Legends and myths of all times. Ancient myths and legends of the peoples of the world
A long time ago - so long ago that even time then flowed in the opposite direction, the ancient Hellenes lived on the Balkan Peninsula, who left a rich heritage to the peoples of the whole world. These are not only majestic buildings, beautiful antique wall paintings and marble statues, but also great works of literature, as well as ancient legends that have survived to this day - the myths of Ancient Greece, which reflect the ancient Greeks’ idea of the structure of the world and, in general, about all processes occurring in nature and society. In a word, their worldview and worldview.
Greek mythology evolved over several centuries, passed on from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation. Myths have already come to us in the poetry of Hesiod and, as well as in the works of the Greek playwrights Aeschylus and others. That is why they had to be collected from a variety of sources.
Mythographers appeared in Greece around the 4th century BC. These include the sophist Hippias, as well as Heraclitus of Pontus and many others. For example, Dionysius of Samoia compiled genealogical tables and studied tragic myths.
During the heroic period, mythological images centralized around myths associated with the legendary Mount Olympus.
According to the myths of Ancient Greece, it is possible to recreate a picture of the world as imagined by its ancient inhabitants. Thus, according to Greek mythology, the world was inhabited by monsters and giants: giants, one-eyed Cyclops (Cyclopes) and the mighty Titans - the formidable children of the Earth (Gaia) and Heaven (Uranus). In these images, the Greeks personified the elemental forces of nature, which were subdued by Zeus (Dias), the Thunderer and Cloud-Buster, who established order in the world and became the ruler of the Universe.
Jean-Baptiste Moses
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
In the beginning there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos , which contained the source of the life of the world: everything arose from Chaos - the whole world, the immortal gods, and the goddess Earth - Gaia, who gives life to everything that lives and grows on her; and the mighty force that animates everything is Love - Eros.
Deep under the Earth, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss full of eternal darkness.
Creating the world, Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness - Erebus and the dark Night - Nikta. And from Night and Darkness came the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful bright Day - Hemera (Imera). The light spread throughout the world, and night and day began to replace each other.
The mighty, blessed Gaia gave birth to the boundless blue Sky - Uranus, which spread over the Earth, reigning over the whole world. The high Mountains born of the Earth proudly rose towards him, and the ever-noisy Sea spread widely.
After the Sky, Mountains and Sea arose from Mother Earth, Uranus took the blessed Gaia as his wife, from whom he had six sons - powerful, formidable titans - and six daughters. The son of Uranus and Gaia is the Titan Ocean, flowing around the entire earth like a boundless river, and the goddess Thetis gave birth to all the rivers that rolled their waves to the sea, as well as sea goddesses - the Oceanids. Titan Hipperion and Theia gave the world the Sun - Helios, the Moon - Selene and the ruddy Dawn - rose-fingered Eos. From Astraeus and Eos came all the stars that burn in the night sky, and all the winds: the northern wind - Boreas (Βορριάς), the eastern - Eurus (Εύρος), the southern Not (Νοτιάς) and the western, gentle wind Zephyr (Ζέφυρος), carrying abundant rain clouds.
Noel Coypel
In addition to the titans, the mighty Earth gave birth to three giants - Cyclops with one eye in the forehead - and three fifty-headed, hundred-armed giants - Hecatoncheires, against whom nothing could resist, because their elemental power knew no bounds.
Uranus hated his giant children and imprisoned them in the bowels of the Earth, not allowing them to come into the light. Mother Earth suffered from the fact that she was crushed by a terrible burden contained in the depths of her bowels. Then she summoned her children, the Titans, to persuade them to rebel against Uranus. However, the titans were afraid to raise a hand against their father. Only the youngest of them, the treacherous Kronos, overthrew Uranus by cunning, taking away his power.
As punishment for Kronos, the goddess Night gave birth to Tanat - death, Eris - discord, Apata - deception, Ker - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with nightmare visions, Nemesis - revenge for crimes - and many other gods who brought Kronos into the world, who reigned on the throne of his father , horror, strife, deception, struggle and misfortune.
Kronos himself did not have confidence in the strength and durability of his power: he was afraid that his children would rebel against him and he would suffer the fate of his own father Uranus. In this regard, Kronos ordered his wife Rhea to bring him the children that were born, five of whom he mercilessly swallowed: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon.
Noel Coypel
Charles William Mitchell
Rhea, in order not to lose her last child, on the advice of her parents, Uranus-Heaven and Gaia-Earth, retired to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to her youngest son Zeus in a deep cave. Having hidden the newborn in a cave, Rhea allowed the cruel Kronos to swallow a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead of his son. Kronos had no idea that he was deceived by his wife, while Zeus grew up in Crete under the supervision of the nymphs Adrastea and Idea, who fed him the milk of the divine goat Amalthea. The bees brought honey to little Zeus from the slopes of the high mountain Dikty, and at the entrance to the cave the young Kuretes struck their shields with their swords every time little Zeus cried, so that the all-powerful Kronos would not inadvertently hear his cry.
The Titans were replaced by the kingdom of Zeus, who defeated his father Kronos and became the supreme deity of the Olympian pantheon; the lord of heavenly powers, commanding thunder, lightning, clouds and downpours. Dominating the universe, Zeus gave people laws and maintained order.
In the minds of the ancient Greeks, the Olympian gods were like people and the relationships between them resembled the relationships between people: they quarreled and made peace, envied and interfered in people’s lives, were offended, took part in wars, rejoiced, had fun and fell in love. Each of the gods had a specific occupation, being responsible for a specific area of life:
- Zeus (Dias) - ruler of the sky, father of gods and people.
- Hera (Ira) is the wife of Zeus, the patroness of the family.
- Poseidon is the ruler of the seas.
- Hestia (Estia) is the protector of the family hearth.
- Demeter (Dimitra) - goddess of agriculture.
- Apollo is the god of light and music.
- Athena is the goddess of wisdom.
- Hermes (Ermis) is the god of trade and messenger of the gods.
- Hephaestus (Ifestos) - god of fire.
- Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty.
- Ares (Aris) - god of war.
- Artemis is the goddess of the hunt.
People on earth turned to the gods - to each according to his “specialty”, erected temples for them and, in order to appease them, brought gifts as sacrifices.
The debate between supporters of the theory of creationism and evolutionary theory continues to this day. However, unlike the theory of evolution, creationism includes not one, but hundreds of different theories (if not more). In this article we will talk about ten of the most unusual myths of antiquity.
10. The myth of Pan-gu
The Chinese have their own ideas about how the world came into being. The most popular myth is the myth of Pan-gu, the giant man. The plot is as follows: at the dawn of time, Heaven and Earth were so close to each other that they merged into a single black mass.
According to legend, this mass was an egg, and Pan-gu lived inside it, and lived for a long time - many millions of years. But one fine day he got tired of such a life, and, swinging a heavy ax, Pan-gu got out of his egg, splitting it into two parts. These parts subsequently became Heaven and Earth. He was of unimaginable height - about fifty kilometers in length, which, by the standards of the ancient Chinese, was the distance between Heaven and Earth.
Unfortunately for Pan-gu and fortunately for us, the colossus was mortal and, like all mortals, died. And then Pan-gu decomposed. But not the way we do it - Pan-gu decomposed in a really cool way: his voice turned into thunder, his skin and bones became the firmament of the earth, and his head became the Cosmos. Thus, his death gave life to our world.
9. Chernobog and Belobog
This is one of the most significant myths of the Slavs. It tells about the confrontation between Good and Evil - the White and Black gods. It all started like this: when there was only one continuous sea around, Belobog decided to create dry land, sending his shadow - Chernobog - to do all the dirty work. Chernobog did everything as expected, however, having a selfish and proud nature, he did not want to share power over the firmament with Belobog, deciding to drown the latter.
Belobog got out of this situation, did not allow himself to be killed, and even blessed the land erected by Chernobog. However, with the advent of land, one small problem arose: its area grew exponentially, threatening to swallow everything around.
Then Belobog sent his delegation to Earth with the goal of finding out from Chernobog how to stop this matter. Well, Chernobog sat on a goat and went to negotiate. The delegates, seeing Chernobog galloping towards them on a goat, were imbued with the comedy of this spectacle and burst into wild laughter. Chernobog did not understand the humor, was very offended and flatly refused to talk to them.
Meanwhile, Belobog, still wanting to save the Earth from dehydration, decided to spy on Chernobog, making a bee for this purpose. The insect coped with the task successfully and found out the secret, which was as follows: in order to stop the growth of land, you need to draw a cross on it and say the cherished word - “enough.” Which is what Belobog did.
To say that Chernobog was not happy is to say nothing. Wanting revenge, he cursed Belobog, and he cursed him in a very original way - for his meanness, Belobog was now supposed to eat bee feces for the rest of his life. However, Belobog was not at a loss, and made bee excrement as sweet as sugar - this is how honey appeared. For some reason, the Slavs did not think about how people appeared... The main thing is that there is honey.
8. Armenian duality
Armenian myths resemble Slavic ones, and also tell us about the existence of two opposite principles - this time male and female. Unfortunately, the myth does not answer the question of how our world was created; it only explains how everything around us works. But that doesn't make it any less interesting.
So here's the quick gist: Heaven and Earth are a husband and wife separated by an ocean; The sky is a city, and the Earth is a piece of rock, which is held on its huge horns by an equally huge bull - when it shakes its horns, the earth bursts at the seams from earthquakes. That, in fact, is all - this is how the Armenians imagined the Earth.
There is an alternative myth where the Earth is in the middle of the sea, and Leviathan floats around it, trying to grab onto its own tail, and constant earthquakes were also explained by its flopping. When Leviathan finally bites its tail, life on Earth will cease and the apocalypse will begin. Have a nice day.
7. The Scandinavian myth of the ice giant
It would seem that there is nothing in common between the Chinese and the Scandinavians - but no, the Vikings also had their own giant - the origin of everything, only his name was Ymir, and he was icy and with a club. Before his appearance, the world was divided into Muspelheim and Niflheim - the kingdoms of fire and ice, respectively. And between them stretched Ginnungagap, symbolizing absolute chaos, and there, from the fusion of two opposing elements, Ymir was born.
And now closer to us, to the people. When Ymir began to sweat, a man and a woman emerged from his right armpit along with the sweat. It’s strange, yes, we understand this - well, that’s how they are, harsh Vikings, nothing can be done. But let's get back to the point. The man's name was Buri, he had a son Ber, and Ber had three sons - Odin, Vili and Ve. Three brothers were gods and ruled Asgard. This seemed to them not enough, and they decided to kill Ymir’s great-grandfather, making a world out of him.
Ymir was not happy, but no one asked him. In the process, he shed a lot of blood - enough to fill the seas and oceans; From the skull of the unfortunate man, the brothers created the vault of heaven, broke his bones, making mountains and cobblestones out of them, and made clouds from the torn brains of poor Ymir.
Odin and the company immediately decided to populate this new world: so they found two beautiful trees on the seashore - ash and alder, making a man from the ash, and a woman from the alder, thereby giving rise to the human race.
6. Greek myth about marbles
Like many other peoples, the ancient Greeks believed that before our world appeared, there was only complete Chaos around. There was neither the sun nor the moon - everything was dumped into one big pile, where things were inseparable from each other.
But then a certain god came, looked at the chaos reigning around, thought and decided that all this was not good, and got down to business: he separated the cold from the heat, the foggy morning from a clear day, and everything like that.
Then he set to work on the Earth, rolling it into a ball and dividing this ball into five parts: at the equator it was very hot, at the poles it was extremely cold, but between the poles and the equator it was just right, you couldn’t imagine anything more comfortable. Further, from the seed of an unknown god, most likely Zeus, known to the Romans as Jupiter, the first man was created - two-faced and also in the shape of a ball.
And then they tore him in two, making him a man and a woman - the future of you and me.
5. An Egyptian god who loved his shadow very much
In the beginning there was a great ocean, whose name was “Nu,” and this ocean was Chaos, and besides it there was nothing. It was not until Atum, by an effort of will and thought, created himself out of this Chaos. Yes, the man had balls. But further - more and more interesting. So, he created himself, now he had to create land in the ocean. Which is what he did. After wandering around the earth and realizing his total loneliness, Atum became unbearably bored, and he decided to plan on more gods. How? And just like that, with an ardent, passionate feeling for your own shadow.
Thus fertilized, Atum gave birth to Shu and Tefnut, spitting them out of his mouth. But, apparently, he overdid it, and the newborn gods were lost in the ocean of Chaos. Atum grieved, but soon, to his relief, he found and rediscovered his children. He was so glad to be reunited that he cried for a long, long time, and his tears, touching the earth, fertilized it - and people grew out of the earth, many people! Then, while people impregnated each other, Shu and Tefnut also had coitus, and they gave birth to other gods - more gods to the god of gods! - Gebu and Nutu, who became the personification of the Earth and the sky.
There is another myth in which Atum is replaced by Ra, but this does not change the main essence - there, too, everyone fertilizes each other en masse.
4. The myth of the Yoruba people - about the Sands of Life and the chicken
There is such an African people - the Yoruba. So, they also have their own myth about the origin of all things.
In general, it was like this: there was one God, his name was Olorun, and one fine day the idea came to his mind that the Earth needed to be equipped somehow (at that time the Earth was one continuous wasteland).
Olorun didn’t really want to do this himself, so he sent his son, Obotala, to Earth. However, at that moment, Obotala had more important things to do (in fact, there was a gorgeous party planned in heaven, and Obotala simply could not miss it).
While Obotala was having fun, all the responsibility fell on Odudawa. Having nothing at hand except chicken and sand, Odudawa nevertheless set to work. His principle was the following: he took sand from a cup, poured it onto the Earth, and then let the chicken run around in the sand and trample it thoroughly.
After carrying out several such simple manipulations, Odudawa created the land of Lfe or Lle-lfe. This is where Odudawa's story ends, and Obotala appears on the stage again, this time completely drunk - the party was a great success.
And so, being in a state of divine alcoholic intoxication, the son of Olorun set about creating us humans. It turned out very badly for him, and he created disabled people, dwarfs and freaks. Having sobered up, Obotala was horrified and quickly corrected everything by creating normal people.
According to another version, Obotala never recovered, and Odudawa also made people, simply lowering us from the sky and at the same time assigning himself the status of ruler of humanity.
3. Aztec "War of the Gods"
According to Aztec myth, there was no primordial Chaos. But there was a primary order - an absolute vacuum, impenetrably black and endless, in which in some strange way the Supreme God - Ometeotl - lived. He had a dual nature, possessing both feminine and masculine principles, was good and at the same time evil, was both warm and cold, truth and lies, white and black.
He gave birth to the remaining gods: Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca and Xipe Totec, who, in turn, created giants, water, fish and other gods.
Tezcatlipoca ascended to the heavens, sacrificing himself and becoming the Sun. However, there he encountered Quetzalcoatl, entered into battle with him and lost to him. Quetzalcoatl threw Tezcatlipoca from the sky and became the Sun himself. Then, Quetzalcoatl gave birth to people and gave them nuts to eat.
Tezcatlipoca, still harboring a grudge against Quetzalcoatl, decided to take revenge on his creations by turning people into monkeys. Seeing what happened to his first people, Quetzalcoatl flew into a rage and caused a powerful hurricane that scattered the vile monkeys throughout the world.
While Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoc were at war with each other, Tialoc and Chalchiuhtlicue also turned into suns in order to continue the cycle of day and night. However, the fierce battle between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca affected them too - then they too were thrown from heaven.
In the end, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoc stopped their feud, forgetting past grievances and creating new people - the Aztecs - from the dead bones and blood of Quetzalcoatl.
2. Japanese “World Cauldron”
Japan. Again Chaos, again in the form of an ocean, this time as dirty as a swamp. In this ocean-swamp, magical reeds (or reeds) grew, and from this reeds (or reeds), like our children from cabbage, gods were born, a great many of them. All of them together were called Kotoamatsukami - and that’s all that is known about them, for as soon as they were born, they immediately hastened to hide in the reeds. Or in the reeds.
While they were hiding, new gods appeared, including Ijinami and Ijinagi. They began to stir the ocean until it thickened, and from it the land was formed - Japan. Ijinami and Ijinagi had a son, Ebisu, who became the god of all fishermen, a daughter, Amaterasu, who became the Sun, and another daughter, Tsukiyomi, who became the Moon. They also had one more son, the last - Susanoo, who, for his violent temper, received the status of the god of wind and storms.
1. Lotus flower and “Om-m”
Like many other religions, Hinduism also features the concept of the world emerging from the void. Well, as if out of nowhere, there was an endless ocean in which a giant cobra swam, and there was Vishnu, who slept on the cobra’s tail. And nothing more.
Time passed, days followed each other one after another, and it seemed that it would always be like this. But one day, everything around was filled with a sound that had never been heard before - the sound of “Om-m”, and the previously empty world was overwhelmed with energy. Vishnu awoke from sleep, and Brahma appeared from the lotus flower at his navel. Vishnu ordered Brahma to create the world, and in the meantime he disappeared, taking with him a snake.
Brahma, sitting in the lotus position on a lotus flower, set to work: he divided the flower into three parts, using one to create Heaven and Hell, another to create Earth, and the third to create heaven. Brahma then created animals, birds, people and trees, thus creating all living things.
The most ancient gods of Ancient Greece, known to us from myths, were personifications of those forces of nature, whose activity determines physical life and arouses in the human heart either fear and horror, or hope and trust - personifications of forces mysterious to man, but obviously dominating his fate, which were the first objects of idolization among all peoples. But the gods of Ancient Greece were not only symbols of the forces of external nature; At the same time, they were the creators and guardians of all moral goods, personifications of all the forces of moral life. All those forces of the human spirit by which cultural life is created, and the development of which among the Greek people gave it such great importance in the history of mankind, were invested by him in the myths about the gods. The gods of Greece are personifications of all the great and beautiful powers of the Greek people; the world of the gods of Ancient Greece is a complete reflection of Greek civilization. The Greeks made their gods in myths similar to people, therefore they felt obliged to become like gods; caring about improving was a religious duty for them. Greek culture has a close connection with the Greek religion.
Legends and myths of Ancient Greece. Cartoon
Different generations of gods of Ancient Greece
The basis of the religion of Ancient Greece in Pelasgian times was the worship of the forces of nature, manifested in heaven, on earth, and in the sea. Those gods who were the most ancient personifications of the forces of earth and sky among the pre-Greek Pelasgians were overthrown by a series of catastrophes, the legends of which were preserved in ancient Greek myths about the struggle of the Olympians with the titans and giants. The new gods of Ancient Greece, who took away dominion from the previous ones, descended from them, but already had a completely human image.
Zeus and Hera
So, new humanoid gods began to rule the world, the main one in the myths was Zeus, the son of Cronus; but the former gods, personified forces of nature, retained their mysterious effectiveness, which even the omnipotent Zeus could not overcome. Just as omnipotent kings are subject to the laws of the moral world, so Zeus and other new gods of Ancient Greece are subject to the laws of nature and fate.
Zeus, the main god in the myths of Ancient Greece, is the collector of clouds, sitting on a throne in the heights of the ether, shaking with his lightning shield, Aegis (thundercloud), life-giving and fertilizing the earth, and at the same time the establisher and guardian of legal order. Under his protection are all rights, and especially family rights and the custom of hospitality. He commands rulers to be concerned about the welfare of the governed. He gives prosperity to kings and peoples, cities and families; he is also justice. He is the source of everything good and noble. He is the father of the goddesses of the clock (Or), personifying the correct course of the annual changes of nature and the correct order of human life; he is the father of the Muses, who give joy to the human heart.
His wife, Hera, in the myths of Ancient Greece, is a grumpy goddess of the atmosphere, having as her servants the rainbow (Iris) and clouds (the Greek name for cloud, nephele, a feminine word), and at the same time the establisher of the sacred marriage union, in honor of which the Greeks celebrated celebration of spring, abundant with flowers, solemn ceremonies. The goddess Hera is a strict guardian of the sanctity of the marriage union and under her protection is a housewife faithful to her husband; She blesses marriages with children and protects children. Hera relieves women of the suffering of childbirth; She is assisted in this care by her daughter Eileithyia.
Pallas Athena
Pallas Athena
The virgin goddess Pallas Athena, according to the myths of Ancient Greece, was born from the head of Zeus. Initially, she was considered the goddess of the clear sky, who disperses dark clouds with her spear, and the personification of victorious energy in any struggle. Athena was always depicted with a shield, sword and spear. Her constant companion was the winged goddess of victory (Nike). Among the Greeks, Athena was the guardian of cities and fortresses, and she also gave people correct, fair social and state orders. The image of the goddess Athena personified wise balance, a calm, insightful mind, necessary for the creators of works of mental activity and art.
Statue of Virgin Athena in the Parthenon. Sculptor Phidias
In Ancient Greece, Pallas was most revered by the Athenians, the inhabitants of the city named after this goddess. The public life of Athens was imbued with service to Pallas. A huge statue of Athena by Phidias stood in the magnificent temple of the Athenian Acropolis - the Parthenon. Athena was associated with the famous ancient Greek city by many myths. The most famous of them was the myth about the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica. The goddess Athena won it by giving the region the basis of its agriculture - the olive tree. Ancient Athens celebrated many festivals in honor of its beloved goddess. The main ones were the two Panathenaic holidays - Great and Small. Both of them, according to the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, were founded by one of the most ancient ancestors of Athens - Erechtheus. The Lesser Panathenaea was celebrated annually, and the Great Panathenaea once every four years. On the great Panathenaea, all the inhabitants of Attica gathered in Athens and organized a magnificent procession, during which a new mantle (peplos) was carried to the Acropolis for the ancient statue of the goddess Pallas. The procession marched from Keramik, along the main streets, which were crowded with people in white clothes.
God Hephaestus in Greek myths
Hephaestus, the god of heavenly and earthly fire, was close in importance to Pallas Athena, the goddess of the arts, in ancient Greek myths. The activity of Hephaestus was most strongly manifested by volcanoes on the islands, especially on Lemnos and Sicily; but in the application of fire to the affairs of human life, Hephaestus helped a lot in the development of culture. Prometheus, who brought fire to people and taught them the arts of life, is also closely related to the concept of Athena. The Attic festival of running with torches was dedicated to these three gods - a competition in which the winner was the one who would be the first to reach the goal with a burning torch. Pallas Athena was the inventor of those arts that women practiced; The lame Hephaestus, about whom poets often joked, was the founder of the art of blacksmithing and a master in metal work. Like Athena, he was in Ancient Greece the god of the home of family life, therefore, under the auspices of Hephaestus and Athena, a wonderful holiday of the “state family” was celebrated in Athens, the Anaturius holiday, at which newborn children were surrounded by the steeple of the hearth, and this ritual consecrated their acceptance into the family union states.
God Vulcan (Hephaestus). Statue by Thorvaldsen, 1838
Hestia
The importance of the hearth as the center of family life and the beneficial influence of a strong home life on moral and social life were personified in the myths of Ancient Greece by the maiden goddess Hestia, a representative of the concepts of stable settlement, a comfortable home life, the symbol of which was the sacred fire of the hearth. Initially, Hestia was in ancient Greek myths about the gods the personification of the earth, above which the ethereal fire of the sky burns; but later it became a symbol of civil improvement, which gains strength on earth only through the union of earth with heaven, as a divine institution. Therefore, in every Greek home, the hearth was the religious center of the family. Whoever approached the hearth and sat on its ashes acquired the right to protection. Each clan union of Ancient Greece had a common sanctuary of Hestia, in which symbolic rites were reverently performed. In ancient times, when there were kings and when the king made sacrifices as a representative of the people, resolved litigation, gathered noble people and ancestors for council, the hearth of the royal house was a symbol of the state connection of the people; Afterwards, the prytanium, the religious center of the state, had the same significance. An unquenchable fire burned on the state hearth of the prytaneum, and the prytanes, the elected rulers of the people, had to take turns staying constantly at this hearth. The hearth was the connection between earth and heaven; therefore Hestia was also the goddess of sacrifice in Ancient Greece. Each solemn sacrifice began with a sacrifice to her. And all public prayers of the Greeks began with an appeal to Hestia.
Myths about the god Apollo
For more details, see the separate article God Apollo
The god of shining light, Apollo, was the son of Zeus from Latona (who was the personification of the dark night in ancient Greek myths). His cult was brought to Ancient Greece from Asia Minor, where the local god Apelun existed. According to Greek myths, Apollo spends the winter in the distant land of the Hyperboreans, and in the spring he returns to Hellas, pouring life into nature and joy and the desire to sing into man. Apollo was therefore recognized as the god of singing - and in general of that inspiring force that gives rise to art. Thanks to its revitalizing qualities, the cult of this god was also associated with the idea of healing and protection from evil. With his well-aimed arrows (the sun's rays) Apollo destroys all defilement. This idea was symbolically expressed by the ancient Greek myth about the killing of the terrible serpent Python by Apollo. The skillful shooter Apollo was considered the brother of the goddess of hunting Artemis, together with whom he killed the sons of an overly proud woman with arrows. Niobe.
The ancient Greeks considered poetry and music to be the gift of Apollo. Poems and songs were always performed at his holidays. According to legend, having defeated the monster of darkness, Python, Apollo composed the first paean (victory hymn). As the god of music, he was often depicted with a cithara in his hands. Since poetic inspiration is akin to prophetic inspiration, in the myths of Ancient Greece Apollo was also recognized as the supreme patron of soothsayers, who gives them the prophetic gift. Almost all Greek oracles (including the main one, the Delphic one) were founded in the sanctuaries of Apollo.
Apollo Saurocton (killing the lizard). Roman copy of a 4th century statue of Praxiteles. BC
The god of music, poetry, and singing, Apollo, was in the myths of Ancient Greece the ruler of the goddesses of the arts - muses, nine daughters of Zeus and the goddess of memory Mnemosyne. The groves of Parnassus and Helicon, located in the vicinity of Delphi, were considered the main abode of the muses. As the ruler of the muses, Apollo had the epithet "Muzageta". Clio was the muse of history, Calliope - epic poetry, Melpomene - tragedy, Thalia - comedy, Erato - love poetry, Euterpe - lyric poetry, Terpsichore - dancing, Polyhymnia - hymns, Urania - astronomy.
The sacred plant of Apollo was the laurel.
The god of light, purity and healing, Apollo in the myths of Ancient Greece not only heals people from ailments, but also cleanses them from sins. From this side, his cult comes into even closer contact with moral ideas. Even after defeating the evil monster Python, Apollo considered it necessary to cleanse himself of the filth of murder and, to atone for him, went to serve as a shepherd for the Thessalian king Admetus. By this, he gave people an example that those who committed bloodshed must always repent, and became the purifier god of murderers and criminals. In Greek myths, Apollo healed not only the body, but also the soul. Repentant sinners found forgiveness from him, but only with sincerity of repentance. According to ancient Greek customs, the murderer was supposed to earn forgiveness from the relatives of the murdered person, who had the right to take revenge on him, and spend eight years in exile.
Apollo was the main tribal god of the Dorians, who celebrated two great holidays in his honor every year: Carnea and Iakinthia. The Carnean festival was celebrated in honor of Apollo the warrior, in the month of Carnea (August). During this holiday, war games, singing and dancing competitions were held. Hyacinthia, celebrated in July (nine days), was accompanied by sad rites in memory of the death of the beautiful young man Jacinthus (Hyacinth), the personification of flowers. According to the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, Apollo accidentally killed this favorite of his while throwing a discus (a symbol of how the disc of the sun kills flowers with its heat). But Hyacinth was resurrected and taken to Olympus - and at the festival of Hyacinthius, after the sad rites, cheerful processions of young men and girls with flowers took place. The death and resurrection of Jacinthos personified the winter death and spring rebirth of plants. This episode of ancient Greek myth appears to have developed under strong Phoenician influence.
Myths about the goddess Artemis
Apollo's sister, Artemis, the virgin goddess of the moon, walked through the mountains and forests, hunting; bathed with the nymphs, her companions, in cool streams; was the patroness of wild animals; at night she watered the thirsty earth with life-giving dew. But at the same time, in the myths of Ancient Greece, Artemis was also a goddess who destroyed sailors, so in ancient times in Greece, people were sacrificed to her to appease her. With the development of civilization, Artemis became the goddess of virginal purity, the patroness of brides and girls. When they got married, they brought gifts to her. Artemis of Ephesus was the goddess of fertility, who gave harvests to the earth and children to women; in the idea of it, the myths of Ancient Greece were probably joined by eastern concepts. Artemis was depicted as having many breasts on her chest; this meant that she was a generous nurse of people. At the magnificent temple of Artemis there were many hierodulae and many attendants, dressed in men's clothing and armed; therefore, in ancient Greek myths it was believed that this temple was founded by the Amazons.
Artemis. Statue in the Louvre
The original physical meaning of Apollo and Artemis in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods was increasingly obscured by a moral one. Therefore, Greek mythology created a special sun god, Helios, and a special moon goddess, Selene. – A special god, the son of Apollo, Asclepius, was also made a representative of the healing power of Apollo.
Ares and Aphrodite
Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, was originally a symbol of the stormy sky, and his homeland was Thrace, the country of winter storms. Among the ancient Greek poets he became the god of war. Ares is always armed; he loves the noise of battle. Ares is furious. But he was also the founder of the sacred Athenian tribunal, which tried cases of murder, which had its meetings on a hill dedicated to Ares, the Areopagus, and was called by the name of this hill, also the Areopagus. Both as the god of storms and as the furious god of battles, he is the opposite of Pallas Athena, the goddess of clear skies and judicious conduct of battles. Therefore, in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, Pallas and Ares are hostile to each other.
In the concepts of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, a moral element was also added to the physical nature of love in ancient Greek myths over time. The cult of Aphrodite passed to Ancient Greece from the colonies founded by the Phoenicians on Cyprus, Kythera, Thasos and other islands. In the myths of the Phoenicians, the concept of the perceiving and giving birth element of the forces of nature was personified by two goddesses, Asherah and Astarte, whose ideas were often mixed. Aphrodite was Asherah and Astarte. In the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, she corresponded to Asherah, when she was a goddess who loved gardens and flowers, living in groves, the goddess of joyful spring and voluptuousness, enjoying the love of the beautiful young man Adonis in the forest on the mountain. She corresponded to Astarte when she was revered as the “goddess of the heights”, like the stern, spear-wielding Aphrodite Urania (heavenly) or Aphrodite of Acreia, whose places of worship were the peaks of the mountains, who imposed on her priestesses a vow of eternal maidenhood, guarded the chastity of conjugal love and family morality . But the ancient Greeks knew how to combine these opposing ideas and, from their combination, created in myth a wondrous image of a graceful, charming, physically beautiful and morally sweet goddess, delighting the heart with the beauty of her forms, arousing tender affection. This mythological combination of physical feeling with moral attachment, giving sensual love its natural right, protected people from the gross vulgarity of eastern unbridled voluptuousness. The ideal of female beauty and grace, the sweetly smiling Aphrodite of ancient Greek myths and the goddesses of the east, burdened with heavy and precious attire, are completely different creatures. The difference between them is the same as between the joyful service to the goddess of love in the best times of Ancient Greece and the noisy Syrian orgies, at which the goddess, surrounded by eunuchs, was served with unbridled revelry of coarse sensuality. True, in later times, with the depravity of morals, vulgar sensuality penetrated into the Greek service to the goddess of love. Aphrodite of Heaven (Urania), the goddess of honest love, patroness of family life, was pushed aside in the myths about the gods by Aphrodite of the People (Pandemos), the goddess of voluptuousness, whose holidays in big cities turned into revelry of vulgar sensuality.
Aphrodite and her son Eros (Eros), transformed by poets and artists into the oldest among the theogonic gods, into the youngest of the Olympian gods, and who became a young man accompanying his mother, later even a child, were favorite objects of ancient Greek art. The sculpture usually depicted Aphrodite naked, emerging from the waves of the sea; she was given all the charm of a beauty whose soul is full of feelings of love. Eros was depicted as a boy with soft, rounded body contours.
Myths about the god Hermes
With the development of culture in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, the Pelasgian god of nature Hermes, to whom Arcadian shepherds made sacrifices on Mount Cyllene, also acquired moral significance; he was among them the personification of the power of the sky, which gives grass to their pastures, and the father of their ancestor, Arcas. According to their myths, Hermes, while still a baby, wrapped in a cradle linen (in the fog of dawn), stole the flocks (light clouds) of the sun god, Apollo, and hid them in a damp cave near the seashore; stretching the strings on the shell of a turtle, he made a lyre and, giving it to Apollo, acquired the friendship of this more powerful god. Hermes also invented the shepherd's pipe, with which he walks through the mountains of his homeland. Subsequently, Hermes became the guardian of roads, crossroads and travelers, the keeper of streets and boundaries. On the latter, stones were placed, which were symbols of Hermes, and his images, which gave the boundaries of the plots holiness and strength.
God Hermes. Sculpture of Phidias (?)
Herms (that is, symbols of Hermes) were originally just heaps of stones piled on boundaries, near roads and especially at crossroads; these were boundary and waymarks considered sacred. Passers-by threw stones back where they had been placed before. Sometimes oil was poured on these heaps of stones dedicated to the god Hermes, as on primitive altars; they were decorated with flowers, wreaths, and ribbons. Subsequently, the Greeks placed triangular or tetrahedral stone pillars as waymarks and boundary markers; over time, they began to give them more skillful decoration; they usually made a pillar with a head, sometimes with a phallus, a symbol of fertility. Such herms stood along the roads, streets, squares, at gates, at doors; They were also placed in palaestras and gymnasiums, because Hermes was the patron of gymnastic exercises in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods.
From the concept of the god of rain penetrating the earth, the idea of mediation between heaven, earth and the underworld developed, and Hermes became in the myths of Ancient Greece the god who escorts the souls of the dead to the underworld (Hermes Psychopompos). Thus, he was placed in close connection with the gods living in the earth (chthonic gods). These ideas came from the concept of the connection between the emergence and death of plants in the cycle of life of nature and from the concept of Hermes as the messenger of the gods; they served as the source of many ancient Greek myths, which placed Hermes in very diverse relationships to the everyday affairs of people. The original myth already made him a cunning man: he cleverly stole Apollo’s cows and managed to make peace with this god; Hermes knew how to get out of difficult situations with clever inventions. This trait remained an invariable feature of the character of the god Hermes in later ancient Greek myths about him: he was the personification of everyday dexterity, the patron of all activities in which success is given by the ability to speak deftly and the ability to remain silent, hide the truth, pretend, and deceive. In particular, Hermes was the patron god of trade, oratory, embassies and diplomatic affairs in general. With the development of civilization, the concepts of these activities became predominant in the concept of Hermes, and his original pastoral meaning was transferred to one of the minor gods, Pan, "god of the pastures", just as the physical meaning of Apollo and Artemis was transferred to the less important gods, Helios and Selene.
God Pan
Pan was in ancient Greek myth the god of goat herds who grazed the wooded mountains of Arcadia; there he was born. His father was Hermes, his mother was the daughter of Dryope (“forest god”). Pan walks through shady valleys, caves serve as shelter for him; he has fun with the nymphs of the forest and mountain springs, dancing to the sounds of his shepherd's pipe (syringa, syrinx), an instrument that he himself invented; sometimes he himself dances with the nymphs. Pan is sometimes kind to the shepherds and becomes friends with us; but sometimes he causes trouble for them, raising a sudden fear in the herd (“panic” fear), so that the whole herd scatters. God Pan forever remained in Ancient Greece as a merry fellow of shepherd's holidays, a master of playing the reed pipe, funny for the townspeople; Later art characterized Pan's closeness to nature, giving his figure goat legs, or even horns and other animal features.
God Pan and Daphnis, hero of an ancient Greek novel. Antique statue
Poseidon in the myths of Ancient Greece
For more details, see the separate article God Poseidon
The gods of the sea and flowing waters and the gods living underground, more than the deities of the sky and air, retained the original meaning of the personified forces of nature: but they also received human traits. Poseidon - in the myths of Ancient Greece, the divine power of all waters, the god of the sea and all rivers, streams, springs that fertilize the earth. Therefore, he was the main god on the seaside and on the capes. Poseidon is strong, broad-shouldered, and has an indomitable character. When he strikes the sea with his trident, a storm arises, the waves crash against the rocks of the shores so that the earth trembles, the cliffs crack and collapse. But Poseidon is also a good god: he produces springs from the cracks of the rocks to fertilize the valleys; he created and tamed the horse; he is the patron of horse races and all war games, the patron of all daring journeys, whether on horseback, in chariots, by land, or by sea in ships. In ancient Greek myths, Poseidon is a mighty builder who established the earth and its islands, and laid strong boundaries for the sea. He raises storms, but he also gives favorable winds; at his command, the sea swallows ships; but he also guides the ships into the pier. Poseidon – patron of navigation; he protects maritime trade and controls the course of naval warfare.
The god of ships and horses, Poseidon played, according to the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, an important role in all campaigns and sea expeditions of the heroic age. The birthplace of his cult was Thessaly, the country of the Neptunian formation, horse herds and navigation; then his service spread to Boeotia, Attica, and throughout the Peloponnese, and his holidays early began to be accompanied by war games. The most famous of these games in honor of the god Poseidon took place in the Boeotian city of Onchest and on Isthmus. In Onkhest, his sanctuaries and their grove stood picturesquely on a beautiful and fertile hill above Lake Kopai. The location of the Isthmian Games was a hill near Schoinos, "Reeds", a lowland overgrown with reeds, shaded by a pine grove. Symbolic rituals were introduced into the worship of Poseidon on Isthmus, borrowed from the legend of the death of Melicert, that is, from the Phoenician service to Melqart. – The wind-fast horses of the heroic age were created by the god Poseidon; in particular, Pegasus was created by him. – Poseidon’s wife, Amphitrite, was the personification of the roaring sea.
Like Zeus, Poseidon had many love affairs in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods, many sea gods and goddesses, and many heroes were his children. Tritons, the number of which was countless, belonged to Poseidon's retinue. These were cheerful creatures of various forms, personifications of noisy, ringing, sliding waves and mysterious forces of the depths of the sea, fantastically transformed sea animals. They played on trumpets made from shells, frolicked, and trailed the Nereids. They were one of my favorite objects of art. Proteus, the sea god, prophet of the future, who, according to ancient Greek myths, had the ability to take all sorts of forms, also belonged to Poseidon’s large retinue. When the Greek sailors began to sail far away, then, returning, they amazed their people with myths about the wonders of the western sea: about the sirens, beautiful sea maidens who live there on underwater islands under the bright surface of the waters and with seductive singing insidiously lure sailors to destruction, about the good Glaucus , the sea god who predicts the future, about the terrible monsters Scylla and Charybdis (personifications of a dangerous rock and whirlpool), about the wicked Cyclops, one-eyed giants, the sons of Poseidon, living on the island of Trinacria, where Mount Etna is, about the beautiful Galatea, about a rocky, walled island , where the god of the winds Aeolus lives cheerfully in a magnificent palace with his airy sons and daughters.
Underground gods – Hades, Persephone
The greatest similarity with eastern religions in the myths of Ancient Greece was the worship of those gods of nature who acted both in the bowels of the earth and on its surface. Human life is in such close connection with the development and withering of vegetation, with the growth and ripening of bread and grapes, that worship, folk beliefs, art, religious theories and myths about the gods combined their most profound ideas with the mysterious activities of the gods of the earth. The circle of phenomena of plant life was a symbol of human life: luxurious vegetation quickly fades from the heat of the sun or from the cold; It dies with the onset of winter and is reborn in the spring from the ground in which its seeds hid in the fall. It was easy to draw a parallel to ancient Greek mythology: so a person, after a short life under the joyful light of the sun, descends into the dark underground kingdom, where instead of the radiant Apollo and the bright Pallas Athena, the gloomy, stern Hades (Hades, Aidoneus) and the stern beauty, his wife, reign in a magnificent palace , the formidable Persephone. Thoughts about how close birth and death are to each other, about the fact that the earth is both the mother’s womb and the coffin, served in the myths of Ancient Greece as the basis for the cult of the underground gods and gave it a dual character: there was a joyful side and a sad side. And in Hellas, as in the East, service to the gods of the earth was exalted; its rituals consisted of expressing feelings of joy and sadness, and those performing them had to endlessly indulge in the action of the emotional disturbances they caused. But in the East, this exaltation led to the perversion of natural feelings, to the fact that people mutilated themselves; and in Ancient Greece, the cult of the gods of the earth developed the arts, stimulated reflection on religious issues, and led people to acquire sublime ideas about divinity. The festivals of the gods of the earth, especially Dionysus, greatly contributed to the development of poetry, music, and dance; plastic artist loved to take objects for her works from the circle of ancient Greek myths about cheerful fantastic creatures accompanying Pan and Dionysus. And the Eleusinian mysteries, the teachings of which spread throughout the Greek world, gave profound interpretations to the myths about the “earth-mother,” the goddess Demeter, about the abduction of her daughter (Kore) Persephone by the harsh ruler of the underworld, about the fact that Persephone’s life goes on on earth, then underground. These teachings inspired people that death is not terrible, that the soul survives the body. The forces ruling in the bowels of the earth aroused reverent caution in the ancient Greeks; it was impossible to speak about these forces without fear; thoughts about them were conveyed in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods under the guise of symbols; they were not expressed directly, they had only to be unraveled under allegories. Mysterious teachings surrounded these formidable gods with solemn mystery, in the secrecy of darkness creating life and perceiving the dead, ruling the earthly and afterlife of man.
Persephone's gloomy husband, Hades (Hades), “Zeus of the underworld,” rules in the depths of the earth; there are sources of wealth and fertility; therefore he is also called Pluto, the “enricher.” But there are all the horrors of death. According to ancient Greek myths, wide gates lead to the vast dwelling of the king of the dead, Hades. Everyone can enter them freely; their guardian, the three-headed dog Cerberus, kindly lets those entering through, but does not allow them to return back. Weeping willows and barren poplars surround the vast palace of Hades. The shadows of the dead hover over gloomy fields overgrown with weeds, or nest in the crevices of underground rocks. Some of the heroes of Ancient Greece (Hercules, Theseus) went to the underground kingdom of Hades. According to different myths, the entrance to it was in different countries, but always in wild areas, where rivers flow through deep gorges, the water of which seems dark, where caves, hot springs and vapors show the proximity of the kingdom of the dead. Thus, for example, there was an entrance to the underworld at the Thesprotian Gulf in southern Epirus, where the Acheron River and Lake Acheruz infected their surroundings with miasma; at Cape Tenar; in Italy, in a volcanic area near the city of Qom. In the same areas there were those oracles whose answers were given by the souls of the dead.
Ancient Greek myths and poetry spoke a lot about the kingdom of the dead. Fantasy sought to give curiosity accurate information that science did not provide, to penetrate the darkness surrounding the afterlife, and inexhaustibly created new images belonging to the underworld.
The two main rivers of the underworld, according to Greek myths, are the Styx and Acheron, “the dully roaring river of eternal sorrow.” In addition to them, there were three more rivers in the kingdom of the dead: Lethe, whose water destroyed the memory of the past, Pyriphlegethon (“Fire River”) and Cocytus (“Sobbing”). The souls of the dead were taken to the underworld of Hades by Hermes. Stern old man Charon transported in his boat through the Styx, which surrounded the earthly kingdom, those souls whose bodies were buried with an obol placed in the coffin to pay him for the transportation. The souls of unburied people had to wander homeless along the river bank, not accepted into Charon’s boat. Therefore, whoever found an unburied body was obliged to cover it with earth.
The ideas of the ancient Greeks about the life of the dead in the kingdom of Hades changed with the development of civilization. In the oldest myths, the dead are ghosts without consciousness, but these ghosts instinctively do the same things they did when they were alive; – these are the shadows of living people. Their existence in the kingdom of Hades was dreary and sad. The shadow of Achilles tells Odysseus that she would rather live on earth as a day laborer for a poor man than to be the king of the dead in the underworld. But making sacrifices to the dead improved their miserable fate. The improvement consisted either in the fact that the severity of the underground gods was softened by these sacrifices, or in the fact that the shadows of the dead drank the blood of the sacrifices, and this drinking restored them to consciousness. The Greeks offered sacrifices to the dead at their tombs. Facing the west, they slaughtered the sacrificial animal over a deep hole deliberately dug in the ground, and the blood of the animal flowed into this hole. Later, when ideas about the afterlife were more fully developed in the Eleusinian mysteries, the myths of Ancient Greece began to divide the underground kingdom of Hades into two parts, Tartarus and Elysium. In Tartarus, the villains, condemned by the judges of the dead, led a miserable existence; they were tormented by the Erinyes, strict guardians of moral laws, who inexorably took revenge for any violation of the demands of moral sense, and by countless evil spirits, in the invention of which Greek fantasy showed the same inexhaustibility as Egyptian, Indian and medieval European. Elysium, which, according to ancient Greek myths, lay near the ocean (or an archipelago on the ocean called the Isles of the Blessed) was the region of the afterlife of heroes of ancient times and the righteous. There the wind is always soft, there is no snow, no heat, no rain; there, in the myths about the gods, the good Cronus reigns; the earth gives harvest there three times a year, the meadows there bloom forever. Heroes and the righteous lead a blissful life there; on their heads there are wreaths, near their hands there are garlands of the most beautiful flowers and branches of beautiful trees; they enjoy singing, horse riding, and gymnastic games.
The most just and wise kings-legislators of the mythical Cretan-Carian time live there, Minos and Rhadamanthus, and the pious ancestor of the Aeacides, Aeacus, who, according to later myth, became judges of the dead. Under the chairmanship of Hades and Persephone, they examined the feelings and affairs of people and decided, based on the merits of the deceased person, whether his soul should go to Tartarus or Elysium. – Just as they and other pious heroes of ancient Greek myths were rewarded for their beneficial activities on earth by continuing their activities in the afterlife, so the great lawless people of mythical stories were subjected by divine justice to punishments in accordance with their crimes. Myths about their fate in the underworld showed the Greeks what bad inclinations and passions lead to; this fate was only a continuation, a development of the deeds they had committed in life and which gave rise to the torment of their conscience, the symbols of which were pictures of their material torment. Thus, the daring Tityus, who wanted to rape the mother of Apollo and Artemis, lies thrown to the ground; two kites constantly torment his liver, an organ that, according to the Greeks, was the seat of sensual passions (an obvious alteration of the myth of Prometheus). The punishment for another mythical hero, Tantalus, for his former lawlessness was that the cliff hanging over his head constantly threatened to crush him, and besides this fear he was tormented by thirst and hunger: he stood in the water, but when he bent down to drink, the water moved away from his lips and dropped “to the black bottom”; fruits hung before his eyes; but when he stretched out his hands to pluck them, the wind lifted the branches upward. Sisyphus, the treacherous king of Ephyra (Corinth), was condemned to roll a stone up a mountain, which constantly rolled down; - the personification of the waves constantly running onto the shores of the Isthmus and running off them. The eternal futile labor of Sisyphus symbolized unsuccessful cunning in ancient Greek myths, and the cunning of Sisyphus was the mythical personification of the quality developed in merchants and sailors by the riskiness of their affairs. Ixion, king of the Lapiths, “the first murderer,” was tied to a fiery, ever-turning wheel; this was his punishment for the fact that, while visiting Zeus, he violated the rights of hospitality and wanted to rape the chaste Hera. – The Danaids always carried water and poured it into a bottomless barrel.
Myths, poetry, and art of Ancient Greece taught people goodness, turned them away from vices and evil passions, depicting the bliss of the righteous and the torment of the wicked in the afterlife. There were episodes in myths that showed that, having descended into the underworld, one can return from there to earth. So, for example, it was said about Hercules that he defeated the forces of the underworld; Orpheus, by the power of his singing and his love for his wife, softened the harsh gods of death, and they agreed to return Eurydice to him. In the Eleusinian mysteries, these legends served as symbols of the idea that the power of death should not be considered insurmountable. Ideas about the underworld of Hades received an interpretation in new myths and sacraments that reduced the fear of death; the gratifying hope of bliss in the afterlife was manifested in Ancient Greece under the influence of the Eleusinian mysteries, and in works of art.
In the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, Hades little by little became the good ruler of the kingdom of the dead and the giver of wealth; the attributes of horror were eliminated from ideas about it. The genius of death in the most ancient works of art was depicted as a dark-colored boy with crooked legs, symbolically denoting the idea that life is broken by death. Little by little, in ancient Greek myths, he took on the appearance of a beautiful young man with a bowed head, holding in his hand an overturned and extinguished torch, and became completely similar to his meek brother, the Genius of Sleep. They both live with their mother, Night, in the west. From there, every evening, a winged dream flies in and, sweeping over people, showers calm on them from a horn or from a poppy stalk; he is accompanied by the geniuses of dreams - Morpheus, Phantasm, bringing joy to the sleeping. Even the Erinyes lost their mercilessness in ancient Greek myths and became the Eumenides, “Well-wishers.” So, with the development of civilization, all the ideas of the ancient Greeks about the underground kingdom of Hades softened, ceased to be terrible, and its gods became beneficial, life-giving.
The goddess Gaia, who was the personification of the general concept of the earth, generating everything and taking everything back into itself, did not appear in the foreground in the myths of Ancient Greece. Only in some of the sanctuaries that had oracles, and in the theogonic systems that outlined the history of the development of the cosmos, was mention of her as the mother of the gods. Even the ancient Greek oracles, which initially all belonged to her, almost all passed under the authority of the new gods. The life of nature developing on earth was produced from the activity of the deities who ruled its various regions; service to these gods, who had a more or less special character, is in very close connection with the development of Greek culture. The power of vegetation, producing forests and green meadows, vines and bread, was explained even in Pelasgian times by the activity of Dionysus and Demeter. Later, when the influence of the East penetrated into Ancient Greece, these two gods were joined by a third, borrowed from Asia Minor, the earth goddess Rhea Cybele.
Demeter in the myths of Ancient Greece
Demeter, “earth-mother,” was in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods the personification of that power of nature, which, with the assistance of sunlight, dew and rain, gives growth and ripening to bread and other fruits of the fields. She was a “blond” goddess, under whose protection people plow, sow, reap, knit bread into sheaves, and thresh. Demeter gives harvests. She sent Triptolemus to walk all over the earth and teach people arable farming and good morals. Demeter married Jasion, the sower, and bore him Plutos (wealth); she punished the wicked Erysichthon, who “spoils the earth,” with insatiable hunger. But in the myths of Ancient Greece she is also the goddess of married life, giving birth to children. The goddess who taught people agriculture and proper family life, Demeter was the founder of civilization, morality, and family virtues. Therefore, Demeter was the “giver of laws” (Thesmophoros), and the five-day festival of Thesmophoria, “laws,” was celebrated in her honor. The rituals of this holiday, performed by married women, were a symbolic glorification of agriculture and marriage. Demeter was the main goddess of the Eleusinian festival, the rites of which had as their main content the symbolic glorification of the gifts people received from the gods of the earth. The Amphictyon League, which met at Thermopylae, was also under the patronage of Demeter, the goddess of civil improvement.
But the highest significance of the cult of the goddess Demeter was that it contained the doctrine of the relationship between life and death, the bright celestial world and the dark kingdom of the bowels of the earth. The symbolic expression of this teaching was the beautiful myth of the abduction of Persephone, daughter of Demeter, by the ruthless ruler of the underworld. Demeter "The Sorrowful" (Achaia) walked all over the earth, looking for her daughter; and in many cities the festival of Demeter the Sorrowful was celebrated, the sad rites of which bore a resemblance to the Phoenician cult of Adonis. The human heart yearns for clarification of the question of death; The Eleusinian mysteries were an attempt by the ancient Greeks to solve this riddle; they were not a philosophical exposition of concepts; they acted on the feeling with aesthetic means, consoled, aroused hope. Attic poets said that blessed are those dying who are initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries of Demeter: they know the purpose of life and its divine beginning; For them, the descent into the underworld is life, for the uninitiated it is horror. Demeter's daughter, Persephone, was in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods the connection between the kingdom of the living and the underworld; she belonged to both.
Myths about the god Dionysus
For more details, see the separate article God Dionysus
Dionysus in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods originally personified the abundance of plant power. It was clearly manifested in the form of bunches of grapes, whose juice intoxicated people. The vine and wine became symbols of Dionysus, and he himself became the god of joy and fraternal rapprochement of people. Dionysus is a powerful god who overcomes everything hostile to him. Like Apollo, he gives inspiration, excites a person to sing, but not harmonious, but wild and violent songs, reaching the point of exaltation - those that later formed the basis of ancient Greek drama. In the myths of Ancient Greece about Dionysus and in the holiday of Dionysius, various and even opposite feelings were expressed: the joy of that time of year when everything blooms, and sadness when the vegetation withers. Joyful and sad feelings then began to be expressed separately - in comedies and tragedies that arose from the cult of Dionysus. In ancient Greek myths, the symbol of the generative force of nature - the phallus - was closely related to the veneration of Dionysus. Initially, Dionysus was a rude god of the common people. But in the era of tyranny its importance increased. The tyrants, who most often acted as leaders of the lower classes in the struggle against the nobility, deliberately contrasted the plebeian Dionysus with the refined gods of the aristocracy and gave the festivities in honor of him a broad, national character.
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Buddhist mythology, a complex of mythological images, characters, symbols associated with the religious and philosophical system of Buddhism, which arose in the 6th-5th centuries. BC. in India, during the period of the centralized state, and widespread in South, Southeast and Central Asia and the Far East...
Unlike ancient mythology, well known from fiction and works of art, as well as the mythologies of the countries of the East, the texts of the Slavic myths have not reached our time, because at that distant time when the myths were created, they did not yet know writing...
Myths, legends and tales of the Sami, Nenets, Khanty, Mansi, Komi, Yakut, Chukchi, Koryak, Eskimo
Altai epics, Tuvian legends, Khakass epics, Evenki legends, Buryat legends, Nanai folklore, Udege legends;
The debate between supporters of the theory of creationism and evolutionary theory continues to this day. However, unlike the theory of evolution, creationism includes not one, but hundreds of different theories (if not more).
The Myth of Pan-gu
The Chinese have their own ideas about how the world came into being. The most popular myth is the myth of Pan-gu, the giant man. The plot is as follows: at the dawn of time, Heaven and Earth were so close to each other that they merged into a single black mass.
According to legend, this mass was an egg, and Pan-gu lived inside it, and lived for a long time - many millions of years. But one fine day he got tired of such a life, and, swinging a heavy ax, Pan-gu got out of his egg, splitting it into two parts. These parts later became Heaven and Earth. He was of unimaginable height - about fifty kilometers in length, which, by the standards of the ancient Chinese, was the distance between Heaven and Earth.
Unfortunately for Pan-gu and fortunately for us, the colossus was mortal and, like all mortals, died. And then Pan-gu decomposed. But not the way we do it. Pan-gu decomposed in a really cool way: his voice turned into thunder, his skin and bones became the earth's surface, and his head became the Cosmos. Thus, his death gave life to our world.
Chernobog and Belobog
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This is one of the most significant myths of the Slavs. It tells the story of the confrontation between Good and Evil – the White and Black gods. It all started like this: when there was only one continuous sea around, Belobog decided to create dry land, sending his shadow - Chernobog - to do all the dirty work. Chernobog did everything as expected, however, having a selfish and proud nature, he did not want to share power over the firmament with Belobog, deciding to drown the latter.
Belobog got out of this situation, did not allow himself to be killed, and even blessed the land erected by Chernobog. However, with the advent of land, one small problem arose: its area grew exponentially, threatening to swallow everything around.
Then Belobog sent his delegation to Earth with the goal of finding out from Chernobog how to stop this matter. Well, Chernobog sat on a goat and went to negotiate. The delegates, seeing Chernobog galloping towards them on a goat, were imbued with the comedy of this spectacle and burst into wild laughter. Chernobog did not understand the humor, was very offended and flatly refused to talk to them.
Meanwhile, Belobog, still wanting to save the Earth from dehydration, decided to spy on Chernobog, making a bee for this purpose. The insect coped with the task successfully and learned the secret, which was as follows: in order to stop the growth of land, you need to draw a cross on it and say the cherished word - “enough.” Which is what Belobog did.
To say that Chernobog was not happy is to say nothing. Wanting to take revenge, he cursed Belobog, and he cursed him in a very original way: for his meanness, Belobog was now supposed to eat bee feces for the rest of his life. However, Belobog was not at a loss and made bee excrement as sweet as sugar - this is how honey appeared. For some reason, the Slavs did not think about how people appeared... The main thing is that there is honey.
Armenian duality
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Armenian myths resemble Slavic ones and also tell us about the existence of two opposite principles - this time male and female. Unfortunately, the myth does not answer the question of how our world was created; it only explains how everything around us works. But that doesn't make it any less interesting.
So here's the quick gist: Heaven and Earth are a husband and wife separated by an ocean; The sky is a city, and the Earth is a piece of rock, which is held on its huge horns by an equally huge bull - when it shakes its horns, the earth bursts at the seams from earthquakes. That, in fact, is all - this is how the Armenians imagined the Earth.
There is an alternative myth where the Earth is in the middle of the sea, and Leviathan floats around it, trying to grab onto its own tail, and constant earthquakes were also explained by its flopping. When Leviathan finally bites its tail, life on Earth will cease and the apocalypse will begin. Have a nice day.
Scandinavian myth of the ice giant
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It would seem that there is nothing in common between the Chinese and the Scandinavians - but no, the Vikings also had their own giant - the origin of everything, only his name was Ymir, and he was icy and with a club. Before his appearance, the world was divided into Muspelheim and Niflheim - the kingdoms of fire and ice, respectively. And between them stretched Ginnungagap, symbolizing absolute chaos, and there Ymir was born from the fusion of two opposing elements. And now closer to us, to the people. When Ymir began to sweat, a man and a woman emerged from his right armpit along with the sweat. It’s strange, yes, we understand this - well, that’s how they are, harsh Vikings, nothing can be done. But let's get back to the point. The man's name was Buri, he had a son Ber, and Ber had three sons - Odin, Vili and Ve. Three brothers were gods and ruled Asgard. This seemed to them not enough, and they decided to kill Ymir’s great-grandfather, making a world out of him.
Ymir was not happy, but no one asked him. In the process, he shed a lot of blood - enough to fill the seas and oceans; From the skull of the unfortunate man, the brothers created the vault of heaven, broke his bones, making mountains and cobblestones out of them, and made clouds from the torn brains of poor Ymir.
Odin and the company immediately decided to populate this new world: so they found two beautiful trees on the seashore - ash and alder, making a man from the ash, and a woman from the alder, thereby giving rise to the human race.
Greek myth about marbles
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Like many other peoples, the ancient Greeks believed that before our world appeared, there was only complete Chaos around. There was neither the sun nor the moon - everything was dumped into one big pile, where things were inseparable from each other.
But then a certain god came, looked at the chaos reigning around, thought and decided that all this was not good, and got down to business: he separated the cold from the heat, the foggy morning from a clear day, and everything like that.
Then he set to work on the Earth, rolling it into a ball and dividing this ball into five parts: at the equator it was very hot, at the poles it was extremely cold, but between the poles and the equator it was just right, you couldn’t imagine anything more comfortable. Then, from the seed of an unknown god, most likely Zeus, known to the Romans as Jupiter, the first man was created - two-faced and also in the shape of a ball.
And then they tore him in two, making him a man and a woman - the future of you and me.
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