Ancient Greek legends. Myths and legends of Ancient Greece - one of the forms of history

Nikolay Kun

Legends and myths of Ancient Greece

Part one. Gods and heroes

The myths about the gods and their struggle with giants and titans are set forth mainly on the basis of Hesiod's poem "Theogony" (The Origin of the Gods). Some legends are also borrowed from the poems of Homer "Iliad" and "Odyssey" and the poem of the Roman poet Ovid "Metamorphoses" (Transformation).

In the beginning, there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos. It was the source of the life of the world. Everything arose out of boundless Chaos - the whole world and the immortal gods. Goddess Earth - Gaia also originated from Chaos. It is spread wide, powerful, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. Far below the Earth, as far away as the vast, bright sky is far from us, in the immeasurable depth, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss full of eternal darkness. From Chaos, the source of life, was born a mighty force, which animates all Love - Eros. The world began to be created. Boundless Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness - Erebus and the dark Night - Nyukta. And from the Night and Darkness came the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful bright Day - Hemera. Light spread throughout the world, and night and day began to replace each other.

The mighty, blessed Earth gave birth to the boundless blue Sky - Uranus, and the Sky stretched over the Earth. The high Mountains, born of the Earth, proudly ascended to him, and the eternally rustling Sea spread wide.

Heaven, Mountains and Sea were born by Mother Earth, and they have no father.

Uranus - Heaven - reigned in the world. He took a blessed land for himself. Uranus and Gaia had six sons and six daughters - powerful, formidable titans. Their son, the titan Ocean, flowing around the whole earth like a boundless river, and the goddess Thetis gave birth to all the rivers that roll their waves to the sea, and the sea goddesses - oceanids. Titan Hiperion and Theia gave the world children: the Sun - Helios, the Moon - Selena and the ruddy Dawn - rosy-toed Eos (Aurora). From Astrea and Eos came all the stars that burn in the dark night sky, and all the winds: the stormy north wind Boreas, the east Evrus, the humid south Not and the gentle west wind Zephyr, carrying heavy rain clouds.

In addition to the titans, the mighty Earth gave birth to three giants - cyclops with one eye in their forehead - and three huge, like mountains, fifty-headed giants - hundred-handed (hecatoncheirs), so named because each of them had a hundred hands. Nothing can resist their terrible strength, their elemental strength knows no limit.

Uranus hated his giant children, he imprisoned them in the depths of the Earth goddess in deep darkness and did not allow them to come out into the light. Their mother Earth suffered. She was crushed by this terrible burden enclosed in her bowels. She summoned her children, the titans, and persuaded them to rebel against the father of Uranus, but they were afraid to raise their hands on their father. Only the youngest of them, the insidious Cronus, cunningly overthrew his father and took power from him.

The Goddess of the Night gave birth to a whole host of terrible substances as punishment for Cronus: Thanata - death, Eridu - discord, Apatu - deception, Ker - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with a swarm of dark, heavy visions, Nemesis who knows no mercy - revenge for crimes - and many others. Horror, strife, deceit, struggle and misfortune brought these gods into the world, where Cronus reigned on the throne of his father.

The picture of the life of the gods on Olympus is given according to the works of Homer - "Iliad" and "Odyssey", glorifying the tribal aristocracy and the Basileus leading it as the best people, standing much higher than the rest of the population. The gods of Olympus differ from aristocrats and basileus only in that they are immortal, powerful and can work miracles.

The birth of Zeus

Krohn was not sure that power would forever remain in his hands. He was afraid that the children would rise up against him and find him to the same fate to which he had doomed his father Uranus. He was afraid of his children. And Cronus commanded his wife Rhea to bring him the children who were born and mercilessly swallowed them. Rhea was horrified, seeing the fate of her children. Already five were swallowed by Cronus: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Aida (Hades) and Poseidon.

Rhea did not want to lose her last child either. On the advice of her parents, Uranus-Heaven and Gaia-Earth, she retired to the island of Crete, and there, in a deep cave, her youngest son Zeus was born. In this cave, Rhea hid her son from her cruel father, and gave him a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow instead of his son. Cronus did not suspect that he was deceived by his wife.

And Zeus, meanwhile, was growing up in Crete. The nymphs Adrastea and Idea cherished little Zeus, they fed him with the milk of the divine goat Amalfea. Bees carried honey to little Zeus from the slopes of the high mountain of Dikta. At the entrance to the cave, young kuretas hit their shields with swords whenever little Zeus cried so that Cronus would not hear him cry and Zeus would not suffer the fate of his brothers and sisters.

Zeus overthrows Crohn. The fight of the Olympian gods against the titans

The beautiful and mighty god Zeus grew up and matured. He rebelled against his father and forced him to bring back the children he had absorbed into the world. One after another, from the mouth of Cronus, he cast out his children-gods, beautiful and bright. They began a struggle with Cronus and the Titans for power over the world.

This struggle was terrible and stubborn. Crohn's children established themselves on high Olympus. Some of the titans also took their side, and the first were the titan Ocean and his daughter Styx and the children of Zeal, Power and Victory. This struggle was dangerous for the Olympian gods. Titans, their opponents, were powerful and formidable. But Cyclops came to the aid of Zeus. They forged him thunder and lightning, and Zeus threw them into titans. The struggle had been going on for ten years, but victory did not lean towards either side. Finally, Zeus decided to free from the bowels of the earth the hundred-handed giants-hecatoncheires; he called them for help. Terrible, huge as mountains, they emerged from the bowels of the earth and rushed into battle. They tore off whole rocks from the mountains and threw them at the titans. Hundreds of rocks flew towards the Titans as they approached Olympus. The earth moaned, a roar filled the air, everything around was vibrating. Even Tartarus shuddered from this struggle.

Zeus threw fiery lightning and deafening thunders one after another. The fire engulfed the entire earth, the seas boiled, smoke and stench covered everything with a thick veil.

Finally, the mighty titans wavered. Their strength was broken, they were defeated. The Olympians fettered them and cast them into gloomy Tartarus, into eternal darkness. At the copper indestructible gates of Tartarus, one hundred-armed hecatoncheires stood guard, and they are guarding so that the mighty titans do not break free from Tartarus again. The power of the titans in the world has passed.

A myth in its essence is one of the forms of history that satisfies the inherent need of the human race for its own identification and answers emerging questions about the origin of life, culture, relations between people and nature. Thus, Greek mythology had a fairly strong impact on the development of ancient culture and, in general, on the formation of the Myths and legends of Ancient Greece preserve the past of mankind, being its history in all its manifestations.

Since ancient times, the Greeks have formed an idea of an eternal, limitless and harmoniously single Cosmos. They were based on emotional and intuitive insight into the mystery of this boundless Chaos, the source of the life of the world, and man was perceived as part of a cosmic unity. In the early stages of history, the legends and myths of Ancient Greece reflected ideas about the surrounding reality, played the role of a landmark in everyday life. This fantastic reflection of reality, being the primary source of the formation of the worldview, expressed the powerlessness of man in front of nature, its elemental forces. However, the ancients were not afraid to learn a world filled with fear-inspiring Myths and legends of Ancient Greece indicate that the boundless thirst for knowledge of the world around them prevailed over the fear of an unknown danger. Suffice it to recall the numerous exploits of mythical heroes, the fearless adventures of the Argonauts, Odysseus and his team.

The myths and legends of Ancient Greece are the oldest form of understanding natural phenomena. The appearance of the rebellious and wild nature was personified in the form of animate and quite real creatures. Fantasy has inhabited the world with good and evil mythical creatures. So, dryads, satyrs, centaurs settled in picturesque groves, oreads lived in the mountains, nymphs lived in rivers, and oceanids lived in the seas and oceans.

The myths and legends of Ancient Greece from the legends of other peoples are distinguished by a characteristic feature, which consists in the humanization of divine beings. This made them closer and more understandable to ordinary people, most of whom perceived these legends as their ancient history. The mysterious forces of nature, not subject to the understanding and influence of a common man in the street, became more understandable for the imagination of an ordinary person.

The people of Ancient Greece became the creator of unique and colorful legends about the life of people, immortal gods and heroes. The myths harmoniously intertwine memories of the distant and little-known past and poetic fiction. No other human creation is distinguished by such richness and completeness of images. This explains their unforgettableness. The myths and legends of Ancient Greece presented images that are often used by art in various ways. Inexhaustible legendary plots were often used and are still popular among historians and philosophers, sculptors and painters, poets and writers. In myths, they draw ideas for their own works and often bring something new to them, corresponding to a certain historical period.

reflecting the moral views of man, his aesthetic attitude to reality, helped to shed light on the political and religious institutions of that time, to understand the nature of myth-making.

Recognized as a fundamental phenomenon in world history. She served as the basis for the culture of all of Europe. Many images of Greek mythology are firmly fixed in language, consciousness, artistic images, philosophy. Everyone understands and is familiar with such concepts as "Achilles' heel", "bonds of Hymeneus", "cornucopia", "Augean stables", "Sword of Damocles", "Ariadne's thread", "apple of discord" and many others. But often, using these winged expressions in speech, people do not think about their true meaning and history of origin.

Ancient Greek mythology has played an important role in the development of modern history. Her research yielded important information about the life of ancient civilizations and the formation of religion.

The oldest 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 heart of a person either fear and horror, then hope and trust - personifications of forces mysterious for a person, but obviously dominating his fate, which were the first objects of worship among all peoples. But the gods of ancient Greece were not only symbols of the forces of external nature; they were at the same time the creators and keepers of all moral goods, the personification of all the forces of moral life. All those forces of the human spirit that create cultural life, and the development of which among the Greek people gave it such an important meaning in the history of mankind, were invested by him in the myths of the gods. The gods of Greece are the personification of all the great and wonderful forces 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 like people, therefore they felt obliged to become like gods; the concern for cultivation was a religious duty for them. Greek culture has a close relationship with the Greek religion.

Gods of Ancient Greece. Video

Different generations of the gods of ancient Greece

The foundation of the religion of Ancient Greece in the Pelasgian time was the worship of the forces of nature, manifested in heaven, on earth, in the sea. Those gods, who were among the pre-Greek Pelasgians the most ancient personifications of the forces of earth and sky, were overthrown by a series of catastrophes, the legends about which were preserved in the ancient Greek myths about the struggle of the Olympians with the titans and giants. The new gods of Ancient Greece, who took the dominion from the previous ones, descended from them, but already had a completely human image.

Zeus and Hera

So, the world began to be ruled by new humanoid gods, the main of which was Zeus, the son of Cronus in the myths; but the former gods, the personified forces of nature, retained their mysterious efficacy, which even the all-powerful Zeus cannot overcome. As the 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 a cloud collector, sitting on a throne in the height of the ether, shaking with his lightning shield, Aegis (thundercloud), life-giving and fertilizing the earth, at the same time the installer, the guardian of the legal order. All rights, especially family rights and the custom of hospitality, are under his protection. He tells rulers to be concerned about the welfare of the ruled. He gives prosperity to kings and peoples, cities and families; he is also justice. He is the source of all that is good and noble. He is the father of the goddesses of hours (Ohr), personifying the correct course of annual changes in nature and the correct order of human life; he is the father of the Muses who give joy to the heart of man.

His wife, Hera, in the myths of Ancient Greece, is a grumpy goddess of the atmosphere, who has as her servants a rainbow (Iris) and clouds (the Greek name for a cloud, nephele, a feminine word), at the same time she is the installer of the sacred marriage union, in honor of which the Greeks performed on the holiday of abundant spring 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 marriage with children and protects children. Hera relieves women in childbirth; she is assisted in this care by her daughter Eileithyia.

Athena Pallas

The virgin goddess Athena Pallas, 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 scatters dark clouds with her spear, and the personification of victorious energy in any struggle. Athena has always been depicted with a shield, sword and spear. Her constant companion was the winged goddess of victory (Nika). Among the Greeks, Athena was the guardian of cities and fortresses, she also gave people the correct, just social and state order. The image of the goddess Athena personified wise balance, calm, discerning mind, necessary for the creators of works of mental activity and art.

The Virgin Athena statue 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 the service of Pallas. A huge statue of Athena by Phidias stood in the magnificent temple of the Athenian Acropolis - the Parthenon. Many myths associated Athena with the famous ancient Greek city. The most famous of these was the myth of the dispute between Athena and Poseidon over the possession of Attica. The goddess Athena won it, giving the region the basis of her agriculture - an olive tree. Ancient Athens celebrated many festivals in honor of its beloved goddess. The main ones were two holidays of the Panathenes - Great and Small. Both, according to the myths of ancient Greece about the gods, were established by one of the most ancient progenitors of Athens - Erechtheus. The Lesser Panathenes were celebrated annually, and the Great ones - once every four years. For the great Panathenaea, all the inhabitants of Attica gathered in Athens and arranged 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, where people in white robes crowded.

God Hephaestus in Greek myths

Hephaestus, the god of heavenly and earthly fire, was close to Pallas Athena, the goddess of the arts. The strongest activity of Hephaestus was manifested by volcanoes on the islands, especially on Lemnos and Sicily; but in the application of fire to the affairs of human life, Hephaestus greatly helped the development of culture. Prometheus also has a close relationship with the concept of Athena, who brought fire to people and taught them the arts of life. The Attic festival of running with torches was dedicated to these three gods, a competition in which the winner was the one who was the first to reach the goal with a burning torch. Pallas Athena was the inventor of the arts for women; lame Hephaestus, often joked about by poets, was the founder of blacksmithing and a master in metalwork. 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 holiday of Anaturia, at which newborn children were carried around with a steep hearth, and this rite consecrated their acceptance into a family union the state.

God Vulcan (Hephaestus). Statue by Thorvaldsen, 1838

Hestia

The significance of the hearth as the center of family life and the beneficial effect of a solid domestic life on moral and social life were personified in the myths of Ancient Greece by the virgin goddess Hestia, a representative of the concepts of a solid settled life, a comfortable home life, the symbol of which was the sacred fire of the hearth. Originally, Hestia was in the ancient Greek myths about the gods the personification of the earth, over which the ethereal fire of the sky burns; but after that it became a symbol of civil accomplishment, which receives 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 patronage. Each tribal union of ancient Greece had a common sanctuary of Hestia, in which they reverently performed symbolic rites. In ancient times, when there were kings and when the king offered sacrifices as a representative of the people, resolved litigations, gathered noble people and ancestors for a council, the hearth of the royal house was a symbol of the state connection of the people; after, the same meaning was given to pritania, the religious center of the state. An unquenchable fire burned on the state hearth of the pritanei, and the pritans, the elected rulers of the people, were to be in turn permanently at this hearth. The hearth was the connection of the earth with the sky; therefore Hestia was in ancient Greece and the goddess of sacrifice. Each solemn sacrifice began with the offering of a sacrifice to her. And all kinds of 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 Apelyun existed. According to Greek myths, Apollo spends the winter in the distant land of the Hyperboreans, and in the spring he returns to Hellas, infusing life into nature, and into man - the joy and desire to sing. Apollo was therefore recognized as the god of singing - and in general of that inspiring power that gives rise to art. Thanks to the revitalizing qualities, the cult of this god was also associated with the idea of healing, protection from evil. With his well-aimed arrows (sunbeams) Apollo destroys all filth. This idea was symbolically expressed by the ancient Greek myth of the killing of the terrible serpent Python by Apollo. The skillful shooter Apollo was considered the brother of the goddess of the hunt Artemis, with whom he killed the sons of the overly proud 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 a prophetic gift. Almost all Greek oracles (including the main one - Delphic) were founded in the sanctuaries of Apollo.

Apollo Saurocton (killing a lizard). Roman copy of a statue of Praxiteles IV century. B.C.

The god of music, poetry, 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 Helikon 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". Clea was the muse of history, Calliope - epic poetry, Melpomene - tragedy, Thalia - comedy, Erato - love poetry, Euterpe - lyrics, Terpsichore - dances, Polyhymnia - hymns, Urania - astronomy.

The sacred plant of Apollo was laurel.

The god of light, purity and healing, Apollo in the myths of Ancient Greece not only heals people from ailments, but also cleanses from sins. From this side, his cult comes into closer contact with moral ideas. Even after the victory over the evil monster Python, Apollo found it necessary to cleanse himself of the filth of murder and, in redemption, went to serve as a shepherd for the Thessalian king Admet. By this, he gave people an example that the one who committed bloodshed must always repent, and became the god-purifier of murderers and criminals. In Greek myths, Apollo healed not only the body, but also the soul. Penitent sinners found forgiveness with 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, 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 Iacinthia. The Carnean festival was celebrated in honor of the Warrior Apollo, in the month of Carneus (August). During this holiday, war games, singing and dancing competitions were held. Iakinthia, celebrated in July (nine days), were accompanied by sad ceremonies in memory of the death of the beautiful young man Iakinth (Hyacinth), the personification of flowers. According to the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, Apollo accidentally killed this pet while throwing a disc (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 holiday of Iakinthy, following the sad rites, cheerful processions of young men and women with flowers passed. The death and resurrection of Iakinth personified the winter death and spring rebirth of plants. This episode of ancient Greek myth seems to have developed under strong Phoenician influence.

Myths about the goddess Artemis

Apollo's sister, Artemis, the virgin goddess of the moon, hunted through the mountains and forests; bathed with nymphs, her companions, in cool streams; was the patroness of wild animals; at night she watered the thirsty land with life-giving dew. But at the same time, Artemis was in the myths of Ancient Greece and the goddess who destroyed seafarers, so in ancient times of Greece people were sacrificed to her to propitiate her. With the development of civilization, Artemis became the goddess of virgin integrity, 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 crops to the land and children to women; in the idea of it, eastern concepts probably joined the myths of Ancient Greece. Artemis was depicted as having many nipples on her chest; this meant that she was a generous nurse for the people. At the magnificent temple of Artemis there were many hierodules and many servants, 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 more and more hidden by the moral. Therefore, Greek mythology created a special sun god, Helios, and a special moon goddess, Selene. - The representative of the healing power of Apollo was also made a special god, the son of Apollo, Asclepius.

Ares and Aphrodite

Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, was originally a symbol of the stormy sky, and his homeland was Thrace, the land of winter storms. Among the ancient Greek poets, he became the god of war. Ares is always armed; he loves the noise of battles. Ares is furious. But he was also the founder of the sacred Athenian tribunal, which tried murder cases, which had a seat on the hill dedicated to Ares, the Areopagus, and was also called Areopagus by the name of this hill. And as the god of storms, and as the fierce god of battles, he is opposite to Pallas Athena, the goddess of the clear sky and the 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 character of love in ancient Greek myths over time. The cult of Aphrodite passed to Ancient Greece from the colonies founded by the Phoenicians in 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, Ashera and Astarte, ideas about which were often mixed. Aphrodite was both Ashera and Astarte. In the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, she corresponded to Ashera, when she was a goddess who loves gardens and flowers, living in groves, the goddess of joyful spring and voluptuousness, enjoying the love of the beautiful youth Adonis in the forest on the mountain. She corresponded to Astarte, when she was revered as the "goddess of heights", as the stern, armed with a spear Aphrodite Urania (heavenly) or Aphrodite of Acreus, whose places of service were the tops of the mountains, who imposed on her priestesses the vow of eternal girlhood, guarded the chastity of conjugal love and family morality ... But the ancient Greeks knew how to combine these opposite ideas and from their combination they created in myths a wondrous image of a graceful, charming, physically beautiful and morally sweet goddess, who delights the heart with the beauty of her forms, arousing tender affection. This mythological combination of physical feelings with moral affection, giving sensual love its natural right, protected people from the rough vulgarity of oriental unbridled voluptuousness. The ideal of feminine beauty and grace, the sweetly smiling Aphrodite of ancient Greek myths and the goddess of the East burdened with heavy and precious attire - these 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, in which the goddess, surrounded by eunuchs, served with an unbridled revelry of rough sensuality. True, in later times, with the corruption of morals, vulgar sensuality also penetrated into the Greek service to the goddess of love. Aphrodite of Heaven (Urania), the goddess of honest love, the 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 a rampant vulgar sensuality.

Aphrodite and her son Eros (Eros), turned 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. 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 portrayed as a boy with soft, rounded body outlines.

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 the Arcadian shepherds sacrificed on Mount Killene, also received moral significance; he was their personification of the power of the sky, which gives grass to their pastures, and the father of their ancestor, Arkas. According to their myths, Hermes, still a baby wrapped in a lullaby (in the fog of dawn), stole the flocks (bright clouds) of the sun god, Apollo, and hid them in a damp cave by the sea coast; pulling 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 flute, with which he walks through the mountains of his homeland. Subsequently, Hermes became the guardian of roads, crossroads and travelers, the keeper of the streets, boundaries. On the latter, stones were placed, which were symbols of Hermes, and his images, giving the boundaries of the sites holiness and strength.

God Hermes. Sculpture Phidias (?)

The Herms (that is, the symbols of Hermes) were originally just heaps of stones piled on the borders, along the roads, and especially at the intersections; these were boundary and track signs that were considered sacred. Passers-by threw stones to those laid 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, ribbons. Subsequently, the Greeks put triangular or tetrahedral stone pillars with track and boundary marks; over time, they began to give them a more skillful finish, they usually made a pillar with a head, sometimes with a phallus, a symbol of fertility. Such herms stood on the roads, and along the streets, squares, at the gates, at the doors; put them in palaestrah, in gymnasiums, because Hermes was in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods the patron saint of gymnastic exercises.

From the concept of the god of rain penetrating the earth, the concept of mediation between heaven, earth and the underworld developed, and Hermes became in the myths of Ancient Greece a god who escorted the souls of the dead to the underworld (Hermes Psychopompos). Thus, he was put in close connection with the gods living in the earth (chthonic gods). These ideas came from the concept of the relationship between the emergence and death of plants in the cycle of life in nature and from the concept of Hermes as the messenger of the gods; they served as the source of many ancient Greek myths that put Hermes in a very diverse relationship to the everyday affairs of people. The original myth already made him cunning: he deftly stole the cows of Apollo and managed to make peace with this god; with clever inventions, Hermes was able to extricate himself from difficult situations. This trait remained an invariable attribute of the character of the god Hermes in the later ancient Greek myths about him: he was the personification of everyday dexterity, the patron saint of all occupations in which success is given by the ability to speak cleverly and the ability to be silent, hide the truth, pretend, 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 its original pastoral meaning was transferred to one of the minor gods, Pan, the "god of the pastures", just as the physical meaning of Apollo and Artemis was transferred to less important gods. Helios and Selene.

God pan

Pan was in ancient Greek myths the god of goat herds that grazed on the wooded mountains of Arcadia; there he was born. His father was Hermes, his mother was the daughter of Driopa ("the forest god"). Pan walks through the shady valleys; caves serve as his shelter; he has fun with the nymphs of the forest and mountain springs, dancing to the sounds of his shepherd's flute (syringa, syrinx), an instrument that he invented; sometimes he himself dances with the nymphs. Pan is sometimes kind to the shepherds and enters into friendship with us; but sometimes he does trouble to them, raising a sudden fright in the herd ("panic" fear), so that the whole herd scatters. God Pan remained forever in Ancient Greece as a merry 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 features of animals.

God Pan and Daphnis, the hero of the 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 under the earth, more than the deities of heaven and air, retained the original meaning of the personified forces of nature: but they also received human features. Poseidon - in the myths of Ancient Greece, the divine power of all waters, the god of the sea and all rivers, streams, sources that fertilize the earth. Therefore, he was the main god on the seashore and on the capes. Poseidon is strong, broad-shouldered, and has an indomitable character. When he strikes the sea with his trident, a storm rises, waves beat against the cliffs of the shores so that the earth trembles, the cliffs crack and collapse. But Poseidon is a good god: he brings springs out of the cracks of the rocks to fertilize the valleys; he created and tamed the horse; he is the patron saint of horse racing and all war games, the patron saint of all daring trips, whether on horseback, in chariots, over land, or by sea in ships. In ancient Greek myths, Poseidon is a mighty builder who established the land and its islands, who laid the solid boundaries of the sea. He raises storms, but he also gives a favorable wind; at his beck, the sea swallows up the ships; but he also conducts the ships in the pier. Poseidon is the patron saint of navigation; he guards the maritime trade and rule the course of the naval war.

God of ships and horses, Poseidon played, according to the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, an important role in all the campaigns and sea expeditions of the heroic age. The homeland of his cult was Thessaly, the land of the Neptune formation, herds of horses and navigation; then his service spread to Boeotia, Attica, across 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 Onhest and on Isthma. In Onheste, his sanctuaries and their grove stood picturesquely on a beautiful and fertile hill above Lake Kopai. The terrain of the Isthmian Games was a hill near Shin (Schoinos, "Reeds", a lowland overgrown with reeds), shaded by a pine grove. Symbolic rituals borrowed from the legend of the death of Melikert, that is, from the Phoenician service to Melkart, were introduced into the worship of Poseidon on Isthma. - The horses of the heroic age, fast as the wind, were created by the god Poseidon; in particular, Pegasus was created by him. - Poseidon's wife, Amphitrite, was the personification of the rustling 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. Newts belonged to Poseidon's retinue, the number of which was innumerable. They were cheerful creatures of the most varied forms, the personification of noisy, ringing, sliding waves and mysterious forces of the depths of the sea, fantastically transformed sea animals. They played on pipes made of shells, frolicked, trailed after the Nereids. They were one of my favorite pieces of art. Proteus, the sea god, the soothsayer of the future, who, according to ancient Greek myths, had the ability to take all kinds of forms, also belonged to the numerous retinue of Poseidon. When the Greek sailors began to sail far away, then, returning, they astonished their people with myths about the wonders of the western sea: about sirens, beautiful sea girls who live there on underwater islands under the bright surface of the waters and with seductive singing insidiously lure sailors into destruction, about the good Glaucus , the sea god predicting 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, surrounded by a rocky, rocky , on which the god of the winds Aeolus lives cheerfully in a magnificent palace with his airy sons and daughters.

Underground Gods - Hades, Persephone

In the myths of Ancient Greece, the worship of those gods of nature who acted both in the bowels of the earth and on the surface of it had the greatest similarity with eastern religions. Human life is in such close connection with the development and withering of vegetation, with the growth and maturation of bread and grapes, that divine services, popular beliefs, art, religious theories and myths about gods combined their most profound ideas with the mysterious activities of the gods of the earth. The range 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; dies at the onset of winter, and is reborn in the spring from the earth, in which its seeds were hidden 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 a dark underworld, where instead of the radiant Apollo and the bright Pallas Athena, the gloomy, stern Hades (Hades, Hades) and the strict beauty, his wife, reign in a magnificent palace , the formidable Persephone. Thoughts about how close birth and death are, 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 in it, and there was a sad side. And in Hellas, as in the East, the service to the gods of the earth was exalted; his rituals consisted in the expression of feelings of joy and sadness, and those who performed them had to 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, aroused thinking about religious issues, led people to acquire lofty ideas about the deity. The feasts of the gods of the earth, especially Dionysus, contributed a lot to the development of poetry, music, dancing; plastic loved to take objects for their works from the circle of ancient Greek myths about funny fantastic creatures accompanying Pan and Dionysus. And the Eleusinian mysteries, the teachings of which spread throughout the Greek world, gave deep interpretations to the myths about the "earth-mother", the goddess Demeter, about the abduction of her daughter (Cora) Persephone by the harsh ruler of the underworld, about the fact that Persephone's life goes on earth, then under the ground. These teachings inspired a person that death is not terrible, that the soul experiences the body. The powers that reign in the bowels of the earth aroused awe in the ancient Greeks; one could not speak of these forces fearlessly; thoughts about them were transmitted in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods under the guise of symbols, were not expressed directly, had only to be guessed under allegories. Mysterious teachings surrounded with solemn mystery these formidable gods, in the treasure of darkness creating life and perceiving the dead, ruling the earthly and afterlife of man.

The gloomy husband of Persephone, Hades (Hades), "Zeus of the underworld," reigns supreme 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 is free to enter them; their guard, the three-headed dog Cerberus, gently lets in those who come in, but does not allow them to go back. Weeping willows and barren poplars surround the vast palace of Hades. The shadows of the dead sweep 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 underworld of Hades. According to different myths in different countries, the entrance to it was always in the wilderness, where rivers flow through deep gorges, the water of which seems to be dark, where caves, hot springs and vapors show the proximity of the kingdom of the dead. For example, there was an entrance to the underworld at Thesprotia Gulf in southern Epirus, where the Acheron River and Lake Acherus infected their surroundings with miasma; at Cape Tenar; in Italy, in the volcanic area near the city of Qom. In the same areas there were also those oracles, whose answers were given by the souls of the dead.

Ancient Greek myths and poetry talked a lot about the kingdom of the dead. Fantasy sought to give curiosity accurate information, which science did not give, to penetrate into the darkness surrounding the afterlife, and inexhaustily created new images belonging to the underworld.

The two main rivers of the underworld, according to the myths of the Greeks, are Styx and Acheron, "a dull rustling 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, Piriflegeton ("River of Fire") and Cocytus ("Sobbing"). The souls of the dead were taken to the underground kingdom of Hades by Hermes. Stern old man Charon transported in his boat through the surrounding Styx under the earthly kingdom those souls whose bodies were buried with an obol placed in a coffin to pay him for the transportation. The souls of the unburied people were to wander homelessly 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, unconscious, but these ghosts instinctively do what 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 like to live better on earth as a day laborer with a poor man than to be the king of the dead in the underworld. But offering sacrifices to the dead improved their miserable lot. 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 drink restored their consciousness. The Greeks sacrificed the dead on their tombs. Turning their faces to the west, they cut the sacrificial animal over a deep pit, purposely dug in the ground, and the animal's blood flowed into this pit. Later, when the idea of the afterlife was more fully developed in the Eleusinian mysteries, the myths of Ancient Greece began to divide the underworld of Hades into two parts, Tartarus and Elysium. In Tartarus, villains, condemned by the judges of the dead, led a miserable existence; they were tormented by Erinias, strict guardians of moral laws, inexorably avenging every violation of the requirements of moral feeling, and countless evil spirits, in the invention of which Greek fantasy showed the same inexhaustibility as Egyptian, Indian and medieval European. Elysium, lying, according to ancient Greek myths, by the ocean (or an archipelago on the ocean, called the Islands of the Blessed), was the area of the afterlife of the 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 of the gods, the good Cronus reigns; the land yields there three times a year, the meadows there bloom forever. The heroes and the righteous lead a blissful life there; they have wreaths on their heads, garlands of the most beautiful flowers and branches of beautiful trees near their hands; they enjoy singing, horseback riding, gymnastic games.

The wisest kings, the legislators of the mythical Cretan-Carian time, also live there, Minos both Radamant and the pious ancestor of the Eakids Eak, who according to the later myth became the judges of the dead. Under the chairmanship of Hades and Persephone, they investigated the feelings and deeds of people and decided on the merits of the deceased person whether his soul should go to Tartarus or Elysium. - Both they and other pious heroes of ancient Greek myths were rewarded for their beneficial activities on earth for continuing their studies in the afterlife, so the great lawless people of mythical stories were subjected to divine justice to punishments consistent with their crimes. The myths about their fate in the underworld showed the Greeks what bad inclinations and passions lead to; this fate was only a continuation, development of the deeds they committed in life and gave rise to the torment of their conscience, the symbols of which were the pictures of their material torment. So, the impudent Titius, 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 a repository of sensual passions (an obvious reworking of the myth of Prometheus). The punishment for another hero of myths, 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 went down "to a 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 Ether (Corinth), was condemned to roll a stone up the mountain, constantly rolling down; - the personification of waves constantly running on the banks of Isthm, and escaping from them. The eternal vain 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 a punishment to him for the fact that, while visiting Zeus, he violated the rights of hospitality, wanted to rape the chaste Hera. - The Danaids always carried water and poured it into a bottomless barrel.

Myths, poetry, art of Ancient Greece taught people good, 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 the myths showing that, having descended into the underworld, one can return from there to earth. So, for example, about Hercules it was said that he overcame 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 thought that the power of death should not be considered irresistible. The concepts of the underworld of Hades were interpreted in new myths and sacraments, which 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 gradually became the kind ruler of the kingdom of the dead and the giver of wealth; the trappings of horror were removed from the concept of him. The genius of death in the most ancient works of art was depicted as a dark-colored boy with twisted legs, symbolically denoting the idea that life is broken by death. Little by little, in ancient Greek myths, he assumed the form of a beautiful youth with a drooping head, holding an overturned and extinguished torch in his hand, and became completely like 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, sprinkles tranquility on them from a horn or from a poppy stalk; it is accompanied by the genius of dreams - Morpheus, Fantaz, bringing joy to the sleeping. Even the Erinias lost their ruthlessness in ancient Greek myths, they became 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, giving rise to everything and taking everything back into itself, did not appear in the myths of Ancient Greece in the foreground. Only in some of the sanctuaries that had oracles, and in the theogonic systems that set out the history of the development of the cosmos, was it mentioned as the mother of the gods. Even the ancient Greek oracles, which originally all belonged to her, passed almost all under the rule of the new gods. The life of nature, developing on earth, was produced from the activity of the deities who ruled over its various areas; the service of 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, grapevines and bread, even in Pelasgian times, was explained by the activities of Dionysus and Demeter. Later, when the influence of the East penetrated into Ancient Greece, a third, borrowed from Asia Minor, the goddess of the earth, Rhea Cybele, was added to these two gods.

Demeter in the myths of ancient Greece

Demeter, "mother earth", 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 rise and ripeness to bread and other fruits of the fields. She was a "fair-haired" goddess, under whose patronage people plow, sow, reap, knit bread in sheaves, thresh. Demeter gives harvests. She sent Triptolemus to walk all over the earth and teach people about arable farming and good manners. Demeter combined with Yason, the sower, and bore him Plutos (wealth); she punished with insatiable hunger the wicked Erisichton, "spoiling the earth." 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, family virtues. Therefore, Demeter was the "law-governor" (Thesmophoros), and the five-day feast of Thesmophorii, the "statutes," was celebrated in her honor. The rites 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 rituals of which had as their main content a symbolic glorification of the gifts received by people from the gods of the earth. The Union of Amphictyons, meeting at Thermopylae, was also under the auspices of Demeter, the goddess of civil amenities.

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 light heavenly 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, the 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 feast of Demeter the Sorrowful was celebrated, the sad rites of which were similar to the Phoenician cult of Adonis. The human heart longs for an explanation of the question of death; The Eleusinian mysteries were among the ancient Greeks an attempt to solve this riddle; they were not a philosophical presentation 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 principle; for them, the descent into the underworld is life, for the uninitiated it is horror. The daughter of Demeter, Persephone, was in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods as a link 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 intoxicates people. The vine and wine became symbols of Dionysus, and he himself became the god of joy and brotherly 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 exaltation - those that later formed the basis of the 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 fun of that time of the year when everything blooms, and sadness when the vegetation withers. Joyous and sad feelings later 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. Dionysus was originally the rude god of the common people. But in the era of tyranny, its importance increased. The tyrants, who most often acted as the leaders of the lower classes in the struggle against the nobility, deliberately opposed the plebeian Dionysus to the refined gods of the aristocracy and gave the festivities in honor of him a wide, nationwide character.

Part one. Gods and heroes

Heaven, Mountains and Sea were born by Mother Earth, and they have no father.

Gods

Zeus

The birth of Zeus

Zeus overthrows Crohn. The fight of the Olympian gods against the titans

Zeus threw fiery lightning and deafening thunders one after another. The fire engulfed the entire earth, the seas boiled, smoke and stench covered everything with a thick veil.

Fighting Zeus with Typhon

But the struggle did not end there. Gaia-Earth was angry with the Olympian Zeus for treating her defeated titan children so harshly. She married the gloomy Tartarus and gave birth to the terrible hundred-headed monster Typhon. Huge, with a hundred dragon heads, Typhon rose from the bowels of the earth. With a wild howl he shook the air. The barking of dogs, human voices, the roar of an angry bull, the roar of a lion were heard in this howl. A stormy flame swirled around Typhon, and the earth trembled under his heavy steps. The gods shuddered with horror But Zeus the Thunderer boldly rushed at him, and the battle broke out. Lightning flashed again in the hands of Zeus, thunder was heard. The earth and the firmament shook to the ground. The earth flared up with a bright flame again, as during the fight against the titans. The seas were seething with Typhon's approach. Hundreds of fiery arrows-lightning of the thunderer Zeus fell; it seemed that from their fire the very air was burning and dark thunderclouds were burning. Zeus incinerated Typhon with all of his hundred heads. Typhon collapsed to the ground; such heat emanated from his body that everything around him melted. Zeus raised the body of Typhon and threw it into the gloomy Tartarus, which gave birth to him. But in Tartarus, Typhon also threatens the gods and all living things. He causes storms and eruptions; he gave birth to the Echidna, half-woman, half-snake, the terrible two-headed dog Orff, the hellish dog Cerberus, the Lernean hydra and the Chimera; Typhon often shakes the ground.

The Olympian gods defeated their enemies. No one else could resist their power. They could now quietly rule the world. The most powerful of them, the thunderer Zeus, took the sky for himself, Poseidon - the sea, and Hades - the underworld of the souls of the dead. The land remained in common possession. Although the sons of Cronus shared the power over the world among themselves, Zeus, the ruler of the sky, reigns over all of them; he rules over people and gods, he knows everything in the world.

Olympus

Zeus reigns high on the bright Olympus, surrounded by a host of gods. Here are his wife Hera, and the golden-haired Apollo with his sister Artemis, and the golden Aphrodite, and the mighty daughter of Zeus Athena, and many other gods. Three beautiful Ora guard the entrance to high Olympus and raise a thick cloud that closes the gates when the gods descend to earth or ascend to the light halls of Zeus. High above Olympus, the blue, bottomless sky spreads wide, and golden light pours from it. There is no rain or snow in the kingdom of Zeus; there is always a bright, joyful summer. And below the clouds swirl, sometimes they cover the distant land. There, on earth, spring and summer are replaced by autumn and winter, joy and fun are replaced by misfortune and grief. True, the gods also know sorrows, but they soon pass away, and joy re-emerges on Olympus.

The gods feast in their golden palaces built by the son of Zeus, Hephaestus. King Zeus sits on a high golden throne. The courageous, divinely beautiful face of Zeus breathes greatness and a proudly calm consciousness of power and power. At his throne is the goddess of peace Eirena and the constant companion of Zeus, the winged goddess of victory Nika. Here comes the beautiful, majestic goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus. Zeus honors his wife: Hera, the patroness of marriage, all the gods of Olympus surround with honor. When, shining with her beauty, in a magnificent dress, the great Hera enters the banquet hall, all the gods rise and bow before the wife of the thunderer Zeus. And she, proud of her power, goes to the golden throne and sits down next to the king of gods and people - Zeus. Near the throne of Hera stands her messenger, the goddess of the rainbow, light-winged Iris, always ready to quickly rush on rainbow wings to fulfill the orders of Hera to the farthest ends of the earth.

The gods are feasting. The daughter of Zeus, young Hebe, and the son of the king of Troy, Ganymede, the favorite of Zeus, who received immortality from him, offer them ambrosia and nectar - the food and drink of the gods. Beautiful charites and muses delight them with singing and dancing. Holding hands, they lead round dances, and the gods admire their light movements and wondrous, eternally youthful beauty. The feast of the Olympians is becoming more fun. At these feasts, the gods decide all matters, they determine the fate of the world and people.

Zeus sends his gifts to people from Olympus and establishes order and laws on earth. The fate of people is in the hands of Zeus; happiness and unhappiness, good and evil, life and death - everything is in his hands. Two large vessels stand at the gates of Zeus's palace. In one vessel the gifts of good, in the other - of evil. Zeus draws good and evil from them and sends them to people. Woe to that person to whom the thunderer draws gifts only from a vessel with evil. Woe to the one who violates the order established by Zeus on earth and does not comply with its laws. The son of Cronus will menacingly move his bushy eyebrows, black clouds will then obscure the sky. The great Zeus is angry, and the hair on his head will rise terribly, his eyes will light up with an unbearable brilliance; he will wave his right hand - thunderclaps will roll across the sky, flaming lightning will flash, and the high Olympus will shake.

Zeus is not alone in keeping the laws. The goddess Themis, who keeps the laws, stands at his throne. She convenes, at the behest of the Thunderer, assemblies of the gods on the bright Olympus, popular assemblies on earth, observing that order and law are not violated. On Olympus and the daughter of Zeus, the goddess Dike, overseeing justice. Zeus severely punishes unrighteous judges when Dike informs him that they do not comply with the laws given by Zeus. Goddess Dike is the protector of truth and the enemy of deception.

Zeus keeps order and truth in the world and sends people happiness and sorrow. But although Zeus sends people happiness and misfortune, nevertheless, the fate of people is determined by the inexorable goddesses of fate - the moira who live on the bright Olympus. The fate of Zeus himself is in their hands. Fate reigns over mortals and over the gods. No one can escape the dictates of inexorable fate. There is no such force, such a power that could change anything in what is intended for gods and mortals. You can only humbly bow before fate and obey it. Some Moiraes know the dictates of fate. Moira Clotho spins the life thread of a person, determining the length of his life. The thread will break and life will end. Moira Lachesis takes out, without looking, the lot that falls to a person in life. No one is able to change the fate determined by the moira, since the third moira, Atropos, puts everything that her sisters assigned in life to a person in a long scroll, and what is included in the scroll of fate is inevitable. The great, harsh moiraes are inexorable.

There is also a goddess of fate on Olympus - this is the goddess Tyuhe, the goddess of happiness and prosperity. From the cornucopia, the horn of the divine goat Amalfea, with whose milk Zeus himself was fed, she will send gifts to people, and happy is the person who meets the goddess of happiness Tyuhe on his life path; but how rare it is, and how unhappy the person from whom the goddess Tyuhe, who has just given him her gifts, turns away!

So the great king of people and gods Zeus, surrounded by a host of light gods, reigns on Olympus, protecting order and truth throughout the world.

Poseidon and the deities of the sea

Deep in the depths of the sea, stands the wonderful palace of the great brother of the Thunderer Zeus, the earth shaker of Poseidon. Poseidon rules over the seas, and the waves of the sea obey the slightest movement of his hand, armed with a formidable trident. There, in the depths of the sea, lives with Poseidon and his beautiful wife Amphitrite, the daughter of the sea prophetic elder Nereus, who was kidnapped by the great ruler of the sea depths Poseidon from her father. He once saw how she danced with her Nereid sisters on the coast of the island of Naxos. The god of the sea was captivated by the beautiful Amphitrite and wanted to take her away in his chariot. But Amphitrite took refuge with the titan Atlas, who holds the firmament on his mighty shoulders. For a long time Poseidon could not find the beautiful daughter of Nereus. Finally a dolphin opened her hideout to him; for this service Poseidon placed the dolphin among the celestial constellations. Poseidon kidnapped the beautiful daughter of Nereus from Atlas and married her.

Since then, Amphitrite lives with her husband Poseidon in an underwater palace. High above the palace, the waves of the sea are rustling. A host of sea deities surrounds Poseidon, obedient to his will. Among them is the son of Poseidon Triton, with the thunderous sound of his trumpet from the shell, causing formidable storms. Among the deities are the beautiful sisters of Amphitrite, the Nereids. Poseidon rules over the sea. When he in his chariot, harnessed by marvelous horses, rushes across the sea, then the eternally rustling waves part and give way to the ruler Poseidon. Equal to the beauty of Zeus himself, he quickly rushes along the endless sea, and dolphins play around him, fish swim out of the depths of the sea and crowd around his chariot. When Poseidon waves his formidable trident, then, like mountains, sea waves rise, covered with white crests of foam, and a fierce storm rages on the sea. Then with a noise the sea shafts beat against the coastal rocks and shake the earth. But Poseidon extends his trident over the waves, and they calm down. The storm dies down, the sea is calm again, exactly like a mirror, and it splashes barely audibly at the shore - blue, boundless.

Many deities surround the great brother of Zeus, Poseidon; among them is the prophetic old man of the sea, Nereus, who knows all the hidden secrets of the future. Lies and deceit are alien to Nereya; he reveals only the truth to gods and mortals. The advice given by the prophetic elder is wise. Nereus has fifty beautiful daughters. Young Nereids are splashing merrily in the waves of the sea, sparkling among them with their divine beauty. Holding hands, they swim out in a row from the depths of the sea and lead a round dance on the shore under the gentle splash of the waves of a calm sea quietly running on the shore. The echo of the coastal rocks then repeats the sounds of their gentle singing, like the quiet roar of the sea. Nereids patronize the sailor and give him a happy voyage.

Among the deities of the sea - and the elder Proteus, changing, like the sea, his image and transforming, at will, into various animals and monsters. He is also a prophetic god, you just need to be able to catch him unexpectedly, take possession of him and force him to reveal the secret of the future. Among the companions of the earth shaker Poseidon is the god Glaucus, the patron saint of sailors and fishermen, and he has the gift of divination. Often, emerging from the depths of the sea, he opened the future and gave wise advice to mortals. The gods of the sea are mighty, their power is great, but the great brother of Zeus, Poseidon, rules over all of them.

All seas and all lands flow around the gray-haired Ocean - the god-titan, equal to Zeus himself in honor and glory. He lives far on the borders of the world, and the affairs of the earth do not disturb his heart. Three thousand sons - river gods and three thousand daughters - oceanids, goddesses of streams and springs, at the Ocean. The sons and daughters of the great God of the Ocean give prosperity and joy to mortals with their ever-rolling living water, they give it to the whole earth and all living things.

The kingdom of dark Hades (Pluto)

Deep underground reigns the inexorable, gloomy brother of Zeus, Hades. His kingdom is full of darkness and horror. The joyful rays of the bright sun never penetrate there. Abyss leads from the surface of the earth to the sad kingdom of Hades. Gloomy rivers flow in it. All the chilling sacred river Styx flows there, the waters of which the gods themselves swear.

Cocytus and Acheron roll their waves there; the souls of the dead announce their gloomy shores with their lament, full of sorrow. In the underworld, the source of Lethe, which gives oblivion to all earthly waters, also streams. In the gloomy fields of the kingdom of Hades, overgrown with the pale flowers of asphodel, ethereal light shadows of the dead rush. They lament their bleak life without light and without desire. Quietly, their groans are heard, subtle, like the rustle of withered leaves driven by the autumn wind. There is no return to anyone from this kingdom of sorrow. The three-headed hellish dog Kerber, on whose neck snakes move with a menacing hiss, guards the exit. The harsh, old Charon, the carrier of the souls of the dead, will not carry a single soul through the gloomy waters of Acheron back to where the sun of life shines brightly. The souls of the dead in the dark kingdom of Hades are doomed to an eternal joyless existence.

In this kingdom, to which neither the light, nor the joy, nor the sorrows of earthly life reach, the brother of Zeus, Hades, rules. He sits on a golden throne with his wife Persephone. He is served by the unforgiving goddesses of vengeance Erinia. Terrible, with whips and snakes, they pursue the criminal; do not give him a minute of peace and torment him with remorse; nowhere can one hide from them, everywhere they find their prey. At the throne of Hades sit the judges of the kingdom of the dead - Minos and Radamant. Here, at the throne, the god of death Thanat with a sword in his hands, in a black cloak, with huge black wings. These wings blow like a grave cold when Thanat flies to the bed of a dying man to cut off a lock of hair from his head with his sword and pluck out his soul. Next to Thanat and gloomy Kera. On their wings they fly, frantic, across the battlefield. The Kera rejoice seeing the slain heroes fall one after the other; with their blood-red lips they fall to the wounds, greedily drink the hot blood of the slain and tear their souls out of their bodies.

Here, at the throne of Hades, and the beautiful, young god of sleep Hypnos. He silently flies on his wings above the ground with poppy heads in his hands and pours a sleeping pill from his horn. He gently touches the eyes of people with his wonderful rod, quietly closes his eyelids and plunges mortals into a sweet sleep. The mighty god Hypnos, neither mortals, nor the gods, nor even the thunderer Zeus himself can oppose him: and Hypnos closes his formidable eyes and plunges him into a deep sleep.

The gods of dreams are also worn in the dark kingdom of Hades. Among them there are gods who give prophetic and joyful dreams, but there are also gods of terrible, oppressive dreams that frighten and torment people. There are gods and deceitful dreams, they mislead a person and often lead him to death.

The kingdom of the inexorable Hades is full of darkness and horror. There is a terrible ghost of Empusa with donkey legs wandering in the darkness; it, having lured people into a secluded place in the darkness of the night by cunning, drinks all the blood and devours their still quivering bodies. The monstrous Lamia also roams there; she sneaks into the bedroom of happy mothers at night and steals their children to drink their blood. All ghosts and monsters are ruled by the great goddess Hecate. She has three bodies and three heads. On a moonless night, she wanders in deep darkness along the roads and by the graves with all her terrible retinue, surrounded by Stygian dogs

An amazing people - the Greeks (as they called themselves), came to the Peloponnese and settled it. In ancient times, all people tried to live next to the river-nurse. And in Greece there were no big rivers. So the Greeks became a seaside people - they were fed by the sea. Brave, curious, they built ships and sailed in the stormy Mediterranean Sea, trading and creating settlements on its shores and islands. They were also pirates, and profited not only from trade, but also from robbery. These people traveled a lot, saw the life of other peoples, and they created myths and legends about gods and heroes. A short ancient Greek myth has become a national folklore tradition. He usually narrated about some of the events that happened to someone who behaved incorrectly, deviating from generally accepted norms. And usually such a story was very instructive.

Are the heroes also alive?

Yes and no. No one worships them, no one makes sacrifices, no one comes to their sanctuaries, asking for advice. But every short ancient Greek myth saved the life of both gods and heroes. In these stories, time stands still and does not move, but the heroes are fighting, actively acting, hunting, fighting, trying to deceive the gods and talking among themselves. They live. The Greeks immediately began to represent the gods in the form of people, only more beautiful, more skillful and endowed with incredible qualities.

For example, a short ancient Greek of the most important deity can tell us how high on light Olympus, surrounded by his wayward, disobedient family, Zeus sits on a high golden throne and establishes order on earth and his harsh laws. While everything is calm, the gods are feasting. young Hebe, brings them ambrosia and nectar. Laughing, joking, offering food to the eagle, she can spill nectar on the ground, and then it will pour out in a short warm summer rain.

But Zeus suddenly got angry, frowned his thick eyebrows, and now the gray ones covered the clear sky. Thunder roared, fiery lightning flashed. Not only the earth is shaking, but also Olympus.

Zeus sends happiness and unhappiness to people, drawing them from two different jugs. Dike's daughter helps him. She oversees justice, defends the truth and does not tolerate deception. Zeus is the guarantor of a fair trial. He is the last one to whom both gods and people go for justice. And Zeus never interferes in the affairs of war - there is no and cannot be justice in battles and bloodshed. But there is a goddess of happy fate on Olympus - Tyuhe. From the goat Amalfea, which Zeus was fed with, she pours gifts of happiness to people. But how infrequently it happens!

So, keeping order in the entire Greek world, reigning over good and evil, Zeus reigns forever. Is he alive? A short ancient Greek myth claims to be alive.

What does love only for yourself lead to

A modern person will never get bored with studying ancient Greek myths. Reading short stories, wondering what deep meaning lies in them, is simply interesting and exciting. Let's move on to the next myth.

Handsome Narcissus considered only himself worthy of love. He paid no attention to anyone, only admired and admired himself. But is this what the valor and virtue of man consist in? His life should bring joy, not grief, to many. And Narcissus cannot help looking into his reflection: a destructive passion for himself is eating him up.

He does not notice the beauty of the world: dew on flowers, hot rays of the sun, beautiful nymphs yearning for friendship with him. The narcissist stops eating and drinking, and feels the approach of death. But he, so young and beautiful, is not afraid, but is waiting for her. And, bending down on the emerald carpet of grass, quietly dies. So Narcissa punished. According to the Greeks, the gods are most willing to help a person when he goes to meet his death. Why would Narcissus live? He is not glad to anyone, he has not done anything good to anyone. But on the bank of the stream, where the selfish handsome man admired himself, a beautiful spring flower grew, which gives happiness to all people.

About love that conquers the stone

Our life consists of love and mercy. Another short Greek myth tells the story of the brilliant sculptor Pygmalion, who carved a beautiful girl out of white ivory. She was so beautiful, so superior to the beauty of human daughters, that the creator admired her every minute and dreamed that she would turn from a cold stone to warm, alive.

Pygmalion wanted the girl to be able to talk to him. Oh, how much they would sit, bowing their heads to each other and confiding secrets. But the girl was cold. Then, at the feast of Aphrodite, Pygmalion decided to pray for mercy. And when he returned home, he saw that the dead statue was bleeding through the veins and life and kindness shone in his eyes. Thus, happiness entered the house of the creator. This short story says that true love overcomes all obstacles.

The dream of immortality, or how the deception ends

They begin to study myths and Greek legends already in elementary school. Ancient Greek myths are interesting and exciting. Grade 3 should read short and entertaining, tragic and instructive stories according to the school curriculum. These are myths about the proud Niobe, about the disobedient Icarus, about the unfortunate Adonis and about the deceiver Sisyphus.

All heroes crave immortality. But it can only be given by the gods, if they themselves want it. The gods are capricious and gloating - every Hellene knows this. And Sisyphus, king of Corinth, was very rich and cunning. He guessed that the deity of death would soon come for him, and ordered to seize him and put him in chains. The gods freed their messenger, and Sisyphus had to die. But he cheated: he did not order himself to be buried and to bring burial sacrifices to the gods. His cunning soul asked for a white light in order to persuade the living to make rich sacrifices. Sisyphus was again believed and released, but of his own free will he did not return to the underworld.

In the end, the gods became very angry and assigned him a special punishment: to show the futility of all human efforts, he had to roll a huge stone up the mountain, and then this boulder rolled down from the other side. This is repeated from day to day, for millennia and to this day: no one is able to cope with divine decrees. And deceiving is simply not good.

Excessive curiosity

Ancient Greek myths are short for children and adults about disobedience and curiosity.

Zeus got angry with people and decided to "bestow" them with evil. To do this, he ordered the craftsman-Hephaestus to create the most adorable girl in the world. Aphrodite gave her an inexpressible charm, Hermes - a subtle dodgy mind. The gods revived her and named her Pandora, which translates as "endowed with all gifts." They married her off to a calm, decent man. He had a tightly closed vessel in his house. Everyone knew that he was filled with sorrows and troubles. But Pandora was not embarrassed.

Slowly, when no one saw, he removed the lid from it! And all the misfortunes of the world instantly flew out of him: disease, poverty, stupidity, discord, strife, wars. When Pandora saw what she had done, she was terribly frightened and waited in a daze until all troubles were freed. And then, as in a fever, she slammed the lid. And what is left at the bottom? The last is hope. It was her that Pandora deprived people of. Therefore, the human race has nothing to hope for. You just need to act and fight for good.

Myths and modernity

If anyone is well known to modern man, it is the gods and heroes of Greece. The heritage of this people is multifaceted. One of the masterpieces is the ancient Greek myths, short. Author Nikolai Albertovich Kuhn is a historian, professor, teacher, but how much he knew and loved Hellas! How many myths with all the details have brought to our times! Therefore, we read Kuhn a lot today. Greek myths are a source of inspiration for all generations of artists and creators.

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