Week 3

Apollo & Artemis

Demeter and Persephone

Hermes

Dionysus

Apollo and Artemis

• Ca. 460 BCE Apollo and Artemis avenging Leto’s honor

ARTEMIS

• Daughter of ZEUS and LETO

• Twin sister of APOLLO

• Born on the island of DELOS

The Lady of Animals

• Has lions in her retinue

• Horns and skin of pray hung on tree in honor of Artemis

• Since Homer: a girl

NIOBE AND HER CHILDREN

• Leto dishonored in Thebes: queen NIOBE boasts to have borne seven sons and seven daughters

• Apollo kills all sons; Artemis all daughters

• Niobe turned to stone

Myths of Artemis 2 ACTEON

• Hunting, A. saw Artemis in her bath

• She transformed him into a stag

• His dogs tore him to pieces

CALLISTOZeus, disguised as Artemis,

raped her friend Callisto • Artemis expelled Callisto• Callisto gave birth to

ARCAS• Hera turned her into a bear • Arcas almost killed his

mother • Zeus transformed both

into constellations

ORION

• ORION tried to seduce Artemis

• The goddess produced a scorpion that killed him

OR• Orion pursued the PLEIADES • They were all transformed into

constellations (SIRIUS, Orion's hunting dog, became the Dog Star)

CHARACTERISTICS OF ARTEMIS

• Vehement virgin with characteristics of a fertility goddess

• Moon-goddess linked with the lunar cycle and menstrual period

• Goddess of nature itself personifying its pristine purity

Artemis: A Virgin Fertility Goddess

HECATE an Artemis-like figure

• Fertility goddess of the Underworld depicted with a blazing torch

• Accompanied by fierce hounds• Goddess of the crossroads• Skilled in the arts of black magic

Hecate and the crossroads

• To the Romans Hecate was “Trivia” of the crossroads

• Received offerings of food called Hecate's suppers

DELOS: BIRTHPLACE OF APOLLO

• In the hymn “To Delian Apollo" there is no mention of Artemis

• Apollo nursed on nectar and ambrosia miraculously becomes a mighty god

• Curved bow and the lyre become his attributes

• Prophecy to mortals his domain

SANCTUARY OF APOLLO AT DELPHI

• Apollo chose a place under Mt. PARNASSUS for his oracle and temple.

• He slew a dragon named PYTHO• Apollo given the epithet PYTHIAN, his

prophetess, PYTHIA• Apollo from Lycia in Asia Minor• Ephebos, kouros• Phoibos = Fox-like• Lykeios = wolf-like

The Omphalos

“The Navel" an archaic

stone shaped like an egg.

Explanations:

a) marks the center of the world

b) marks the tomb of Python

c) Is the stone Cronus swallowed instead of Zeus

• Apollo sitting on the Omphalos

• Silver tetradrachma from 3rd BCE

Pythian Games

• From Apollo’s sanctuary at Delphi

• Ca. 470 BCE

Theater in Delphi

APOLLO'S LOVES: SIBYL

• Title of the prophetess of Apollo• The original Sibyl from Cumae in Italy was

pursued by Apollo• When she rejected him, the god granted her

immortality without eternal youth• She eventually to became only a voice

Apollo’s loves: CASSANDRA

• Daughter of the Trojan King Priam • Agreed to give herself to Apollo and

received the gift of prophecy. • Changed her mind • Apollo made sure that her true prophecies

would never be believed

Apollo’s Loves: CYRENE

• Apollo fell in love with her when he saw her wrestling with a lion.

• He took her to the city in Libya that would bear her name.

• They had a son Aristaeus, a keeper of bees.

Apollo’s Loves: DAPHNE 1

• “Laurel" • Apollo offended Eros • Eros sent a dull,

leaden arrow that repels love at Daphne, and a bright short arrow at Apollo.

Apollo and Daphne 2

• Daphne vowed to remain a virgin devoted to Artemis, and fled Apollo

• When she reached the waters of the Peneus (her father) she was transformed into a laurel tree

Apollo’s Loves: HYACINTHUS

• Hyacinthus was wounded and killed while competing at throwing discus with Apollo.

• Apollo caused a new flower, the hyacinth, to arise from his blood.

Apollo, Hiacynthus and Cyparissus

Apollo’s Loves: CORONIS

• CORONIS was pregnant with Apollo’s child when the raven saw her in the arms of another lover

• The god shot her with one of his arrows, but saved the baby ASCLEPIUS who became the god of medicine

Apollo’s Musical contests: MARSYAS

• The satyr Marsyas picked up the flute invented by Athena.

• He challenged Apollo to a contest

• Apollo won and he decided to flay Marsyas alive

Apollo’s Musical Contests: PAN

• Pan dared to engage in a contest with Apollo. • TMOLUS the god of the mountain was the judge. • He declared Apollo the victor, but MIDAS, the

king of Phrygia declared the verdict unjust. • Apollo changed Midas’ ears into the ears of an

ass.

Apollo and Pan

THE NATURE OF APOLLO

• God of shepherds, associated with music • God of medicine• God of the sun PHOEBUS Apollo "bright."    • Symbol of classical restraint, of "Know thyself"

and "Nothing too much." • Can bring enlightenment, atonement, truth, and a

new civic order of justice and is often contrasted with Dionysus

Apollo

Apollo 11, 1961

Demeter and the Eleusinian Mysteries

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter

Demeter and the abduction of Persephone by Hades

Persephone: daughter of

Demeter and Zeus was

kidnapped by Hades

Demeter’s Grief

• Hecate heard Persephone’s screams

• The sun-god Helius saw Hades

• Demeter suspects Zeus

Demeter in Eleusis

• Daughters of KELEUS, and METANEIRA invite her

• She refuses to taste food or drink until IAMBE, with jests and jokes caused her to smile and laugh.

• She then accepted a drink called KYKEON.

Baubo

Demeter the nurse of Demophoon

• Attempts to make him immortal through fire.

• When Metaneira interrupts her Demeter reveals her divinity.

• She then disappears but promises to teach her rites to the inhabitants of Eleusis.

Demeter’s Anger

• Demeter causes a year with no harvest.

• Zeus orders Hades to release Persephone.

• Before leaving Persephone eats a pomegranate seed.

Final Compromise

• 1/3 third part of the year below

• 2/3 with her mother• Demeter restores

fertility • establishes her

Eleusinian Mysteries

The Final Message of the HymnHappy is the one ofmortals on earth who hasseen these things. Butthose who are uninitiatedinto the holy rites … never are destined to asimilar joy when they aredead in the gloomy realmbelow.”

The Greater Eleusinian Mysteries

The Greater Mysteries

• September and October

• Splendid procession between Athens and Eleusis with "holy objects" carried by priests and priestesses

• Sacrifices, prayers, and cleansing in the sea

The Eleusinian Procession

• Ritual cleansing

• Torches

• Fasting and vigil • Hymns and

obscene jests

The Sacred Rites

• KYKEON the sacred drink

• Dramatic performance

? vision of Afterlife

? religious purification• The revelation of the

hiera, "sacred objects"

HADES

• Roman names: DIS, PLUTO (both names mean wealth)

• ORCUS by the Romans

• God of death and agricultural plenty

TARTARUS

• Place of punishment• Name for Hades’

realm as a whole• Erebus - The darkness of

Tartarus - Tartarus itself

Elysian Fields

• Elysium, the Elysian Fields. Paradise in the Underworld.

Three Judges

• MINOS RHADAMANTHUS,

• and AEACUS • Pass sentence on the

just and unjust souls

Charon

• The Ferryman • Transports souls

across the river Styx, or Acheron.

• He demands as fare the coin that is buried in the mouth of a corpse

Hermes Psychopompus

• Hermes Psychopompus

Hermes as "leader of the soul" takes our souls, after death, to Charon.

Cerberus

• The Hound of Hades

• Guards the realm• Ferocious, with (at

least) three snarling heads

The Furies

• ERINYES • Born from Uranus’

blood • Pitiless and just

avengers of crime, especially murder and blood-guilt within the family

Dionysus (Bacchus)

God of Ecstasy

Satyrs making wine

THE BIRTH of Dionysus

• Zeus loved SEMELE, daughter of CADMUS• Hera convinced Semele to trick Zeus into revealing

himself • Semele was burned, but their unborn child was saved by

Zeus• Dionysus was born from Zeus’ thigh and brought up by

nymphs and Semele's sister Ino on a mountain named Nysa

THE BACCHAE OF EURIPIDES 1

• Dionysus comes to Thebes where his religion is repudiated

• The women of Thebes become possessed by frenzy (animal skins, tambourines, with the thyrsus) on Mt. Cithaerion

THE BACCHAE OF EURIPIDES 2

• Cadmus’ grandson Pentheus is vehemently opposed to the new religion

• Deceived by Dionysus, he participates in his rites disguised as a woman

• He is discovered and torn to pieces by the Bacchae led by his mother AGAVE

Pentheus’ death

THE NATURE OF DIONYSUS

• God of vegetation • God of wine• Represents the

irrational in human beings

• Dionysiac ecstasy, MANIA, combines the bestial and the sublime

THE RELIGION OF DIONYSUS

• Dionysus took possession of his worshipers

• In a ceremony called OMOPHAGY they ate raw flesh of the sacrificial animal

• The congregation that engaged in this ritual communion was called THIASUS

Animal sacrifice: Nepal 1964

DIONYSUS’ FOLLOWERS

• Female followers of D. called MAENADS or BACCHAE are women possessed by the god

• These names are also given to the mythological nymphs, spirits of nature, in Dionysus' retinue

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

DIONYSUS’ FOLLOWERS

• SATYRS male counterparts of the Maenads, part man and part animal, with a horse's tail and ears and a goat's beard and horns    

• SILENI are older satyrs, some of whom are wise

DIONYSIAC PROPS

• Animal skins and garlands

• THYRSUS = a pole wreathed with ivy or vine leaves, pointed at the top to receive a pinecone

DIONYSUS AND APOLLO

• Dionysus = unrestrained freedom and passion

• Apollo = the lyre's disciplined melody, reason, and self-control.

• Friedrich Nietzche's study of drama entitled The Birth of Tragedy emphasizes this contrast as an essential feature of Greek drama.

DIONYSUS-ZAGREUS

• Zeus mated with his daughter Persephone, and she bore a son ZAGREUS

• Hera incited the Titans to dismember the child and devour the pieces

• The heart of the child was saved; and Dionysus was born again, through Semele and Zeus, as recounted above.

Dionysus

• Zeus in anger destroyed the Titans

• From their ashes mortals were born

• We inherit our bodies from the Titans and our souls from the god they had devoured

DIONYSUS AND ARIADNE

• ARIADNE gave the hero Theseus a thread by which he could find his way out of the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur.

• He abandoned her on the island of Naxos

• She was rescued by Bacchus, who fell in love with her

ICARIUS

• Dionysus rewarded the hospitality of ICARIUS by giving him the gift of wine

• The people who first felt its effects thought that they had been poisoned and killed Icarius

KING MIDAS OF PHRYGIA

• Silenus was captured and brought before King Midas who recognized him and returned him to the god.

• Dionysus promised to give the king any gift that he wished

• Midas asked for “golden touch”

Poussin: Midas and Bacchus

The Homeric Hymn to Dionysus

• Pirates carried D. off on their ship.

• The bonds miraculously would not hold

• A vine entwined about the mast and grew up to the very top of the sail

• The god became a terrifying lion

• The sailors leaped into the sea and became dolphins

PAN

• God of shepherds and of music

• Part man, with the horns, ears, and legs of a goat

• His father often identified as Hermes

SYRINX

• Fled the advances of Pan

• Was transformed into a bed of marsh reeds

• Pan cut two of them, fastened with wax, and fashioned his own musical instrument, the pan-pipe

ECHO 1

• Ran away from Pan• Spread such "panic"

among a group of shepherds that they tore her to pieces

• Only her voice remained

ECHO 2

• Conspired with Zeus to divert Hera’s attention

• Was deprived of speech

• Fell in love with Narcissus

• Withered away

Hermes

God of Boundaries

Hermes

THE HOMERIC HYMN TO HERMES

• Zeus loved MAIA luxurious cave, and

• She bore HERMES (MERCURY).

• This precocious baby was born at dawn, by midday he was playing the lyre, and in the evening he stole the cattle of Apollo.

Hermes Invents the Seven-stringed Lyre

• He used: - a hollowed tortoise

shell- reeds- an ox's hide- strings of sheep gut

Hermes Steals Apollo's Cattle

• At night, he cut off 50 cows from the herd

• He made them walk backwards, their heads facing him

• He walked straight ahead, wearing sandals of wicker that he had woven to disguise his tracks

Apollo Tracks Down Hermes

• Apollo heard of a child driving a herd backwards

• The guessed the thief’s identity and found Hermes in his cradle

• He took the baby to the Mt. Olympus, where he sought justice from Zeus

The Reconciliation of Hermes and Apollo

• Zeus laughed and ordered Hermes to lead Apollo to the cattle

• Hermes returns the cattle• He shows the lyre to

Apollo and offers it to him• Apollo gives Hermes a

golden staff and directs him to three goddesses who will teach him the art of prophecy

Hermaphroditus

• Son of Hermes and Aphrodite• The nymph of a spring

Salmacis fell in love with young H.

• H. rejected her• S. clung to H. when he was

swimming in the spring • Their two bodies were joined

together

THE NATURE OF HERMES

• God of shepherds• Patron of thieves and

business people• Master of persuasion• Psychopompus • Messenger of the gods • Archetypal trickster

ATTRIBUTES OF HERMES

• PETASUS a broad-brimmed hat, sometimes winged

• Sandals often winged. • CADUCEUS a herald's staff,

sometimes entwined with two snakes

Herms

• Rectangular or square pillars equipped with male genitals and with the head or bust of Hermes on top.

• Brought fertility and good luck