19 - chthonic gods0

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CLCV 111/115: (((WEB))) Lecture for Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011

Wednesday, October 19, 2011



Chthonic gods are gods of the earth--notearth goddesses of the sort we studiedearly in the semester and of which Hera and

Demeter are Olympian examples, but godsusually associated with mysterious cults.One important example is subterranean;

that is Hades, the god of the Underworld.




Chthonic comes from the Greek word

χθων [chthon], which means “earth.”Again, this word for “earth” is different

from the word gê [cf. Gaia] you learned

earlier in connection with Hesiod’s

conception of the earth goddess. This is

a darker, more obscure conception of

the earth’s interior and magical

properties rather than the fertile

exterior planet we live on.




We will examine three important

chthonic gods:- Asclepius

- Hecate

- Hades




Asclepius

Epidaurus Museum




Asclepius is a god of medicine. In

archaic Greek antiquity the practiceof medicine was not the high-techscience of today but a mystical artmuch like “traditional medicine.” Atan Asclepion, i.e. a health center, the

patient would be given a concoctionof grains and herbs, drink it, and thenreceive a diagnosis according to the

dreams it gave him.Wednesday, October 19, 2011



Or patients paid to sacrifice a goat,slept in the goat’s flayed skin, andthen received their diagnosis.

This would change in the fifth-century BC. Hippocrates and others

would revolutionize the practice of medicine by making scientificdiagnoses and rational prognoses.




But in earlier periods medicaldivinities like Paian on Crete and

Asclepius on the mainland were thenorm. And so, because the practiceof medicine was such a mysterious

art, Asclepius falls into the categoryof a chthonic divinity.




We have encountered Asclepiustwice before--when studying Apolloand Hermes. Some ancient Greek

sources claim that Apollo was thefather of Asclepius, but you knowalready that the worshippers of

Apollo attached themselves tomany local cults, as they did herewith the cult of Asclepius.




The staff Asclepius holds is called a“caduceus,” as was Hermes’ staff. But

Hermes’ staff was originally awooden stick with ribbons hangingdown. In contrast, a serpent--or twoserpents--wrapped around Asclepius’

staff.

The two kinds of caduceus wereconfused even in antiquity, so you

just need to know that there are twodifferent kinds. Usually in moderntimes the snake is used for Asclepiusand many medical practices, including

the A.M.A.Wednesday, October 19, 2011



Epidaurus was Asclepius’ mainsanctuary. It contained a tholos ,

that is, a round temple. Sacredsnakes were kept in the center of itwithin concentric corridors.


T l f A l i



Tholos (aerial view)

Temple of Asclepiusat

Epidaurus




Hecate is a chthonic god of sorcery and magic--some of the dark forces of the earth.

She is often depicted withthree faces or three bodiesan d ca l l e d t he “ t r i p l egoddess.”


H



Hecate w/ Torch & Molossian Hound Giant Klytios raises boulder Pergamon Altar - East Frieze


H



Hecate w/ Torch & Molossian Hound Giant Klytios raises boulder Pergamon Altar - East Frieze




Hecate has another epithet: “trivia.”

She is called trivia because that is theancient Latin term for “three roads.”

Because Hecate was the goddess of sorcery and dark magic, she had to

be appeased, i.e. ancient Greeks hadto sacrifice to her to ward off her evilcurses. There was a specific sacrifice:




kill a wild dog and hang it in the center

of the village on the night of the newmoon. Of course this sounds odd andcruel to us, but the ancient Greek

countryside had a number of feraldogs, and the night of the “new moon”is the darkest night of the month--theone night per month when there is nomoonlight and therefore the most

dangerous.Wednesday, October 19, 2011



[Our word “trivia” derives from all

the gossip that was exchanged in thevillage crossroads, i.e. where three(tri ) roads (viae) come together.]

Hecate is sometimes associated withArtemis, and her triple nature isdistributed by location: the Moongoddess in the heavens, Artemis on

earth, and Hecate in the underworld.Wednesday, October 19, 2011



HADES (Pluto)Hades [Roman: Pluto] is the third chthonic

divinity we will examine. He is of course thegod of the Land of the Dead. We talked abouthim several times before -- as the son of Kronos and brother of Zeus and Poseidon, andas the abductor and husband of Persephone(Proserpina).




The name “Hades” means “the

invisible one.” It derives from theGreek word idein [“to see”], that is,alpha privative (“not”) + ides.




HADES (Pluto)

ide = ‘see’

(cf. idea; video)

a + ide = ‘ not see’

(alpha privative - cf. A+mnesia)Wednesday, October 19, 2011



Hades is the brother of Zeus and

Poseidon. According to Homer,Zeus rules the heavens, Poseidont h e s e a s , a n d H a d e s t h e

Underworld. He is not the Devil orSatan, not inherently evil, does nothimself torture souls in theUnderworld, or carry a pitchfork oranything like that. He is simply the

chief god of the land of the dead.Wednesday, October 19, 2011



Technically speaking, the land of thedead in Greek is called “the house

of Hades.” But for centuries peoplehave been referring to the land of the dead simply as “Hades,” so wecall it the same.




Following you will see two differentdepictions of Hades enthroned withhis wife Persephone.

The one on the left is ancient, theone on the right is medieval. Noticethe triple-headed guard dogCerberus. (More on him later.)




And don’t forget about this modern

version of Persephone, who betraysher husband to free souls (humans)from the subterranean-like prison of

the Matrix.




Ancient and subsequent writers

were fascinated by the geography of the Land of the Dead. Let me guideyou through it.

[The House of] Hades had fivefamous rivers. Four of them hadnames associated with evil andtorment:




Rivers of Hades:

-Styx (Hatred)

- Acheron (Woe) -Cocytus (Lamentation)

-Phlegethon (Fire)




A fifth river, Lethe, was the river of “forgetfulness.” Some Greeks, e.g.Plato, believed that a dead soul

would eventually return to earth,but only after drinking some waterfrom Lethe, and therefore forgettingits past life.


R f H d



Rivers of Hades:

-Styx (Hatred) - Acheron (Woe)

-Cocytus (Lamentation) -Phlegethon (Fire)

-Lethe (Forgetfulness)




You may recall that Hesioddescribed Styx as a waterfall, and

there is such a waterfall “falling fromthe heavens” in the north of thePeloponnese. The water falls 300

feet!


Styx (Hesiod)



Styx ( )




Later authors changed the River

Styx to a subterranean river of Hades.




Greeks identified the Acheron River

in western Greece. It had carved ahuge canyon, so they likened thisarea to the “jaws of Hades.”




Nearby the built a Nekyomaneion, aplace where you could go to visit

the spirits of your deceased lovedones.

The shrine included a labyrinth…


Nekyomanteion



y

Labyrinth & Plan




… a n u n d e r g r o u n d v a u l t e dchamber…




Nekyomanteion

vaulted chamber




… a n d a s t a i r w a y t o t h eunderworld!




Solomon goes to HELL!

Nekyomanteion


Th R V il h



The Roman poet Vergil, whose

description of the Land of the Deadyou should read in your Workbook (181-191), talks about another

entrance to Hades -- Lake Avernus-- in southern Italy.

He says the water of this lake wasso deadly, a bird would die if it flew

over its deadly vapors.Wednesday, October 19, 2011



He also describes Cumae, where

there were one hundred mouthsand doors actually chiseled out of the subterranean rock.




Cumae Cave of the Sibyl (Aen. 6.42-51)Wednesday, October 19, 2011



You may know of Vergil’s Cumaean

sibyl [prophetess]. Michelangelopainted the Sibyl of Cumae on theceiling of the Sistine Chapel.




Vergil also talks about a goldenbough necessary to access entranceto Hades.


Giuseppe Crespi

Golden Bough



G us pp C sp

(Lo Spagnole)

AeneaswithSibyl

& Charon

1700/1705

Vienna

Kunsthistorisches Museum




A journey down to Hades is called a

katabasis.

Read Vergil’s description.




KatabasisWorkbook 181-191




So, when someone died, HermesPsychopompus (“Leader of Souls”)took their soul down to Hades.




They would first encounterCerberus, the multi-headed dog.

Hesiod writes that Cerberus had 50heads, the Greeks depicted him

with 2, the Romans with 3.


Hercules, Hermes

, & Cerberus

Paseas (attr.) ARF plate 530/500 BC



Boston MFA

Cerberus




Then came Charon, the ferryman.

You had to pay him a coin (obol ) in

order to get a ride to the otherside, and the Greeks often buriedtheir dead with a coin in their

mouth.




After Charon ferried the dead soulsacross the River Styx, the souls

were judged.

There were three judges.




Minos and Rhadamanthys were fromCrete. We now call the bronze ageCretans “Minoans” after him; his

brother Rhadamanthys is a typicalMinoan word (e.g. Eileithyia,labyrinth).

Aeacus was unrelated.


After you are judged, you go either



to Tartarus or Elysium, dependingon whether you have been wickedor blessed. Actually, most human

beings went to neither, which werereserved for divinely condemned ordemigods. Instead they just

remained there for all eternity. Platoand others, as you just read,believed differently.




E l y s i u m T a r t a r u s


If you were really, really wicked, then



y y y

you were condemned to Tartarus.You may recall that Hesioddescribed Tartarus as an anti-earth.

But like the River Styx, now it hasended up in the underworld.

The canon of the condemned is wellknown throughout Western history.





Tantalus murdered his son Pelops,



chopped him to pieces, cooked him in astew, and tried to feed him to the gods!

His punishment was to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree. When hereached up to get some fruit, the wind

blew the branches out of his reach; whenhe bent down to drink some water, thepool dried up.




Our word “tantalize” derives from thismyth.


Si h i k h l k d



Sisyphus was a trickster who locked

the god of Death in a closet so no one,including himself, could die!

His punishment was to roll a hugeboulder up a hill, and when it reached the

top it would roll back down again. Hehad to repeat this task endlessly.





Albert Camus



Albert Camus

“The Myth of Sisyphus”

Workbook, pp. 192-93


Camus describes modern life as an



absurd i ty , work ing hard , neveraccomplishing anything of permanentvalue, comparing it to the labor of

Sisyphus. Interestingly, he revels in themoments of frustration Sisyphus mustexperience when he is walking down thehill getting ready to push the rock upagain. Read it: it’s really interesting.


Albert Camus



Albert Camus

“The Myth of Sisyphus”

Workbook, pp. 192-93




Tityus raped Leto, mother of Apollo

and Artemis. His punishment was likePrometheus’: his liver was torn out bybirds of prey on a regular basis.


Tityus attempts to abduct Leto

ARF belly amphora Phintias < Vulci Paris Louvre




Ixion tried to rape Hera! But the gods



fooled him by giving him a cloud-shapedp h a n t o m o f H e r a i n s t e a d . H eimpregnated this cloud and produced the

first Centaur, i.e. a hybrid beast that ishalf-man, half-horse.

His punishment was to be burned on aspinning wheel.





If you were to be burned for all eternityof a wheel of fire would you care if the



of a wheel of fire, would you care if the

wheel was spinning? Probably not. Butwhat seems to be a non-essential detail

gives us a clue as to who Ixion originallywas: a solar god. He lived in the sky, triedto sleep with Hera (i.e. the earth),

impregnated a cloud, and produced ahorse-man, i.e. to carry the sun acrossthe heavens.





Sisyphus, too. That rock going up and



down the hill may symbolize the risingand setting sun.

In classical Greece and later in antiquity,writers forgot about the divine aspectsof Ixion and just reduced him to atortured human. But the myth itself suggests a very different origin for him.


There is another condemned toTartarus, a group of sisters, the



Tartarus, a group of sisters, the

Danaids, daughters of Danaus, whoslew their husbands on their wedding

night.

Their punishment was to fill up a barrel

with well water, but the water-pitchersthey carried had holes in the bottom, soall the water leaked out first.


Ulysses in the Land of the Dead Roman fresco I century BC Vatican



Danaids

Sisyphus

Tityus




Elysian Fields - ElysiumEnough of the bad guys. The blessed -- usually heroesand demigods, i.e. sons of divinities -- spend eternity in

the Elysian Fields (Elysium).

Do you know how to say “Elysian Fields” in French?


Antoine Watteau Champs Elysée 1717



Yes, Champs Elysée, which used to be thisbeautiful parkway in eighteenth-centuryParis. Now it is one of the most famous

streets in the world, with Mercedes Benzand Gucci showrooms, not to mention lotsof traffic!


Champs Elysée, Paris 1995




You may remember that at the verybeginning of Gladiator , Russell Crowe walksthrough wheat fields. At the end of the film



he does so again. These are the ElysianFields where he will go after he dies.


One final thing about this: Hesiod, whokeeps the River Styx up on a mountain



keeps the River Styx up on a mountaintop, calls the happy part of the afterlife “theIsles of the Blessed.” Kronos rulesthere.




Finally, there is the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, as told by Ovid and Vergil.Orpheus was the son of Apollo and theworld’s greatest musician.




Orpheus

Singing

ARF

c. 440 BC Berlin


Orpheus



Cristoforo Stati da Bracciano (1556-1619)

1600

marble

for Palazzo Corsi, Florence

New York Metropolitan Museum




In fact, as Ovid says, he was so great thatanimals would follow him to hear him play,and even trees would uproot themselvesto follow him as he sang.


Orpheus & animals



Vth-century AD

found in Jerusalem

Istanbul Archaeological Museum


Roelandt SaveryOrpheus

London National Gallery



Orpheus married Eurydice, but on theirwedding day a poisonous snake bit her andkilled her. Orpheus was so upset, he

determined to go down to the Land of theDead to retrieve her.


Eurydice & Snake



Giovanni Maria Mosca

Venetian, c. 1520

New York Metropolitan Museum


He sang so beautifully in front of Hades(Pluto) and Persephone (Proserpina) thatthey gave him permission to lead Eurydice



out from the underworld. But there wasthis stipulation: he could not turn aroundto look at her, otherwise she would have

to return. He did not obey, turned to look at her as he was leading her out, and shehad to remain there permanently.


Orpheus Before Pluto & Persephone François Perrier (c. 1600-1650) Paris, Louvre




As a result, the saddened Orpheus spenthis time only with men, which angered the



local women of Thrace so much they actedlike maenads and stoned him to death andripped him to pieces (sparagmos).

But he still kept singing as his head floateddown the Hebrus River!


Death of Orpheus

ARF hydria c. 460 BC ARF stamnos



att. to Niobid Painter Dokimasia PainterBoston MFA Zürich, University Museum


Gustave Moreau (1826-1898)



Orphée

1866

Paris, Musée d’Orsay




END


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