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Chapter Seven, Lecture One. Myths of the Olympians. Male Deities. Reflect range of activities consistent with the roles Greek men played in their society. Poseidon, Lord of the Deep. Husband ( posis ) An Indo-european male fertility god This explains the tangle of his competencies
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Chapter Seven, Lecture One Myths of the Olympians
Male Deities • Reflect range of activities consistent with the roles Greek men played in their society
Poseidon, Lord of the Deep • Husband (posis) • An Indo-european male fertility god • This explains the tangle of his competencies • original: springs, horses, earthquakes • acquired: sea • Married to “Amphitrite” • Father of Triton
Poseidon, Lord of the Deep • The competition in Athens • He offers the Athenians salt water?? • Lost also in Argos • Impregnated Medusa • Pegasus born when Medusa killed by Perseus
Hades, King of the Dead • the invisible” (Helmet from the Cyclops) • “Pluto” (wealth) • Lord of the dead who inhabit the top layer of soil • Abduction and Marriage to Persephone (daughter of Demeter), discussed in Chapter 11
Apollo, the Far-Darter, God of Prophecy • One of the most complex • His competencies are a tangle of different areas • His history is complex and inconsistent • His role at Delphi makes him, next to Zeus, the most important Olympian
Apollo, the Far-Darter, God of Prophecy • His epithet shows his origin • Lycia or Lycus • Delian (Twin of Artemis) • Other stories associate him with the north – swans carried him to the land of the Hyperboreans – and thereafter he spent the winters there.
Apollo, the Far-Darter, God of Prophecy • Looking for a place for his shrine, he is misled by Telephusa away from Boeotia – goes to Parnassus • Originally Delphi was the site for Ge-Themis • Must slay a dangerous dragon, eventually named Typhon • Goes back and punishes Telephusa
Apollo, the Far-Darter, God of Prophecy • Pan-Hellenic, even world site 800 BC – AD 394 • Center of the world, marked by the omphalos • Apollo spoke through a prophetess, the Pythia, seated on a tripod in the temple • Obscurity: e.g., Croesus; “the wooden walls”
Apollo, the Far-Darter, God of Prophecy • Sender of plagues • God of mice • Healing • Asclepius and the story of Coronis
Apollo, the Far-Darter, God of Prophecy • Acquired features of a sun god • The god of male beauty • Apollo’s list of failed romances
Apollo, the Far-Darter, God of Prophecy • Cassandra • Sibyl of Cumae (like Tithonus): “As many years as grains of sand she could scoop up in her hands.” • Daphnê (laurel tree) • Marpessa • Hyacinth
Next Time Hephaestus Ares Hermes