In the general religious understanding of the ancient Hellenes, there was a variety of cult ideas. All this is confirmed by numerous archaeological excavations and artifacts. It has been proven in which locality one or another god was extolled. For example, Apollo - in Delphi and on Delos, the capital of Greece, the god of healing Asclepius (son of Apollo) is named after Athena - in Epidaurus, Poseidon was respected by the Ionians in the Peloponnese and so on.
Opened in honor of this shrine of the Greeks: Delphic, Dodonian and Delian. Almost all of them are covered with some kind of mystery, it is deciphered in myths and legends. We will describe the most interesting myths of Ancient Greece (short) below.
Apollo and Daphne. 17th century sculpture
The cult of Apollo in Greece and Rome
He was called "four-handed" and "four-eared". Apollo had about a hundred sons. He himself was either five or seven. There are countless monuments in honor of the saint, huge churches named after him, too - are located in Greece, Italy, Turkey. And that's all about him: about Apollo - the mythical hero and god of Hellas.
The ancient gods did not have surnames, but Apollo has several of them: Delphic, Rhodes, Belvedere, Pythian. This happened in the territories where his cult grew most.
Two millennia have passed since the inception of the cult, and they still believe in the tale of this handsome man today. How did he enter “naive mythology” and why was he invented in the hearts and souls of Greeks and residents of other countries?
The veneration of the son of Zeus originated in Asia Minor two thousand years before our era. Initially, the myths portrayed Apollo not as a man, but as a zoomorphic creature (influenced by pre-religious totemism) - a ram. The Dorian version of the origin is also possible. But, as before, an important center of the cult is the Sanctuary in Delphi. In it, the soothsayer uttered all sorts of predictions, according to her instruction, twelve mythical exploits of Apollo's brother, Hercules, took place. From the Hellenic colonies in Italy, the cult of the Greek god took root in Rome.
Promotional video:
Apollo Belverldian by the ancient Greek sculptor Leochares
Apollo myths
God is not alone. Archaeological sources provide information on various sources of its origin. Who were the Apollo: the son of the keeper of Athens, Koribant, Zeus the third and several other fathers. Mythology attributes to Apollo thirty heroes he killed (Achilles), dragons (including Python), cyclops. They said about him that he could destroy, but he could also help and predict the future.
Mythology spread about Apollo even before his birth, when the supreme goddess Hera learned that from her husband Zeus Leto (Latona) should give birth to a boy (Apollo). With the help of a dragon, she drove the future mother to a deserted island. Apollo and his sister Artemis were born there. They grew up on this island (Delos), where he swore to destroy the dragon for persecuting his mother.
Ancient Temple of Apollo at Delphi
As it is described from the ancient myth, the quickly matured Apollo took a bow and arrow in his hands and flew away to where Python lived. The beast crawled out of the terrible gorge and attacked the young man.
He looked like an octopus with a large scaly body. Even the rocks were moving away from him. The disturbed monster attacked the young man. But the arrows did their job.
Python died, Apollo buried him, and the real Temple of Apollo was built here. In his room there was a real priestess-prophetess from the peasant women. She pronounced divinations allegedly through the mouth of Apollo. Questions were written on tablets and passed on to the temple. They were not fictional, but from real earthly people from different centuries of the existence of this temple. They were found by archaeologists. How the priestess commented on the questions, no one knows.
Narcissus is a mythical hero and a real flower
To paraphrase the ancient sage, we can say: if you have extra money, then do not buy bread in excess of what you can eat; buy a daffodil flower - bread for the body, and he - for the soul.
So the mythical story about the narcissistic young man Narcissus from Ancient Hellas grew into the name of a beautiful spring flower.
Narcissus by the stream Painting by Caravaggio, late 16th century
The Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, took cruel revenge on those who rejected her gifts, who did not submit to her authority. Mythology knows several of these victims. Among those is the young man Narcissus. Proud, he could not love anyone, only himself.
Anger found on the goddess. One spring, while hunting, Narcissus approached a stream - he simply charmed him with the purity of the water, its specularity. But the stream was really special, perhaps also bewitched by Aphrodite. The goddess did not forgive anyone if they did not pay attention to her.
No one drank water from the stream, not even a branch or flower petals could fall into it. So Narcissus was staring at himself. Bent over to kiss my reflection. But there is only cold water.
He forgot about hunting and the desire to drink water. Everyone admires, forgot about food, sleep. And suddenly I woke up: "Did I really love myself so much, but we can't be together?" So he began to suffer that his strength left him. Feels that he will go to the kingdom of darkness. But the young man already believes that death will end his torment of love. He is crying.
Narcissus's head sank to the ground. He died. The nymphs were crying in the forest. They dug a grave, followed the body, but it was not. On the grass, where the head of the young man fell, a flower grew. They named him Narcissus.
Echo and Narcissus. John William Waterhouse. 1903 year
And the nymph Echo remained forever suffering in that forest. And she did not respond to anyone else.
Poseidon - Lord of the Seas
Zeus sits in all divine majesty on Mount Olympus, and his brother Poseidon went into the depths of the sea and from there the water boiled, causing trouble on the sailors. If he wants to do this, he takes in his hand his main weapon - a club with a trident.
He has a better palace than his brother on land. And he reigns there with his charming wife Amphitrite, the daughter of the sea god. Together with Poseidon, she rushes through the waters in a chariot harnessed by horses or zoomorphic creatures - tritons.
Poseidon looked after his wife from the waters on the coast of the island of Naxos. But she ran away from him to the handsome Atlas. I could not find the fugitive Poseidon myself. Dolphins helped him and took her to the palace at the bottom of the sea. For this, the sea lord gave the dolphins a constellation in the sky.
Poseidon. Sculpture
Perseus: almost like a good person
Perseus is perhaps one of the few sons of Zeus who did not have negative character traits. As a lover of getting drunk Hercules with his fits of inexplicable anger or Achilles, who did not take into account the interests of others and admired only his own "I".
Perseus was beautiful as a god, brave and dexterous. I have always tried to achieve success. Perseus mythology is as follows. His grandfather, one of the earthly kings, dreamed in a dream that his grandson would bring death to him. Therefore, he hid his daughter in a dungeon behind stones, bronze and castles - away from the men. But all the obstacles for Zeus, who liked Danae, were nothing. He entered her through the roof in the form of rain. And a son was born, named Perseus. But the malevolent grandfather nailed the mother and child into the box and sent them to swim in the box on the sea.
The prisoners still managed to escape on one of the islands, where the waves washed the box to the shore, the fishermen arrived in time to rescue the mother and son. But a man reigned on the island, no better than Father Danae. He began to molest the woman. And so the years passed, now Perseus could stand up for his mother.
The king decided to get rid of the young man, but so as not to incur the wrath of the god Zeus. He cheated by accusing Perseus of undivine origin. To do this, it was necessary to perform a heroic act, for example, to kill the malefic Medusa Gorgon and drag her head to the king's palace.
Perseus who defeated the Gorgon. Sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini, 17th century
It really was not only a sea, but also a flying monster that turned into stone those who looked at her. Gods were indispensable here. The son of Zeus was helped. He was presented with a magic sword and a mirror shield. In search of the monster, Perseus went through many countries and through many obstacles set up by opponents. The nymphs also gave him useful things on the road.
Finally, he reached an abandoned country, where the sisters of the same Gorgon lived. Only they could lead the young man to her. The sisters had one eye and one tooth in three. While the younger gorgon was leading with an eye, the others could not do anything. Further across the sky, he flew to the monster. And on the move came across a sleeping jellyfish. Until she woke up, the young man chopped off her head and put it in a bag. And took a course across the sky to his island. So he proved his destiny to the king and, taking his mother, returned to Argos.
Hercules getting married
Many accomplished feats, slave labor from Queen Omphale took away the strength from Hercules. He wanted a quiet life by the hearth. “It's easy to build a house, but you need a loving wife. So we must find her,”the hero made plans.
Once I remembered a boar hunt near Calydon with a local prince and a meeting with his sister Deianira. And he went to South Aetolia to woo. At this time, Deianira was already being given in marriage, and many suitors gathered.
Hercules, Centaur Nesson and Deianira. Ancient greek vessel
There was also a river god - a monster that the world had never seen. Deianira's father said that he would give his daughter to the one who conquers God. Only Hercules remained of the suitors, since the others, seeing a rival, changed their minds to marry.
Hercules grabbed his opponent with his hands, but he stood like a rock. And so several times. The result for Hercules was almost ready, as the god turned into a snake. The son of Zeus strangled two snakes while still in the cradle, he coped here too. But the old man became a bull. The hero broke one horn, and he surrendered. The bride became the wife of Hercules.
These are the myths of Ancient Greece.