The heroes of the story are legends and myths of ancient Greece. Ancient myths and legends of Greece. Myths about the ancient gods of Greece

Demeter heard the cry of her daughter, the goddess Persephone looked everywhere, but she was not there. She went to other gods for help, and Helios, the sun, answered her that Persephone had been kidnapped by Hades. The mother was sad. She left Olympus.

All growth on the earth ceased, the leaves on the trees withered and flew off. The forests became naked. But it was still the goddess Demeter. Zeus did not want humanity to perish, and begged Demeter to return. The goddess agreed, only on the condition that Persephone would return to her. But Zeus could not do this. And both parties agreed that for two thirds of the year Persephone would live with her mother, and for one third she would return to her husband Hades. Since then, when Persephone leaves her mother, autumn comes, and when she returns to her mother, the goddess of fertility with a generous hand showers her gifts on people and rewards the work of the farmer with a rich harvest.

A brief excursion into history

Greece was not always called that way. Historians, in particular Herodotus, highlight even more ancient times in those territories that were later called Hellas - the so-called Pelasgian.

This term comes from the name of the Pelasgian tribe (“storks”) who came to the mainland from the Greek island of Lemnos. According to the historiographer’s conclusions, Hellas at that time was called Pelasgia. There were primitive beliefs in something unearthly that would save people - cults of fictitious creatures.

The Pelasgians united with a small Greek tribe and adopted their language, although they never grew from barbarians into a nationality.

Where did the Greek gods and myths about them come from?

Herodotus assumed that the Greeks adopted the names of many gods and their cults from the Pelasgians. At least, the veneration of lower deities and Kabirs - great gods who, with their unearthly power, saved the earth from troubles and dangers. The Sanctuary of Zeus in Dodona (a city near present-day Ioannina) was built much earlier than the still famous Delphic one. From those times came the famous “troika” of Kabiri - Demeter (Axieros), Persephone (Axiokersa, in Italy - Ceres) and her husband Hades (Axiokersos).

In the Pontifical Museum in the Vatican there is a marble statue of these three cabirs in the form of a triangular column by the sculptor Scopas, who lived and worked in the 4th century BC. e. At the bottom of the pillar are carved miniature images of Mithras-Helios, Aphrodite-Urania and Eros-Dionysus as symbols of the unbroken chain of mythology.

This is where the names of Hermes come from (Camilla, Latin for “servant”). In the History of Athos, Hades (Hell) is the god of the other world, and his wife Persephone gave life on earth. Artemis was called Kaleagra.

The new gods of Ancient Hellas descended from the “storks” and took away their right to reign. But they already had a human appearance, although with some exceptions remaining from zoomorphism.

The goddess, the patroness of the city named after her, was born from the brain of Zeus, the main god of the third stage. Consequently, before him, the heavens and the earth's firmament were ruled by others.

The first ruler of the earth was the god Poseidon. During the capture of Troy he was the main deity.

According to mythology, he ruled both the seas and oceans. Since Greece has a lot of island territories, the influence of Poseidon and his cult also applied to them. Poseidon was the brother of many new gods and goddesses, including such famous ones as Zeus, Hades and others.

Next, Poseidon began to look at the continental territory of Hellas, for example, Attica, a huge part south of the central mountain range of the Balkan Peninsula and to the Peloponnese. He had a reason for this: in the Balkans there was a cult of Poseidon in the form of a fertility demon. Athena wanted to deprive him of such influence.

The goddess won the dispute for the land. The gist of it is this. One day a new alignment of the influence of the gods occurred. At the same time, Poseidon lost his right to land, and the seas were left to him. The sky was seized by the god of thunder and lightning thrower. Poseidon began to dispute the rights to certain territories. He struck the ground during a dispute on Olympus, and water flowed from there, and

Athena gave Attica an olive tree. The gods decided the dispute in favor of the goddess, believing that the trees would be more useful. The city was named after her.

Aphrodite

When the name of Aphrodite is uttered in modern times, her beauty is mainly revered. In ancient times she was the goddess of love. The cult of the goddess first arose in the colonies of Greece, its current islands, founded by the Phoenicians. Worship similar to Aphrodite was then reserved for two other goddesses - Asherah and Astarte. In the Greek pantheon of gods

Aphrodite was more suited to the mythical role of Asherah, lover of gardens, flowers, inhabitant of groves, goddess of spring awakening and voluptuousness in pleasure with Adonis.

Reincarnating as Astarte, the “goddess of heights,” Aphrodite became unapproachable, always with a spear in her hand. In this guise, she protected family loyalty and doomed her priestesses to eternal virginity.

Unfortunately, in later times the cult of Aphrodite became bifurcated, so to speak, the differences between the various Aphrodites.

Myths of Ancient Greece about the gods of Olympus

They are the most common and most cultivated in both Greece and Italy. This supreme pantheon of Mount Olympus included six gods - the children of Kronos and Hera (the Thunderer himself, Poseidon and others) and nine descendants of the god Zeus. Among them the most famous are Apollo, Athena, Aphrodite and others like them.

In the modern interpretation of the word “Olympian,” in addition to athletes participating in the Olympics, it means “calmness, self-confidence, external greatness.” And earlier there was also Olympus of the gods. But at that time, these epithets applied only to the head of the pantheon - Zeus, because he fully corresponded to them. We talked about Athena and Poseidon in detail above. Other gods of the pantheon were also mentioned - Hades, Helios, Hermes, Dionysus, Artemis, Persephone.

Greek mythology reveals people's ideas about the origin of the world, and there is an analogy with other ancient religions.

Above all else, there was endless Chaos in the world. It was not emptiness - it contained the origins of all things, gods and people. The Greeks imagined chaos in the form of a kind of gaping mouth (this word itself is related to the Greek “yawn”) 4. First, from Chaos arose mother earth - the goddess Gaia and the sky - Uranus. From their union came the Cyclops - Bront, Sterop, Arg (“thunder”, “brilliance”, “lightning”). High in the middle of their foreheads their only eye shone, turning underground fire into heavenly fire. The second, Uranus and Gaia gave birth to the hundred-armed and fifty-headed giants-hecatoncheires - Cottus, Briareus and Gies (“anger”, “strength”, “arable land”). And finally, a great tribe of titans was born.

There were 12 of them - six sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia. The ocean and Tethys gave birth to all the rivers. Hyperion and Theia became the ancestors of the Sun (Helios), the Moon (Selene) and the rose-fingered dawn (Eos). From Iapetus and Asia came the mighty Atlas, who now holds the firmament on his shoulders, as well as the cunning Prometheus, the narrow-minded Epimetheus and the daring Menoetius. Two more pairs of titans and titanids gave birth to gorgons and other amazing creatures. But the future belonged to the children of the sixth couple - Kron and Rhea.

Uranus did not like his offspring and he threw the Cyclopes and the hundred-armed giants into Tartarus, a terrible abyss (which was both a living creature and had a neck). Then Gaia, indignant at her husband, persuaded the Titans to rebel against Heaven. They all attacked Uranus and deprived him of power. From now on, Kron, the most cunning of the titans, became the ruler of the world. But he did not release the previous prisoners from Tartarus, fearing their strength.

The Greeks called the period of Cronus' reign the Golden Age. However, this new ruler of the world was prophesied that he would in turn be overthrown by his son. Therefore, Kron decided on a terrible measure - he began to swallow his sons and daughters. He swallowed Hestia first, then Demeter and Hera, then Hades and Poseidon. The very name Kron means “time” and it’s not for nothing that people say that time consumes its sons. The last child, Zeus, was replaced by his unfortunate mother Rhea with a stone wrapped in a swaddling cloth. Cronus swallowed the stone, and young Zeus was hidden on the island of Crete, where the magic goat Amalthea 5 fed him with her milk.

When Zeus became an adult, he managed to free his brothers and sisters by cunning, and they began to fight Cronus and the Titans. They fought for ten years, but victory was not given to either side. Then Zeus, on the advice of Gaia, freed the hundred-armed men and the Cyclopes languishing in Tartarus. From now on, the Cyclopes began to forge Zeus’s famous lightning bolts. The Hundred-Handed Ones unleashed a hail of stones and rocks on the Titans. Zeus and his brothers and sisters, who became known as gods, were victorious. They, in turn, threw the titans into Tartarus (“where the roots of the sea and earth are hidden”) and assigned hundred-armed giants to guard them. The gods themselves began to rule the world.

We consider it appropriate to characterize some of the most famous deities.

Zeus personifies the transition to patriarchy because he is perceived as the supreme deity, the father of gods and people, the head of the Olympian family of gods. His appearance symbolizes the transition to the Olympic period, since Zeus, in order to establish himself as the supreme god, is forced to fight monsters - Typhon and the giants. At the same time, Zeus is close to people and, as it seems to us, only nominally has universal power. He sometimes fights for power with other gods (Hero, Poseidon, Athena), and periodically he has children from mortal women (Hercules, Perseus, Minos, for example). The supremacy of Zeus is also manifested in his imposition of moral principles and statehood (it was Zeus who put shame and conscience into people as harbingers of morality; morality is the forerunner of law, and law arises simultaneously with the state).

In appearance, the listed and other important qualities of Zeus are manifested in the fact that he is usually depicted as a mighty giant in the prime of his life with long hair and a beard (a symbol of worldly wisdom). The attributes of Zeus are an aegis, a scepter, and sometimes a hammer (symbols of the supremacy of power).

Cult holidays in honor of Zeus are few in number, since a number of his functions were assigned to other gods (Apollo - prophecy, Demeter - fertility, etc.). In honor of Zeus, the Olympic Games were organized as a symbol of unity and mutual consent of the policies 6.

However, some elements in the image of Zeus are vestiges of chthonic mythology. Zeus often appears in the form of animals (he kidnapped Europe, taking the form of a bull), one of the incarnations of Zeus is the monster Minotaur; Zeus lives in a polygamous marriage: he has three wives - Metis, Themis and Hera (only with the advent of patriarchy do people remember less and less about the polygamy of the supreme god).

Pallas Athena - in Greek mythology, the goddess of just war and victory, as well as wisdom, knowledge, arts and crafts; warrior, patroness of cities and states, sciences and crafts, intelligence, dexterity, ingenuity, daughter of Hera (or oceanid Metis) 7. Beloved daughter of Zeus. Metis was the first wife of Zeus. Zeus swallowed her, because according to the prediction of the Moira (or according to Metis herself), after Athena she was supposed to give birth to a son who would become the ruler of the sky. But after a while he felt a terrible headache and ordered Hephaestus to cut off his head. The warrior Pallas Athena emerged from the split skull of Zeus in full armor, wearing a helmet, with a spear and shield.

She was one of the most revered goddesses in Greece, rivaling Zeus in importance. She was his equal in strength and wisdom. She was distinguished by her independence and was proud of the fact that she remained a virgin forever.

Athena was depicted as Pallas(victorious warrior) or Polyads(patroness of cities and states). From the name of Pallas comes the word “palladium” (a wooden image of Athena that had miraculous effects). The city that owned palladium was considered under the patronage of the goddess. There was a legend about the palladium kept in Troy, which said that it fell from the sky. After the Trojan War, Aeneus brought it to Rome and since then the palladium has been kept in the Temple of Vesta.

Attributes - olive, owl (symbol of wisdom) and snake (rudiments of chthonic mythology, when all living things frightened man and seemed to him the personification of power). She was the patroness of snakes (a huge snake lived in the temple in Athens - the guardian of the Acropolis).

Her constant epithet - “bright-eyed” (more precisely, “owl-eyed”) - indicates that in ancient times the goddess was represented in the form of an owl, which later became a sacred animal (hence the saying “carrying owls to Athens” is doing an unnecessary job). Also bore the epithets "Tritonida" due to her birthplace at Lake Triton in Libya, "Motley Snake", "Worker", "City", "City Defender".

Athena is the patroness of Athens. In the dispute for the possession of Attica and for the right to give a name to the city (later Athens), Poseidon defeated. The dispute, which took place on the hill of Ares, was decided by twelve gods, including Zeus - whose gift to Attica was more valuable. Poseidon knocked out a salty spring from a barren rock with a trident (according to another legend, he created a horse), and Athena plunged a spear deep into the ground and a sacred olive tree grew.

Athena was considered the founder of the state, the inventor of the chariot and ship, flute and trumpet, ceramic pot, rake, plow, yoke for oxen and bridle for horses. She taught us weaving, spinning and cooking. In addition, Athena established laws and the Areopagus, the highest court in Athens 8.

She helped Hercules and Prometheus in stealing fire for people, and also patronized the Argonauts, Odysseus, Achilles, and Perseus. When Perseus defeated the gorgon Medusa, he gave her head to Athena, and she decorated her shield with it - the aegis.

Among the victims of Athena are the princess Arachne, who was turned by the goddess into a spider, and Tiresias, who accidentally saw her while bathing and was blinded by the goddess for this.

The holidays of the first germination of bread, the beginning of the harvest, the giving of dew for crops, and the turning away of rain were dedicated to Athena.

Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, daughter of Zeus and Dione. However, the ancient chthonic origin of the goddess is expressed in the myth according to which she came from the blood of Uranus castrated by Cronus, which fell into the sea and formed foam. In addition, she is the goddess of fertility.

The patronage of love is manifested primarily in the form of the goddess. Aphrodite is a recognized beauty, whose recognition is sought by many gods. But as if to confirm that love does not depend on appearance, Aphrodite’s husband is the ugliest god of Olympus - the lame Hephaestus.

Aphrodite’s actions are also primarily associated with patronage in love. For example, she promises Paris Elena's love and fulfills this promise. Helping those who love, Aphrodite punishes those who reject love. She punished Hypollita and Narcissus.

The fetishistic vestige in the image of Aphrodite is her belt, which she gave to Hera to seduce Zeus. This belt contains love, desire, words of seduction.

There were sanctuaries of the goddess in different regions of Greece.

Hermes is the messenger of the gods, the guide of the souls of the dead, the patron of travelers, thieves and merchants. He is a mediator between gods and people and sometimes sends prophetic dreams. With the development of cattle breeding, Hermes is also perceived as the patron of shepherds, multiplying the offspring of livestock. Later he was also considered the patron of trade.

The patronage of Hermes is manifested in the actions of the god. He handed Nephele, the mother of Gella and Frix, a golden-fleeced ram, on which the children escaped from their stepmother; Perseus was given a sword to kill the Gorgon Medusa; Odysseus was helped to escape the witchcraft of Kirk.

A rudiment of chthonic mythology in the image of Hermes is, first of all, his name, which can be translated as “pile of stones” - a kind of symbol of immortality. Other fetishistic rudiments are golden winged sandals and a golden magic wand, with the help of which Hermes sends dreams to people.

Hermes was revered at anthesteria - the festival of the awakening of spring and the veneration of the dead.

Hera in Greek mythology is the wife and sister of Zeus. The marriage of Hera with her brother is a vestige of an ancient consanguineous family. Hera personifies, as mentioned earlier, a stable monogamous family. This is precisely what explains her hatred of the illegitimate children of Zeus - in particular, Hercules, to whom Hera creates all sorts of obstacles. Through her monogamous marriage to Zeus, Hera gains supreme power over the other goddesses. Another important function of Hera is helping women in labor. It follows from the main mission of the goddess - to protect the strength of marriage bonds. Hera is the mother of the goddess of childbirth, Ilithyia, whom she sent to speed up the birth of Nikippa and thereby facilitate the accession of Eurystheus instead of Hercules.

At the same time, the image of Hera testifies to the fall of matriarchy. When Hera, in revenge on Zeus, gives birth to Hephaestus without her husband, the child turns out to be ugly, and out of anger, Hera throws him off Olympus, causing Hephaestus to become lame.

The archaic nature of Hera is manifested in the fact that her son is considered to be one of the bloodiest gods of the pre-Olympic period - the god of war Ares. In addition, during the chthonic period, Hera was usually depicted with the eyes of a cow, which is also a vestige of ancient mythology.

Demeter - in ancient Greek mythology, the goddess of fertility, patroness of agriculture; daughter of Kronos and Rhea, sister of Zeus.

The myth of Demeter, which took shape in the ancient center of her cult - the Attic settlement of Eleusis, reflected the primitive idea of ​​​​the periodic dying and rebirth of the plant world; Demeter's daughter Persephone (Kore) was kidnapped by the god of the underworld Hades, and the angry Demeter deprived the earth of fertility; Therefore, Zeus ordered Persephone to spend two-thirds of the year with her mother on earth, and for the time between the summer harvest of winter crops and the appearance of the first sprouts of a new crop in the fall, Persephone had to return to the kingdom of the dead.

The cult of Demeter, widespread in many areas of Greece, merged in Ancient Rome with the cult of the Italian plant deity Ceres.

Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto. In the image of this god, archaic and chthonic features merged, so the deity performs contradictory functions - both destructive and beneficent. However, it is believed that Apollo appeared already in the Olympian period, since he and Artemis were born on the floating island of Asteria, since Hera forbade Leto to set foot on solid ground for betraying Zeus, which indicates an increase in the role of the family 9. Apollo is a rather cruel god: with his arrows he sends sudden death to the elderly, participates in the murder of Patroclus by Hector and Achilles by Paris, fights Hercules, destroys the children of Niobe, flays the satyr Marsyas for the latter’s insolence. At the same time, he is a doctor who stopped the plague during the Peloponnesian War, a protector from harm, a soothsayer, the founder and builder of cities, and the patron of singers and musicians.

The image of Apollo reflected the originality of Greek mythology in its historical development. Archaic Apollo is characterized by the presence of plant functions, his closeness to agriculture and shepherding. Apollo's zoomorphism is manifested in his connection and even identification with a raven, swan, wolf, mouse, ram 10.

During the Olympian period, Apollo helps people, teaches them wisdom and arts, builds cities for them, and protects them from enemies. The image of the deity also undergoes changes: from now on, Apollo is perceived as the ideal of male beauty.

Dionysus is the god of the fruitful forces of the earth, vegetation, viticulture, and winemaking. The cult of Dionysus appeared in Greece during the Olympic period. This was manifested in myths about the illegitimate birth of a god and his struggle for the right to become one of the Olympian gods. Dionysus teaches people viticulture and winemaking, and strives to relieve them of worries at least for a while. This is manifested in the appearance of the eternally young, handsome Dionysus. At the same time, the archaic zoomorphic origin of Dionysus was reflected, in particular, in the myth of the pirates who wanted to sell Dionysus into slavery, but the shackles fell from the hands of the deity, and the cordage was entwined with the vines. The robbers turned into dolphins at the request of Dionysus.

Thus, we can say that the religious ideas and religious life of the ancient Greeks were in close connection with their entire historical life. Already in the most ancient monuments of Greek creativity, the anthropomorphic nature of Greek polytheism is clearly evident, explained by the national characteristics of the entire cultural development in this area; concrete representations, generally speaking, prevail over abstract ones, just as in quantitative terms humanoid gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines prevail over deities of abstract meaning (who, in turn, receive anthropomorphic features). In this or that cult, different writers or artists associate different general or mythological (and mythographic) ideas with this or that deity.

We know different combinations, hierarchies of the genealogy of divine beings - “Olympus”, various systems of “twelve gods” (for example, in Athens - Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes). Such connections are explained not only from the creative moment, but also from the conditions of the historical life of the Hellenes; in Greek polytheism one can also trace later layers (eastern elements; deification - even during life). In the general religious consciousness of the Hellenes, there apparently did not exist any specific generally accepted dogma.