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2 Supreme Deities of Earth: • Demeter (Ceres) – sister of Zeus, Goddess of the Corn, also Goddess of Vegetation and Fertility. She had various lovers, including Zeus, and a daughter, Persephone (Proserpine), who was taken by Hades. In Demeter’s grief, the Earth grew barren and only when her daughter returned to her for 6 months of each year did the Earth become fruitful.
2. Dionysus (Bacchus) – son of Zeus & Semele, God of the Vine, also God of Drunkenness. He served to liberate the emotions and to inspire men with joy. Like the grapevine, he suffered death and was resurrected. His female worshippers were the frenzied Maenads (Bacchantes). Out of his celebrations grew the tragic theater.
LESSER GODS OF EARTH Special protectors of Sailors: Castor - twin brother of Pollux; son of Zeus who was killed Pollux (Polydeuces) – twin brother of Caster; son of Zeus; when Castor was killed, Pollux proved his brotherly devotion by praying to die also. Zeus, in pity, allowed him to share his life with his brother – to live half of their time on Earth and half in Heaven; their stars are the Gemini (Twins).
Helios – the sun god – did not play a large part in Greek mythology Aeolus – King of the four winds Persephone (Proserpine) – daughter of Zeus & Demeter, queen & wife of Hades; Goddess of Springtime; was abducted by Hades while out picking flowers in a meadow
Pan – son of Hermes; God of Flocks; He had the torso and head of a man, but the hindquarters & horns of a goat. He was a marvelous musician (played the reed pipes) and pursued various nymphs, all of whom rejected him for his ugliness. Satyrs – men with horses’ haunches and tails, two-legged, inhuman, ugly gods; gods of the woodlands who lived in the woodlands and wild places of the Earth.
Centaurs – half horse, half man; principally savage creatures more like beasts than man. Chiron was the exception since he was known everywhere for his goodness and wisdom. Goddesses of the Woodlands: • Oreads • Dryads
The Gorgons- Three sisters who were dragon-like creatures with wings who could change men to stone at a glance; earth-dwellers. Of the three of them, two were immortal. Medusa, the most famous of the three, was half mortal. The Graiae– sisters of the Gorgons; three gray (old) women who shared one eye between them; they lived on the farther bank of the Ocean.
The Sirens - sisters who sat on rocks by the sea or river and lured sailors to their doom by singing to them; no one who saw them ever returned. The Three Fates (Moirae in Greek; Parcae in Latin): • Clotho • Lachesis • Atropos
Two Divisions of the Underworld: • Tartarus • Erebus Five Rivers of the Underworld: • Acheron • Cocytus • Phlegethon • Styx • Lethe
Charon – the aged ferryman who ferries the souls of the dead across the water to the farther bank to the adamantine, or “unyielding” gate that is the entrance to Tartarus. He will only carry the souls of those upon whose lips the passage of money was placed when they died and who were duly buried. Cerberus – the three-headed,dragon-tailed dog that guards the gate to Tartarus; he permits all to enter but none to return.
Three judges inside the gate to Tartarus– they pass sentence and send the wicked to everlasting torment and the good to the place of blessedness. • Rhadamanthus • Minos • Aeacus Sleep and Death – both dwell in the lower world (Tartarus)
The Erinyes (Furies) – pursued and punished evildoers and sinners: • Tisiphone • Megaera • Alecto Dreams – ascended from the lower world to men by passing through one of two gates: • Horn Gate • Ivory Gate
Eros (Cupid) – God of Love – often represented as blind-folded because love is often blind; shot arrows in the hearts of his victims. He had 3 attendants: • Anteros • Himeros • Hymen
The 3 Graces • Aglaia • Euphrosyne • Thalia Two lesser gods that sat beside Zeus in Olympus: • Themus • Dike
9 Muses – daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory); goddesses of inspiration: • Clio • Urania • Melpomene • Thalia • Terpsichore • Calliope • Erato • Polyhymnia • Euterpe
