now appears to
have undertaken an expedition against the faithless Laomedon, king of
Troy, in company with other Greek heroes, such as Peleus, Telamon, and
Oïcles, whose number increased as time went on. The city was taken by
storm: Oïcles, indeed, was slain, but, on the other hand, Laomedon and
all his sons except Podarces fell before the arrows of Heracles.
Hesione, the daughter of the king, was given by Heracles to his friend
Telamon, and became by him the mother of Teucer. She received permission
from Heracles to release one of the prisoners, and chose her brother
Podarces, who afterwards bore the name of Priamus (the redeemed), and
continued the race of Dardanus in Ilium.
_4. The Peloponnesian Expeditions of Heracles._—The legend relates that
the hero now undertook his long-deferred expedition against Augeas,
which was the means of kindling a Messenian and Lacedæmonian war. After
assembling an army in Arcadia, which was joined by many gallant Greek
heroes, he advanced against Elis. Heracles, however, fell sick; and in
his absence his army was attacked and driven back with great loss by the
brave Actoridæ or Molionidæ, the nephews of Augeas. It was only after
Heracles had slain these heroes in an ambuscade at Cleonæ, as they were
on their way to the Isthmian games, that he succeeded in penetrating
into Elis. He then slew Augeas, and gave the kingdom to his son Phyleus,
with whom he was on friendly terms. It was on this occasion that he
instituted the Olympic games. He then marched against Pylus, either
because its king, Neleus, had given assistance to the Molionidæ, or else
because Neleus had refused to purify him from the murder of Iphitus.
This expedition against Pylus was subsequently greatly embellished by
the poets, who made it into a great battle of the gods, one part of whom
fought for Neleus, and the other part for Heracles. The chief feature
was the combat between Heracles and Periclymenus, the bravest of the
sons of Neleus, who had received from Poseidon, the tutelary deity of
the Pylians, the power of transforming himself into any kind of animal.
The result of the combat was of course a complete victory for Heracles.
Neleus, with his eleven gallant sons, was slain, and only the youngest,
Nestor, remained to perpetuate the celebrated race. The Lacedæmonian
expedition of Heracles, which follows close on that against Pylus, was
undertaken against Hippocoön, the half-brother of Tyndareüs, whom he had
expelled. Hippocoön was defeated and slain by Heracles, who gave his
kingdom to Tyndareüs. On this occasion Heracles was assisted by Cepheus,
king of Tegea, with his twenty sons, a circumstance which is only
mentioned on account of a remarkable legend connected with his stay in
Tegea. Heracles is here said to have left Auge, the beautiful sister of
Cepheus, and priestess of Athene, pregnant with Telephus, whose wondrous
adventures have occupied artists and poets alike. Auge concealed her
child in the grove of Athene, whereupon the angry goddess visited the
land with a famine. Aleüs, the father of Auge, on discovering the fact,
caused the child to be exposed, and sold the mother beyond the sea. Auge
thus came into Mysia, where the king Teuthras made her his wife.
Telephus was suckled by a hind. He grew up, and ultimately, after some
wonderful adventures, succeeded in finding his mother. He succeeded
Teuthras, and, later, became embroiled with the Greeks when they landed
on their expedition against Troy, on which occasion he was wounded by
Achilles. Telephus, among all the sons of Heracles, is said to have
borne the greatest resemblance to his father.
_5. Acheloüs, Nessus, Cycnus._—The next episode in the history of the
hero is his wooing of Deïanira, the daughter of Œneus, king of Ætolia.
Œneus is celebrated as the first cultivator of the vine in that country,
and as the father of the Ætolian heroes, Meleager and Tydeus. The
river-god Acheloüs was also a suitor for the hand of Deïanira, and as
neither he nor Heracles would relinquish their claim, it was decided by
the combat between the rivals[8] so often described by the poets. The
power of assuming various forms was of little use to Acheloüs, for,
having finally transformed himself into a bull, he was deprived of a
horn by Heracles, and compelled to declare himself vanquished. Heracles
restored him his horn, and received in exchange that of the goat
Amalthea. After his marriage with Deïanira, Heracles lived for some time
happily at the court of his father-in-law, where his son Hyllus was
born. In consequence of an accidental murder, he was obliged to leave
Ætolia and retire to the court of his friend Ceÿx, king of Trachis, at
the foot of Mount Œta. On the road occurred his celebrated adventure
with the Centaur Nessus. On coming to the river Evenus, Heracles
entrusted Deïanira to Nessus to carry across, whilst he himself waded
through the swollen stream. The Centaur, induced by the beauty of his
burden, attempted to carry off Deïanira, but was pierced by an arrow of
Heracles, and expiated his attempt with his life. He avenged himself by
giving Deïanira some of his blood to make a magic salve, with which he
assured her she could always secure the love of her husband.
Footnote 8:
The most beautiful description exists in a chorus in the _Trachiniæ_
of Sophocles, and in Ovid’s _Metamorphoses_.
On reaching Trachis they were hospitably received by Ceÿx. Heracles
first defeated the Dryopes, and assisted the Dorian king Ægimius in his
contest with the Lapithæ. He next engaged in his celebrated combat with
Cycnus, the son of Ares, which took place at Iton, in the neighbourhood
of the Gulf of Pagasæ. Heracles not only slew his opponent, but even
wounded the god of war himself, who had come to the assistance of his
son. This contest is the subject of the celebrated poem called the
_Shield of Hercules_, which goes under the name of Hesiod.
IV. DEATH AND APOTHEOSIS.—The death of Heracles, of which we learn most
from the masterly description of Sophocles in the _Trachiniæ_, is
generally supposed to have been connected with his expedition against
Eurytus. The hero, who could not forget the ignominious treatment he had
received at the hands of Eurytus, now marched with an army from Trachis
against Œchalia. The town and citadel were taken by storm, and Eurytus
and his sons slain; whilst the beautiful Iole, who was still unmarried,
fell into the hands of the conqueror. Heracles now withdrew with great
booty, but halted on the promontory of Cenæum, opposite the Locrian
coast, to raise an altar and offer a solemn sacrifice of thanksgiving to
his father Zeus. Deïanira, who was tormented with jealous misgivings
concerning Iole, thought it was now high time to make use of the charm
of Nessus. She accordingly sent her husband a white sacrificial garment,
which she anointed with the ointment prepared from the blood of the
Centaur. Heracles donned the garment without suspicion, but scarcely had
the flames from the altar heated the poison than it penetrated the body
of the unhappy hero. In the most fearful agony he strove to tear off the
garment, but in vain, for it stuck like a plaster to his skin; and where
he succeeded in rending it away by force, it tore out great pieces of
his flesh at the same time. In his frenzy he seized the herald Lichas,
the bearer of the unfortunate present, and violently dashed him in
pieces against a rock of the sea. In this state Heracles was brought to
Trachis, where he found that Deïanira, full of sorrow and despair on
learning the consequences of her act, had put an end to her own life.
Convinced that cure was hopeless, the dying hero proceeded from Trachis
to Œta, and there erected a funeral pile on which to end his torments.
None of those around him, however, would consent to set the pile on
fire, until Pœas, the father of Philoctetes, happened to pass by, and
rendered him the service, in return for which Heracles presented him
with his bow and arrows. As the flames rose high, a cloud descended from
heaven, and, amid furious peals of thunder, a chariot with four horses,
driven by Athene, appeared and bore the illustrious hero to Olympus,
where he was joyfully received by the gods. He here became reconciled to
Hera, who gave him the hand of her beauteous daughter Hebe in marriage.
V. HERACLES AS GOD.—We have already laid before our readers the most
characteristic features of the myth. To interpret it and trace it back
in all its details to the original sources would be, amid the mass of
provincial and foreign legends with which it is amalgamated, almost
impossible. Thus much is certain, however, that, apart from the
conceptions which were engrafted on the story from Tyrian and Egyptian
sources, even in the case of the Greek Heracles, myths based on natural
phenomena are mixed up with historical and allegorical myths. The
historic element, for instance, is apparent in the wars of Heracles
against the Dryopes—against Augeas, Neleus, and Hippocoön. Here the
exploits of the whole Dorian race are personified in the actions of the
hero. On the other hand, in most of his single combats a symbolic
meaning, derived from natural phenomena, is unmistakeable. Heracles, in
fact, appears to have been, originally, a symbol of the power of the sun
triumphing over the dark powers in nature. Driven from Argos by the
worship of the Argive Hera, he first sank to the level of a hero, but
was, subsequently, again raised to the dignity of a god. This occurred
at a time when the gods of Greece had altogether cast aside their
physical meaning; so that he was now regarded principally from an
ethical point of view. He appears as a symbol of that lofty force of
character which triumphs over all difficulties and obstacles. Poets and
philosophers alike vied with each other in presenting him to the youth
of their country in this character, pointing to his career as a
brilliant example of what a man might accomplish, in spite of a thousand
obstacles, by mere determination and force of will. The well-known
allegory of the sophist Prodicus,[9] called “The Choice of Hercules,” is
an instance of the mode in which the history of the hero was used to
inculcate moral precepts.
Footnote 9:
Prodicus, a native of the island of Ceos, was an elder contemporary of
Socrates. Like the latter, he taught in Athens, and met with a similar
fate, having been condemned to death as an enemy of the popular
religion and a corruptor of the Athenian youth.
In the religious system of the Greeks, Heracles was specially honoured
as the patron of the gymnasia; the gymnasium of Cynosarges in Athens
being solely dedicated to him. After his deification, Heracles was also
regarded in the character of a saviour and benefactor of his nation; as
one who had not only merited the lasting gratitude of mankind by his
deeds throughout an active and laborious life—in having rid the world of
giants and noxious beasts, in having extinguished destructive forces of
nature, and abolished human sacrifices and other barbarous institutions
of antiquity—but also as a kindly and beneficent deity, ever ready to
afford help and protection to mankind in the hour of need. In this
character he was known by the names of Soter (Saviour) and Alexicacus
(averter of evil). He had temples and festivals in various parts of
Greece. In Marathon, which boasted of being the first seat of his
worship, games were celebrated in his honour every four years, at which
silver cups were given as prizes. The fourth day of every month was held
sacred to him, this day being regarded as his birthday.
We have already mentioned the legendary introduction of his worship into
Rome.[10] Hercules, as he was called in Italy, was identified with the
Italian hero Recaranus. He had an altar in the _Forum Boarium_,
established, according to tradition, by Evander. The Roman poets, of
course, devoted especial attention to the stories of his journey through
Italy, and his fight with Cacus.
Footnote 10:
There seems ground for thinking that the Italian Hercules was properly
a rural deity confounded with Heracles on account of the similarity of
their names; while Recaranus properly corresponded with the great
Heracles in meaning.
In Heracles ancient art sought to portray the conception of gigantic
bodily strength. He is, therefore, generally represented as a
full-grown man—rarely as a child or youth. We may observe the manner
in which the prominent idea of physical force is expressed by
regarding the formation of the neck and throat in the statue of
Heracles. Nothing can express better a bull-like strength than the
short neck and the prominent muscles, especially if associated with
a broad, deep chest. We shall be able to appreciate this distinctive
character still more clearly if we compare the form of Heracles with
that of the ideal god Apollo, whose neck is especially long and
slender. The figure of Heracles is, moreover, characterised by a
head small in comparison with the giant body; by curly hair, bushy
eyebrows, and muscular arms and legs. This conception was
principally developed by Myron and Lysippus. A statue of Heracles by
the former artist played a part in connection with the art robberies
of Verres in Sicily. Lysippus erected several celebrated statues of
Heracles, the most remarkable of which was the bronze colossus in
Tarentum, which the Romans, after the capture of that town,
transferred to the Capitol. Thence it was brought, by order of
Constantine, to his new capital of Constantinople, where it remained
until the Latin crusade of 1202, when it was melted down. Lysippus
portrayed in this statue a mourning Heracles, which no one had ever
attempted before him. The hero appeared in a sitting posture,
without his weapons, his left elbow resting on his left leg, while
his head, full of thought and sorrow, rests on the open hand. The
same artist, in a still greater work, depicted the twelve labours of
Heracles. These formed a group which was originally executed for
Alyzia, a seaport town of Acarnania, but which was, subsequently,
likewise transferred to Rome.
[Illustration: Fig. 58.—Farnese Hercules.]
First among existing statues is the Farnese Hercules (Fig. 58). This
celebrated colossal statue, now in the Naples Museum, was discovered
in 1540, on the site of the Thermæ of Caracalla. The hero is
standing upright, resting his left shoulder on his club, from which
hangs his lion’s skin. This attitude, as well as the head drooping
towards the breast, and the gloomy gravity of his countenance,
clearly show that the hero feels bowed down by the burden of his
laborious life. Even the thought that he is soon to be released from
his ignominious servitude (he holds behind him, in his right hand,
the three apples of the Hesperides, the fruit of his last labour) is
unable to cheer him, and his thoughts seem to revert only to the
past. On account of the conception of the piece, and the existence
of another copy bearing the name of Lysippus, the Farnese Hercules
is supposed to be a copy of a work of Lysippus, of which nothing
further is known.
Still more important as a work of art, though it has reached us in a
terribly mutilated condition—minus head, arms, and legs—is the
celebrated Torso of Hercules, in the Vatican. This was found in Rome
during the reign of Pope Julius II., on a spot where the theatre of
Pompey, of which it was probably an ornament, once stood.
_Groups._—Heracles in action was a still more favourite subject with
artists, who delighted to portray the different scenes of his
versatile life. Numberless representations of such scenes occur, not
only in the form of statues and works in relief, but more especially
on ancient vases. We mention here, in the chronological order of the
events, some of the most important.
_1. Heracles and the Serpents._—This scene was early depicted by the
celebrated painter Zeuxis, who represented Heracles as strangling
the serpents, whilst Alcmene and Amphitryon stood by in amazement.
There are also several statues representing this feat, among which
that at Florence takes the first rank. There is also a painting from
Herculaneum in the Naples Museum.
_2. The Twelve Labours._—These have naturally been treated of times
out of number. We have already mentioned the groups of Lysippus,
which he executed for the town of Alyzia. A still existing bronze
statue in the Capitoline Museum, representing Heracles battling with
the Hydra, appears to belong to this series. Among interesting
remains are the metope reliefs on the Theseum at Athens. Ten on the
east side of the temple represent scenes from the life of Heracles.
Nine of them belong to the twelve labours, viz., the Nemean lion,
the Hydra, the Arcadian hind, the Erymanthian boar, the horses of
Diomedes, Cerberus, the girdle of Hippolyte, Geryon, and the
Hesperides; whilst the tenth tablet represents his contest with
Cycnus. The remains of the splendid temple of Zeus at Olympia, which
was completed about 435 B.C., are less important. The metopes of the
front and back of the temple contained six of the labours of
Heracles. Those representing the contest with the Cretan bull, the
dying lion, a portion from the fight with Geryon, and some other
fragments, were found in 1829, and conveyed to the museum of the
Louvre at Paris. The only one which is perfect, however, is the
spirited and life-like representation of the struggle with the
Cretan bull.
_3. Parerga_ (_Subordinate Deeds_).—First among these come the
scenes from his contest with the Centaurs, which were frequently
treated of in art. Groups of these exist in the museum at Florence;
there are also various representations to be found on vases. His
adventure with Nessus is represented separately on a Pompeian
painting in the Naples Museum; Nessus crouches in a humble posture
before Heracles, who has the little Hyllus in his arms, and he
appears to be asking permission to carry Deïanira across the stream.
There is also an interesting representation of the release of
Prometheus on the Sarcophagus of the Capitol, from the Villa
Pamfili, which is, in other respects, also worthy of mention. The
seizure of the tripod at Delphi is also frequently portrayed in art.
_4. Heracles and Omphale._—Of the monuments referring to Heracles’
connection with Omphale, the most important is the beautiful Farnese
group in marble in the Naples Museum. Omphale has thrown the lion’s
skin round her beautiful limbs, and holds in her right hand the
hero’s club. Thus equipped, she smiles triumphantly at Heracles, who
is clothed in female attire, with a distaff in his hand.
_5. Heracles and Telephus._—The romantic history of Telephus was
also frequently treated of in art. The Naples Museum possesses a
fine painting, representing the discovery of the child after it has
been suckled by the hind, on which occasion, strange to say,
Heracles himself is present. In the Vatican Museum there is a fine
marble group, representing Heracles with the child Telephus in his
arms.
=7. Attic Legend.=—_1. Cecrops._—Cecrops, the first founder of
civilisation in Attica, plays a similar part here to that which Cadmus
does in Thebes. Like Cadmus, he was afterwards called an immigrant;
indeed he was said to have come from Sais in Lower Egypt. In his case,
however, we are able to trace the rise of the erroneous tradition with
far greater distinctness. Pure Attic tradition recognises him only as an
autochthon—that is, an original inhabitant born of the earth; and
further adds, that, like the giants, he was half man and half serpent.
As the mythical founder of the state, he was also regarded as the
builder of the citadel (Cecropia); and marriage, as well as other
political and social institutions, were ascribed to him. Perhaps he is
only a local personification of Hermes. The probability of this view is
greatly enhanced by the fact that his three daughters, Herse, Aglaurus,
and Pandrosus, received divine honours. It was under Cecrops that the
celebrated contest occurred between Poseidon and Athene for the
possession of Attica, and was by his means decided in favour of the
goddess. We have already given an account of it, and need only here
remark that the story is purely the result of the observation of natural
phenomena. In Attica, in fact, there are only two seasons—a cold, wet,
and rainy winter (Poseidon), and a warm, dry, genial summer (Pallas).
These seem to be continually striving for the supremacy of the land.
Cecrops was succeeded in the government by Cranaüs, who is represented
by some as his son. The common mythological account places the flood of
Deucalion in his reign. After the expulsion of Cranaüs, Amphictyon, one
of the sons of Deucalion, succeeded to the sovereignty of Attica, of
whom nothing more is known than that he was deprived of the government
by Erechtheus.
_2. Erechtheus, or Erichthonius._—Erechtheus, or Erichthonius, is really
only a second Cecrops—the mythical founder of the state after the flood,
as Cecrops was before it. Being also earthborn, he is, like Cecrops,
endowed with a serpent’s form. There was another very sacred legend
concerning him, which stated that Gæa (Ge), immediately after his birth,
gave him to the goddess Pallas to nurse. The latter first entrusted him
to the daughters of Cecrops, her attendants and priestesses, enclosed in
a chest. The latter, however, prompted by curiosity, opened the chest,
contrary to the commands of the goddess, and were punished in
consequence with madness. Erichthonius was now reared by the goddess
herself in her sanctuary on the citadel, and was subsequently made king
of Athens. The same stories are then related of him as of Cecrops—that
he regulated the state, introduced the worship of the gods, and settled
the dispute between Poseidon and Athene.
The tomb of Erechtheus was shown in the Erechtheum, the ancient temple
dedicated to Athene Polias, where the never-dying olive tree created by
the goddess was also preserved.
Two among the daughters of Erechtheus are celebrated in legend. The
first is Orithyia, who was carried off by Boreas, and became the mother
of Calaïs and Zetes, whom we come across again in the story of the
Argonauts; the other is Procris, the wife of the handsome hunter
Cephalus, who was said to be a son of Hermes by Herse, the daughter of
Cecrops. Cephalus was carried off by Eos, who was unable to shake his
fidelity to his wife. It served, however, to excite the jealousy of the
latter, which ultimately proved fatal to her. Procris had hidden herself
among the bushes, in order to watch her husband, when Cephalus, taking
her for a wild animal, unwittingly killed her. After the death of
Erechtheus, the tragic poets relate that Ion, the mythical ancestor of
the Ionians, ruled in Athens. This means nothing more than that the
primitive Pelasgian age in Attica had now come to an end, and the
dominion of the Ionians commenced.
_3. Theseus._—Theseus is the national hero of the Ionians, just as
Heracles is of the Æolians. He has not unjustly been called the second
Heracles; and he has, indeed, many features in common with the Æolian
hero, since the national jealousy of the Ionians led them to adopt every
possible means of making their own hero rival that of their neighbours.
They therefore strove to represent him, likewise, as a hero tried in
numberless contests—generous, unselfish, and devoted to the interests of
mankind—and of course ascribed to him a multitude of adventurous
exploits. There is no great undertaking of antiquity in which Theseus is
not supposed to have taken part, and he was even sent on an expedition
to hell, in imitation of Heracles.
He was the son of the Athenian king Ægeus, whom mythological tradition
made a great-grandson of Erechtheus. After his father Pandion had been
driven out by his relations, the sons of Metion, Ægeus betook himself to
Megara, where he was hospitably received by the ruler, Pylas. From
Megara, Ægeus, Pallas, Nisus, and Lycus, the sons of Pandion, undertook
an expedition against Athens, which ended in the expulsion of the
Metionidæ, and the restoration of the former royal family in the person
of Ægeus. Such, at least, is the tradition; although it is more probable
that Athens never had a king of this name, and that Ægeus (wave-man) is
only a surname of Poseidon, the chief deity of the seafaring Ionians.
Ægeus, though twice married, had no heir, and now undertook a journey to
Delphi to seek the advice of the oracle. On his way back he stopped at
the court of Pittheus, king of Trœzen, and became, by his daughter
Æthra, the father of Theseus. Before his departure, he placed his sword
and sandals beneath a heavy stone, and commanded Æthra to send his son
to Athens as soon as he was able to move the stone and take his father’s
sword. Theseus was carefully trained in music and gymnastics by the
sagacious Pittheus, and soon developed into a stately youth. He is also
supposed to have been educated by the Centaur Chiron, whose instruction
had now become a necessary item in the education of a real hero.
When Theseus was sixteen, his mother took him to the stone beneath which
lay his father’s sword and sandals. With a slight effort he raised the
stone, and thus entered on his heroic career. His earlier adventures
consisted in overcoming a series of obstacles that beset him in his
journey from Trœzen to Athens. They are generally supposed to have been
six in number.
1. Between Trœzen and Epidaurus he slew Periphetes, the son of
Hephæstus—who was lame, like his father—because he was in the habit of
murdering travellers with his iron club; whence he is called Corynetes,
or club-bearer.
2. He next delivered the Isthmus from another powerful robber called
Sinis. He used to fasten travellers who fell into his hands to the top
of a pine tree, which he bent to the earth, and then allowed to recoil;
after which, on their reaching the ground, he would kill them outright;
whence he is called Pityocamptes, or pine-bender. Theseus inflicted the
same fate on him.
3. In the woody district of Crommyon he destroyed a dangerous wild sow
that laid waste the country.
4. Not far from this, on the rock of Sciron, on the borders of Megara,
dwelt another monster, called Sciron, who compelled travellers to wash
his feet, and then kicked them into the sea. Theseus served him in a
similar fashion.
5. In the neighbourhood of Eleusis he vanquished the giant Cercyon, who
compelled all who fell into his hands to wrestle with him.
6. His last combat awaited him on the confines of Eleusis, where dwelt
the inhuman Damastes. This monster used to lay his victims in a bed: if
this was too short, he would hack off their projecting limbs; if too
long, he would beat out and pull asunder their limbs, whence he is
called Procrustes. He was also slain by Theseus.
On reaching Athens, he found his father Ægeus in the toils of the
dangerous sorceress Medea, who had fled from Corinth to Athens. She was
on the point of making away with the newcomer by poison, when Ægeus,
fortunately, recognised him by the sword he bore, and preserved him from
his impending fate.
Medea was compelled to flee; but a new danger awaited the hero from the
fifty sons of Pallas, who had reckoned on succeeding their childless
uncle Ægeus. Theseus, however, slew some in battle and expelled the
rest.
He now undertook his greatest and most adventurous feat, in order to
free his country from its shameful tribute to Minos, king of Crete,
whose son, the youthful hero Androgeos, had been treacherously murdered
by the Athenians and Megareans. Another account says that he was sent by
Ægeus against the bull of Marathon, and thus slain. At any rate, Minos
undertook a war of revenge. He first marched against Megara, of which
Nisus, the brother of Ægeus, was king. Minos conquered him by means of
his own daughter Scylla, who became enamoured of Minos, and cut off from
her father’s head the purple lock on which his life depended. After
having taken Megara and slain Nisus, Minos marched against Athens. Here
he was equally successful, and compelled the vanquished Athenians to
expiate the blood of his son by sending, every eight or (according to
the Greek method of reckoning) every nine years, seven youths and seven
maidens to be devoured by the Minotaur. This was a monster, half man and
half bull. Twice already had the bloody tribute been sent, and the third
fell just after Theseus’ arrival in Athens; he at once bravely offered
to go among the allotted victims. He was resolved to do battle with the
Minotaur, and to stake his life on the liberation of his country from
the shameful tribute. Under the guidance of Aphrodite he passed over to
Crete, and soon discovered the efficacy of her protection. The goddess
kindled a passionate love for the hero in the breast of Ariadne, the
daughter of Minos. Ariadne rendered him every possible assistance in his
undertaking, and especially presented him with a clew of thread, by
means of which Theseus, after having slain the Minotaur, was enabled to
find his way out of the Labyrinth. We have already narrated how Ariadne
was deserted by Theseus on the isle of Naxos, only to become the bride
of Dionysus, the divine son of Semele. Theseus also landed at Delos,
where he instituted the festival of the Delia in honour of the divine
children of Leto. On reaching Athens, he showed his gratitude to his
divine protectress by the institution of the worship of Aphrodite
Pandemus. In honour of Dionysus and Ariadne, he instituted the
Oschophoria, in which festival Athene also had a share. Lastly, in
honour of Apollo, he instituted the Pyanepsia, a festival which was
celebrated on the seventh day of the month Pyanepsion (end of October).
The happy return of Theseus from his Cretan expedition, however, proved
the death of his aged father. Ægeus, as he stood on the coast looking
for his son’s return, perceived that the ships had black sails instead
of white, which were to have been hoisted in the event of his son’s
success; and believing that all was lost, he cast himself headlong into
the sea. This story was perhaps only invented to account for the name of
the Ægean Sea.
With regard to the other exploits of Theseus, there exists the greatest
variety of accounts as to the order in which they took place. As king,
he is said to have been the first to unite the separate districts of
Attica into one political community, with one state Prytaneum, and to
have instituted the festival of the Panathenæa in commemoration of this
event. The following, among his later exploits, are worthy of mention:—
1. He captured the bull of Marathon (said to have been the same which
Heracles brought alive from Crete), and sacrificed it in Athens to
Apollo Delphinius.
2. He assisted his friend Pirithoüs, the prince of the Lapithæ, in his
contest with the Centaurs.
3. He undertook with Pirithoüs an expedition to Lacedæmon, in which they
carried off Helen, the sister of the Dioscuri.
4. At the request of Pirithoüs, he accompanied him to the lower world to
carry off Persephone; but Hades, enraged at their audacity, caused them
both to be bound in chains and fastened to a rock. Theseus was rescued
from this plight by Heracles, but during his absence the Dioscuri had
released their sister from Aphidnæ, where she was confined.
5. He next joined Heracles in his expedition against the Amazons, and
received, as the reward of victory, their queen Antiope, or Hippolyte.
Another tradition asserts that Antiope followed him of her own free will
to Athens, where she was married to him, and became the mother of
Hippolytus, famed for his unhappy fate. His great beauty caused his
step-mother Phædra, a later wife of Theseus, and a sister of Ariadne, to
fall in love with him. As he withdrew himself from her dishonourable
proposals by flight, she accused him to his father of attempts on her
virtue. Theseus, in his wrath, besought Poseidon to punish his faithless
son; and the god, who had sworn to grant any request of Theseus, sent a
wild bull (_i.e._, a breaker) out of the sea as Hippolytus was driving
in his chariot along the sea-shore. This so terrified his horses that
Hippolytus was thrown from his chariot, and dragged along the ground
till he was dead. This story—the scene of which was afterwards
transferred to Trœzen, whither Theseus was supposed to have fled on
account of a murder—was dealt with in a touching manner by the tragic
poets. The _Hippolytus_ of Euripides is still extant.
6. As a result of the carrying off of Antiope, a second contest with the
Amazons was subsequently invented, in which Theseus was engaged alone,
and which took place in the immediate neighbourhood of Athens. The
Amazons are supposed to have invaded Attica, in order to release their
queen. Antiope, however, was so enamoured of Theseus that she refused to
return, and fought at her husband’s side, against her kindred, until she
was slain.
Lastly, Theseus is said to have taken part in the Calydonian boar hunt,
and also in the expedition of the Argonauts, of which we shall have more
to say hereafter.
[Illustration: Fig. 59.—Elgin Theseus. British Museum.]
The death of Theseus is commonly agreed to have taken place in the
following manner:—He had been deprived of the sovereignty of Athens by
Menestheus, who was aided by the Dioscuri; and then withdrew to the
island of Scyros. Here he was at first hospitably received, but
subsequently murdered in a treacherous manner by Lycomedes, the ruler of
the island. Demophoön, the son of Theseus, is said to have afterwards
recovered his father’s kingdom. At a still later period the bones of the
hero were brought to Athens by Cimon, at the command of the Delphic
oracle. Cimon is also supposed to have caused the erection of the temple
of Theseus, which still exists in Athens, and serves as an art museum.
The eighth day of every month was held sacred to Theseus, besides which
he had a special festival, called the Thesea, on the eighth of
Pyanepsion.
[Illustration: Fig. 60.—Theseus Lifting the Rock. Relief in the Villa
Albani.]
Art has followed the example of the poets and mythologists in
depicting Theseus as a second Heracles. Here, however, the
characteristic differences that existed between the Doric and Ionic
races become apparent. Just as the latter race surpassed the former
in elasticity, both of mind and body, so their national hero gives
token not only of a higher intellectual being, but also of a body
more lithe, and capable of greater swiftness and dexterity, than
that of the Doric hero. The slighter and more elegant form of
Theseus lacks, perhaps, the sheer brute strength of Heracles, but is
compensated by the possession of a far greater degree of activity
and adroitness. The expression of face is more amiable and the hair
less bristling than that of Heracles, while there is generally no
beard. Such is Theseus as depicted by Greek art at the epoch of its
full development; later art strove to render the form of the body
still more lithe and graceful. The costume of Theseus consists, like
that of his prototype Heracles, of a lion’s skin and club; sometimes
also of the chlamys and petasus of the Attic youth. Existing art
monuments are far less numerous in his case than in that of
Heracles. If the explanation is correct, the British Museum
possesses a Theseus of priceless value. Among the statues of the
Parthenon which have been preserved, there is one of a figure
negligently reclining on a lion’s skin, which, with the exception of
the nose, hands, and feet, is in a tolerably good state of
preservation (Fig. 59). It belonged to the great group of the east
gable, which represented the first appearance of the new-born Athene
to the astonished gods. It is the figure of a youth in his prime,
somewhat larger than life, and altogether a perfect ideal of manly
beauty.
A representation of the conflict of Theseus with the invading army
of the Amazons still exists on a large piece of frieze-work, which,
together with the representations of the battle of the Lapithæ and
Centaurs (which have been already mentioned), formerly decorated the
walls of the shrine of Apollo’s temple in Phigalia, and is now the
property of the British Museum. Among the Greek warriors Theseus may
be easily recognised by his lion’s skin and the club, which he is in
the act of swinging against a mounted Amazon, probably the leader of
the hostile army. We give an engraving of the scene where Theseus
obtained the sword and sandals of his father from beneath the rock,
after a relief in the Villa Albani (Fig. 60).
=8. Cretan Legend.=—_1. Minos and the Minotaur._—Cretan myths are both
obscure and difficult of interpretation, because Phœnician and Phrygian
influences made themselves felt at a very early period, and native
sources fail us. Minos is commonly supposed to have been the first king
of the country. He was the son of Zeus and Europa, who is called in
Homer a daughter of Phœnix. This Phœnix was subsequently made into
Agenor, a Phœnician, king of Sidon; and the story then arose that Zeus,
in the form of a white bull, had carried off Europa, and arrived with
his lovely prey in Crete. Europa is there said to have given birth to
Minos, Rhadamanthys (Rhadamanthus), and some say Sarpedon. She
afterwards married Asterion, who brought up the sons of Zeus as his own
children, and, at his death, left the kingdom to Minos. He, after
expelling his brothers Sarpedon and Rhadamanthus, became sole king of
Crete. Of his brothers, Sarpedon went to Lycia, whilst the pious
Rhadamanthus found a refuge in Bœotia. Minos next married Pasiphaë, a
daughter of Helios and Perseïs, by whom he became the father of Catreus,
who succeeded him, Deucalion, Glaucus, and Androgeos, besides several
daughters, of whom the most celebrated are Ariadne and Phædra. Minos
gave wise laws to his people, and became supreme at sea among the isles
of the Ægean Sea, and even as far as Attica. In his name we find the
same root (meaning “to think”) which we have seen in Minerva, and which
appears in the name of the Indian lawgiver Manu.
In order to vindicate his right to the crown, Minos besought Poseidon to
send him a bull out of the sea, which he was then to sacrifice to the
god. Poseidon granted his prayer, but Minos was induced by the beauty of
the animal to place it among his own herds. As a punishment of his
perfidy, Poseidon kindled in the breast of Pasiphaë an unnatural love
for the bull, and the fruit of their connection was the Minotaur. This
was a monster, half man and half bull, which Minos shut up in the
labyrinth that had been made by the skill of Dædalus. The food of the
monster consisted of human beings, who were partly criminals and partly
youths and maidens, sent as tribute from the subjugated countries. This
lasted until Theseus came to Crete, and, with the aid of Ariadne and
Dædalus, destroyed the Minotaur. Such is the substance of this
perplexing mythical tradition, of which the simplest interpretation is
that the Minotaur was originally an ancient idol of the Phœnician
sun-god Baal, which had the form of a bull, and to which human
sacrifices were offered. The destruction of the Minotaur by Theseus is a
symbol of the triumph of the higher Greek civilisation over Phœnician
barbarism, and the consequent abolition of human sacrifices.
Closely connected with the royal family of Crete we find Dædalus, the
most celebrated artist of the legendary period. He is said to have been
a son of Metion, and a descendant of Erechtheus, and to have fled from
Athens to Crete after murdering his nephew Talus in a fit of
professional jealousy. During his residence in Crete he constructed the
Labyrinth, an underground building with an endless maze of passages, as
a dwelling-place for the Minotaur; besides many other wonderful works of
art. For having aided Theseus in his combat with the Minotaur, Dædalus
and his son Icarus were both imprisoned in the Labyrinth of Minos. The
story of his flight, which he accomplished by means of the artificial
wings that he made for himself and his son, is well known from the
_Metamorphoses_ of Ovid. Icarus fell into the sea that is named after
him, and was drowned, but Dædalus reached Cumæ in safety. From this
place he passed over to Sicily, where he was hospitably received by
Cocalus. When Minos, however, pursued the fugitive and demanded his
surrender, not only was his request refused, but he was even put to
death by the contrivance of the king’s daughters.
Of the other sons of Minos, Deucalion is celebrated as having taken part
in the Calydonian boar hunt, and also as the father of the hero
Idomeneus, who fought against Troy. Glaucus was killed, while yet a boy,
by falling into a cask of honey as he was pursuing a mouse. He is
reported, however, to have been restored to life by the Corinthian augur
Polyidus, or, according to others, by Asclepius himself.
_2. Talos._—The legend of Talos, the brazen man, betrays likewise a
Phœnician origin, and refers to the cruel practice of offering human
sacrifices. This Talos was made of brass, and was invulnerable.
Hephæstus, or, as others say, Zeus gave him to Minos as guardian of the
island of Crete, round which he travelled thrice a-day. If he perceived
any strangers approach he would spring into the fire, and, after
becoming red-hot, he would clasp them to his breast, until they expired
beneath the sardonic chuckle of the demon. He attempted to drive off the
Argonauts with stones, but was destroyed by the skill of Medea. Talos
had a single vein, which ran from his head to his feet, and was closed
at the top with a nail. This nail Medea cleverly succeeded in
extracting, in consequence of which Talos bled to death.
IV.—COMBINED UNDERTAKINGS OF THE LATER HEROIC AGE.
=1. The Calydonian Hunt.=—The story of Meleager and the Calydonian boar
hunt was undoubtedly, in its origin, nothing more than a provincial myth
based on natural phenomena, like other myths that we have already
explained. In this case the physical significance involved in the myth
soon disappeared, owing to the treatment it received at the hands of the
epic and dramatic poets. The poets, in fact, succeeded in introducing
some striking ethical conceptions, which absorbed all higher interest.
Œneus, king of Calydon in Ætolia, on the occasion of a great festival
which was celebrated after a successful vintage, had accidentally or
purposely omitted to sacrifice to Artemis. To punish this neglect she
sent a huge wild boar, which devastated the fields of Calydon, and
seemed invincible by any ordinary means on account of its vast size.
Meleager, the brave and heroic son of Œneus, therefore assembled men and
hounds in great number to slay it. The boar was slain; but Artemis
stirred up strife over the head and hide between the Ætolians and the
Curetes of Pleuron. At first the former were victorious; but when
Meleager withdrew in wrath from the battle because his mother had cursed
him for the death of her brother, they were no longer able to keep the
field, and soon saw their city closely invested by their enemies. In
vain did the elders and priests of Calydon beseech Meleager; in vain did
his father, sisters, and even mother beseech him to aid his hard-pressed
countrymen. Like Achilles in the Trojan war, when he was wroth with
Agamemnon on account of the loss of Briseis, Meleager long refused to
stir. At last his wife—the beautiful Cleopatra—succeeded in moving him.
He donned his armour, and put himself at the head of his countrymen for
a sally against the besiegers. Brilliant, indeed, was the victory of the
men of Calydon; but the hero Meleager did not return from the battle,
for the cruel Erinyes, who had heard his mother’s curse, destroyed him
with the arrows of Apollo.
Such is the earliest form of the legend, as it exists in the _Iliad_. In
time, however, Meleager was said to have called together against the
boar all the renowned heroes of Greece. Among others there came the
Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux; Theseus and his friend Pirithoüs; Idas and
Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus; Admetus of Pheræ; Jason, from Iolcus;
Iphicles and Iolaüs, from Thebes; Peleus, the father of Achilles;
Telamon, from Salamis; Ancæus and the beautiful huntress Atalante
(Atalanta), from Arcadia; besides the soothsayer Amphiaraüs, from Argos.
After Œneus had entertained his guests royally for nine days, the hunt
began, and the huge beast, which was as large as an ox, was surrounded
and driven from its lair. Atalante, the swift huntress, was the first to
inflict a wound. Ancæus then advanced with his battle-axe, but the
enraged beast, with one stroke of his dreadful tusks, tore open his body
and killed him on the spot. At length the monster received a mortal
wound from a spear hurled by the powerful arm of Meleager, and was soon
despatched by the rest. Meleager received as his due the head and hide
of the slaughtered animal, but resigned the prize to Atalante, of whom
he was enamoured, on the ground that she was the first to wound the
boar. This act excited the bitter jealousy of Plexippus and Toxeus, the
sons of Thestius, king of Pleuron, and brothers of Althæa, the mother of
Meleager. They accordingly lay in wait for Atalante, and robbed her of
the present. Enraged at this, Meleager slew them both. But Meleager’s
death, though caused by the wrath of his mother, was worked out
differently in the time of the tragic poets. The Fates had appeared to
Althæa, soon after the birth of Meleager, and informed her that her son
would only live until a certain brand, which was then burning on the
fire, was consumed. Althæa immediately snatched the brand from the
flames and carefully treasured it up. After Meleager had slain her
brothers, in the first outburst of grief and indignation against her
son, she placed the brand again in the fire, and thus cut off the noble
hero in the prime of his youth and beauty. Althæa, on learning the
unhappy fate of her son, full of sorrow for her hasty deed, put an end
to her own life.
=2. The Argonauts.=—The story of the Argonauts experienced a similar
fate to that of the Calydonian hunt. It was originally nothing but a
myth based on natural phenomena; but in the hands of the poets it
swelled to a mass of legends common to all the tribes of Greece, the
nucleus of which was the history of the golden fleece. Athamas, the son
of Æolus, was king of the Minyæ. He put away his first wife, Nephele
(cloud), in order to marry Ino, the daughter of Cadmus; though he still
kept Phrixus (rain-shower) and Helle (ray of light), his children by
Nephele, with him. By Ino he had two other children, Learchus and
Melicertes, whom their mother naturally preferred to her stepchildren,
and for whose sake she endeavoured to drive the latter from their
father’s house. Soon afterwards, either at the command of Nephele, whom
some represent as a goddess, or in consequence of her prayers for the
punishment of Athamas, the land was visited with a long drought, and Ino
persuaded her husband to sacrifice Phrixus as a sin-offering to Zeus, in
order to put an end to the calamity. Whether Helle was to have shared
her brother’s fate we cannot tell, for, before Ino could accomplish her
purpose, Nephele came to the assistance of her children, and gave them a
winged ram with a golden fleece, which Hermes had presented to her for
that purpose. Seated on this ram they fled over the sea to Colchis. On
the way Helle fell into that part of the sea which bears her name, and
was drowned, but Phrixus arrived safely in Colchis (Æa), where he
sacrificed the ram to Zeus, who had preserved him in his flight. The
fleece he hung up in the grove of Ares as a sacred treasure, setting
over it a terrible, ever-watchful dragon as its guardian. To fetch this
treasure from a foreign land, and thereby to release the country and
people of the Minyæ from the calamity with which they were oppressed,
was the task of the heroes of the race of Æolus. Athamas was so grieved
at the evil he had brought on his country that he became insane, and
sought to slay Ino and her children. He did, indeed, kill Learchus by
dashing him against a rock, but Ino succeeded in saving herself and her
younger child Melicertes by leaping into the sea (_cf._ Ino Leucothea).
Athamas then fled to Epirus, and the kingdom devolved on his brother
Cretheus. Cretheus married Tyro, the daughter of his younger brother
Salmoneus, king of Elis. Tyro bore him three sons, the eldest of whom,
Æson, succeeded his father in the kingdom, but was soon after expelled
by his step-brother Pelias, who is described as a son of Tyro and
Poseidon. Æson with difficulty managed to rescue his little son Jason
from the hands of Pelias, and brought him to the Centaur Chiron to be
educated. In Chiron’s cave the young hero grew up, a favourite with gods
and men. After completing his twentieth year, he betook himself to
Iolcus to demand of his uncle his rightful inheritance. Pelias, not
daring to use violence to the sturdy youth, endeavoured to get rid of
his unwelcome guest by involving him in a most dangerous adventure. He
declared that he would gladly resign the crown if Jason would recover
the golden fleece from Colchis. Jason, like a true hero, at once
accepted the perilous adventure. In the harbour of Iolcus he caused a
large ship with fifty oars to be constructed, which he called the
“Argo,” after its builder, Argus. He then called together the heroes,
who had consented at his invitation to take part in the expedition. In
the original version of the story, the expedition was stated to have
been undertaken only by the heroes of the race of the Minyæ—such as
Acastus, Admetus, and Periclymenus. At a later period, however—when the
date of the expedition had been fixed at one generation before the
Trojan war—no hero of any note was allowed to be absent from the
undertaking. In this manner were added the Dioscuri, the sons of Boreas,
Calaïs and Zetes, Telamon, Peleus, Meleager, Tydeus, Iphitus, Theseus,
Orpheus, Amphiaraüs, and even Heracles. In the last case, the
incongruity of allowing the hero to play only a subordinate part was
soon felt, and his name was withdrawn. He was said to have been left
behind in Mysia, where he had landed in order to search for his
favourite Hylas, who had been carried off by the Naiads. The number of
the Argonauts was finally computed at fifty, tallying with the number of
oars.
The expedition proceeded from Iolcus to Lemnos, and thence through the
Hellespont to Cyzicus, where they were kindly received by the Doliones.
From Cyzicus they proceeded to Bithynia, where they were opposed by the
Bebryces, whose king, Amycus, was slain by Pollux in a boxing match.
Their greatest difficulty lay in the passage of the Bosporus, there
being at the entrance of the Pontus (Black Sea) two terrible rocks,
which were in constant motion—now retreating to the shore on either
side, now hastily dashing together again; whence they were called the
Symplegades. This occurred so rapidly that even the swiftest vessel had
not time enough to get through. The Argonauts were in great perplexity.
At length the blind seer Phineus, who dwelt in Thracian Salmydessus, and
whose gratitude they won by delivering him from the Harpies who had
tormented him, assisted them with his advice. By means of a stratagem he
recommended they were enabled to bring the Argo through without any
considerable damage, after which the Symplegades remained stationary.
After this they stood along the south coast towards their destination,
which, in the original legend, appears to have been the utterly fabulous
Æa, subsequently converted into Colchis. This was the residence of the
mighty king Æetes, a son of the sun-god. To rob him, either by craft or
by violence, of the golden fleece was the task of Jason, the leader of
the Argonauts.
The second prominent character in the story, Medea, the daughter of
Æetes, now makes her appearance. It was, in fact, only through her love
that Jason was enabled to surmount the vast obstacles which stood
between him and the possession of the golden fleece. When the hero
demanded the fleece of Æetes, the latter declared that he would deliver
it up to him after he had accomplished two tasks. The first was to
harness two brazen-footed, fire-breathing bulls, which Æetes had
received from Hephæstus, to a plough, and with them to till an
uncultivated field. The second was to sow in the furrows the dragon’s
teeth that Æetes would give him, and to destroy the armed men which
would then spring up. Jason’s heart failed him on hearing these
conditions, but Medea, who was an enchantress and priestess of Hecate,
was equal to the occasion. She gave the hero a magic salve to protect
him against the fiery breath of the bulls and to endow him with
invincible strength, which enabled him to accomplish his first task
successfully. In the case of the armed men who sprang from the dragon’s
teeth, by the advice of Medea he followed the example of Cadmus, and
cast among them a heavy stone, whereupon in blind fury they turned their
arms against each other, and were all destroyed.
The conditions imposed upon him by Æetes were thus accomplished; but the
king, who perceived that Jason had only succeeded through the aid of his
daughter, made this a pretext for refusing to surrender the fleece.
Jason then removed it by night from the grove of Ares, after Medea had,
by means of her enchantments, lulled the watchful dragon to sleep. That
same night the Argonauts embarked on board their ship and put to sea,
Medea accompanying them as the future wife of Jason. The wrathful Æetes
attempted to overtake the fugitives, but Medea succeeded in staying the
pursuit by slaying her younger brother Apsyrtus, whom she had brought
with her, and scattering his limbs in the sea.
The most diverse accounts exist as to the road taken by the Argonauts on
their homeward journey. Some say that they sailed up the Phasis to the
Eastern Sea, and then, passing through the Red Sea and Libyan desert,
over which they had to carry the Argo twelve days’ journey, came to Lake
Tritonis, and thence to the Mediterranean. According to another account,
they sought to pass through the Ister (Danube) and Eridanus (Po) to the
Western Ocean; but the object of this account was manifestly to subject
them to the same vicissitudes and adventures as Odysseus and his
companions.
At length Jason landed happily in Iolcus, and delivered the golden
fleece into the hands of his uncle. Pelias, however, still refused to
surrender the kingdom to Jason, and Medea therefore determined to make
away with him by craft. Having persuaded the daughters of Pelias that
she possessed a means of making the old man young again, she directed
them to slay their father, cut him in pieces, and boil the limbs in a
cauldron filled with all manner of herbs; this they did in the vain
expectation of seeing him restored to youth. Jason now took possession
of his father’s kingdom, but was soon afterwards expelled by Acastus,
the son of Pelias, and took refuge in Corinth. His subsequent
misfortunes are well known. Thinking to better his condition, he was
about to marry Creüsa, the daughter of the king of Corinth, when he was
arrested by the fearful vengeance of his first wife. Medea sent the
bride a poisoned garment, which caused her to die an agonising death,
and then slew her own children by Jason; after which she fled in her
chariot drawn by winged dragons to Athens, where she long found
protection at the court of Ægeus. Jason either put an end to his own
life, or was killed by the fall of a rotten beam of the Argo.
In the history of the golden fleece we have one of the most widely
spread myths of all, namely, that of the loss and recovery of a
treasure. In Teutonic tradition we have the treasure of the Nibelungs,
in which the very name is almost identical; and if we include the
stories of women carried off and rescued, the list becomes endless. And
the treasure of all those stories has been interpreted to be the golden
clouds. The Dragon which guards the treasure again appears in the story
of the apples of the Hesperides, and is closely allied to the Sphinx.
=3. The Theban Cycle.=—The highly tragic history of the Theban house of
the Labdacidæ, teeming as it does with important characters and events,
has at all times furnished subjects for Greek art and poetry, and has
given birth to a whole series of epic and dramatic works. The former,
which would have conduced far more to an exact acquaintance with the
legend, have, unfortunately, perished, with the exception of a few
unimportant fragments; although many important works of the great tragic
poets, Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, relating to the subject,
still remain. The common account runs thus:—Laius, a great-grandson of
Cadmus, was warned by the oracle to beget no children, as he was doomed
to perish by the hands of his son, who would then marry his mother. When
his wife Iocaste gave birth to a son, Laius accordingly exposed the
child, with its feet pierced, on Mount Cithæron. The child, called
Œdipus from the swelling of its feet, did not die, but was found by some
Corinthian shepherds, who brought it to Polybus, king of Corinth.
Polybus, having no children of his own, adopted Œdipus, who grew up in
the belief that Polybus and Merope were his real parents, until one day
a taunt of his companions as to his mysterious origin raised doubts in
his mind. In order to solve his misgivings, he went to consult the
oracle of Delphi, but he here received only the obscure direction not to
return to his country, since, if he did, he would kill his father and
marry his mother. Fearing on this account to return to Corinth, he took
the road to Thebes, and thus, by his presumptuous prudence, brought
about the very consequences he was so anxious to avoid. On the road he
was met by Laius, who was on his way to the oracle to ask its advice
concerning the Sphinx. A quarrel arose, in a narrow defile, between
Laius and Œdipus; and Œdipus slew his father without knowing who he was.
On arriving at Thebes he succeeded in delivering the country from the
Sphinx. This monster, which had the combined form of a woman and a lion,
had been sent by Hera, whom Laius had in some way offended, from
Ethiopia to devastate the land of Thebes. Seated on a rock close to the
town, she put to every one that passed by a riddle, and whoever was
unable to solve it, she cast from the rock into a deep abyss. This
calamity induced Creon, on the death of his brother-in-law Laius, to
proclaim that whoever solved the riddle should obtain the crown and the
hand of Iocaste. Œdipus succeeded in solving it, and thus delivered the
country from the monster, who cast herself into the abyss.
The Sphinx belongs to the same family as many of the monsters we have
spoken of already; she is called by Hesiod the child of Orthros and
Chimæra, whom we have seen to be the daughter of Typhon and Echidna. It
would seem, therefore, probable that the contest between her and her
opponent may be interpreted in the same way as that of Bellerophon and
the Chimæra, or of Zeus and Typhon. In support of this, the following
considerations may be adduced. Since we know that thunder was supposed
to be a warning or encouragement to men, it is easy to see in it the
mysterious voice of the cloud, only intelligible to the wisest of men.
Hence the conqueror of the cloud was called the man who understood her
language. (It would not a little help this idea, that Œdipus might seem
derived from a word meaning “to know.”) Then the death of the Sphinx
will be the cloud falling upon the earth in the shape of rain. Œdipus,
on the other hand, will be the same antagonist as we have before seen
victorious over the cloud dragons; the sun, born helpless, rising to
take the kingdom after the slaughter of his enemies, yet at last sinking
blinded into an unknown grave. This, however, does not cover the crimes
laid to his charge. But they have been explained in this way: that when
people lost consciousness of the real meaning of the misfortunes of
Œdipus, they cast about for some adequate cause, and found one in the
two great crimes of incest and parricide. We have seen something similar
to this in the case of Ixion. Further, the names of the wives assigned
by various writers to Œdipus are connected with the light, and the name
Laius has been interpreted as “enemy” of the light. Sphinx itself
signifies “throttler.”
In art, the Sphinx had the form of a lion, generally in a recumbent
position, with the breast and upper part of a beautiful woman. When
the Greeks saw similar figures in Egypt, they naturally gave them
the name of Sphinx. But name, family, and meaning of the Sphinx are
alike Greek, although the Egyptian statues have taken too firm
possession of the name ever to lose it. Ancient Egyptian art
revelled in the creation of colossal Sphinxes, which were carved out
of granite. A notable example of this kind exists in the giant
Sphinx near the Pyramids of Gizeh, which is eighty-nine feet long.
From such monstrous figures as these, Greek art held aloof.
Œdipus was rewarded with the sovereignty of Thebes and the hand of
Iocaste; and for several years he enjoyed uninterrupted happiness,
surrounded by four blooming children, the fruit of his incestuous
marriage. By the secret agency of the goddess, the dreadful truth was at
length discovered. Iocaste hanged herself, and Œdipus, in despair, put
out his own eyes. Not content with this voluntary penance, the
hard-hearted Thebans compelled him besides to leave their city and
country, while his sons Eteocles and Polynices, who were now grown up,
refused to stir a foot in their father’s behalf. Œdipus, after invoking
bitter curses on their heads, withdrew, and, guided by his faithful
daughter Antigone, at last found an asylum in the grove of the Eumenides
at Colonus, near Athens. His grave there was regarded, in consequence of
an ancient response of the oracle, as a national treasure.
The curse of their father took effect on his unnatural sons. The elder,
Eteocles, drove out his brother Polynices, who then sought the
assistance of Adrastus, king of Argos. Adrastus was a grandson of Bias,
of the race of the Amythaonidæ, and by his marriage with the daughter of
the wealthy Polybus acquired the sovereignty of Sicyon. He not only
hospitably received the fugitive Polynices, but gave him his daughter in
marriage, and promised to assist him in recovering the crown of Thebes.
In this expedition Adrastus sought to gain the aid of the other Argive
heroes. They all declared their readiness to accompany him, with the
exception of Amphiaraüs, his brother-in-law, who was equally renowned
for his wisdom and courage. Amphiaraüs was a great-grandson of the
celebrated seer Melampus, and inherited from him the gift of prophecy.
He was thus enabled to perceive the disastrous termination of the war,
and strove to hinder it. But Polynices and the fiery Tydeus—likewise a
son-in-law of Adrastus—were so unceasing in their entreaties, that he at
length sought to escape their importunity by flight. Polynices, however,
bribed his wife Eriphyle, by the present of a magnificent necklace,
which had formerly been given to Harmonia on the occasion of her
marriage with Cadmus, to betray his place of concealment. Hereupon
Amphiaraüs was obliged unwillingly to join the expedition, which ended
as he had prophesied. The attack on Thebes was not only repulsed, but
all the Argive leaders, with the exception of Adrastus, who was saved by
the fleetness of his horse, were slain. Polynices and Eteocles fell in
single combat with each other. The flight of Adrastus to Attica, where
he procured the assistance of Theseus in compelling the Thebans to grant
the fallen heroes a solemn burial, is a feature unknown to the original
legend, and may be ascribed to the patriotic impulses of the Athenian
dramatists. The celebrated tragedy of Sophocles, called _Antigone_, is
based on the assumption that Creon, the new king of Thebes, allowed the
burial of the other heroes, but left Polynices to lie unburied on the
field like a dog, and condemned Antigone to death because she ventured
to bury her brother in despite of his command. Creon was destined to
meet with a dreadful retribution, for his own son, who was betrothed to
Antigone, killed himself in grief at her fate.
Ten years later, the sons of the fallen heroes are said to have combined
with Ægialeus, the son of Adrastus, to avenge their fathers’ defeat.
This expedition has therefore been called the war of the Epigoni
(descendants), and not being undertaken, like that of their fathers, in
manifest opposition to the will of the gods, proved successful.
Laodamas, the savage son of Eteocles, who was now king of Thebes, was
defeated in a decisive battle near Thebes, and, after Ægialeus had
fallen by his hands, was himself slain by Alcmæon, the son of
Amphiaraüs. The Thebans were unable any longer to hold their city, and,
following the advice of the blind seer Tiresias, they withdrew under the
cover of darkness and mist. The aged Tiresias expired on the road, at
the fountain of Tilphusa; of the rest, some took refuge in Thessalia,
and some sought other lands. The victorious Argives, after plundering
and partly destroying the city, dedicated a great portion of the
booty—among which was Manto, the daughter of Tiresias—to the oracle of
Delphi. They then made Thersander, the son of Polynices, king of Thebes;
upon which many of the fugitive inhabitants returned. Thersander
subsequently took part in the Trojan war, and there perished.
=4. The Trojan Cycle.=—We now come to the Trojan war, the fourth and
most celebrated of the common undertakings of the later heroic age. Here
the sources of our information are far more plentiful than in any former
period of mythic history, because both the grand national epics, the
_Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_, which are commonly ascribed to Homer, relate
to the Trojan war. As the contents of these immortal poems are probably
well known to our readers, we shall only dwell on the most essential
features of the story.
I. THE HEROIC RACES OF THE TROJAN WAR.—_1. The Dardanidæ, or race of
Dardanus._—The royal family of Troy were descended from Dardanus, a son
of Zeus by Electra, a daughter of Atlas. Dardanus is said to have
emigrated from Samothrace, or, according to others, from Italy to
Arcadia, to the north-west portion of Asia Minor, between the range of
Ida and the Hellespont, where he received from king Teucer some land to
form a settlement. By a daughter of the river-god Simoïs, or, as others
say, of Scamander, Dardanus had a son called Tros, from whom the Trojans
derived their name. Tros had three sons—Assaracus, Ilus, and Ganymedes.
The last, who, like all the scions of the race of Dardanus, was
possessed of wonderful beauty, was raised by Zeus to the dignity of
cupbearer to the gods, and thus became immortal. Ilus and Assaracus
became the founders of two different branches of the Dardanian race. The
latter remained in his native settlement of Dardania, where he became
the father of Capys and the grandfather of Anchises, the father of
Æneas. Ilus, on the other hand, emigrated to the plains of the
Scamander, where he founded the city of Ilium, or Troy. After completing
the town, he begged Zeus to bestow on him a sign of his favour. The next
morning he found in front of his tent the celebrated Palladium—an image
of Pallas Athene, carved in wood. On the possession of this depended the
fortune and welfare of the city. After the death of Ilus, his son
Laomedon became king of Troy. At his request, Poseidon and Apollo built
the citadel of Pergamum. We have already related how this king, by his
faithless conduct provoked the wrath of Heracles, and the first capture
of the city. Of his sons only Priam remained; in him the race of
Dardanus flourished afresh, for by his wife Hecuba and by his concubines
he had a great number of sons and daughters.
_2. The Pelopidæ, or race of Pelops._—The Pelopidæ, who were chiefly
instrumental in the destruction of Troy, were descended from the
Phrygian king Tantalus, who was renowned alike for his unexampled good
fortune and his subsequent unhappy fate. He was the son of Zeus and
Pluto (rich plenty), and inhabited a citadel on Mount Sipylus, whence
his rich pasture-lands and fruitful corn-fields extended twelve days’
journey, as far as Ida and the Propontis. The very gods honoured him
with their friendship, and lived on such intimate terms that they
invited him to eat at their table. This unheard-of good fortune,
however, begot in the puny mortal such presumption, that he began to
indulge in the grossest outrages on gods and men. At length he went so
far as to cut his son Pelops in pieces to boil them, and set them before
the gods in order to test their omniscience. The cup of his iniquity now
seemed full, and the gods brought down a heavy retribution on the head
of the criminal by his well-known punishment in the lower world, where,
though surrounded by the most delicious fruits, and standing up to his
neck in water, he was nevertheless condemned to suffer the pangs of
continual hunger and thirst. Another tradition relates that he was kept
in constant anxiety by a huge rock which was suspended over his head.
(See pp. 149, 150.)
The children of Tantalus were Pelops and Niobe. The unhappy fate of the
latter has already been described in the mythic history of Thebes.
Pelops was restored to life by the art of Hermes; and a portion of his
shoulder, which had been consumed by Demeter, was replaced by the gods
with a piece of ivory. Pelops is said to have grown up in Olympus,
amongst the blessed gods. On being restored to earth, he proceeded to
Elis, where he became a suitor for the hand of Hippodamia, the beautiful
daughter of the king Œnomaüs. The latter had promised his daughter to
the man who should vanquish him in a chariot race: whoever failed was
obliged to expiate his temerity with his life, as Œnomaüs transfixed him
with his unerring lance as he passed. Thirteen noble youths had already
suffered this fate, when Pelops appeared to undergo the dangerous
ordeal. By means of the untiring winged horses which had been given him
by Poseidon, and also by bribing Myrtilus, the King’s charioteer—who,
before starting, withdrew the linch-pins from his master’s chariot or
replaced them with wax—he came off victorious. Œnomaüs either was killed
by the breaking down of his chariot, or put an end to his own life on
seeing himself vanquished. Pelops now obtained both Hippodamia and the
kingdom of Elis; but he ill rewarded Myrtilus, who had rendered him such
valuable service, by casting him into the sea, in order to release
himself from his obligations. Hermes, whose son he is reputed to have
been, set him amongst the stars as charioteer.
The sons of Pelops by Hippodamia were Atreus and Thyestes, whose
history, which is full of the most revolting crimes, formed a favourite
subject with the tragic poets. First, Atreus and Thyestes murdered their
step-brother Chrysippus, and were compelled to leave their country in
company with their mother. They were hospitably received at Mycenæ by
their brother-in-law Sthenelus, the son of Perseus, or by his son
Eurystheus. On Eurystheus’ death, they inherited the sovereignty of the
Persidæ in Argos, and Atreus now took up his residence in the proud
capital of Mycenæ, whence, strange to say, the most ancient specimen of
Greek sculpture has come down to us in the so-called Gate of Lions. Soon
an implacable enmity arose between the two brothers, and Thyestes, in
consequence, was banished from Argos. He took with him, in revenge,
Pleisthenes, the young son of Atreus, brought him up as his own son, and
despatched him, later, to Mycenæ to kill Atreus. His design was
discovered, and he expiated his intended crime with his life. When
Atreus learned that it was his own son whom he had condemned to death,
he determined on a dreadful revenge. Pretending to be reconciled, he
recalled Thyestes and his children to Mycenæ; and Thyestes, trusting to
his brother’s word, returned. Atreus then privately seized the two young
sons of Thyestes, slew them, and set this horrible food before their
father. Horror-struck at this inhuman cruelty, the sun turned his
chariot and went back in his course. Thyestes, uttering fearful curses
against his brother and the whole race of the Pelopidæ, again escaped,
and took refuge with Thesprotus, king of Epirus. Later, he succeeded,
with the help of his only remaining son Ægisthus, in avenging himself on
his brother. Atreus was slain by Ægisthus whilst offering up a sacrifice
on the sea-shore, and Thyestes now acquired the sovereignty of Mycenæ.
The sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaüs, fled from their barbarous
uncle to Sparta, where Tyndareüs, the king, received them kindly, and
gave them his daughters, Clytæmnestra and Helen, in marriage. With his
aid Agamemnon recovered his father’s kingdom, slew Thyestes, and drove
out Ægisthus. Menelaüs remained in Sparta—where he succeeded
Tyndareüs—until the carrying off of his wife Helen by Paris gave rise to
the Trojan war.
_3. The Æacidæ, or race of Æacus._—After the sons of Atreus, the Æacidæ
play the most important part in the Trojan war; in fact, we are almost
justified in saying that the war was an exploit of these two races of
heroes and their peoples, the Achæans of Argos and the Hellenes of
Phthia. The ancestor of the Æacidæ was Æacus, who was renowned alike for
his wisdom and justice, and on this account subsequently made a judge in
the lower world. Æacus was a son of Zeus by Ægina, a daughter of the
river-god Asopus. He ruled over the island of Ægina, and married Endeïs,
the daughter of the wise Centaur Chiron. She bore him two sons, Peleus
and Telamon. On reaching manhood they were compelled to leave their
country, because, like the sons of Pelops, they had murdered, in a fit
of jealousy, a step-brother who was a favourite with their father.
Peleus betook himself to Phthia, where he was kindly received by
Eurytion, who bestowed on him the hand of his daughter and a third part
of his kingdom. Peleus afterwards took part in the boar hunt of Calydon,
on which occasion he had the misfortune to kill his father-in-law. In
consequence of this, he left Phthia and proceeded to Iolcus, where he
took part in the funeral games which Acastus was celebrating in honour
of his father Pelias, who had perished by the treachery of Medea. Here
he experienced a similar fate to that of Bellerophon at the court of
Prœtus. Astydameia, the wife of Acastus, finding herself unable to
seduce him, slandered him to her husband, who thereupon sought to take
his life. After hunting on Pelion one day, Peleus fell asleep, and was
left thus unprotected by Acastus, who hoped by this means to get rid of
him. He would, indeed, have been murdered by the Centaurs, if the gods
had not taken pity on him, and sent him by Hermes a sword of wonderful
power, with which he was enabled to repel the assaults of the wild
inhabitants of the forest. Peleus, with the help of the Dioscuri,
subsequently took Iolcus, and put the treacherous Acastus and his wife
to death. As a reward for his chastity, the gods gave him the goddess
Thetis—a beautiful daughter of Nereus—to wife. She bore him one son,
Achilleus (Achilles), the greatest and bravest hero of the Trojan war. A
later tradition asserts that Thetis left her husband soon after the
birth of Achilles, because he had disturbed her when she was about to
render her child immortal in the fire, just as Demeter intended to do to
the child of Celeüs; but this story is unknown to Homer. According to a
still later legend, she plunged her son into the Styx, and thereby
rendered him invulnerable in every part except the heel by which she
held him. Like all noble heroes, Achilles was instructed by Chiron,
under whom he acquired such wonderful skill in all feats of strength and
agility that he soon surpassed all his contemporaries. In addition to
Chiron, Homer names Phœnix, the son of Amyntor, as the instructor of the
youthful hero. Achilles proceeded to the Trojan war with cheerful
determination, although he knew beforehand that he was not fated to
return alive. The story that his mother Thetis, in order to avert his
fate, sent him, disguised in women’s clothes, to the court of Lycomedes,
king of Scyros, where he was discovered by the craft of Odysseus, is a
post-Homeric invention.
From Telamon, the second son of Æacus, was descended Aias or Ajax, a
hero of but little less importance. Telamon, after his flight from
Ægina, found a new home in Salamis, where he married the daughter of the
king Cychreus. On the decease of Cychreus, he succeeded to the crown.
After the death of his first wife, he married Peribœa, a daughter of
Alcathoüs, king of Megara, who bore him Ajax. Tradition tells us much of
the intimate friendship of Heracles and Telamon, who took part in the
Trojan expedition of his mighty friend. Heracles, in return, gave him
Hesione, the daughter of Laomedon, by whom he became the father of a
second son, Teucer. Like every celebrated hero of antiquity, he is said
to have taken part in the Calydonian hunt and the expedition of the
Argonauts. Nothing inferior to this brave and doughty father was his son
Ajax, on whom the mighty hero Heracles had invoked the blessing of his
father Zeus, when as a child he held him in his arms. He was of greater
size and strength than any of the other heroes; though he appears
somewhat uncouth and clumsy when contrasted with the swift and agile
form of Achilles. His mighty shield was as characteristic of him as the
ponderous deadly spear was of Achilles. Beside him, his brother Teucer
ranks as the best archer among the Greeks.
_4. Nestor, the Locrian Ajax, Diomedes, and Odysseus._—Associated with
the heroes of the race of Pelops and Æacus were some other renowned
chieftains. First among them was the aged Nestor, of Pylus, whose wise
counsels were as indispensable to the Greeks before Troy as the
dauntless courage of an Achilles or an Ajax. Nestor was the youngest of
the twelve sons of Neleus, who was himself a son of Poseidon and Tyro,
and twin-brother of Pelias. Neleus, having been driven out by Pelias,
took refuge in Messenia, where he became the founder of a new kingdom.
Later, however, both his sovereignty and the glory of his house were
well-nigh extinguished by the hostility of Heracles, who slew all the
sons of Neleus except Nestor. When quite young, Nestor defeated the
neighbouring tribes of the Epei and Arcadians, and restored the
dominions of his father to their former extent. He likewise took part in
the contest between the Lapithæ and the Centaurs, in the Calydonian boar
hunt, and in the expedition of the Argonauts. Though so far advanced in
years—having ruled over three generations of men—he could not withstand
the desire to take part in the Trojan war.
The Locrian Ajax—also called the Lesser Ajax, to distinguish him from
his mighty namesake—was a son of the Locrian king Oïleus, of whom
nothing more is known than that he took part in the expedition of the
Argonauts. Ajax was renowned among the Greeks for his skill in hurling
the spear and for his great fleetness, in which he was surpassed only by
Achilles. He always appears in a linen corslet, and his followers, the
Opuntian Locrians, are also light-armed troops.
Diomedes was a member of the oft-mentioned race of the Æolian
Amythaonidæ. His father was the hot-headed Tydeus, who was killed in the
war of the Seven against Thebes. Diomedes, who inherited no small
portion of his father’s wild, untameable disposition, of course took
part in the war of the Epigoni, and subsequently succeeded his
grandfather Adrastus in his Argive sovereignty at Sicyon. He also
restored his paternal grandfather, the aged Ætolian king Œneus, who had
been dethroned by the sons of his brother Agrius, to his kingdom. In the
_Iliad_ he appears as a special favourite of Pallas Athene, and Homer
makes him play an important part in the contests of the Greeks before
the walls of Troy. In post-Homeric story he is represented as having
carried off the Trojan Palladium.
Finally, Odysseus (Ulysses), the most popular of the Greek heroes of the
Trojan war, was a son of Laërtes, king of Ithaca, by Anticlea, the
daughter of Autolycus. Autolycus inhabited a district on Mount
Parnassus, and was renowned for his cunning. His grandson seems to have
inherited no small part of his grandfather’s disposition. Through his
noble and virtuous wife Penelope, Odysseus was closely related to the
Atridæ; Penelope being the daughter of Icarius, who was a brother of the
Spartan king Tyndareüs. He was therefore obliged—though much against his
will—to comply with the request of Menelaüs, and join the expedition
against Troy. On account of his wisdom and eloquence, his dexterity in
all feats of strength, and his dauntless valour in the midst of danger,
he also was a special favourite of Pallas.
II. THE WAR.—The _Iliad_ of Homer, the most important source of our
information with regard to the Trojan war, does not deal with the events
of the first nine years; and of those of the tenth and last year it only
gives such episodes as relate to the quarrel of Achilles and Agamemnon.
Of the origin of the war, and the events of the first nine years, it
speaks only incidentally, for the sake of explanation. The gap has to be
filled up from the works of those writers who had access to other epic
poems of the Trojan cycle, which are now no longer extant.
Eris, the goddess of discord, not having been invited to the marriage
festivities of Peleus and Thetis, avenged herself by casting into the
assembly a golden apple, with the inscription—“To the fairest.” The
three rival goddesses—Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite—each claimed the apple
for herself, but were referred by Zeus to the decision of Paris. Paris
was a son of Priam, the Trojan king. Immediately after birth, he was
exposed on Mount Ida, in consequence of an ill-omened dream which his
mother Hecuba had during her pregnancy. He was found, however, and
brought up by some shepherds. He decided in favour of Aphrodite, who had
promised him the most beautiful woman on earth as his wife. Soon
afterwards, at some games given by the king, the youth, who was equally
distinguished for his handsome person and his bodily dexterity, after
having wrested the prize from all his brethren, was recognised by the
prophetess Cassandra, and received into his father’s favour. He next
undertook a journey across the sea to Greece, and, among other places,
visited the court of Menelaüs, king of Sparta, by whom he was hospitably
received and entertained. Aphrodite kindled in the breast of the young
wife of Menelaüs a fatal love for their handsome guest, who dazzled her
as much by the beauty of his person as by the oriental splendour of his
appearance. While Menelaüs was absent in Crete, and her brothers, the
Dioscuri, were engaged in their strife with the sons of Aphareus, Helen
fled with her seducer to Troy. On the refusal of the king of Troy to
surrender Helen, Menelaüs succeeded in rousing the whole of Greece to a
war of revenge. This task was the more easy, as most of the Grecian
chieftains had been suitors of Helen, and had bound themselves by an
oath to Tyndareüs to unite in support of the husband whom Helen should
choose, in the event of his ever being injured or attacked. The
well-manned ships of the Greeks assembled in the Bœotian port of Aulis.
Their number amounted to eleven hundred and eighty-six, according to
Homer; of which Agamemnon, who had been chosen leader of the expedition,
alone furnished over one hundred. Agamemnon, however, having offended
Artemis by killing a hind sacred to the goddess, the departure of the
expedition was delayed by continuous calms, until at length, at the
command of the priest Calchas, Agamemnon determined to appease the wrath
of the goddess by sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia on her altar. At
the fatal moment Artemis rescued the victim, and, after substituting a
hind in her stead, conveyed Iphigenia to Tauris, where she became a
priestess in the temple of the goddess. The fleet now sailed with a fair
wind. The expedition first stopped at Tenedos, opposite the coast of
Troy. Here, on the occasion of a banquet, Philoctetes, who possessed the
bow and arrows of Heracles on which the conquest of Troy depended, was
bitten in the foot by a serpent, and on account of his cries and the
offensive smell of the wound was carried to Lemnos, and there left to
his fate. The Greeks next effected a landing on the coast of Troy, in
spite of the opposition of Hector and Æneas; for Protesilaüs devoted
himself to death for the Greeks, and sprang first on the Trojan shore.
Even Cycnus, the mighty son of Poseidon, who was king of Colonæ in
Troas, and came to the assistance of the Trojans, was unable to stem the
advance of the Greeks; and his body being invulnerable, he was strangled
by Achilles by means of a thong twisted round his neck.
After the Greeks had made a station for their ships, the war began in
earnest. Several of their attacks on the town having been successfully
repelled by the Trojans, the Greeks now confined themselves to making
inroads and plundering excursions into the surrounding country, in which
Achilles was always the most prominent actor. The first nine years of
the war were by no means fruitful in important events, and the wearisome
monotony of the siege was broken only by the single combat between
Achilles and Troïlus, the youngest son of Priam, in which Troïlus was
slain, and by the fall of Palamedes of Eubœa, the head of the Greek
peace-party, which was brought about by the treachery of Odysseus. At
length, in the tenth year of the war, a quarrel broke out between
Achilles and Agamemnon respecting a female slave who had been taken
captive, and gave for the time quite another aspect to affairs. It is at
this point that the _Iliad_ commences. Achilles, in his wrath, retired
to his tent, and refused to take any further part in the war; whilst the
Trojans, who feared him more than all the other Greeks, became bolder,
and no longer kept to the protection of their walls. Zeus, at the
request of Thetis, gave them the victory in their first engagement with
the Greeks. Hector drove the latter back to their ships, and was already
about to set them on fire, when Achilles consented to allow his friend
Patroclus to don his armour and lead his Myrmidons to the assistance of
the Greeks. The Trojans were now driven back, but Patroclus, in the
ardour of pursuit, was slain by Hector, and deprived of his armour, and
Menelaüs, with the help of the greater Ajax and other heroes, only
succeeded in rescuing his corpse after a bloody and obstinate struggle.
The wrath of Achilles was now entirely diverted by the desire of
avenging on Hector the death of his much-loved friend Patroclus. He was
scarcely willing even to wait for the new armour which his
goddess-mother procured him from the workshop of Hephæstus. No sooner
was he in possession of it than he again appeared on the field, and
Hector—the bulwark of Troy—soon succumbed to his furious onslaught.
Achilles, however, was generous enough to surrender his corpse to the
entreaties of Priam. The _Iliad_ concludes with the solemn funeral of
Hector.
The succeeding events, up to the death of Achilles and the contest for
his arms, were narrated in the _Æthiopis_ of Arctinus of Miletus, with
the contents of which we have some slight acquaintance, although the
work itself is lost. All kinds of brilliant exploits are reported to
have been performed by Achilles before the walls of Troy, which were
manifestly unknown to the earlier story. In the first place, immediately
after Hector’s death, Penthesilea, the queen of the Amazons, came to the
assistance of the Trojans, and fought so bravely at the head of her army
that the Greeks were hard pressed. Achilles at length overcame the
heroic daughter of Ares. After her fall, a new ally of the Trojans
appeared in Memnon, king of Æthiopia, who is called a son of Eos,
because the Æthiopians were supposed to dwell in the far East. Among
those who fell by the hand of this handsome and courageous hero was
Antilochus, the valiant son of Nestor. When Memnon, however, ventured to
meet the invincible Achilles, he also was vanquished, after a brave
struggle. The fresh morning dew, which springs from the tears of Eos,
proves that she has never ceased to lament her heroic son. But death was
soon to overtake him before whom so many heroes had bitten the dust. In
an assault on the Scæan gate, Achilles was killed, at the head of his
Myrmidons, by an arrow of Paris, which was directed by Apollo. According
to later writers, whose accounts were followed by the tragic poets, he
was treacherously murdered here on the occasion of his betrothal to
Polyxena, the beautiful daughter of Priam. A furious contest, lasting
the whole day, took place for the possession of his corpse and armour:
at length Odysseus and Ajax succeeded in conveying it to a place of
safety. Mourning and confusion reigned among the Greeks at his death.
During seventeen days and nights Thetis, with the whole band of Nereids,
bewailed his untimely fate in mourning melodies, so sad and touching
that neither gods nor men could refrain from tears.
“See, tears are shed by every god and goddess, to survey
How soon the Beautiful is past, the Perfect dies away!”
The death of the bravest of the Greeks was followed by an unhappy
quarrel between Ajax and Odysseus respecting his arms. Ajax, on account
of his near relationship to the deceased hero, and the great services he
had rendered to the cause of the Greeks, seemed to have the best claim;
but Agamemnon, by the advice of Athene, adjudged them to Odysseus. Ajax
was so mortified at this decision that he became insane, and put an end
to his own life. An entire tragedy of Sophocles, treating of the
mournful fate of the son of Telamon, has come down to us.
After Ajax had quitted the scene, Odysseus became decidedly the chief
personage among the Greeks. It was he who captured the Trojan seer
Helenus, and extorted from him the secret that Ilium could not be taken
without the arrows of Heracles. Hereupon Philoctetes, who was still
lying sick at Lemnos, was fetched, and his wound healed by Machaon.
Paris soon afterwards fell by his hand. It was Odysseus, moreover, who,
in company with Diomedes, undertook the perilous task of entering Troy
in disguise and stealing the Palladium, on which the safety of the city
depended. It was he who fetched Neoptolemus, the young son of Achilles,
from Scyros to the Trojan camp, it having been decreed that his presence
was necessary to the success of the Greeks. Lastly—and this was his
greatest service—it was Odysseus who devised the celebrated wooden
horse, and the stratagem which led to the final capture of the city. In
the belly of the horse, which was built by Epeüs, one hundred chosen
warriors of the Greeks concealed themselves. The rest of the Greeks set
fire to their camp, and sailed away to Tenedos; whereupon the Trojans,
deceived by the assurances of Sinon, dragged the fatal horse, amid cries
of joy, into the city. In vain did the Trojan priest of Apollo, Laocoön,
seek to divert them from their folly. None would give heed to his
warnings; and when, soon afterwards, both he and his sons, whilst
sacrificing to Poseidon on the sea-shore, were strangled by two serpents
that came up out of the sea, the Trojans regarded this as a punishment
sent by the gods for his evil counsel, and were the more confirmed in
their purpose.
The death of Laocoön and his sons forms the subject of one of the
most splendid of the creations of Greek art that have come down to
us from antiquity. The group was found, in the year 1506, by a Roman
citizen in his vineyard, close to the former Thermæ of Titus, and
was made over by him, for a considerable annuity, to Pope Julius
II., who then placed it in the Vatican collection. The right arm of
Laocoön, which was wanting, has, unfortunately, been incorrectly
restored. This is attested by a copy of the group which was
subsequently discovered in Naples. We give an engraving of the group
in its original form (Fig. 61).
[Illustration: Fig. 61.—Laocoön. Group.]
It treats really of three distinct incidents, which have been
skilfully incorporated, by the artists to whom we owe the work (the
Rhodians Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus), into one harmonious
group. The eldest son is as yet unhurt, and appears to be so loosely
held by the coils of the serpent that he might easily escape his
impending fate, if he were not more effectually restrained by his
loving sympathy with his noble father, on whom he gazes with piteous
looks. Laocoön himself, who naturally forms the centre of the group,
is depicted at the moment in which, mortally wounded by the serpent,
he sinks on the altar, to rise from which he vainly exerts his last
remaining strength. With his left arm he still mechanically seeks to
repel the serpents. His hitherto energetic resistance has begun to
fail, and his noble head is raised in mournful resignation to
heaven, as though to ask the gods why they had condemned him to so
terrible a fate. The dignified and resolute aspect of his
countenance forms a beautiful contrast to that of his body, which is
manifestly quivering in the keenest agony. The younger son on his
right is already in the last agonies of death, and though his left
hand grasps instinctively the head of the snake, he is evidently
incapable of further resistance. He is drooping like a plucked
flower, and in one more moment will have breathed his last.
On the night succeeding Laocoön’s horrible end, and the rejoicings of
the Trojans at the apparent departure of the Greeks, the Greek fleet
returned in silence at a signal given by Sinon. The heroes who were
hidden in the wooden horse then descended and opened the gates to the
Greek host, who rushed into the doomed city. A terrible scene of plunder
and carnage ensued, the Trojans, in their dismay and confusion, offering
no resistance. The fate of the sacred city was fulfilled; Priam perished
before the altar of Zeus by the hand of Neoptolemus, and with him the
glory of Troy was laid in the dust. The men were put to death, the women
and children, together with the rich booty, were carried off, the former
being destined to the hard lot of slavery. Among them was the aged queen
Hecuba, with all her daughters and daughters-in-law. Helen—the cause of
all this misfortune—was found in the house of Deïphobus, whom she had
married after the death of his brother Paris.
The city was burnt to the ground, and, long after, other cities rose on
its site. Still the tradition of the siege remained among the
inhabitants, though, even in Roman times, learned men had begun to
declare that Old Troy must have had another site. And now when the last
Ilium had been no more for many centuries, and the very existence of
Homer’s Troy had been declared a fable, the palace and the traces of the
conflagration have been found. Dr. Schliemann has excavated the
legendary site, and we know now that Athene was worshipped in the city,
and that it perished by fire. We can hardly tell at present the full
importance of these discoveries, nor of those at Mycenæ, where the
traditional tombs of the Grecian leaders have been examined, and their
long-buried wealth brought to light.
Yet this, too, the greatest of all the Grecian legend series, dissolves
into the phenomena of nature. That there was a Trojan war, and that we
have some historical facts about it, we can hardly doubt; but so many
myths have crystallised round it, that to us it must be merely legend.
The very names of Achilles, and Paris, and Helen, upon whom the whole
story turns, have been recognised in Indian legend. Point after point in
their history is found in the legend history of every nation of the
Aryan family. The only conclusion that we can draw is, that such stories
must have come into being before the separation of the Aryan family, and
cannot therefore contain the later history of any one branch.
III. THE RETURN.—The Greeks, after sacrificing Polyxena on the grave of
Achilles at Sigeum, prepared to return to their country. Few, however,
were destined to reach their homes without some misfortune, or, even
when arrived there, to experience a kindly welcome. Of the two sons of
Atreus, Agamemnon, after escaping a storm on the coast of Eubœa, landed
safely on his native shores, but was soon after murdered by his wife and
Ægisthus, who had, during his absence, returned to Argos and married
Clytæmnestra. Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess, who, in the division of
the spoils, had fallen to Agamemnon, shared his fate. She had
continually predicted the unfortunate end of the war and the ultimate
fate of the city, but had always been laughed to scorn by her
incredulous countrymen. The fate of the commander of the Greeks, with
its eventful consequences, was a favourite subject with the tragic
poets. His murder did not go unavenged. Orestes, the only son of
Agamemnon and Clytæmnestra, had been hastily removed from the scene by
his sister Electra, and sent to his uncle, Strophius, king of Phocis.
Strophius had him carefully educated with his own son Pylades, who was
about the same age. A most intimate friendship soon sprang up between
the two youths, which, from its faithfulness and constancy, has become
proverbial. On reaching manhood, the sole thought of Orestes was to
avenge his noble father’s treacherous death at the hands of the crafty
Ægisthus and his mother Clytæmnestra. Accompanied by his friend Pylades,
he returned, in the eighth year of his exile, to Mycenæ, and there slew
both Ægisthus and Clytæmnestra. Although in so doing he had only
fulfilled a duty, he yet incurred the deepest guilt by the murder of her
who gave him birth, and at once found himself pursued by the avenging
Furies. They dogged his steps, and ceased not to pursue him through all
the countries of the earth, until he was at length directed by the
oracle at Delphi to convey the statue of Artemis from Tauris to Attica.
After he had, with the help of his newly-found sister, successfully
achieved this task, he was purified by Apollo (see page 152). Of the
numerous dramas that were written on the subject of the fortunes of the
Pelopidæ, which we have here briefly touched on, the _Agamemnon_,
_Choëphoræ_, and _Eumenides_ of Æschylus, the _Electra_ of Sophocles,
and the _Electra_ and _Iphigenia in Tauris_ of Euripides, are still
extant.
We must now turn to the fortunes of the other Greek leaders. Agamemnon’s
brother Menelaus was overtaken, off Cape Malea, by a fearful storm,
which carried him to Crete and Egypt, whence, after seven years of
wandering, he returned to Sparta with Helen and his share of the spoils
of Troy.
The Locrian Ajax experienced a still more unhappy fate. On the night of
the destruction of Troy he had penetrated into the temple of Pallas, and
had not only torn away the priestess Cassandra, who was clinging for
safety to the altar and statue of the goddess, but had also overturned
the statue of Pallas herself. As a punishment for this offence, his ship
was wrecked on Cape Caphareus, He would still have been able to escape
with his life—having succeeded in getting hold of a rock—if he had not
given such offence to Poseidon by his impious boast that he needed not
the help of the gods, that the god split the rock with his trident,
whereupon Ajax fell into the sea and was drowned.
Diomedes, Philoctetes, and Idomeneus reached their homes in safety, but
were all soon afterwards driven out, after which they all three
emigrated to Italy. Here Diomedes founded many towns, and was long
worshipped with heroic honours.
Teucer also succeeded in reaching Salamis in safety, but his father
Telamon was so wroth because he had not better protected his brother
Ajax, or at least avenged his death, that he refused to receive him. He
was, therefore, likewise obliged to leave his country, and subsequently
settled on the island of Cyprus.
But of all the Greek heroes Odysseus experienced the most reverses,
while at home his faithful wife Penelope and his son Telemachus were
hard pressed by the suitors. It was only in the tenth year after the
fall of Troy, and after numerous wanderings and vicissitudes, that he
was permitted to return to his native Ithaca and punish the shameless
suitors who had wasted his substance and goods. The story of his
adventures is so well known that we need not dwell on it here, further
than to mention that, according to post-Homeric accounts, Odysseus was
killed by the hand of Telegonus, his own son by Circe.
The events of the Trojan cycle have supplied not only the poet, but
also the artist and the sculptor, with a large number of their most
acceptable subjects. Single scenes, such as the judgment of Paris,
have been continually selected, ever since the time of Raphael, as
favourite subjects of representation. Of modern masters, Carstens,
Thorwaldsen the great Danish sculptor, Cornelius, Genelli, and
Preller (Landscapes of the _Odyssey_) have illustrated the story of
Troy in a series of splendid compositions. We give an engraving of a
relief by Thorwaldsen, representing Priam before Achilles (Fig. 62).
[Illustration: Fig. 62.—Priam before Achilles. Relief by Thorwaldsen.]
Of the more important extant works of antiquity, we may mention the
wedding of Peleus and Thetis, depicted on the Français vase in the
Naples Museum; the abduction of Helen, depicted on a marble relief
in the former Campana collection, now in the Louvre (Fig. 63); the
marble group in Rome, known by the name of “Pasquino,” which
represents Menelaüs raising the corpse of Patroclus; and, lastly,
the celebrated Ægina marbles in Munich. These last are the remains
of a marble group from the gable of a temple of Pallas at Ægina,
representing a battle between the Greeks and Trojans. They were
discovered at Ægina in the year 1811; King Ludwig I. of Bavaria, who
was a great patron of art, bought the Ægina marbles, and, after
having them restored by Thorwaldsen, placed them in the Munich
collection. The Laocoön, the most important of all the works
relating to the Trojan cycle, has already been discussed.
[Illustration: Fig. 63.—Rape of Helen. Campana Collection. Paris.]
V.—MYTHIC SEERS AND BARDS.
We have already incidentally mentioned most of the seers of
antiquity—Melampus, the son of Amythaon, who figures in Argive legend;
likewise Amphiaraüs, Tiresias, and Calchas. Concerning Tiresias, we may
remark that the ancients ascribed to him a fabulous age, extending over
seven or even nine generations; so that he was thus a witness of all
that happened to Thebes, from the foundation of the city to its
destruction by the Epigoni. Like all celebrated soothsayers, he was
acquainted with the language of birds, and could penetrate the most
hidden secrets of nature; on which account he enjoyed up to his death an
ever-increasing reputation among the Thebans. We have already related
how, in extreme old age, when his native city could no longer withstand
the assaults of the Epigoni, he experienced the bitter lot of having to
take refuge in flight, and at length succumbed beneath the hardships of
the journey. In the second century A.D. his grave was still shown in the
neighbourhood of Haliartus.
Among the fugitive Thebans who fell into the hands of the Argives is
said to have been Manto, the daughter of Tiresias, who was likewise
renowned as a prophetess. She was dedicated, together with a large
portion of the spoils, to the oracle at Delphi. By the command of the
god she was sent into Asia Minor, where she founded the oracle of
Claros, near Colophon. She here married the Cretan Rhacius, and became
by him the mother of Mopsus, who afterwards founded the oracle of Mallos
in Cilicia.
Among the names of the mythic bards that have been handed down to us are
undoubtedly to be found some recollections of those who first cultivated
the art of poetry; partly, however, they are nothing more than
personifications of certain tendencies and modes of poetry. Such is
probably the case with the mythic bard Linus, who was celebrated in
Argos, Thebes, and Eubœa. Nothing is more common than for an
unsophisticated people to burst forth in lamentation over the decay and
final extinction of the blooming life of nature. This, as we see in the
myth of Hyacinthus, was often portrayed under the metaphor of a
beautiful boy slain by a quoit or by savage dogs—both symbols of the
scorching heat of the sun. The dirges which from time immemorial were
sung over the beautiful boy Linus, at the season of vintage, probably
gave rise to the myth which makes Linus himself the singer.
[Illustration: Fig. 64.—Orpheus and Eurydice. Marble Relief In the Villa
Albani.]
Similar doleful memories are linked with the name of Orpheus, who is
often termed a brother of Linus, though he was really not an Æolian, but
a Thracian of Pieria. That which is best known of him is the story of
his love for the beautiful nymph Eurydice. She was bitten in the foot by
a snake, and thus snatched away from him by death. Orpheus then filled
mountain and valley with songs of lamentation so piteous, that the wild
beasts of the forest were enchanted at the sound, and followed him like
lambs; and the very rocks and trees moved from their places. His
yearning towards his beloved Eurydice induced him to descend to the
lower world, to beg her release from the grim king of shadows. Here his
piteous lay caused even the Erinyes to shed tears of compassion, and
moved the hard heart of the Stygian king. He released Eurydice on
condition that Orpheus should not look back on her till he reached the
upper world. Orpheus, however, violated this condition, and Eurydice was
once more lost to him. He himself, not long afterwards, whilst wandering
in his despair over the Thracian mountains, was torn in pieces by some
women in the mad excitement of their nightly Bacchanalian orgies.
A splendid representation of the second parting of the lovers by
Hermes, the guide of souls, has come down to us on a marble relief,
which is preserved in the Villa Albani (Fig. 64).
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
INDEX.
Ăbas, 187.
Ăcastus, 234, 237, 246.
Ăchĕlōus, 110, 210.
Ăchĕrōn, 149.
Ăchilles (Ăchilleus), 35, 168, 246, 251, 253.
Āchĭrŏē, 186.
Ăcrĭsĭus, 187, 191.
Actæon, 49, 171.
Actŏrĭdæ, 209.
Admētē, 202.
Admētus, 231, 234
Ădōnis, 57.
Adrastus, 240, 241, 248.
Æăcus, 149, 245, 247.
Ăēdōn, 179.
Æētēs, 90, 235.
Ægeus, 220, 223, 237.
Ægĭăleus, 241.
Ægĭmĭus, 211.
Ægīna, 180, 245.
Ægis, 22, 35, 40.
Ægisthus, 64, 152, 245, 257.
Ægyptus, 186.
Ænēas, 58, 157, 251.
Æŏlus, 94, 179, 232.
Æscŭlāpĭus (_vide_ Asclepius).
Æsōn, 233.
Æthra, 220.
Ætna, 21, 69.
Ăgămemnōn, 49, 64, 152, 245, 257.
Ăgăthŏdæmōn, 98.
Ăgāvē, 115, 171.
Ăgēnōr, 170, 186, 227.
Aglăĭa, 83.
Aglaurus, 218.
Agrĭus, 248.
Ăĭdōneus, 146 (_vide_ Hades).
Ājax, Telamonian, 247, 253.
Ājax, Locrian, 247, 248, 259.
Alcæus, 198.
Alcăthŏus, 247.
Alcmæon, 241.
Alcmēnē, 26, 191, 198.
Ālectō, 151.
Ălēus, 209.
Ălōīdæ, 102.
Althæa, 232.
Ămalthēa, 19, 210.
Ămāzons, 180, 182, 202, 224.
Ămor, 78.
Amphĭărāus, 188, 231, 234, 240.
Amphicty̆ōn, 218.
Amphīōn, 171, 172.
Amphitrītē, 101, 104.
Amphitry̆ōn, 191, 198.
Ămy̆cus, 195, 234.
Ămyntor, 246.
Ămy̆thāŏnĭdæ, 188, 240, 248.
Ănăcĕs, 196.
Ancæus, 231.
Anchĭnŏē, 186.
Anchīsēs, 58, 242.
Andrŏgĕōs, 222, 228.
Andrŏmĕda, 102, 190.
Anna Pĕrenna, 98.
Antæus, 102, 205.
Antēa, 187.
Antĕros, 57, 78.
Anthestērĭa, 118.
Anticlēa, 249.
Antĭgŏnē, 240.
Antĭlŏchus, 253.
Antĭŏpē, 224.
Ăphăreus, 194.
Ăphărīdæ, 194, 231.
Ăphidnæ, 195, 224.
Aphrŏdītē, 25, 52, 56, 78, 83, 163, 222, 249.
Ăpollo, 14, 26, 40, 62, 152, 155, 176, 206, 242.
Apsyrtus, 236.
Ăquĭlo, 94.
Arcas, 93.
Arctus, 93.
Areopagus, 52, 152.
Ărēs, 26, 51, 57, 78, 170, 171, 202, 233.
Argēs, 18.
Argīphontēs, 185.
Argonauts, 90, 107, 195, 201, 225, 230, 232, 234, 248.
Argō, 234.
Argŏs, 31, 185, 244.
Argus, 64, 185, 186, 234.
Ărĭadnē, 116, 123, 222, 228.
Ăristæus, 171.
Artĕmis, 25, 48, 155, 171, 201, 230, 250, 258.
Asclēpĭus, 42, 94, 229.
Ăsōpus, 180, 245.
Assărăcus, 242.
Astĕrĭa, 18, 153.
Astĕrĭōn, 227.
Astræus, 92.
Asty̆dămīa, 246.
Ătălantē, 231.
Ăthămas, 108, 232.
Ăthēnē, 13, 34, 163, 206, 249.
Ăthēnē Pŏlĭas, 35, 38, 219.
Atlas, 62, 162, 205.
Atreus, 244.
Atrŏpos, 98.
Attica, 36, 217.
Attis (Ātys), 114, 130.
Augē, 209.
Augēas, 201, 208, 212.
Aurōra, 92.
Autŏly̆cus, 249.
Autŏnŏē, 171.
Bacchus, 114.
Bellĕrŏphōn (Belīĕrŏphontēs), 180, 239.
Bellōna, 54.
Bēlus, 186.
Benthĕsĭcȳmē, 104.
Bĕrŏē, 115.
Bĭas, 188, 240.
Bŏnă Dĕă, 132.
Bŏnus Ēventus, 98.
Bŏrĕădæ, 94, 234.
Bŏrĕas, 92, 94, 219.
Brĭăreus, 18.
Brontēs, 18.
Būsīris, 205.
Căbīrī, 70.
Cācus, 204, 214.
Cadmus, 26, 52, 114, 170, 171, 217, 232, 237, 240.
Cæneus, 165.
Călăĭs, 94, 219, 234.
Calchas, 250, 262.
Callĭŏpē, 82.
Callĭrhŏē, 203.
Callistō, 93.
Calydonian Hunt, 195, 225, 230, 246.
Călypsō, 64.
Cămēnæ, 83.
Căpys, 242.
Carna (Cardĕa), 97.
Carpō, 85.
Cassandra, 250, 257, 259.
Cassĭŏpēa, 190.
Castōr, 168, 175, 194, 231.
Catreus, 228.
Cecrops, 217, 218.
Cēlĕus, 140.
Centaurs, 165, 200, 223.
Centaurs, fight with, 166.
Centimanes, 17.
Cĕphălus, 219.
Cēpheus (Æthiopia), 190.
Cēpheus (Tegea), 209.
Cēphīsus, 125.
Cerbĕrus, 149, 197, 206.
Cercōpes, 208.
Cercy̆ōn, 102, 221.
Cĕres, 25, 137, 143.
Cēres (Fates), 155.
Cētō, 18, 106, 109, 189.
Cēÿx, 210.
Chăŏs, 17.
Chărĭtĕs, 25, 83.
Chărōn, 149.
Chĭmæra, 181.
Chīrōn, 168, 171, 220, 233, 245.
Chrȳsăor, 190, 203.
Chrȳsippus, 244.
Circē, 90, 259.
Clărus, oracle of, 42, 262.
Clīō, 82.
Clŏācīna, 59.
Clōthō, 98.
Cly̆mĕnē, 162.
Cly̆tæmnestra, 152, 194, 245, 257, 258.
Cōcălus, 229.
Cœus, 18.
Cŏlossus of Rhodes, 91.
Cŏra, 138, 143.
Cŏry̆bantes, 113.
Cŏry̆nētēs, 221.
Cottus, 18.
Crănăus, 218.
Crĕōn, 198, 199, 238, 241.
Crētheus, 233.
Crĕūsa, 237.
Crīus, 17.
Crŏnus, 18, 71, 113, 134, 168.
Cŭpīdo, 79.
Cūrētes, 19, 113, 231.
Cy̆bĕlē, 113, 127.
Cychreus, 247.
Cyclōpes, 17, 70, 187.
Cycnus, 210, 251.
Cyllēnē, 62.
Dædălus, 228, 229.
Dæmons, 100.
Dămastēs, 221.
Dănăē, 26, 188.
Danaids, 149, 186.
Dănăus, 186.
Dardănus, 242.
Death, 154.
Dēĭănīra, 210.
Dēĭphŏbus, 256.
Delphian Oracle, 42, 72, 112, 170.
Dēmētēr, 19, 25, 109, 137, 139, 186, 243.
Dēmŏphōn, 140, 225.
Dēmus, 52, 57.
Dēō, 137.
Deucălĭōn, 162, 164, 218.
Dĭāna, 49 (_vide_ Artemis).
Dĭcē, 84.
Dictys, 189.
Didymæan Oracle, 42.
Dĭoclēs, 140.
Dĭŏmēdēs, Argive, 168, 247, 259.
Dĭŏmēdēs, Thracian, 202.
Dĭōnē, 25, 56.
Dĭŏnȳsĭa, Greater, 119.
Dĭŏnȳsĭa, Lesser, 118.
Dĭō̆nȳsus, 26, 57, 68, 83, 114, 130, 223.
Dĭoscūri, 194, 224, 231, 234, 246, 250.
Dircē, 173.
Dis, 147.
Dōdōna, Oracle of, 24.
Dōris, 106.
Dryads, 125.
Dry̆ŏpes, 211, 212.
Dry̆ops, 128.
Ĕchidna, 181, 200, 204.
Ēchō, 58, 124.
Ēgĕrĭa, 83.
Ēlectra (daughter of Agamemnon), 258.
Ēlectra (daughter of Atlas), 242.
Ēlectra (daughter of Oceanus), 106.
Ēlectry̆ōn, 191, 198.
Ĕleusīnĭa, 141.
Ĕleusis, 140.
Ēly̆sĭum, 149, 161.
Ēmăthĭōn, 205.
Endēĭs, 168, 245.
Endy̆mĭōn, 91.
Ĕnȳō, 54.
Ē̆ōs, 18, 92, 219, 253.
Ĕpăphus, 185, 186.
Ĕpēus, 254.
Ĕpĭgŏni, 241, 248, 262.
Ĕpĭmētheus, 163.
Ĕpōpeus, 173.
Ĕrătō, 82.
Ĕrechtheus, 94, 218, 229.
Ergīnus, 199.
Ĕrichthŏnĭus (_vide_ Erechtheus).
Ĕrīnȳes, 99, 150, 151, 231, 258, 264.
Ĕriphȳlē, 240.
Ĕris, 249.
Ĕros, 17, 57, 58, 78.
Ĕry̆sichthōn, 141.
Ĕtĕoclēs, 240, 241.
Eumĕnĭdes, 152, 239.
Eumolpus, 140.
Eunŏmĭa, 84.
Euphrŏsy̆nē, 83.
Eurōpē (Europa), 26, 227.
Eurus, 92.
Eury̆ălē, 190.
Eury̆bĭa, 18.
Eury̆dĭcē, 264.
Eury̆nŏmē, 25, 68, 83.
Eurystheus, 198, 202, 244.
Eury̆tĭōn, 165, 246.
Eury̆tus, 206, 211.
Euterpē, 82.
Fates (_vide_ Mœræ).
Fauna, 132.
Faunālĭa, 132.
Faunus, 131.
Făvōnĭus, 94.
Fēlīcĭtas, 100.
Flōra, 136.
Fontus, 76, 110.
Fortūna, 98.
Fūrĭæ (Furies) (_vide_ Erinyes).
Gæa, 17, 19, 112, 129, 153, 204, 218.
Găny̆mēdēs, 87, 203.
Gē, 17 (_vide_ Gæa).
Gĕlānōr, 186.
Gĕnĭi, 100.
Gēry̆ŏnēs (Geryon), 190, 203.
Gĭgantes (Giants), 21.
Glaucus Pontius, 107.
Glaucus (son of Minos), 228.
Glaucus (son of Sisyphus), 180.
Gorgŏnēum (_vide_ Ægis).
Gorgons, 18, 107, 189.
Graces, 83, 163.
Grā̆dīvus, 53.
Grææ, 18, 107, 189.
Grātĭæ (_vide_ Graces).
Gy̆ēs, 18.
Hādēs, 19, 139, 146, 187, 224.
Hamadryads, 125.
Harmŏnĭa, 52, 171, 240.
Harpies, 18, 106, 235.
Hēbē, 26, 87, 197, 212.
Hĕcăbē (_vide_ Hecuba).
Hĕcătē, 91, 153.
Hector, 251.
Hĕcŭba, 243, 249, 256.
Hĕlĕnē (Helen), 58, 194, 224, 245, 256, 259.
Hĕlĕnus, 254.
Hēlĭos, 18, 89, 139, 203, 228.
Hellē, 232.
Hēphæstus, 26, 52, 57, 68, 163, 221, 229, 235, 252.
Hēra, 13, 19, 26, 31, 68, 87, 96, 197, 202, 204, 238, 249.
Hēraclēs, 79, 87, 106, 161, 183, 187, 197, 234.
Hēræum, 32.
Hercŭles, 204, 214 (_vide_ Heracles).
Hermēs, 14, 25, 57, 62, 163, 186, 189, 206, 243.
Heroes, 159.
Hersē, 218, 219.
Hēsĭŏne, 203, 208, 247.
Hespĕrĭdes, 90, 107, 204.
Hespĕrus, 93.
Hestĭa, 19, 71.
Hīmĕrus, 58.
Hippŏcŏōn, 209, 212.
Hippŏdămīa, 243.
Hippŏly̆tē, 224.
Hippŏly̆tus, 58, 224.
Homer, 13, 35, 52, 86, 144, 206, 249.
Hŏnos, 196.
Hōræ, 25, 84.
Hy̆ăcinthus, 41, 263.
Hy̆ădes, 93.
Hydra, 200.
Hy̆gĭēa, 36, 96.
Hy̆las, 234.
Hyllus, 210.
Hy̆mēn, 58.
Hy̆mĕnæus, 58.
Hy̆pĕrīōn, 18, 90, 92.
Hy̆permnestra, 187.
Hypnus, 155.
Īăpĕtus, 17, 162.
Īcărĭus, 194, 249.
Īcărŭs, 229.
Ichthyocentaurs, 105.
Īdas, 195, 231.
Īdŏmĕneus, 229, 259.
Iliad, 231, 242, 248.
Īlīthyia, 96.
Īlus, 242.
Īnăchus, 185.
Īnō, 108, 115, 171, 232.
Ĭnŭus, 131.
Īō, 26, 64, 185.
Īŏbătēs, 181, 187.
Ĭŏcastē, 238.
Ĭŏlāus, 200, 204, 206, 231.
Ĭŏlē, 206, 211.
Ĭōn, 219.
Īphĭănassa, 188.
Īphiclēs, 198, 231.
Īphĭgĕnīa, 49, 251.
Īphĭtus, 206, 234.
Īrēnē, 84.
Īrĭs, 18, 86, 106.
Īsis, 186.
Ismenian Oracle, 42.
Isthmian Games, 101.
Ĭty̆lus, 179.
Ixīōn, 149, 166.
Jānus, 13, 74.
Jāsōn, 231, 233.
Jūno, 13, 26, 32.
Jūpĭter, 13, 22, 24, 36, 77.
Jŭventas, 87.
Labdăcĭdæ, 237.
Labdăcus, 179.
Lăchĕsis, 98.
Lādōn, 204.
Lāërtēs, 249.
Lāĭus, 179, 237.
Lampus, 92.
Lāŏcŏōn, 254.
Lāŏdămas, 241.
Lāŏmĕdōn, 102, 203, 208, 242.
Lăpĭthæ, 165, 211, 223.
Lărēs, 157.
Larvæ, 158.
Lātōna (_vide_ Leto).
Lĕarchus, 108, 232.
Lēda, 26, 194.
Lĕmŭrālĭa, 158.
Lĕmŭrēs, 158.
Lĕnæa, 118.
Lētō, 18, 25, 41, 48, 150.
Leucippus, 195.
Leucŏthĕa (_vide_ Ino).
Līber, 120, 143.
Lībĕrālĭa, 120.
Lĭbĭtīna, 59.
Lĭby̆a, 186.
Lĭchas, 212.
Lĭnus, 42, 199, 263.
Lower World, 147.
Lūna, 49, 91.
Lŭpercālĭa, 132.
Lŭpercus, 131.
Ly̆æus, 117.
Ly̆cŏmēdēs, 225, 247.
Ly̆cus (Thebes), 173.
Ly̆cus (Megara), 220.
Lynceus (Scythian), 141.
Lynceus (son of Aphareus), 195, 231.
Lynceus (son of Danaus), 187.
Măchāōn, 254.
Maia, 25, 62, 132.
Mānēs, 158.
Mantō, 241, 262.
Mars, or Māvors, 26, 52, 77.
Marsy̆as, 127.
Māter Magna Īdæa, 113, 130.
Māter Mātūta, 92 (note).
Matrōnālia, 33.
Mēdēa, 221, 230, 235, 246.
Mĕdūsa, 35, 103, 181, 189.
Mĕgăpenthēs, 191.
Mĕgæra, 150.
Mĕgăra, 199, 206.
Mĕlampūs, 188, 240.
Mĕlĕāger, 168, 210, 230, 234.
Mĕlĭa, 185.
Mĕlīcertēs, 108, 232.
Melpŏmĕnē, 82.
Memnōn, 92, 253.
Mĕnĕlāus, 245, 250, 258.
Mĕnestheus, 225.
Mĕnœtĭus, 162.
Mercŭrĭus, 65.
Mĕrŏpē, 180, 238.
Mētĭōn, 220, 229.
Mētĭŏnĭdæ, 220.
Mētis, 25.
Mĕtus, 54.
Mĭdas, 127.
Mĭnerva, 13, 26, 36, 137, 228.
Mīnōs, 116, 149, 202, 222, 227, 228.
Minotaur, 222, 227, 228.
Mnēmŏsy̆nē, 17, 19, 25, 81.
Mœræ, 25, 98, 232.
Mŏlĭŏnĭdæ, 209.
Mopsus, 262.
Morpheus, 155.
Mŏsychlus, 70.
Mulcĭber, 71.
Murcĭa, 59.
Muses, 25, 42, 80, 81, 121.
Mūtūnus, 133.
Myrtĭlus, 244.
Naiads, 124.
Năpææ, 124.
Narcissus, 58, 124.
Nēleus, 209, 212, 248.
Nĕmĕsis, 98.
Nĕoptŏlĕmus, 254, 256.
Nĕphĕlē, 232.
Neptune (Neptūnus), 104.
Nereids, 105, 190, 253.
Nēreus, 18, 105, 205.
Nerio, 54.
Nessus, 210.
Nestor, 165, 168, 209, 247.
Nīcē, 85.
Night, 154.
Nīlus, 186.
Nĭŏbē, 48, 176, 243.
Nīsus, 220, 222.
Nŏtus, 92.
Nycteus, 172.
Nymphs, 123, 189, 204.
Oceanids, 68, 83, 110, 168.
Ōcĕănus, 18, 25, 91, 109, 162.
Ŏdysseus, 64, 102, 109, 249, 253, 259.
Œdĭpūs, 153, 238.
Œneus, 210, 230, 248.
Œnŏmăus, 243.
Ŏïclēs, 208.
Ŏīleus, 248.
Olympian Games, 24, 43, 196.
Omphălē, 208.
Ops, 133.
Orcus, 155.
Oreads, 124, 129.
Ŏrestēs, 49, 152, 258.
Ōrīōn, 92, 93.
Ōrīthyia, 94, 219.
Orpheus, 42, 234, 264.
Oschŏphŏrĭa, 223.
Pāgānāalĭa, 113.
Pălæmōn, 109.
Pălămēdēs, 251.
Păles, 136.
Pallădĭum, 242, 249, 254.
Pallas, 220, 222.
Pallas Athēnē (_vide_ Athene).
Pallor, 54.
Pān, 115, 128.
Pănăthĕnæa, 37, 223.
Pandărĕōs, 179.
Pandīōn, 220.
Pandōra, 163.
Pandrŏsus, 218.
Pānes, 125, 130, 135.
Parcæ, 98, 155.
Păris, 249, 253, 254.
Parthĕnōn, 36.
Pāsĭphăē, 228.
Patroclus, 252.
Pēgăsus, 103, 181, 190.
Pēleus, 58, 106, 168, 208, 231, 234, 245, 249.
Pĕlĭas, 180, 233, 246, 248.
Pĕlŏpĭdæ, 243, 258.
Pĕlops, 150, 176, 243.
Pĕnātēs, 73, 156.
Pēnĕlŏpē, 191, 249, 259.
Pēnĕlŏpē (Nymph), 128.
Penthĕsĭlēa, 183, 252.
Pentheus, 115.
Pĕrĭbœa, 247.
Pĕricly̆mĕnus, 209, 234.
Pĕrĭphētēs, 221.
Persē, 90.
Persēïs, 228.
Persĕphŏnē, 25, 91, 109, 138, 143, 155, 224.
Perseus, 102, 188, 198, 244.
Phædra, 58, 224, 228.
Phăĕthōn (son of Helios), 90.
Phăĕthōn (horse of Eos), 92.
Phĭloctētēs, 212, 251, 254, 259.
Phĭly̆ra, 168.
Phīneus, 107, 191, 235.
Phŏbus, 57.
Phœbē, 18, 49.
Phœnix, 246.
Phŏlus, 200.
Phorcys, 18, 106, 109, 189.
Phosphŏrus, 93.
Phrixus, 232.
Phȳleus, 209.
Pīrĭthŏus, 165, 206, 231.
Pittheus, 220.
Pĭty̆ŏcamptēs, 221.
Pleiădes, 93.
Plexippus, 232.
Plūteus, 146.
Plūtō, 146, 155.
Plūtō (fem.), 243.
Pŏdarcēs, 208.
Pœas, 212.
Pŏly̆bus, 238.
Pŏly̆castē, 194.
Pŏly̆clētus, 32.
Pŏly̆dectēs, 189, 190.
Pŏly̆deucēs (Pollux), 168, 175, 194, 231.
Pŏly̆dōrus, 172, 179.
Pŏly̆hymnĭa, 83.
Pŏly̆ĭdus, 229.
Pŏly̆nīcēs, 240.
Pŏly̆phēmus, 102.
Pŏlyxĕna, 253, 256.
Pōmōna, 135.
Pontus, 17, 18, 105.
Pŏseidōn, 13, 19, 20, 72, 100, 180, 209.
Pŏthus, 58.
Prĭămus (Priam), 183, 208, 243, 249, 256.
Prĭāpus, 133.
Procris, 219.
Procrustēs, 102, 221.
Prœtĭdes, 188.
Prœtus, 181, 187, 191.
Prŏmētheus, 162, 205.
Prōserpĭna (_vide_ Persephone).
Prōtĕsĭlāus, 251.
Prōteus, 107.
Psȳchē, 79.
Py̆ănepsĭa, 223, 226.
Py̆lădēs, 258.
Pyrrha, 164.
Pȳthĭa (_vide_ Delphian Oracle).
Pȳthōn, 41, 189.
Quinquatrūs Mājōrēs, 37.
Quĭrīnus, 77.
Recarānus, 214.
Rhădămanthys (Rhadamanthus), 149, 227.
Rhēa, 18, 71.
Rhēa Cy̆bĕlē, 113.
Rhŏdē, 104.
Sălăcĭa, 105.
Salmōneus, 233.
Sălus, 97.
Sandōn, 207.
Sarpēdōn, 227.
Sāturnālia, 134.
Sāturnus, 26, 133.
Satyrs, 125.
Scīrōn, 221.
Scŏtŏs, 153.
Scylla, 222.
Sĕlēnē, 18, 49, 91, 153.
Sĕmĕlē, 26, 108, 114, 171.
Semnæ, 152.
Sibyls, 42.
Sīlēni, 125, 127.
Sīlēnus, 115, 126.
Silvānus, 131.
Sĭmŏīs, 242.
Sĭnis, 221.
Sĭnōn, 254.
Sirens, 109.
Sīrĭus, 93.
Sīsy̆phus, 149, 179.
Sleep, 154.
Sol, 89, 90.
Sŏly̆mi, 182.
Sphinx, 238.
Stars, the, 93.
Stĕrŏpēs, 18.
Sthĕnĕbœa, 187.
Sthĕnĕlus, 198, 244.
Sthēnō, 190.
Strēnĭa, 97.
Strĭges, 97.
Strŏphĭus, 258.
Stymphālĭdes, 201.
Styx, 149.
Sȳleus, 208.
Symplēgădes, 235.
Sȳrinx, 126, 129.
Tălōs, 229.
Tantălus, 149, 176, 243.
Tartărus, 17, 19, 21.
Tĕlămōn, 208, 231, 234, 245, 247, 259.
Tēlĕbŏæ, 198.
Tēlĕgŏnus, 259.
Tēlĕmăchus, 259.
Tēlĕphassa, 170.
Tēlĕphus, 209.
Tellus, 112.
Termĭnus, 131, 137.
Terpsĭchŏrē, 82.
Tēthys, 18, 99.
Teucer, 208, 247, 259.
Teuthras, 210.
Thălīa, 82, 83.
Thallō, 85.
Thănătus, 155.
Thaumas, 18, 106.
Thēa (Thīa), 18, 90, 92.
Thĕmis, 17, 25, 78, 84.
Thersander, 241.
Thēseus, 43, 102, 116, 166, 168, 183, 206, 219, 228, 231, 234.
Thesmŏphŏrĭa, 141.
Thesprōtus, 245.
Thestĭus, 194, 232.
Thĕtis, 58, 68, 106, 246, 249, 252, 253.
Thŏōsa, 120.
Thy̆estēs, 244.
Tĭbĕrīnus, 76, 110.
Tīrĕsĭas, 241, 262.
Tīsĭphŏnē, 151.
Titans, 17, 18, 19, 90.
Tīthōnus, 92, 205.
Tĭty̆us, 41, 149.
Toxeus, 232.
Triptŏlĕmus, 140.
Trītōn, 35, 104, 105, 129.
Trōĭlus, 251.
Trōs, 88, 203, 242.
Ty̆chē, 99.
Tȳdeus, 210, 234, 240, 248.
Tyndărĕus, 194, 209, 245, 249.
Ty̆phōeus, 21.
Tȳphōn, 200, 204.
Tȳrō, 233.
Ŭlysses (_vide_ Odysseus).
Ūrănĭa, 82.
Ūrănus, 17, 18, 19, 21, 152.
Vĕnus, 58.
Vertumnus, 135.
Vesta, 72, 156.
Victōrĭa, 85.
Vulcan (Volcānus), 70.
Winds, the, 93.
Zĕphy̆rus, 92, 94.
Zētēs, 94, 219, 234.
Zēthus, 171, 172, 179.
Zeus, 12, 13, 16, 19, 22, 31, 62, 88, 115, 162, 185.
[Illustration]
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Transcriber’s note:
1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
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