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Poseidon
Pronunciation: Po-si-dun
Etymology: Greek – Husband (of Wheat)
Alternate Spellings & Other Names: Ποσειδων
Epithets: Aegeus (“of the High Sea”), Alidoupos (“Sea Resounding”), Asphaleios (Protector from Earthquakes), Domatites (“of the House” in reference to his shrine near Sparta), Empylios (“At the Gate”), Enosichthon (“Earth Shaker”), Ennosidas, Ennosigaios (“Earth Shaker”), Enosichthon, Ennosidas, Epactaeus (“god worshiped on the coast”), Epoptes (“Supervisor”), Eurykreion (“Wide-Ruling”), Eurymedon (“Widely Ruling”), Eutriaina (“with Goodly Trident”), Gaieochos (“Earth Shaker”), Genesios, Genethlios (“of the race or family”), Helikonios (of Mount Helikon), Helikonios anax (“Lord of Helicon or Helike”), Hippokourios (“Tender of Horses”), Isthmios, Krenouchos (“Ruling over Springs”), Kyanochaites (“dark-haired, dark blue of the sea”), Kymothales (“Abounding with Waves”), Kronios, Patrigenios, Pelagios (“of the open sea”), Petraios (related to rocks), Phratrios (“of the Brotherhood”), Phykios (related to seaweed), Phytalmios, Pontomedon (“Lord of the Sea”), Porthmios (“of strait, narrow sea”), Posidaeia (This is probably a feminine counterpart to Poseidon found on the Linear B script), Poseidon Aegaeus, Poseidon Hippios (Horse Poseidon), Poseidon Temenites (“related to an official domain”), Ptorthios, Seisichthon (“Earth Shaker”), Semnos (“August, Holy”), Tavreios (related to bulls), Themeliouchos (“Upholding the Foundations”), “Savior of Sailors,” “Averter of Earthquakes,” “The Creator and Tamer of Horses,” Nymphagetes (“The Leader of Nymphs”), Poseidon Erechtheus
Poseidon is the god of the Oceans and not just the seas in Greek mythology, but all the waters from streams to rivers, lakes, and storms. The middle brother to Zeus and Hades. As a god of storms, Poseidon could also be very moody and mercurial in his demeanor.
Attributes
Animal: Bull, Coral, Dolphin, Fish, Horse, Sea Lion, Tuna
Color: Blue, Green
Day of the Week: Thursday
Element: Water
Patron of: Sailors
Planet: Neptune
Plant: Kelp, Pine, Seaweed, Wild Celery
Sphere of Influence: Earthquakes, Oceans, Rivers, Lakes, Protection, Storms
Symbols: Coral, Trident
Time of Day: High Tides
Early Greek Depictions
Poseidon is often considered a moody and sometimes quarrelsome deity. When Poseidon is in a good mood, that is when new lands will appear, and the sea will be calm. When Poseidon is in a foul mood, that is when earthquakes could happen, and portions of land and island can sink into the seas to be claimed by him. Storms at sea are attributed to Poseidon, especially if there are shipwrecks and drownings.
Greek art will show Poseidon as a bearded man with curly hair wielding a three-pronged fish spear or trident. Other art will show him in a chariot pulled by either horses or hippocampus. In some art, Poseidon can be shown holding a boulder with various sea creatures on it.
Homeric Hymns – There is a brief invocation, comprising seven lines that address Poseidon as an earth-shaker and God of the deep, that he is the lord of Helicon and Aegae. Homer also says that Poseidon has a shriek as loud as ten thousand men.
Cult & Worship
In pre-Bronze Age Greece, Poseidon was worshiped in Pylos and Thebes as the chief deity. When looking at Arcadia, there is a very regional-specific myth told of Poseidon and Demeter in horse forms. There is some thought that these early Greeks entering the area only had Poseidon, Zeus, Eos, and Dioskouroi among the deities that they brought with them and worshiped.
The early worship of Poseidon clearly links him to horses and as a Chthonic deity of the underworld. As Poseidon Wanax, he is the male counterpart to a goddess of nature, Demeter. A similar myth is seen in Minoan myths where Pasiphae mates with a white bull, giving birth to the Minotaur. The Bull is an old pre-Olympian symbol of Poseidon. In the Eleusinian cults, there is mention of how Potnia gives birth to a strong son in relation to Poseidon being the father.
In Mycenaean culture, we don’t have enough evidence or information to know if Poseidon was connected to the sea during this time. We don’t know if the female counterpart “Posedeia” was a sea goddess either. In the writings of Homer and Hesiod, they say that Poseidon becomes the lord of the sea after the defeat of his father Cronos, and the world is divided among his three sons.
The scholar Walter Burkert puts forward the idea early Hellenic worship of Poseidon as a horse god may be due to the introduction of the horse and war chariots from Anatolia to Greece around 1600 B.C.E. In the local Arcadian myths and Poseidon’s cult in Peloponnesos, we see Poseidon worshiped as a horse.
During the Hellenic era of Greek culture, Poseidon is the protector of sailors and ships out at sea. Poseidon was also the patron god of several Greek cities, though, in Athens, he was second only to Athena.
Corinth – This is the ancient city that Poseidon is often associated with. This port city was regarded as being close to Poseidon’s heart due to how important a sea route it was. Clay plaques dating from the Archaic era have been found to connect Poseidon with maritime trade and navigation. Local games known as the Isthmian games were held here in honor of the sea god. These games would be held once every two years with athletes, charioteers, and horse races. Early on, a crown of pine would be awarded and later, it would be a crown of dried celery.
Sounion – Located some 69.5 km to the southeast of Athens in East Attica, this is the site of a 5th-century temple dedicated to Poseidon that still stands overlooking the Saronic Gulf. Boat races were held every four years to honor Poseidon.
Delphi Oracle – Pausanias writes that Poseidon was once one of the caretakers at Delphi before the arrival of Apollo. The two deities worked in tangent with many aspects. For example, Apollo gave approval for Greek colonization and Poseidon provided safe travels for those crossing his seas.
Sacred Disease – The Greek gods are known for causing or inflicting madness and various mental illnesses upon people. There is a Hippocratic text from 400 B.C.E. that notes Poseidon is responsible for certain forms of epilepsy.
The Panionia – This was a festival that the Ionians held every year near Mycale.
Pohoidaia – This is another game and festival held in Poseidon’s honor at Helos and Thuria.
Poseidon’s Palace
It should come as no surprise that as a sea god, that Poseidon’s abode is found on the ocean’s floor in a palace of coral and gems.
Aegae – In the Odyssey, Poseidon is mentioned as having his home here, the once capital of Macedonia.
Atlantis – In Plato’s Timaeus and Critias, this island is said to be Poseidon’s domain.
What’s In A Name?
The earliest mention of Poseidon’s name are found in the Linear B script in Mycenean Greek where the name appears as Poseidaon and Poseidawonos. Other variations of Posedion’s name are Poteidaon (Aeolic), Poteidan (Doric), Poteidaon, and Poteidas.
As to the meaning of Poseidon’s name, that part is unclear. There is a theory put forward that it means “husband” or “lord” seen in the Greek posis or potis and the last part meaning “earth.” The Doric Greek links Poseidon as being a spouse to Demeter, the “Earth-Mother.”
Another theory is that the second element in Poseidon’s name relates to dâwon meaning “water” and that would interpret the name as Posei-dawon as “the master of waters.” In Plato’s Cratylus dialogue, he gives two ideas for an etymology to Poseidon’s name. The first is “foot-bond” and the second is “knew many things.”
Hesiod in his Theogony describes Poseidon as “the earth-holder who shakes the earth.” Both Hesiod and Homer call Poseidon the “deep sounding Earth-shaker” and “dark-haired-one.” Both poets refer to Poseidon as the “encircler of the earth,” which alludes to this era of history when people believed that all the waters of the Earth were connected and that the land merely floated on top of them.
Parentage and Family
Parents
Cronus and Rhea
Consort
Amphitrite – The daughter of Nereus and Doris and granddaughter of the Titan Oceanus
Cleito – Poseidon’s wife in Plato’s myth of Atlantis. Cleito is the daughter of the autochthons Evenor and Leucippe.
Sometimes the goddesses Aphrodite and Demeter are given as consorts.
Siblings
He is the fifth child born of Cronus and Rhea.
The birth order is Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.
Chiron – a half-brother by way of Cronus and the nymph Philyra.
Children
Theseus – with Aethra through rape
Benthesicyme – son with Amphitrite
Rhode – daughter with Amphitrite
Triton – A half fish, half human with Amphitrite
Monstrous Offspring – Chrysaor and Pegasus with Medusa
Plato’s Atlantis – with Cleito, Poseidon is the father of Ampheres, Atlas (the first king of Atlantis), Autochthon, Azaes, Diaprepes, Elasippus, Euaemon, Eumelus (Gadeirus), Mestor, Mneseus
Other Children
Antaeus, Arion (a talking horse), Atlas, Desponia, Eumolpus, the Giant Sinis, Polyphemus (a cyclops), Orion, King Amycus, Proteus, Agenor and Belus from Europa, Nauplius, Neleus, Pelias, and the King of Egypt, Busiris, Laistrygon
Alebion, Bergion, Otos, Ephialtae are all noted as being giant children of Poseidon.
In general, there are a good many mythical creatures, a tribe of giants known as the Laistrygons, barbarians, cannibals, savages, and other uncivilized peoples like thieves who were said to be descendants of Poseidon.
Grandson
Periclymenus – Through his son Neleus, the king of Pylos, Poseidon granted him the power of shape-shifting. He is listed as one of the Argonauts and is later killed by Herakles.
Olympian God
Poseidon is counted among the twelve major deities who resided on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain peak in Greece and all of Europe. For the Greeks, this was the perfect location where the gods would preside while keeping watch on humankind down below them.
As there are several deities within Greek mythology, just who numbers among the Olympians vary. It’s generally agreed that the twelve major Olympians are: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and then either Hestia or Dionysus.
Trident
Where Zeus has his thunderbolts and Hades has his bident, the mighty Poseidon is known for his trademark weapon, the trident!
A trident is a three-pronged weapon that Poseidon is often shown with. It has also been pointed out that Hades has a bident, a two-pronged weapon, and that Zeus has his thunderbolt, which is a one-pronged weapon. Just in case someone thought there should be some sort of connection.
With this trident, Poseidon could shatter anything in his way, much like Hades does with his bident.
Birth Of A God
We start with Cronus and Rhea, the parents of Poseidon and all his siblings.
As the story goes, Cronus defeated his father, Uranus, overthrowing him to become the leader and King of the Titans. Shortly after, Cronus receives a prophecy that just as he killed his father, so too, would a child of his kill him.
This prompts Cronus to decide to devour and swallow his children whole as soon as they are born. This would happen five times. Poor Rhea just gets to where she can’t take it anymore. With the birth of her sixth child, Zeus, Rhea hides him away and manages to convince Cronus that this large stone is their latest child. Bon Appetit, Cronus eats the “stone baby” none the wiser that he’s been tricked.
Rhea takes and hides Zeus, so that later, when he is older, he can come to fulfill the prophecy killing his father Cronus. During the battle, Zeus splits open Cronus’ stomach, freeing all of his brothers and sisters: Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia. Incidentally, Hades is the last of Cronus’ children that is either regurgitated or comes out after Zeus splits their father open.
In other versions I have found of this story, Zeus meets with Metis who concocts a drug for Zeus to give to Cronus so that he disgorges or vomits up the stone and all of his children.
Poseidon’s Infancy
There is a version of the birth story of gods in that Poseidon does manage to get secreted away by his mother Rhea and is not eaten by his father. That Rhea gives Cronus a colt to eat instead of an infant. Poseidon is then placed in a flock of sheep in either Arcadia or Rhodes to conceal him.
There is a well in a Mantineia neighborhood where this event is believed to have happened and is called the “Lamb’s Well” or Arne.
Kourotrophos
This is the name that a group of ancient Greek deities were given for their roles as protectors and caregivers, essentially the nurses or nannies to children.
Arne – Poseidon’s kourotrophos was Arne, a spring nymph and daughter of Aeolus. Arne denied knowing where the infant was when Cronus came searching for him. The town of Arne gained its name from this nymph.
Telchines – According to Diodorus Siculus, Poseidon was raised by the Telchines, the original inhabitants of the island of Rhodes just as his brother Zeus was raised by the Korybantes on the island of Crete. Capheira, an Oceanid nymph would become Poseidon’s nurse.
Titanomachy
There is a ten-year-long divine war known as the Titanomachy, and by the end, Zeus takes his place as ruler and king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Hades and the other gods take up their roles as part of the newly formed Pantheon.
During the war, Gaia gave a prophecy to Zeus that he would have victory over the Titans by freeing the Cyclops who were then prisoners in Tartaros. Zeus slew Campe, the jail-keeper of the Cyclops. As a reward and thanks for releasing them, the Cyclops forged weapons for the three brothers. Thunderbolts for Zeus, a Trident for Poseidon, and a Bident for Hades along with a magical helmet of invisibility.
During this war, Hades used his helmet of invisibility to sneak into the Titans’ camp and destroy their weapons. After the war, the Titans were imprisoned within Tartoros and the Hecatoncheires were placed in charge of guarding the new prisoners. One titan, Atlas would be punished by forever having to hold the earth up.
Dividing the Spoils of War – After defeating Cronus and all of his father’s followers, the three brothers, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus divided up rulership of the cosmos between them. Hades would become ruler of the Underworld; Poseidon would become ruler of the seas and Zeus would become ruler of the air. The earth, the domain of Gaia, would be available to all three gods.
Iliad – The Iliad describes the three brothers as pulling lots to determine who would rule which realm.
Gigantomachy – Battle For The Heavens!
After the battle with the Titans, Zeus would still need to secure his throne. During this battle, Poseidon would use his trident to break off part of the island Kos and use it to entomb the giant Polybotes. Today, this island is known as Nisyros.
When The Oceans Were King!
You see remnants of this in the story of Perseus & Andromeda and certain stories of Elysian Mysteries where Poseidon is Persephone‘s father and not Zeus. Even Homer’s Odyssey shows this connection where Poseidon is the primary instigator of events and not Zeus.
In the Linear B script, Poseidon is listed as the chief deity.
After the collapse of the Mycenaean culture in the Mediterranean, we see a dark age period for Greek culture that resurges again some hundreds of years later, and now, it is Zeus who is the head of the pantheon and Poseidon is second only in power.
When we look at the Linear B tablets from Mycenean Greece, we find that Poseidon’s name as po-se-da-wo-ne appears more frequently than Zeus’ name di-u-ja. There is also a feminine form of po-se-da-ia which suggests there is a potential lost consort goddess to Poseidon. One who is a precursor to Amphitrite.
Chthonic Deity
In the same Linear B script previously mentioned, Poseidon has a title of wa-na-ka or “wanax” that suggest the role of king of the Underworld. Other titles for Poseidon-Wanax are seen in the title E-ne-si-da-o-ne in Mycenean Knossos and Pylos, an epitaph that references the earthquakes that saw the collapse of the Minoan culture.
In Crete, in the cave of Amnisos, we see the name Enesidaon connected to the cult of Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. Eileithyia also has a part in the annual birth of a divine child.
There is evidence in the Bronze Age, that a goddess of nature held a dominant role in both Minoan and Mycenean religions. That Wanax is her male consort in the Mycenean cults. Some scholars have tried to make a connection to Demeter where her name might appear as Da-ma-te, but this is still disputed.
Looking at the Linear Be scripts found at Pylos, the name E-ne-si-da-o-ne in association with Poseidon, and the name Si-to Po-tini-ja is associated with Demeter giving a suggestion of these two deities as consorts.
This fits when looking at the Eleusinian mysteries and seeing how they predate the Olympian pantheon. Inscriptions from Pylos show records of sacrificial offerings to “the Two Queens and Poseidon.” Those two queens just might be Demeter and Persephone when trying to look at the archeological evidence.
This association also makes sense as the ancient Greeks would have seen rivers and streams flow from the rocks and then disappear beneath the land in other areas. Plus there was a belief anciently during this period that the land merely floated above the water. That Poseidon could create the land as much as swallow it back down into the depths with earthquakes.
Lord of the Sea Gods
So, Poseidon may no longer rule over all of Olympia and be the head of the Pantheon by the time we get to the Classical, Hellenistic era of Greek history that everyone is more familiar with. Poseidon is still the lord over all the gods of the oceans, various rivers, and lakes. Poseidon was also regarded as a protector of many cities located near the sea as they relied on their whole economies from the sea trade and bounty provided by the deeps of the ocean.
Mediterranean Ocean
It should also be noted by many people that Poseidon should be seen as the god of the Mediterranean Ocean as that is the sea that many of the ancient Greeks and even Romans when they renamed Poseidon to Neptune are familiar with.
God Of Storms
While this aspect seems to be more connected to Zeus in his roles as a Sky God and god of thunder, Poseidon also has power over storms, particularly those out at sea.
God Of Earthquakes
Another aspect of Poseidon is that of earthquakes, giving him an epitaph of Earth Mover or Earth Shaker. As a deity representing the forces of nature, this aspect is another reason why Poseidon could be seen as unpredictable and moody.
The connection of Poseidon to earthquakes is not hard to make when you understand that the Greeks believed that the cause of earthquakes was due to the erosion of rocks by water, where there are rivers that disappear below the earth and then seemingly reemerge later. The Greeks also believed that just as Poseidon’s earthquakes caused the land to sink into the sea, he also created the land with the appearance of new islands. This belief is seen in the philosophers Thales, Anaximenes, and Aristotle in how they explained the natural world around them.
God Of Horses
There are a couple of different stories I have come across about Poseidon’s role as a god of horses. One story holds that Poseidon created the first horse named Skyphios when he struck a rock with his trident.
A fragment of papyrus reveals that people would offer up horses by drowning them as a sacrifice to Poseidon to curry his favor for a safe sea voyage. Poseidon’s chariot is said to be pulled by horses, though more modern depictions show this chariot being pulled by a half-horse, half-fish creatures known as hippocampus.
In pre-Bronze Age Greek culture, there is a strong connection between horses, the element of water, and the Underworld. This is a connection we see continued with later, northern-European folklore with the Kelpies, Nuckelevee, and Puca.
Athena & Poseidon – In this story, the two gods are in competition for the favor of the future city of Athens. The two deities created all sorts of animals such as hippopotami, giraffes, camels, and zebras. In the end, when Poseidon created the horse, he was so pleased with the creation that he rode away on the mighty steed, forgetting about his desire to claim the favor of Athens, hence the city becoming named after Athena.
Demeter & Poseidon – In this story, Demeter is trying to put off the advances of Poseidon and asks him to create the most beautiful animal ever. To impress her, Poseidon creates the first horse. Of course, in the process of getting there, there are several other animals that Poseidon created before he achieved perfection and by this time, Poseidon has lost interest in Demeter.
God Of Fertility
As a god of the Oceans and waters, it leads handily to Poseidon being a god of fertility as he bestows the life-giving waters.
Droughts – Just as he giveth, Poseidon also taketh. So, a lack of water and rainfall leading to droughts would also be Poseidon’s doing.
Your Reputation Precedes You Sir!
On the heels of being a fertility deity, it must be noted that Poseidon has a reputation much like Zeus for being rather promiscuous. Granted, this is an aspect that we can find in numerous stories of the Greek deities.
There are numerous stories of Poseidon’s love affairs, romances, and some of which are just outright rape stories no matter how euphemistically later rewrites try to retell them. The most famous of which is Poseidon’s affair with Medusa before she’s turned into a Gorgon by Athena. I’ll cover several of these stories later so I’m not repeating them in this section.
There’s a certain prestige, especially seen in the ancient Egyptian culture where all the Pharaohs are earthly incarnations of Ra. This divine birthright is what justifies them to be the rulers over the common, ordinary people.
I can imagine a similar thing happening among the Greeks where they want to claim a divine heritage to justify their rule over various cities states. Stories that often just served to explain how a thing came to be, why something is, and to explain the divine right of rulership.
We also know there are two major areas of Greek history, the Mycenean Greek era and those whom we think of as the Ancient or Classical Greeks with a dark age period in between. If you look at the myths carefully from these periods, Poseidon had been the ruler of the Olympian gods during the Mycenean era of Greek history. This later changes to Zeus being the head of the pantheon.
There is also a Neolithic, Cycladic culture that is best known for its female idols. Couple this with Hera and her vehemence towards Zeus and his numerous affairs. Now it appears to be clear that the Greek myths we get of Zeus are the result of revisionist history and storytelling.
As there’s a theological takeover of replacing Poseidon with Zeus as the head of the pantheon and a patriarchal takeover of the regions that reduce goddesses like Hera’s importance. Just taking a close look at some of these myths, you can see the hints of it and some of the discrepancies that come up as Greece and then Rome expanded, trying to absorb all of these local myths and to equate local deities and variations with their own.
The most obvious is the Titanomachy story where Zeus and his siblings all displace the older pantheon, and the survivors get absorbed into the new divine order.
Male Lovers – Poseidon is also said to have had a few male lovers in the way of Nerites, Pelops, and Patroclus. There are not a lot of these myths that I could find to support this other than a footnote.
Marriage To Amphitrite
Like his brother Zeus, Poseidon has also had numerous lovers. His consort and wife is Amphitrite, a nymph, an ancient sea goddess in her own right, and the daughter of Nerus and Doris.
In the story told by Eratosthenes, Poseidon desired to marry Amphitrite, however, she had other ideas and ran away, hiding with Atlas. Off Poseidon went in search of her to no avail. Finally, it is the dolphin, Delphius tracked Amphitrite down. Delphius talked Amphitrite into accepting Poseidon as her husband.
At Amphitrite and Poseidon’s wedding, Delphius presided over the ceremony. In gratitude, Poseidon placed Delphius up into the stars. Amphitrite would give birth to the merman Triton who also wields a trident like his father.
Variation: According to Oppian, Delphius actually betrays Amphitrite’s location to Poseidon who comes and carries her off against her will to be married.
Medusa & Poseidon – Birth of Pegasus & Chrysaor
Poseidon is also known to transform into a horse too. A suggestion I came across is that Poseidon may have come to Medusa in Athena’s temple in the guise of a horse before changing to his true form and forcing himself on her. Unfortunately, instead of punishing Poseidon, Athena punishes Medusa by turning her into a Gorgon. Later, when the hero Perseus comes along and slays the gorgon, the winged horse Pegasus and the winged boar Chrysaor spring up from the blood from Medusa’s severed neck and head.
In Hesiod’s Theogony, Poseidon and Medusa were out in a field of flowers and not Athena’s temple. The whole being in Athena’s temple and sacrilege being committed comes to us courtesy of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where Poseidon comes in the form of a bird to seduce Medusa.
Birth Of The Minotaur
Poseidon cursed Mino’s wife, Pasiphae to have sexual intercourse with a white bull after the Cretan king Minos wouldn’t sacrifice the bull to him. This resulted in the birth of the hybrid monster called the Minotaur.
I strongly suspect that we are seeing a rewriting of this myth from the fall of the Mycenaean Greece culture and the later rise of the Hellenic Greece culture when Poseidon ceases to be the main deity and is replaced by Zeus as the head of the Pantheon. Bulls are an old pre-Olympian symbol of Poseidon. Rewrite the myth so that instead of a divine child born of Poseidon and a nature goddess, there is instead a monster to whom the youth of vassal city-states are sacrificed to.
Poseidon & Aethra (Birth of Theseus)
With Aethra, the princess of Troezenian, Poseidon is the father of the Greek hero Theseus. King Aegeus of Athens is also reputed to be Theseus’ father as he had lain with Aethra on the very same night. This is still enough for Theseus to have a demigod status and to be the hero who would eventually volunteer to set sail to the island nation of Crete with the other Athenian youth who could be sent into a labyrinth to be eaten by the Minotaur.
When Minos heard that Theseus was the son of Poseidon, he mocked the youth by taking off his own ring and throwing it into the sea. If Theseus really was Poseidon’s son, he was to go and retrieve the ring. Theseus immediately dove in, and dolphins came to guide the young demigod down to Poseidon’s palace. There, both Poseidon and Amphitrite greeted Theseus, not only by giving him the ring but a purple wedding cloak and crown as well. Theseus swam back up to the surface and proved himself to King Minos.
In Crete, Theseus would kill the Minotaur. Theseus eventually succeeded his father as king of Athens and would have children. Poseidon promised Theseus three favors. One of which was called upon when his wife, Phaedra accused Hippolytus, the son Theseus had with an Amazon, of forcing himself on her. Poseidon granted this favor by sending a sea monster to spook Hippolytus’ horses as he was driving by the sea and thus dragging him into the ocean to his death.
Poseidon & Alope
Alope is Poseidon’s granddaughter through Cercyon, his son, and the King of Eleusis. Through this affair, Alope gives birth to the Hippothoon, an Attic hero. As a result, Cercyon has Alope buried alive and Poseidon transforms her into a spring near Eleusis.
Poseidon & Amymone
Shortly after the city of Argos came under Hera’s rule and Poseidon sent a drought to plague it, an Argive woman, Amymone came across a rather lecherous satyr who tried to rape her. Amymone prayed to Poseidon for help and he answered by scaring off the satyr. After rescuing her, Poseidon then fathered a child with her by the name Nauphus.
Poseidon & Caenis
In this story, Poseidon spotted the maiden Caenis walking along the shore. Overcome with lust, Poseidon forced himself on Caenis and raped her. Having satisfied himself, Poseidon offered Caenis a wish, of which she made the request to be turned into a man. Granting her request, Poseidon transformed her into the male warrior Caeneus.
Poseidon & Corone
Corone is the daughter of Coronaeus who was out walking along the shore. Poseidon saw her and attempted to court Corone only to have her reject him and run away. Poseidon chased her down, this time trying to rape her. Athena saw what was happening and changed Corone into a crow so she could fly away.
Poseidon & Halia
In the stories where Poseidon grows up in secret on the island of Rhodes with the Telchines, the young god fell in love with Halia, the beautiful sister of the Telchines. With Halia, Poseidon fathered six sons and a daughter.
By this time, Aphrodite has already been born and rose up from the sea. When she made an attempt to stop at the island of Rhodes while heading to Cyprus, the sons of Halia and Poseidon denied the goddess hospitality. Out of anger, Aphrodite caused the sons to fall in love with their mother and rape her. After seeing this, Poseidon made the sons sink beneath the sea.
Poseidon & Tyro
Tyro is a mortal woman married to Cretheus and by whom she already had a son, Aeson. Tyro loved a river god, Enipeus who spurned her advances. One day, Poseidon becomes infatuated with Tyro and lusts after her, disguises himself as Enipeus, and from their union, Tyro gives birth to the twin heroes Pelias and Neleus.
Poseidon & Asteria
In this story, we first see Zeus falling in love with this goddess who changed herself into a qual in order to escape his advances and being raped, only to have Poseidon equally enamored and lustful for her give chase with the intent to rape her. Asteria transforms herself a second time, this time into the small rocky island known as Delos.
At best, this could be an archaic myth that shows a changeover of when Poseidon and Zeus changed prominence during the fall of the Mycenaean Greek culture.
Poseidon & Demeter
Demeter is the Goddess of the Earth and Poseidon is the God of Water. That’s a good match and they’re consenting adults and gods.
Mycenaen Greek – This is Bronze Age Greece, there is a script known as Linear B found in Mycenae and Mycenaean Pylos where both Demeter and Poseidon’s names appear. Poseidon is given the epitaph of E-ne-si-da-o-ne “earth-shaker” and Demeter’s name is given si-to-po-ti-ni-ja. In these inscriptions, Poseidon’s title and epitaph E-ne-si-da-o-ne (Enesidaon) links him as a King of the Underworld and gives him a chthonic nature.
Touching back to the Eleusinian Mysteries, there are tablets found in Pylos that mention sacrificial goods for “the Two Queens and Poseidon” or “to the Two Queens and King.” It’s agreed that the Two Queens very likely refer to Demeter and Persephone or it’s later precursor goddesses who are not associated with Poseidon later.
Eileithyia – Demeter is a local Minoan goddess found in Amnisos, Crete where she is a goddess of childbirth who gives birth to a divine child. Her consort is given as Enesidaon, the “earth-shaker” whom we just mentioned is Poseidon. Her cult and worship would survive within the Eleusinian Mysteries. Plus, we see where local deities’ worship gets absorbed and conflated with a more popular, well-known deity.
Arcadia – We’re still in Bronze Age Greece! Here, Demeter and Poseidon Hippios or Horse Poseidon give birth to a daughter, Despoina, who is a goddess in her own right before some of the myths confuse her with Persephone or make her an epitaph of Demeter.
In this myth, Poseidon is a river spirit of the Underworld, appearing as a horse. In this form, Poseidon pursues Demeter, who is also in horse form. Demeter hid among the horses of King Onkios. Due to her divinity, Demeter couldn’t remain hidden for long and Poseidon caught up with her and forced himself on her. When the two gods copulate, Demeter gives birth to a goddess who is also in horse or mare form. This is a myth that sounds very similar to another one between Poseidon and Athena and more accurately, Philyra and Cronos when Chiron is born. The horse motif is very common in northern-European myths and folklore.
As a mare-goddess, Demeter is known first as Demeter Erinys due to her fury with Poseidon for forcing himself on her. She becomes Demeter Lousia, “the bathed Demeter” after washing away her anger in the River Ladon. There’s something to be said for this as you can’t hold onto your anger forever, you must let it go or otherwise it consumes you.
The whole myth of pairing up Demeter and Poseidon is to connect Demeter as a Goddess of the Earth and Poseidon as a God of Water with their connection over nature. Despoina is the daughter who results from their union and whose name could not be spoken outside of the Arcadian Mysteries. Demeter and Poseidon also have another child, a horse by the name of Arion who is noted as being able to speak, immortal, swift, and having a black mane and tail.
Poseidon & Scylla
This is a bit of an obscure myth I came across, as an alternative to Scylla’s origins found in the Tzetzes on Lycophron & Servius on Aeneid writings.
Scylla and Poseidon were having an affair. Out of jealousy, Amphitrite mixed some magical herbs into Scylla’s bath, transforming her into a monster with twelve feet and six heads. Scylla would then join Charybdis to terrorize the coastlines of Italy and Sicily, sinking many ships.
In Nonnus’ Dionysiaca, Poseidon still sleeps with Scylla and then transforms her into a rocky cliff along the coast.
Poseidon & Nerites
Nerites is the son of Nereus and Doris and thus Amphitrite’s brother. In some accounts, Poseidon takes Nereus as his charioteer as they’re lovers. As a charioteer, Nereus was said to be very good and fast.
The myth isn’t clear why, but one day, the sun god Helios turns Nerites into a shellfish. The Greek author who recorded this story isn’t sure why, but puts forward a theory that Helios may have been offended by Nerite’s skill or was a rival lover to Poseidon. Helios may have wanted Nerites to travel among the constellations instead in the sea.
It is known that from the love that Poseidon and Nerites have, comes Anteros, mutual love.
Plato’s Atlantis
In this dialogue, Plato tells of a mortal woman who lived on an isolated island by the name of Cleito. Poseidon fell in love with her and created a sanctuary on top of a hill in the middle of the island and surrounded the place with rings of water and land to protect her. Cleito would give birth to five sets of twin boys. The firstborn, Atlas would become the first ruler of the legendary Atlantis.
Descendant of Poseidon – Plato was regarded by his fellow Greeks to be able to trace his lineage to Poseidon through his father Ariston and to the demigod kings of Codrus and Melanthus.
Centauromachy
There are several Greek heroes such as Herakles and Theseus who killed several centaurs. There is also a story of the sirens luring the centaurs to their death in the sea. In the Apollod, it is stated that the island of Sirens is where Poseidon crushed the centaurs instead of giving them refuge.
Ares & Aphrodite’s Love Affair
A version of the story found in Homer’s Odyssey has Hephaestus refusing to release the lovers unless Zeus returned the bridal gifts. Zeus staunchly refused as he felt that Hephaestus shouldn’t have made the affair so public. Though in the Odyssey, Poseidon does agree to play Hephaestus’ price to release both Ares and Aphrodite.
Though it is just after this story happens that Poseidon brings charges against Ares in the Areiopagus for having killed his son Halirrhothius.
The Founding Of Athens
This story is similar to another story where Poseidon creates the first horse. In this version of the story, the two gods are competing for the city of Athens (at this time the region is called Attica) ruled over by Athens’s legendary first king, Cecrops. Even after Athena became the patron goddess of the city, Poseidon still had a presence at the Acropolis through his avatar Erechtheus. By the Athenian calendar, at the end of the year, a festival would be held, and the priests of Athena and the priest of Poseidon would hold a procession under the canopies to Eleusis. There, the gods would give a gift to the Athenian people and the people would choose which one they preferred.
To start things off, Poseidon throws a trident into the ground, creating a spring at the Acropolis. However, the water that sprung up was rather salty. Athena won the competition with the creation and gift of the olive tree. In anger, Poseidon flooded the Attic Plain as punishment to the Athenians for not choosing him. Both deities eventually worked together with Athena creating the first chariot and Poseidon creating the first horse. Athena also built the first ship to sail over the oceans that Poseidon rules.
The place where Poseidon’s trident struck the ground; filled with salt water was closed off by the northern hall of the Erechtheum and remained open to the air.
The story of this conflict between Poseidon and Athena can be found on reliefs along the western pediment of the Parthenon and is the first such relief that a visitor sees on arriving.
Many scholars have interpreted this myth as a clash between the Mycenaean Greeks and newly arrived immigrants to the area. The city of Athens was at one point a major sea power that defeated the Persian fleet at the island of Salamis. The scholar Walter Burkert notes that Poseidon led his son Eumolpus against Athens and killed Erectheus.
Further, Poseidon sent another of his sons, Halirrhothius to cut down Athena’s olive tree. While Halirrhothius was swinging his axe, he missed and managed to kill himself. In anger, Poseidon accused Ares of the murder and the matter would eventually be resolved on the Areopagus, or “hill of Ares” in favor of Ares. Another version of the story has Halirrhothius raping Alcippe, Ares’s daughter and understandably so, Ares kills him. And that is what leads to Ares’ trial and eventual acquittal.
The Divison of Corinth
In a similar story to that of Athens, this time it is Helios and Poseidon clashing over who would be the patron deity. The dispute was bad enough that the two gods brought the issue before one of the Hecatoncheires, Briareos, an elder god to settle the matter. Briareos awarded the Acrocorinth to Helios and gave the isthmus of Corinth to Poseidon.
This tale is noted as representing the conflicts between fire and water. Helios being a sun god gets the area closest to the sky and Poseidon being a sea god, gets the area closest to the water.
The City Of Argos – Poseidon & Hera
This dispute is over the city of Argos. The two deities chose a local king Phoroneus to settle this matter. Phoroneus decided in favor of Hera to award her the city to become the patron goddess. An enraged Poseidon then sent a drought to plague the city.
Exchanging Islands & Temples
Then there is this story, where Poseidon and Leto decided to exchange islands to be patrons of. Poseidon gave Leto the island of Delos and he got the island of Caluria where a temple to Poseidon has stood since antiquity.
With Apollo, Poseidon gave him Delphi in exchange for Taenarum.
These are likely just quick little stories to explain the change of worshipers and who a patron deity was for a certain region.
Heavenly Revolt
Sometime after Zeus has succeeded in overcoming all the previous challenges from Gaia, the various giants, and titans to become ruler of the heavens, a young Zeus had gotten rather prideful, temperamental, and arrogant in his rulership.
Enter Apollo, Hera, and Poseidon (and depending on the source, all the other gods except Hestia join in) and decide that Zeus needs to be taught a lesson.
Hera’s part was to drug Zeus so that he fell into a deep sleep. While Zeus is sleeping, they come in to steal his thunderbolts and tie him up with some one hundred knots. Powerless, Zeus lays there until the Neriad, Thetis comes and seeing the god’s predicament, calls the Hecatoncheire, Briareus who comes and unties Zeus.
With Briareus’ support, Zeus is able to put an end to the rebellion and punish those involved. Most notable is Hera’s punishment as she led the rebellion. Zeus hung her up in the sky with golden chains. Hera’s weeping kept Zeus up all night and the next morning, he agreed to end the punishments after Hera and all the gods swear never to rise up against him again.
As for Apollo and Poseidon? They were stripped of their godly powers for a time to serve King Laomedon of Troy.
The Marriage Of Thetis
Both Poseidon and Zeus had pursued the goddess Thetis’ hand in marriage. However, when Themis gave the prophecy that Thetis’ son would be greater than his father, both Poseidon and Zeus withdrew and decided that it would be better if Thetis married the mortal Peleus. The same marriage where the goddess Eris tossed her golden apple among the goddesses after she wasn’t invited and leading to the Trojan War.
Trojan War
Divine Set Up – If we go by the “lost” epic, The Cypria attributed to Stasinus, this whole Trojan War was planned by Zeus and Themis. There are only about 50 lines of text from the Cypria and it’s seen as a prequel to Homer’s The Iliad and explains how the events came about.
Because of Apollo and Poseidon’s part in helping Hera with her rebellion, Zeus stripped the two gods of their power for a time, and they were sent to serve King Laomedon of Troy. There, King Laomedon had the two gods build a huge wall around the city with the promise of reward. When it came time to pay up, King Laomedon refused. By this time, Poseidon had regained his godly powers and out of vengeance, he sends a sea monster to attack the city of Troy. The legendary hero Hercules defeated and killed this monster.
Book XX sees Poseidon rescue the Trojan Prince Aeneas after Achilles drops them in combat.
At first during the Trojan War, Zeus forbids any of the gods to take part. When Zeus rescinds this ban, Poseidon sides with the Greeks against the Trojans, causing earthquakes. Poseidon would also help the Greeks indirectly by appearing in the guise of an old seer named Calchas.
In Rome, Troy is called Neptunia Pergama.
The Odyssey
After the events of the Iliad and Trojan War, the titular hero, Odysseus earns Poseidon’s wrath after blinding his Cyclops son, Polyphemus. Such was Poseidon’s wrath, that it would take Odysseus ten years to make the return trip home to Ithaca.
The Aeneid
A Latin epic poem written by Virgil, this involves the story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the city after the fall of Troy and his travels to Italy and become the ancestor of the Romans.
Because of how closely the Greek and Roman gods are equated with each other, we read in this epic how Poseidon, under the name of Neptune is still angry with wandering Trojans. However, he is not as vindictive as Juno (Hera). In Book I, Neptune rescues the Trojan fleet from Juno’s attempts to wreck it, even if the only reason was to prevent Juno from interfering with his domain of the sea.
Hepom Nepōts – Indo-European
This is the name of a reconstructed proto-Indo-European deity that historians, etymologists, and linguists have hypothesized when tracing a prehistoric Eurasian population and the language that may have been spoken. The name Hepom Nepōts translates to “Descendant of the Waters.”
Nethuns – Etruscan
An Etruscan deity from the region of Umbria in Italy. Nethuns is a god of springs and water who is identified with the Grecian Poseidon and Roman Neptune. Their name is found in the Latin expression “flere Nethuns,” meaning “the divinity of Nethuns.”
Neptune – Roman
Where Poseidon is the god of the Ocean, his Roman counterpart is Neptune.
Thanks greatly to the influence of the Romans, many people will identify and equate Poseidon with Neptune. The Romans were famous for subsuming many deities in their conquest across Europe, particularly the Mediterranean area, and identifying their gods with those of a conquered culture. The most famous being the Greeks, where many deities were renamed to those of Roman gods. Prominent examples like Zeus and Jupiter, Hera and Juno, Ares and Mars, and so on down the line.
With the Hellenization of Latin literature, many Greek writers and even Roman writers rewrote and intertwined the myths of these two deities so that they would virtually become one and the same. And that’s the tradition passed down through the centuries and has become accepted. Just that there are still some differences that separate the two.
Pontus – Greek
The oldest of the Greek Water deities, Pontus is regarded more as the personification of the sea.
Shango
Etymology: Strike from shan
Also Known As: Badé, Changó, Esango (Edo people), Hevioso, Jakuta, Nzazi, Sango, Ṣàngó, Siete Rayos, Xangô (Latin America), Sogbo or Ebioso (Fon people)
In Nigeria, among the Yoruban people and the Dahomey religion, Shango is a god or Orisha of fire, thunder, and lightning. Like many storm and thunder gods, Shango lives up in the sky where he hurls thunderstones down to the earth, killing those who offended him or setting houses on fire.
Attributes
Animal: Black Cat, Dog, Duck, Fresh Water Turtles, Quail, Ram, Sheep, Tortoise
Colors: Red, White
Day of the Week: Friday and Ojo Jakuta, the fifth day of the week in Yorubaland.
Elements: Fire
Feast Day: December 4th, same as Saint Barbara
Gemstones: Thunderstones; either meteorites or stone celts
Metal: Iron
Number: 3 and 6
Patron of: Resistance, Strength, Power
Sphere of Influence: Thunder, Lightning, Fertility, War, Truth, Intelligence, Courage, Power, Dominance, Resistance
Symbols: Stone Celt, Double-Headed Axe, Bangles, Brass Crown, any object struck by lightning
Taboo (Yoruba): Cowpea, don’t eat this.
Depictions
Statues, imagery, and other art featuring Shango show him with a double axe on his head that represent thunder. He will often be dressed in clothing that’s red and white. Sometimes Shango has six eyes and other times he has three heads. In some traditions, Shango wears a headdress with cowrie shells on it.
In the Candomblé traditions, Xangô as he is called wears red and has a brass crown.
Worship
There is a religious ritual of Shango designed to help devotees and followers of Shango to gain and have self-control. Shango beads tell the story of his essence with white beads representing Obatala’s logic alternating in balance with the red beads of Aganju’s fire and passion when pursuing a goal.
The initiation ceremony of Shango came about after his deification which preserves his memory and the prosperity he brings to his followers on a personal level just as he brought prosperity to the Oyo kingdom in life.
Altars to Shango will often have a carved image of a woman holding her bosom as a gift to Shango with a double-bladed axe sticking out of her head. The axe symbolizes the devotee as being possessed by Shango. The woman has an expression that is calm and collected, representing the attributes or qualities she has gained from her faith.
Ritual foods for Shango include guguru, bitter cola, àmàlà, and gbegiri soup. The Bata drum is also used during Shango’s worship and rituals.
Candomblé
In this religion, Shango or Xangô was the son of the Oyo king Oranyan. During the African diaspora, Xangô gained strong importance among the slaves in Brazil for his strength, resistance, and aggression. Xangô became a patron orixa of plantations and many Candomblé terreiros. In contrast, Oko, the orixa of agriculture didn’t receive as much favor among slaves in Brazil and given the circumstances, I don’t blame them.
A dish known as amalá (a stew of okra with shrimp and palm oil) is sacred to Xangô.
Santería
In the Santería religion, Shango, or Changó as he is known is the focal or center point of the religion and represents the Oyo people of West Africa. Changó is a representative of the ancestors and all who adhere to the Santeria faith.
In Latin America, there is a major initiation ceremony that has been held for the last few hundred years that is based on the Shango ceremony of the Ancient Oyo. It is a ceremony that has survived and is considered the most complete to have arrived on the Western shores.
Yoruba
There is an initiation ceremony that is also based on the Shango ceremony and is the basis for all the Orisha initiation ceremonies within the Americas.
Other Traditions
Other traditions that venerate Shango are Folk Catholicism, Louisiana Voodoo, Palo, the Portuguese Candomblé and Umbanda, the Trinidad Orisha, Haitian Vodou, and Vodun.
Royal Ancestor
Before becoming deified or an orisha, Shango was once a mortal king, the third king of the Oyo Kingdom. After his death, Shango became deified. I have other sources that say Shango is the fourth king.
The lineage of kings is as follows: Oduduwa, Oranyan, and Ajaka. In life, Shango was known as Jakuta and was the third king or Alafin of Oyo kingdom. Jakuta was the brother to Ajaka known to be more peaceful compared to Jakuta’s more violent rule who could wield supernatural forces to create thunder and lightning. Jakuta ruled for a period of seven years that was noted for constant war campaigns and numerous battles. Towards the end of Jakuta’s reign, it is said he caused the unintentional destruction of his palace with lightning. While alive, Jakuta was married to three women named Oshun, Oba, and Oya.
Oral traditions tell how during Shango’s mortal reign, a subordinate chief challenged Shango’s rule. Many people were impressed by the subordinate chief’s feats and demonstration of magic, such that they went to follow this new leader. Dismayed by this public defeat and humiliation, Shango left Oyo and committed suicide by hanging.
A variation to this story I came across is that Shango was so fascinated by the use of magic that while calling down the powers of thunder and lightning, Shango accidentally set fire to his palace and killed his wives and many of his children. It is in shame from that, that Shango left the kingdom of Oyo.
When enemies and detractors of Shango were contemptuous and spreading his shame, a series of storms swept over Oyo, destroying many homes. This caused people to believe that Shango’s powers had made him a god or orisha and these storms were proof of his wrath. There are suggestions that Shango’s followers set fire to these homes.
However, those loyal to Shango said that he really ascended to the heavens by climbing a chain and that he became an orisha. Shango would gain the attributes of an earlier orisha, Jakuta who represented the wrath of the supreme deity Olorun-Olodumare. Shango’s cult and worship would continue to grow and spread throughout Oyo and Yorubaland. Even neighboring people of the Edo and Fon would adopt Shango into their religions.
Orisha
Shango is a member of the Orisha, who are either a spirit or deity. In the Yoruba religion, a nature-based tradition, it is believed that the source of everything is called Olorun or Olodumare. The Orisha themselves are regarded as being different aspects of the main deity, Olorun-Olodumare. Shango is regarded as the most powerful of all the Orisha.
With the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, the worship of Shango was brought with the slaves and is now found throughout much of the southern U.S., Latin America, and South America.
Irunmole
Much like the Hindi avatars, Shango has had many Irunmole or manifestations. The names of some of them are Airá, Agodo, Afonja, Lubé, and Obomin. All of these people are believed to have been an incarnation of Shango and like many such Irunmole, had great wisdom and power while they lived.
Parentage and Family
Father
Oranyan – The mortal king of Oyo before Shango become deified.
Mother
Yemaja – Orisha mother goddess and protector of birth.
Consort
In some traditions, Shango’s wives are said to be the rivers.
Oba – She tried to win Shango’s love by offering her ear to him to eat. In anger, Shango sent her away and she became a river goddess.
Oshun – A river goddess and Shango’s favorite as he loves her cooking.
Oya – A Storm and Mother goddess, she is also the Niger river. It is said she stole the secrets of Shango’s magic.
Siblings
Oya – Depending on the stories or tradition, Oya and Shango are brother and sister, not husband and wife.
Shango’s Wives
As noted, the main wives of Shango are venerated as Orisha. All three are associated with rivers in Nigeria. The first is Oya, connected to the Oya River. Oya would become the orisha of battle, storms, and hurricanes. Oya had once been married to Ogun but would fall in love with Shango. Together, Oya and Shango partner up when going out to battle.
Then there is Oshun who is connected to the Osun River. Oshun is the orisha associated with love, sensuality, and femininity.
Lastly, we have Oba who was forever hopelessly in love with Shango. Oba would find herself rejected by Shango after another of his wives tricked Oba into cutting off her ear to feed to him. Oba went into exile in a cemetery and become the orisha of violent storms and death. She would also become the Oba River, specifically where it meets with the Osun River.
Orisha Of Thunder & Lighting
Shango is known as an orisha of thunder and lightning.
Fire – It should come as no surprise that one of Shango’s domains is that of fire as well. After all, lighting strikes are known to cause a fire.
Oṣè – This is the name that the double axe in Yorubaland that Shango has is called. The double axe symbolizes and represents lightning.
Resistance – During the African diaspora and slavery, Shango became a very important symbol of resistance.
Thunderbolts – Stone Celt
A celt in this case is a primitive stone tool like an adze, hoe or axe. Farmers would sometimes find these primitive, prehistoric tools while out-tilling their fields. Believing these stone celts were Shango’s thunderbolts, the farmers would take them to Shango’s priests who kept these in Shango’s shrine in an inverted mortar.
Shango was renowned and feared for his powers and whenever he spoke, fire came out of his mouth.
Jakuta – When not identified as an ancestor, it is believed that Shango likely usurped the duties and aspects of an older deity by the name of Jakuta. This older deity, Jakuta was known to hurl fire stones as punishment towards people if they acted against the wishes of Olodumre, the Supreme God, or Orisha. The name Jakuta means “Hurler of stones” or “Fighter with stones.” The prefix Ja means to hurl from aloft and the suffix okuta means stone. That’s interesting to note in connection to the stone celts that farmers would find out in fields and believed to be thunderbolts. Jakuta is also associated with a fellowship of meteorites.
Possession – Those who worship Shango and become possessed by him can eat fire, using oil-soaked cloth known as itufu to do so. Some may carry pots of live coal on their head or shove their hands into coals without any harm.
Fertility Orisha
As a fertility deity, particularly masculine fertility, Shango grants wealth and prosperity to his followers just as he did for the kingdom of Oyo during his mortal life and reign.
Dance – Shango’s power, seen in his ritual dances represents the dangerous side of sexual relationships. Another interpretation is a warning of the arrogancy in using military force for political gains and leadership. The bata drums are beaten to represent the sound of thunder.
War Orisha
As seen in the dances that Shango does, he is also he orisha of war as in life, he held many continuous campaigns and battles to expand his influence.
Oṣè – The double axe that represents lightning is also a symbol of military prowess and the use of violence.
Justice – There is also a close association of the use of force or might to make right and enforce justice. Shango was known for being rather harsh and strict with his subjects.
Catholic Saints
There are a few different Saints that Shango has been equated to and it varies by the religion revering him.
Saint Barbara – The Saint whom Shango is equated to in the Candomble tradition. She is the patron saint of armorers, artillerymen, military engineers, miners, and others who work with explosives. She has an old legend that connects her to lightning and mathematicians.
Saint Jerome – They are the patron saint of translators, librarians, and encyclopedists. In some traditions, he is regarded as the husband to Saint Barbara and for that reason, Saint Jerome gets syncretized or equated with Shango.
Syno-Deities
Jupiter – The Roman god of the heavens, his attributes are the lightning bolt.
Marduk – The Mesopotamian god of fertility and storms can be comparable to Shango.
Raijin – The Japanese god of thunder.
Teshub – The Hurrian god of the sky and thunder.
Thor – The mighty thunderer of Norse mythology, he is the god of thunder and war.
Zeus – The Greek god of the heavens, his attributes are the lightning bolt.
Caishen
Etymology: “God of Wealth”
Also Known As: Ts’ai-shen, Tsai Shen Yeh, Zhao Gongming, Bi Gan
Alternative Spellings: T’shai-Shen, 財神 (Traditional Chinese,) 财神 (Simplified Chinese)
In the Taosist and folk religions of China, Caishen is the god of wealth, specifically prosperity who is rather popular that even atheists will worship him from time to time, at least during the Lunar New Year celebrations.
Description
In some depictions, Caishen is shown dressed in exquisite flowing red robes and riding a black tiger. He is said to have a black face with a thick mustache and wears an iron helmet along with holding an iron weapon. Unless this misunderstanding is on my part, Caishen may also be shown with a Ri Yu staff or scepter that he holds. A golden yuanbao (gold ingot, bar of gold) is also shown near to Caishen or he may be holding one. Other imagery of Caishen will show him with several attendants with various gold bars, scrolls and fruit to pass to people that Caishen has blessed.
A temple to Caishen was built in the 2000s in Zhouzhi, Xi’an, Shaanxi. That is fairly recent in the grand scheme of things.
Prosperity
Caishen aids in ensuring that a person will receive profits from any commercial transactions.
Gold – This is rather obvious as a symbol of Caishen. He is often shown with a gold yuanbao or ingot as this holds value. The iron weapon that Caishen is shown holding also sometimes transforms into gold, showing Caishen’s power over wealth and prosperity.
Alchemy – There is sometimes another tool, a golden cudgel that Caishen holds that he can use to turn stone or iron into gold.
Tiger – In Chinese symbolism, the tiger represents persistence and represents that a person must do more than wish for wealth, they must do more and act on it.
Bureaucracy
Close on the heels of being a god of prosperity, Caishen presides over a bureaucracy with numerous minor deities under him.
Protection
Aside from promoting prosperity and wealth, Caishen is known to protect or ward against thunder and lightning.
Lunar New Year
During the Chinese Lunar New Year, Caishen descends from the heavens to come down to the earth and check on his followers.
With the Lunar New Year, this is a good time in the days leading up to it to do some spring cleaning of your home and remove unwanted clutter. Do any repairs that need it and check the lightbulbs, especially for the front door.
Families worship Caishen in the early morning by setting three candles on the dining table and burning three incense sticks of choice as the main entrance and windows are open to invite Caishen into the home. After bowing and inviting Caishen in, it is traditional for the family to set a place for him at the table and to eat dumplings on this day as they look like the gold yuanbao or ingot associated with Caishen. Images of Caishen are also displayed, in more modern times, posters are acceptable.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Caishen ascends back up to the heavens, and the pictures used to welcome him on the first day are now burned to see him off. Burning the pictures is part of wishing for a more prosperous and luckier year.
The fifth day of the Lunar New Year is Caishen’s birthday, so its natural to want to celebrate that and wish him a happy birthday too! Cake, dumplings, and fireworks!
It is popular among friends and family to say the traditional New Year greeting of “Gongxi Facai” or “May you become rich!” Admittedly, many Westerners confuse the saying as being equivalent to the English “Happy New Year” when it’s a prayer wishing someone wealth and prosperity.
Feng Shui
For those who practice feng shui, an image of Caishen can be displayed in one’s home or office to attract money, good luck or fortune, wealth, and prosperity. Some believe that this can come in the form of a sudden windfall of financial luck. The higher that you are able to place this image of Caishen, the better as that is believed to show more respect for him with the best places being the foyer, entryway, or living room for him.
Buddhism
Among the “Pure Land Buddhists,” they venerate Caishen as a buddha. In esoteric Buddhism, Caishen is identified with Jambhala, the God of Wealth.
Taoism
In various Chinese and Taosist temples, a statue of Caishen may sometimes stand near a door, usually in conjunction with Randeng Daoren, the Burning-Lamp Taoist.
Maoism
Under Mao and Communism, the veneration of Caishen in mainland China hasn’t faired too well as the state believes in making it’s own way and luck with money. Several of the temples and statues of Caishen were destroyed during this time.
As luck would have it, 1979 saw a renaissance from the “Four Asian Tigers” of overseas Chinese communities in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea where the veneration of Caishen had been kept alive, finding themselves wealthy and prosperous, even well developed. This wouldn’t be hard for people back in mainland China to see a correlation and have a swift return to using Caishen’s symbols from abroad and to place statues of Caishen in several prominent places, there are shrines, incense burned and statuettes tucked away on a shelf in a restaurant.
Possible Reality Behind The Myth
Many of China’s mythical figures are often said and thought to have once been a living person in life before ascending a deified or higher state. In this case, there are several legends of whom Caishen has been linked to, making it a bit dubious to determine if these were real, living historical people once.
With Caishen, we see him linked to the historical figure of Zhao Xuan-tan or Chao Hsüan-t’an, “General Zhao of the Dark Terrace,” during the Qin Dynasty. As Zhao Xuan-tan, he gained enlightenment on the top of a mountain. While still mortal, Zhao Xuan-tan is said to have assisted Zhang Dao-ling during his search for the Life-Prolonging Elixir.
Bi Gan – The historical figure of Bi Gan is the most ancient person to link Caishan with and the first incarnation. Bi Gan had been married to a woman with the surname of Chen. Their son’s name was Quan. After Bi Gan was sentenced to death by his nephew, King Zhou of Shang, Bi Gan’s wife and son fled to the forest. Bi Gan’s death is noted to mark the collapse of the Shang dynasty. Later, Quan would be revered as the ancestor to the Lins by King Wu of Zhou.
Zhao Gongming – There is a novel written during the Ming dynasty era called Fengshen Yanyi that tells the story of a hermit by the name Zhao Gongming who used magic to support a failing Shang dynasty. Jiang Ziya, who supported the following Zhou dynasty, made a straw effigy of Zhao and after twenty days of spells, prayers and incantations, fired an arrow made of peach tree wood through the heart of this effigy. At the moment the arrow struck, Zhao became ill and died. Later, when Jiang visited the temple of Yuan Shi, he was chastised for causing the death of a virtuous man. Jiang Ziya, having remorse, carried Zhao’s corpse to the Yuan Shi temple to make atonement. As Jiang expounded on Zhao’s virtues, Zhao would become canonized as Caishen, the god of Wealth, and become the president of the Ministry of Wealth. There are some sources that reverse the loyalties of Zhao and Jiang for this story.
The historical figure of Bi Gan is the most ancient person to link Caishan with. Bi Gan had been married to a woman with the surname of Chen. Their son’s name was Quan. After Bi Gan was sentenced to death by his nephew, King Zhou of Shang, Bi Gan’s wife and son fled to the forest. Bi Gan’s death is noted to mark the collapse of the Shang dynasty. Later, Quan would be revered as the ancestor to the Lins by King Wu of Zhou.
Fan Li – During Confucius’ time, Caishen came to be associated with Fan Li, a military strategist, businessman, and advisor to Goujian who ruled over the kingdom of Yue. Both Fan Li and Goujian were taken hostage by the state of Wu and held for three years. After they were freed, Fan Li continued to serve Goujian, carrying his government appointments and reforms that improved the kingdom of Yue. Fan Li’s reforms aided Goujian to be able to conquer the Wu state. After this victory, Fan Li resigned from his position and took on the name Tao Zhu Gong.
Fan Li and his wife, Xi Shi went to live on a boat out on Lake Tai. Fan Li’s success with business and his reforms led to his being defied and regarded as a reincarnation of Caishen.
Caibo Xingjun – This is another name linked to Caishen as a possible historical figure. Originally born Li Guizu, he was born in the Zichuan district in the Shandong Province where he held a position as a magistrate. Due to his service and contributions, Li Guizu was given the title of Caibo Xingjun by the Wude Emperor of the Tang dynasty and the people built a temple to worship him.
These are just some of the stories I was able to find of those historical people who have been linked with Caishen.
The Caishen Of All Directions
With all of these various historical figures linked to Caishen and seeing them as various incarnations; they all lead to the fact that there are multiple Caishen who are associated with the various directions. Additionally, a person wanting Caishen’s aid should pick one of these nine different Caishen to call on.
Center – Zhao Gong Ming, the Military God of Wealth
East – Xiao Sheng, the God of Collecting Treasures
West – Cao Bao, the God of Collecting Valuables
North – Yao Shao Si, the God of Profitability
South – Chen Jiu Gong, the God of Attracting Wealth
South-East – Han Xin Ye, the God of Gambling
South-West – Liu Hai, the God of Luck
North-East – Shen Wanshan, the God of Gold
North-West – Tao Zhugong, the Civil God of Wealth
恭喜发财
Taweret
Credit – Spiderbrick 2099
Pronunciation: taa-wir-et
Etymology: “Great One”
Alternate Spellings & Other Names: Taueret, Tauret, Taurt, Apet, Ipet, Ipy, Opet, Reret, Rertrertu, Thoueris (Greek), Thoeris (Greek), Toeris (Greek), Ta-uret (Greek)
Other Names and Epithets: “Lady of Heaven,” Nebetakhet “The Mistress of the Horizon,” “She Who Removes Water,” “Mistress of Pure Water,” “The One Who is in the Waters of Nun,” and “Lady of the Birth House”
In ancient Egypt or Khemet, Taweret is the hippopotamus goddess of fertility, protection, and childbirth. She was a rather popular goddess whose image could be found in homes on beds and pillows rather than in any formal temple. Because of her fearsome chimeric appearance, some sources and translations will refer to Taweret as a demon.
Attributes
Animal: Hippopotamus
Color: Blue, Green
Direction: North
Element: Water
Gemstones: (Hippopotamus) Ivory, Turquoise
Patron of: Child, Mothers
Planet: Venus
Sphere of Influence: Childbirth, Fertility, Motherhood, Pregnancy, Protection
Symbols: Ivory Dagger, Sa symbol, Wand
Egyptian Depictions
Taweret is shown in Egyptian art as being a chimeric deity having the head and body of a hippopotamus, the arms and legs of a lion, a crocodile’s tail and human breasts, and swollen belly of someone pregnant. She wears a flat, cylindrical headdress called a modius that sits on top of her hair or wig. These chimeric aspects show Taweret being both a fertility goddess and a protective deity and how nature can be bountiful while dangerous at the same time if not properly respected. The images where Taweret is shown with a crocodile on her back represent her connection to Sobek.
Later images show Taweret with the sun disc that’s associated with the goddesses Hathor and Isis. Taweret is often shown holding a Sa amulet, a symbol for protection and it wasn’t just protective amulets, as a household deity, Taweret’s image could be found on a wide variety of objects. Household furniture from chairs to stools and headrests. Vessels holding liquid were made with Taweret’s image with openings on the nipples, thought to purify any liquid being poured out. These vessels were very popular during the New Kingdom era. Towards the Middle Kingdom era, apotropaic objects such as wands and knives would bear Taweret’s image during both funerary rituals and pregnancy and birthing rituals. These objects have been shown in tomb paintings.
What’s In A Name
Taweret’s name means either “She who is great” or “Great One” and is the type of name or epitaph given to a potentially dangerous deity or entity so as not to provoke their wrath.
Worship
Taweret is a domestic deity in that she usually didn’t have any temples dedicated to her. Instead, you could find images of her in people’s homes on beds and pillows.
However, statues of hippopotamus goddesses can be found in tombs and temples to help the deceased be successfully reborn into the afterlife. Plus, during the time of the Middle Kingdome between 2,055 and 1,650 B.C.E., Taweret became more prominent with her image appearing on more apotropaic objects, the most common being a “wand” or “knife” carved from hippopotamus ivory used in rituals for the birth and protection of infants. These same images would also appear on children’s feeding cups.
Interestingly enough, during the Middle Kingdom era, Taweret would also become a funerary deity and hippopotami images would appear alongside the marsh flora décor in tombs and temples. This imagery connects Taweret as a goddess of rebirth into the afterlife, not just earthly births.
During the New Kingdom (1,550 to 1,069 B.C.E.), Taweret along with other household deities would become even more prominent. Taweret’s image would appear on a number of household items. Despite the ruling of the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten to alter Egypt from polytheism to henotheistic religion and a focus on the sun disc, Aten banned the worship of many deities, Taweret persisted due to her influence on daily life and her connection as a funerary deity.
During the Ptolemaic and Roman periods between 332 B.C.E. and 390 C.E., Taweret continued to have the main role in day-to-day Egyptian life. Either during the Late Period 664 B.C.E. to 332 B.C.E., a temple was built for Ipet, a similar hippopotamus goddess in Karnak. This temple was believed to be the place of the sun god, Amun-Re’s daily birth, and several goddesses like Taweret were connected to him as a divine mother.
Crete – In the Minoan religion of ancient Crete, Taweret is known as the Minoan Genius. All thanks to contact and trade of ideas with Levant who in turn, got them from Egypt. Taweret’s image continued to be used on protective amulets, though in a more Minoan style, and would find their way even to mainland Greece.
Levant – Taweret was adopted into Levantine religions, taking a maternal goddess role in their pantheon.
Nubia – Taweret even found favor with the Nubian empire and became part of their pantheon during the lat Middle Kingdom era in Egypt. Evidence has been found of Taweret appearing in royal rituals in Kerma, the capital of Nubia.
Parentage & Family
Given how fluid Egyptian myths can be, who’s related to who can vary by era.
Consort
Taweret has been paired up with a few different gods.
Aha – Or Bes, the dwarf god, Taweret is sometimes paired with him.
Apep – An Egyptian snake god of chaos who is sometimes paired with Taweret.
Seth – Or Set, according to Plutarch, is Taweret’s spouse.
Sobek – The crocodile god of chaos, Taweret is paired with him.
Children
In Thebes, Taweret is regarded as the mother of Osiris and thus linked to the sky goddess Nut. Taweret is to have given birth to Osiris in Karnak.
Amun-Re in Ptolemaic traditions and accounts when he becomes the supreme god instead of Ra. Under this mythic tradition, numerous maternal goddesses were seen as Amun-Re’s divine mother. They were all just different names for the same Divine Mother.
Fluid Theology
The Egyptians were very fluid in their theology and how the gods were depicted. Different deities were known to merge for a specific reason or to emerge and split away, becoming their own entity. Given the thousands of years, the Egyptian Dynasties lasted, it’s not surprising in many ways for the myths to be fluid and change with the times. It was no problem for the Egyptians who saw such myths as complimentary and not contradictory.
At different points in the continuing development of Egyptian mythology, Taweret has had her roles become associated with other goddesses or have roles added. For the ancient Egyptians, they often saw their deities as just being different aspects of the same Goddess. Taweret goes from not just a goddess who protects children and the birth process but one who protects and purifies those moving to the afterlife. Which, makes sense, death being a form of rebirth to the next life and what comes after.
Other examples of this are the goddess of Isis, Hathor, and Mut all having protective roles and aspects that would later be absorbed by Taweret.
Egyptian Astronomy – The Mistress of the Horizon
Taweret’s image is often used to represent a northern constellation in the zodiacs where she is known as Nebetakhet (“The Mistress of the Horizon”). This same image can be found in many astronomical tomb paintings, even the Theban tombs of Tharwas, Senemut tomb, and the Pharoah Seti I in the Valley of the Kings. In this aspect, Taweret is thought to keep the heavens free of evil preventing those not worthy from passing by.
We see the image of the astral Taweret again, almost exclusively on the Sethian foreleg of a bull. This image later comes to represent the never-setting circumpolar constellations of Ursa Major and Draco and has associations with the Egyptian god of Chaos, Seth. The seven stars that line down Taweret’s form are from Ursa Minor.
In the Book of Day & Night, a mythological text dating from the Twentieth Dynasty (1186-1069 B.C.E.), it’s commented that this foreleg of Seth’s in the northern sky is tied down to two mooring posts of flint by gold chains. Isis in the form of a hippopotamus guards these posts.
This specific example of mentioning Isis and not Taweret is part of the fluidity of Egyptian cosmology and beliefs where the aspects of one goddess could be absorbed by another or split off for other deities.
The cosmic, astral imagery for Taweret is even found in later Ptolemaic and Roman eras such as the Book of Faiyum where Taweret is shown in her usual image with a crocodile on her back and a small upright crocodile in her right hand. Another section of Faiyum papyrus shows her near Lake Moeris. The Faiyum shows the solar journey that the sun god Ra takes with Lake Moeris being where the sun god is believed to descend during his nightly journey to the underworld of Amduat.
Taweret is represented in connection with Lake Moeris as a well-known constellation where she is a protective divine mother to Sobek-Re during his daily, solar journeys. In this respect, Taweret is like Neith the primary divine mother to Sobek. This aspect of Taweret is known as “Neith the Great, who protects her son.”
Protector of Pregnancy & Motherhood
This is perhaps Taweret’s best-known role as a goddess of protection. Her role and domain is over pregnancy and childbirth to ensure safe and healthy births. Magic by way of charms, amulets, and the use of special apotropaic wands and ivory-handled knives to ward off evil. 75% of all apotropaic wands have been found with Taweret’s image on them. Practitioners using these would draw a circle on the ground around the sleeping, expectant mother.
As a protective goddess of childbirth, Taweret would often be shown with the dwarf god, Bes who also has a similar protection role.
It should go without saying that pregnancy and childbirth were and still can be a dangerous time. Advanced as Egyptian medical knowledge was, they weren’t above invoking Taweret’s aid and help to ensure a successful birth with incantations that hoped and prayed for a son to carry on a patriarchal line for the household.
Metternich Stela – In this later myth, Isis tells Horus that he was raised by a “sow and a dwarf.” The sow refers to a female hippopotamus and thus Taweret while the dwarf is a reference to Bes.
The Death Of Osiris – Plutarch says that Taweret is a concubine of Set who changed her ways to become a follower of Horus and his order of law. This links Taweret to Isis as the goddess kept Set on a chain to control his forces of chaos. One version of this myth has Taweret holding Set down while Horus slays him.
Motherhood – Later myths quickly connect Taweret as a divine mother, namely the one who fiercely protects her children, much like lions and hippopotamuses are known to.
Pregnancy – Modern folk magic in Egypt still sees women who desire to become pregnant going to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to rub the belly of Taweret’s statue. To the point that a glass vitrine now shields the statue from the constant rubbing and wear. That doesn’t stop women from going to visit the statue in efforts and hopes of becoming pregnant.
Sa Amulet
The Sa symbol is the hieroglyph for protection and with Taweret, this protective amulet is used during pregnancy and childbirth to ensure the baby’s health and safety. Pregnant women frequently wore these Sa amulets or those with Taweret’s image on them.
Plutarch’s Notes – Plutarch mentions in his writings that in the central myth of Isis and Osiris, Taweret is a concubine to Seth, the god of chaos and murderer of Osiris. Taweret rebels against Seth in order to join Horus and his forces of order.
Funerary Goddess
To the Egyptian mind, this one makes sense, as you’re born into the mortal life, so too do you undergo a similar rebirth into the afterlife with death. Who else will be there, none other than Taweret to act as a sort of psychopomp to purify the soul as you move on.
Taweret’s image would also be placed outside of temples dedicated to other Egyptian gods where it was believed she would protect and keep away harmful, chaotic spirits.
The Eye Of Ra
This story has been found engraved on one of the shrines in Tutankhamun’s tomb and in “The Book of the Heavenly Cow.”
In this story, Hathor, as the Eye of Ra, turns into Sakhmet. How this came about is that Hathor’s father Ra, having grown old, was beginning to fall out of worship. Angry about this, Ra speaks to his daughter who turns into Sakhment and goes out to punish humanity.
As Sakhmet, she was very efficient and nearly wiped out everyone. Realizing that if she continued killing everyone, there would be none left at all to worship the gods, Ra decided that there has been enough killing and told her to stop. Only now she can’t quit, Sekhmet’s become so full of bloodlust.
Seeking the guidance of the ever-wise Thoth, he and Ra get large vats or barrels of beer that have been dyed and colored red to look like blood. In some versions of the story, they flood the land with the blood-red beer, and in others; Thoth has a hallucinogenic like poppies put into the beer.
Regardless of the final version told, Sekhmet on seeing all this beer drinks it up, getting so drunk, she forgets about her reason for coming to the earth, her great blood lust, and forgets all about killing anyone. When Sekhmet returns to Ra, he embraces her and Sekhmet turns back into Taweret. Granted, the other version I have mentioned before sees Sekhmet turn back into Hathor.
With Taweret’s rise and popularity, this version and change of the story is meant to showcase Taweret’s role as a fertility goddess and one of renewal or rejuvenation. This version of the story is why Taweret has the epithet of “Mistress of Pure Water.” By taking the form of a giant hippopotamus that brings the flooding of the Nile River.
Mistress of Pure Water – Fertility Goddess
The above story places Taweret in a position as a goddess of fertility, which makes sense, she is already the goddess responsible for watching over the birth process. Since hippopotami are associated with the Nile River, it’s easy to equate them with the annual flooding that brings much-needed life, rejuvenation, and renewal, especially near Jabal al-Silsila. Just as Tawerret would bring rejuvenation and fertility, she was also associated with the harvest.
Another myth has the god Amun-Re as being born from Taweret as Ipet to ensure the cycle of renewal and regeneration.
Hippopotamus
Archeological finds have found that hippopotami lived in the Nile River long before the rise of dynastic Egypt around 3,000 B.C.E. Among the Egyptians, male hippopotami were viewed as dark, negative creatures allied with Set, the god of chaos. There would be royal hunting parties that would prove the divine power and might of the pharaoh.
As for female hippopotami, they were seen in a more favorable light as they were seen to represent Taweret. This frightful appearance was to frighten away any negative spirits that would harm a child, especially during labor and childbirth. Given the protective nature of female hippopotami with their young, they were easily adopted as protective symbols. Protective amulets with female hippopotami have been found dating back to between 3,000 to 2,686 B.C.E. up to the Ptolemaic and Roman eras between 332 B.C.E. and 390 C.E.
More Than One Hippo Goddess!?!
Taweret isn’t the only protective hippopotamus goddess. There is also Ipet, Reret, and Hedjet. Some scholars have put forward the idea that all these goddesses are merely different aspects of the same goddess as they’re all protective household goddesses.
We know already that Taweret means “Great One.” Ipet’s name means “the Nurse” and refers to her connection with birth, child rearing, and caretaking. Reret’s name means “the Sow” and it does connect to an erroneous classification of calling hippopotami as water pigs. Hedjet’s name means “the White One” and the meaning for this name isn’t clear. Depending on the source and era, all three goddesses were regarded as different names and aspects of Taweret or she absorbs them.
There is evidence of a hippopotamus goddesses’ cult during the time of the Old Kingdom between 2,686 and 2,181 B.C.E. found on Ancient Egyptian funerary papyrus known as the Pyramid Texts. Ipet is mentioned in Spell 269 of the Pyramid Texts of how the deceased Pharoah will suck on the goddess’ “white, dazzling, sweet milk” when he ascends to the heavens. Maternal goddesses, these hippopotami goddesses protected not just those of royal lineage but those of non-royal lineages as well.
Not To Be Confused With Ammit!
While Taweret and the other hippopotamus goddesses all share similar roles with protection, fertility, and childbirth. There is another hippopotamus goddess, Ammit who should not be confused with Taweret or her fellow hippopotamus goddesses. Why? Because Ammit is the only hippopotamus goddess who is destructive, she is known for eating the souls of the unjust before they go to the afterlife.
Syno-Deities
Hathor – An Egyptian goddess, it should come as no surprise that at some point in the ever-evolving and changing Egyptian cosmology, that at some point Taweret would be equated with Hathor or share, take over many of the same attributes and even a myth or two while we’re at it.
Mut – A mother goddess in ancient Egypt, married to Amun-Re and often equated with Taweret.
Persephone – A Greek goddess of fertility and the underworld, those attributes seem to be the most like Taweret.
Veles
Also Known As: Benec, Vėlinas (Baltic, Lithuanian),Volos, Volusu, Volusu, Vyeles, Ganyklos (Lithuanian), Vlas (Russian), Walgino, Weles
Epitaphs: King of Bears, Lord of all Wolves, Master of the Forest, “Skotiybog“ (God of Cattle)
Etymology: “Uel-“ to see, fields, spirits of the dead. Also likely from the proto-Indo-European word “wel-“ wool
In Slavic beliefs, folklore, and mythology, Veles is a god of many things from storms and trickery to God of the underworld and domestic animals as well as the god of the earth and water. Veles is indeed a significant and major supernatural force within Slavic mythology and beliefs. Depending upon your source, some of it can seem rather contradictory.
Given the nature of Slavic beliefs, there isn’t much concrete documentation. There is still a lot of oral history and traditions about Veles found in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Russia. All of this can get very confusing as for the longest time, first with the arrival of Christianity, a lot of local Slavic pagan beliefs were done away with and made to be seen as aspects of evil and the devil. Then later, when that’s no longer so prominent, there just isn’t a lot that has been documented and what survives has been by oral tradition and that, can vary widely by local, regional traditions that have managed to get passed on. We also hit on several dubious sources that over time have proven not to be reliable.
Naturally, this will be where I’ve got some mistakes and expect I Veles to be a post I will come back to correct several times and update.
Attributes
Animal: Bear, Cattle, Crows, Dragons, Owl, Ravens, Rooster, Serpents, Wolf
Colors: Black, Blue, Green, Red
Day of the Week: Sunday
Directions: North, West
Element: Earth, Water
Gemstones: Bloodstone, Garnet, Jasper, Jet, Obsidian, Onyx
Incense: Cedar, Clove, Ginger, Wormwood
Month: February, March
Plant: Cedar, Hawthorne, Holly, Ivy, Mistletoe, Pine, Wheat, Willow
Planet: Mercury
Season: Autumn
Sphere of Influence: Cattle, Commerce, Divination, Fertility, Magic, Medicine, Music, Pastures, Underworld, Wealth, Wildlife
Symbols: Cattle, Horns, Serpents, Wool
Tarot: Cups, Pentacles
Weapon: Spear
Description
In some sources, Veles is described as a wolf-headed god. In other sources, Veles is described as a large serpent with horns that lives in the water or is pictured at the bottom of the Slavic World Tree with Perun in his eagle form at the top. Frequently, Veles is depicted as an elderly man with a gray beard and hair. As a shapeshifter, Veles often takes on the traits of those animals favored or associated with him such as horns and bear fur.
When in the form of a bear, Veles is regarded as the King of Bears. As a wolf, among the southern Slavs, Veles is the lord of all wolves.
Velinas – In the Balto-Slavic regions, a description is given that describes him as being a one-eyed god with a gift for divination and leader of the Wild Hunt, lord of the dead, and to whom people sacrificed to were killed with a spear. This version of Veles warrants having its own post as one source found, discusses Velinas as similar to, yet clearly different from Veles. Taking a look at the Mediterranean region among the Greek and Roman cultures, there were other culture groups like the Etruscans, the Dacians, Phrygians who have their own local deities who were similar to those of the Greek and Roman deities and would frequently be absorbed into the Greco-Roman pantheons and survive as epitaphs for the local region.
What’s In A Name?
According to the linguist Roman Jakobson, the name Veles comes from the word “uel-“ and “esu-“ while the name Volos comes from another root word for where “-el” changes to “olo.” The root word “uel” or “wel-“ can have variable meanings and refer to any number of words such as “to die,” “grass,” “to see,” “to want,” “to turn,” “to cull,” “tepid”, “hair,” “wool,” “forest,” and “deception” as in magical deceptions. The book “The Mythology of All Races” published in 1918 says that Veles’ name comes from “weles” for wolf.
The root word “uel” is also related to the proto-Germanic word “walaz” that is also seen in the old Norse “valr,” “valkyria,” and “Valholl” all words related to the Norse god Odin who is known too by the name “Valfǫðr.” In the Baltic dialects and language, we see this reflected in the word “vėlės/veļi” for the “spirits of the dead,” “shade of the deceased,” and “shadow of death.”. This is reflected in the Baltic god’s names of Vėlinas, Velnias, and Velns. A connection of the word “uel” from “ṷélsu-“ for meadow or pasture has been made with the Greek Elysium, the fields of the blessed dead.
Where “uel-“ relates with “to see,” there is a connection in the name of the seeress Veleda. Going off this, in Norse mythology there is a “Völva,” a seeress connected to water and foretelling known as “Völuspa.” The word “Völuspa” is connected to spinning or braiding the Thread of Fate of those whose futures have been seen. “Völva” is also the cognate for a “Wheel” or “Spinning Wheel.”
In the proto-Indo-European language, etymologists have found the root word “wel-“ meaning wool and likely where the English word “wool” comes from. The Russian word for “hair” is “volos.” As a god of horned cattle and other livestock, this makes sense.
Worship
First off, “The Primary Chronicle” is the main source and historical record that provides us with evidence for Veles’ importance and worship. Veles is one of the Slavic gods that can be concretely confirmed while there are several others that have been disproved or there’s still information being gathered to confirm them.
Veles is worshiped in two distinct forms. One as Veles and one as Volos. This makes sense as that can be a way to break down all the aspects of what Veles is a god of and the domains he presides over. Scholars and etymologists suggest that Veles and Volos are two different gods being referred to. However, that does make sense for a need to see two different deities once the Slavic regions began to be Christianized and there’s a split of Veles’ dualistic nature.
Cocks or Roosters would be sacrificed to Veles at the rivers or lakes sacred to him.
During the later 10th century, Vladimir I, the Prince of Kiev erected seven statues in his city, of which Veles was one of them. However, Veles’ statue is the only one that didn’t stand up on the hill next to the other statues and castle. Instead, Veles’ statue could be found in the city in the marketplace. This placement indicates strongly Veles’ importance to commerce. Plus, it also shows that the worship of Perun and Veles needed to be kept separate as Perun’s shrines and worship were to be conducted up high with Veles’ place down in the lowlands. Among the Southern Slavs, Veles’ name is often found in place names.
Triglav – Veles was worshipped as an aspect of the three-headed Slavic god Triglav and the Slavic trinity consisting of Perun, Veles, and Svarog.
Christian Influence
With the arrival of Christianity in the Slavic regions and countries, the aspect of Veles has largely been suppressed, at least the aspects connecting him to the Underworld and as a trickster. He has been equated with the Devil with his name becoming the same word for ghosts and devils. There is a record of Czech’s referring to Veles as a devil in the 16th century. An idol was thrown in the Pocayna River. Veles is used frequently in medieval curses from Bohemia.
Due to Veles’ dualistic nature, we see a split in his name with Veles and Volos. The name Veles under Christian influence holding a more negative connotations and associations. Whereas with Volos, he is held more benignly, and this aspect survives, becoming associated with different Saints.
St. Blaise – Or Saint Vlas, Saint Vlaho, St. Blaz, or St. Vlasiy, he is connected more to the aspect of Volos, he is a shepherd and patron saint cattle and domestic animals. Icons of St. Vlas were placed in cattle sheds for their protection. The Saint’s name day is February 12th and, on this day, cattle are treated to a special feed to eat. In Yaroslavl, the church built on the site of Vele’s shrine was dedicated to St. Blaise.
St. Nicholas – Veles is associated with this saint who is a patron of merchants, fishermen, and mariners. There is also this connection due to the association with water and being a snake who is slain by St. George, a motif similar to the enmity between Perun and Veles.
Parentage and Family
Parents –
Father – Rod, the creator god in Slavic beliefs.
Mother – Zemun, a divine or celestial cow.
Sometimes Veles’ parents are given as Svarog and Lada.
Siblings
Perun and Dażbóg
Consort
Depending on the region or the source cited, Veles is married either to Mokosh, the goddess of the earth, or to Devana, a goddess of the wilds and hunt.
Mokosh – She is somewhat conflicting as in other stories Mokosh is the wife to Perun and whom Veles kidnaps in their never-ending feud.
Devana – Or Dziewanna was forced to marry Veles after she rebelled against Perun.
Children
Jarilo – A fertility god raised by Veles after being kidnapped. So he may not really count.
Chaoskampf
The struggle against Chaos; this is a familiar motif found throughout the world in many different regions and mythologies of a culture hero or God going up against a creature of chaos. This creature is often shown as and takes the form of a great serpent or dragon. This is the familiar Knight slaying the Dragon seen in many European mythologies. Parallels to this concept are even found in other cultures.
This aspect is seen in the descriptions of Veles where he is a serpent with horns and the battle that he has with Perun. It’s a dragon or serpent-slaying motif seen with the story of Saint George slaying the dragon.
Storm Myth – Battle With Perun, the Storm God
As previously mentioned above under Chaoskampf, this story is perhaps the best-known Slavic story, especially as it fits into the Christian ideas of a hero slaying the dragon or evil or order triumphing over chaos.
Russian scholars and philologists Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov have reconstructed this mythical battle of Perun and Veles with comparative studies to various Indo-European myths, Slavic folk tales, and songs.
Perun, the god of thunder battles against Veles in his dragon form. Depending on the story, Veles has stolen either Perun’s son, wife, or cattle which leads to their conflict.
As a challenge, in the shape of a huge serpent, Veles comes up from the underworld of Nav and wind his way up the Slave World Tree towards the heavens and Perun’s domain. Naturally, Perun responds by sending lightning bolts so that Veles flees back down and turns himself into various animals, people, and even trees to escape from or ambush Perun as they battle it out.
In the end, Veles is slain by Perun and the person or thing that Veles is to have stolen is released from within his body and it comes out in the form of falling rain from the heavens.
Scholars have commented that this “Storm Myth” is probably how the ancient Slavs would explain the changing of the seasons throughout the year. Any dry periods would be seen as Veles’ theft with the storms and lightning being interpreted as a divine battle up in the heavens and Perun’s ultimate triumph over Veles with the arrival of rain and Perun establishing order over chaos.
The Slavs have a saying that wherever lighting strikes, that is Perun attacking Veles.
Variation 1 – In the stories where Veles kidnaps Perun’s son, it is Jarilo, the tenth son who is stolen. Veles then raises Jarilo as his own son, who when he is older, becomes a god of fertility and heralds the arrival of spring when he returns to the lands of the living.
Variation 2 – It is Perun who is stolen as an infant and raised in the underworld. Once Perun is grown, he battles many creatures in order to fight his way back up to the mortal world.
Fertility God
Since the “Storm Myth” is cyclical and repeats every year. It connects Veles as a god of fertility and a god who dies and then is resurrected. The snake or serpent aspect of Veles would be him shedding his old skin or old life to be reborn as the year changes.
The “Storm Myth” and battle with Perun places Veles in a more negative role as one who brings chaos. Certainly, change is chaotic, but there is a pattern that emerges and soon you can make sense of that pattern and bring about a certain order to things so it doesn’t get destructive.
For the ancient Slavs, Veles wasn’t evil, he was the god of the wilds and nature which can appear to be very unpredictable if you’re not careful or respectful.
Later Christian influences will place him as evil and why in so many places Veles’ name does become synonymous with the devil and evil. But we do see where Veles appears as a Saint such as Saint Nicholas to save a poor farmer’s cattle from the destructiveness of St. Elias, a representative of Perun.
While Perun is more associated with agriculture, there is a Russian custom during harvest season to cut the first ear of wheat and tie it into an amulet that would protect crops from evil spirits. This was known as “tying the beard of Veles” which meant to invoke good fortune and wealth.
Duality – Ultimately the conflict of Perun and Veles is the duality in the clash of good and evil and the cyclical nature of the passing of the seasons and year. Veles represents the earth, water, and physical world and Perun represents fire, the heavens, and spirit.
Marriage To Devana
Also known as Dziewanna, she is a goddess of the wilds and hunt. As punishment, Devana found herself forced to marry Veles after she rebelled against Perun. Wanting to be wild and free, Devana didn’t initially love Veles at first despite the two having a domain that’s very similar to each other. After a bit of thought, Veles managed to win Devana over when he changed into a basil flower and calmed her. While they’re still not really in love, together they do watch over the lowlands of the wilds and are a force not to be taken lightly.
God of Mischief
Like Loki, Veles is considered a god of mischief and trickery. This ties strongly to the association of Veles’ use of magic, shapeshifting, and the arts. This aspect holds where Veles is seen as a god of chaos and a disruption during any long periods of dryness, or no rain as primarily seen in the “Storm Myth.”
Magic & The Arts
In this aspect, we see Veles the god of divination, magic, music, poetry, the earth, and water. Oaths would be sworn in Veles’ name. Traveling musicians, skalds, bards, and poets were known to pray to Veles for his protection as they traveled.
As a god of poetry, divination, and the arts, Veles has been equated with the Norse Odin. There is a 12th-century Russian epic, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” where the character Boyan the wizard is referred to as Vele’s grandson. Poetry, music, and magic were closely linked in both Nordic and Slavic beliefs.
Veles is regarded as a protector of traveling musicians. Up into the 20th century, in some wedding ceremonies held in northern Croatia, the music won’t begin playing unless the groom while making a toast, spills some of the wine onto the ground, especially near the roots of a tree. This tradition would be musicians making a toast to their patron deity.
The Slavic magician-priests were called: volhov, volchvi, vlъsvi and volъsvi. They were not priests of an elite religion like those belonging to Perun. Rather, these magician-priests were known to be seers, soothsayers, poets, magicians and sorcerers as well as healers and herbalists. It is thought the etymology of volchys connects them to Volos.
God of the Underworld
Veles is a god of the Underworld, in charge of the spirits of the dead whom he would send out as his messengers. In his connection to the earth, Veles is also a god of all the bounties and riches of the earth, growing above and found below.
Nav – Also known as Nawia, this is Veles’ abode in the underworld. Incidentally, the word nav could also refer to the spirits or souls of the deceased who had premature deaths or poor deaths such as drowning, or being murdered, or if you were a murderer or warlock, these were all spirits that would come back as demons to afflict the living. The navias could take the form of birds. In Bulgaria, there is folklore that says twelve navias could suck the blood from a pregnant woman. The navias were also the demonic representation of the 1092 plague in Polotsk, Belarus.
Very similar to Norse beliefs, the Slavs also believed a huge world tree connected the mortal world to the heavens and the underworld. The roots of the world tree formed the roof of the underworld as they stretched out.
Where Perun was seen as either a hawk or eagle sitting in the branches of the world tree looking out over the heavens, Veles was seen as a huge serpent coiled around the roots ruling over the underworld.
Unlike descriptions of other underworlds, Nav was viewed as a beautiful place in folktales as a place where it’s forever Spring with green, grassy plains and plenty of water. Many fantastical creatures could be found here, not just the spirits of the dead who watched over Veles’ herds of cattle.
For the Slavs, Nav was described as being somewhere “across the sea” and was the place where migrating birds would go to every winter. In folktales, we find a different name, Virey or Iriv and that Jarilo, the god of fertility and vegetation lived here during winter and would return when it was time for spring. Jarilo would cross the seas, returning to the lands of the living bringing spring and birds back.
The Separation Of The Human World & Underworld
This story concerns the separation and boundary separating the mortal, living world with that of the underworld and lands of the dead. A shepherd pledged to Veles to sacrifice his best cow and to keep the god’s prohibitions. From this, Veles divides the human world and the underworld with either a furrow that he plows or groove over the road that the shepherd carves with a knife to prevent evil or negative powers from crossing.
God of Cattle
As Volos, he is known as “skotiybog,“ the god of cattle who watches over and protects flocks, cattle and all domestic animals, keeping them from harm. The name skotnyi bog is also the name for livestock in general. This aspect of Veles survives and continued under Christian influence well into the 18th century as Saint Blaise where he is a protector of shepherds and their flocks or cattle.
It must be noted too that it isn’t just domestic animals that Volos watches over, but all wild animals, connecting him to the image of him as a horned serpent and thus, horned gods like Pan or Cernunnos who watch over the forests and animals. In addition to the horns associated with either a bull or ram, there is also sheep’s wool that is used as a symbol for Veles.
The Koledari would sing that they come to “weaving black wool.” There is some folklore involving wool and the expressions, “presti vunu” meaning weaving wool, and “crnu vunu presti” meaning the weaving of black wool. These are illusions to magical crafts and Veles’ role as a god of magic.
God of Commerce & Wealth
Given how cattle were regarded as a sign of wealth and influence, it’s not hard to see Volos become the god and patron of commerce, business, prosperity, trade, and wealth. Merchants would seal their agreements by swearing Volos’ name and even legal documents would sometimes have oaths to him. If you broke an oath, you could be sure of Volos’ punishment and retribution.
A Rus-Byzantine Treaty of 971 is the earliest record we have where signers swore by Vele’s name with violators being warned of a punishment. They would be killed by their own weapons that would become “yellow as gold.” It is thought that this meant they would be cursed with a disease.
Veles’ Feast Day
Or the Festival of Veles, this festival is celebrated either February 11th or 24th for the observance of midwinter. In Christian folk rituals, this festival corresponds with Saint Blaise’s feast day. In the Orthodox traditions, St. Blaise as the protector of cattle is said to have defeated Winter or Morana. Among Catholic traditions, St. Blaise is the patron of throat diseases and apples and candles are blessed to provide protection from those diseases. In Catholic tradition, St. Blaise’s feast day is February 3rd and apples would be sacrificed to him by feeding them to cattle.
Prayers would be offered to Veles for the protection of livestock and their health by sacrificing milk. The festival would be held near a place of worship. During this time, it is forbidden to eat veal. The food eaten during this time is groats seasoned with fat. Ritual fights would also be held during this festival.
The best part is knowing that this held close to Valentine’s Day and Lupercalia!
Velja Noc
The Great Night, in Slavic beliefs, following a lunar calendar, the first day of the New Year would begin on what corresponds with the Gregorian calendar of March 1st to celebrate the end of Winter and return of Spring. This festival could last from Christmas all the way to the end of February. After the arrival and Christianization of many Slavic countries, for those Slavs falling under the Orthodox Churches, this day came to be known as Velik Dan or the Great Day. For the Catholic Slavs, this day became Velika Noc, still the Great Night. Both names correspond with the day or the week in which Easter is observed.
In pre-Christian worship, Velja Noc is the night that the spirits of the dead walk the earth and would enter villages and homes to celebrate the New Year with their living relatives. It is believed that Veles, as the god of the underworld would send out the souls of the dead to the living world to act as his messengers. One tradition has young men known as koledari or vucari would dress up in long coats of sheep wool and wear grotesque masks as they went around the villages making a lot of noise and singing songs. They would be wet and muddy to symbolize the wet underworld of Nav and the ghosts of the dead. In the koledari traditions, they would visit different homes and people presented them with gifts as if they were messengers from Veles to gain his favor for wealth and fortune in the following year.
Which I find very fascinating as this all sounds very much like the Irish celebration of Samhain and Halloween with spirits of the dead passing over to the world of the living and dressing up in costume. Plus, the spirits visiting living relatives is a lot like celebrations of Día de Los Muertos in Mexico and Kalan Goañv in Brittany, France.
Syno-Deities
Apsat – A Georgian or Sarmatian deity and god of cattle and herds who has been equated with Velese.
Cernunnos – A god of the druids in Celtic myth, he is symbolized as a horned snake and god of nature and horned animals.
Hermes – A trickster god and messenger of the Greek pantheon, Veles has been compared to them.
Loki – Veles has been compared to the trickster god Loki from Norse mythology.
Mercury – The trickster and messenger god of the Roman pantheon.
Odin – Some descriptions of Veles also sound just like Odin with his one-eye and gift of prophecy.
Triglav – A three-headed underworld god worshiped by the Pomeranians and some of the Polabian Slavs in Szczecin, Wolin and Brandenburg. It was a short-lived cult confirmed by St. Otto of Bamberg in his biographies.
Vala – A demon who opposes the thunder god Indra in the Vedas.
Vėlinas – A Baltic deity who is very similar in appearance to the Norse Odin and not just Veles.
Inti
Etymology: Sun
Alternative Names: Apu Punchaur, Apu-punchau, Giver of Life, Inti-Wawqi (Brother of the Sun)
In the Quechua and primarily Incan cultures of what is now modern-day Peru, Inti is a god of the sun and war. Inti was second in importance only to Viracocha, the creator god. Inti is generally perceived as a benevolent deity much of the time, bringing the heat of the sun for crops to grow. In the same vein, Inti could show displeasure through solar eclipses in which sacrifices would need to be made to soothe his anger. Rulers of the Inca saw themselves as descendants of Inti, the patron of their empire and military might.
The Incan Empire once spanned from Chile to Colombia and had covered most of Peru and Ecuador in its heyday. The Incan people were an advanced culture with sophisticated records, astronomy, art, and wealth. The Inca originated from the Lake Titicaca region in the Andes. Like any empire, the Incas expanded, conquering other tribes and cultures. That is, until the arrival of the Spaniards who came looking for gold and their own conquests in 1533. Smallpox devastated many of the local populations, making it easy for the Spanish and other Europeans to come in and with it, the fall of the Incan empire.
Attributes
Animals: Cougars, Snakes
Direction: South
Element: Fire
Metal: Gold
Month: June
Patron of: Creation
Planet: Sun
Sphere of Influence: Crops, Fertility
What’s In A Name?
Surprisingly, the word inti isn’t a Quechuan word but is instead a loanword from the Puquina language. Looking at the language groups of Aymara, Mapuche, and Quechua in the region shows why all these languages have a similar word for the sun. The Mapuche people have a similar sun deity known as Antu, the names for their spouses, and the Moon goddess are different from Quilla and Cuven.
Incan Depictions
In art, Inti would be represented as a golden disc with a human face. In the minds of the Incan people, Inti has a human form.
Gold – This metal was particularly associated with Inti as it was thought to be the sweat of the sun. There is a record of a gold statue to represent Inti. Within Inti’s temple in Cuzco, the interiors were lined with 700 half-meter panels of beaten gold. Outside the temple was a life-sized scene of a field of corn with llamas and shepherds all made of gold and silver. This statue represented Inti as a young boy known as Punchao or the Day and Midday Sun. From the statue’s head and shoulders, the sun’s rays shone forth. He was wearing a royal headband and had snakes and cougars coming out of his body. The stomach of the statue was hollow and would hold the ashes of the previous Incan rulers’ vital organs. This statue would be brought out every day into the open air and returned to the temple at night. When the Spanish arrived, the statue was taken to a place of safety, but eventually, it was found in about 1572 C.E. and has since disappeared from history where it was likely melted down for the gold along with so many other Incan artifacts.
Inti Masks – These masks were made of thinly beaten sheets of gold to form and represent the rays of the sun coming out of Inti’s head. The rays were often cut in a zig-zag design and some were known to end with small human faces or a figure. The most well-known mask was the one on display at the Coricancha temple.
Temples & Solar Constructions
Temples were often elaborately decorated with gold and jewels with intricate designs. This added a lot of prestige for those worshiping within, to offer something so abundant and plentiful to Inti to magnify the glory of the sun.
Coricancha Temple – (“House of the Sun”) and Sacsahuaman were sacred districts in the Incan capital of Cuzco. These are thought to have been built during Pachacuti’ reign. The High Priest of the Sun or Villac Umu presided over rites dedicated to Inti. They would be assisted by acllas or acyllyaconas (young virgin priestesses). Priests in other parts of the empire would carry out ceremonies and rites locally in those places.
Gateway of the Sun – This monolith located in Tiahuanaco by the Tiwanaku culture is thought to have a figure representing Inti while other sources will claim that it is Viracocha. The Sun Gate is also important as it shows the position of the sun on the days of the solstices and equinoxes.
Intihuatana – Or “hitching post of the sun” are solar astronomical stones (similar to a sundial but more sophisticated) that would be set at the highest point of a sacred precinct. They were used during the solstices to track the sun and connect it to the earth with a special cord or rope. Other astronomical observations for the sun and perhaps other celestial bodies would also be tracked with them. The most familiar and famous example is the one found at Machu Picchu. Other places are Pisac in north-eastern Cuzco, Ingapirca in Ecuador, and the Island of the Sun on Lake Titicaca where Incan rulers would make a pilgrimage to once a year.
Sucanga – These were a series of twelve pillars arranged around the city of Cusco used in the Incan solar calendar. Each pillar was arranged so that each month, it would indicate where the sun would set and rise. Farmers used them to rely on their planting and harvests. In the Incan Solar Calendar, the year was divided into 12 moons with 30 days. Each moon corresponded with its festivities and daily activities.
Sun Worship
This isn’t that much of a stretch, Inti is the Sun god, the sun way up in the sky is seen as him. It’s not that hard to see the sun as sacred, especially when needing crops to grow and bring light to the world.
Among the Inca, they began worshiping before the dawn. The emperor, his family, and everyone would head down to the main square of Cusco and wait silently for the rising of the sun. Once the sun rose, everyone would rejoice and kneel as the priests offered up a chicha to Inti in a silver bowl.
From there, the people would march to Coricancha to relight the sacred fire using mirrors to direct the sun’s rays.
The sun worship also included dances, sacrifices of grain, flowers, and animals that would be burned on bonfires.
Parentage and Family
Parents
Father – Viracocha, the creator god
Mother – Mama Qucha
Sometimes Pachamama, the earth goddess is Inti’s mother and in yet other myths, Inti will become Pachamama’s second husband.
Consort
Mama Quilla – The goddess of the Moon.
Pachamama – An Earth goddess
Siblings – Imahmana, Mama Killa, Mama Quilla, Pachamama, Tocapo
Children
Inca Manco Capac I and Mama Oello
Through Inca Manco Capac I, Inti is essentially the progenitor of all the Incan people. Other myths will place Manco Capac as the son of Viracocha.
Ancestor & Protector Deity
Inti is noted as being an ancestor of the Incan people through his son Inca Manco Capac I. In this capacity, Inti is also the state protector of the Incan peoples. Inti taught both Manco Capac and his daughter Mama Ocllo the arts of civilization.
The ruling elite of the Inca were all seen as representatives or avatars of Inti on earth. A similar concept is found in ancient Egypt where the Pharoah was seen an avatar of Ra in the flesh. Every member of the Incan people, especially the nobles to see themselves as representing Inti when they traveled and that they needed to holy when entering certain cities within the empire.
First City
Incan myths say that Inti is the founder of their culture and empire. Inti taught his children Manco Capac and Mama Ocollo the arts of civilization before sending them to the Earth to pass these skills on to humankind. Inti ordered his children to build the capital of the Incan empire where a golden wedge hit the ground. This city is often regarded as being the city of Cusco and had been founded by the Ayar.
Worship – Inti was regarded as the head of the state cult and his worship was enforced throughout the Incan empire. The Incan leader, Pachacuti is who is often credited for the spread of the Inca Sun Cult.
The High Priest or Willaq Umu placed this position as the second most important person in the Incan culture. The Willaq Umu was directly beneath the Sapa Inca and were often brothers as both were held to be descended from Inti.
Holding Court
In Incan beliefs, Inti and his sister, Mama Quilla, the Moon goddess are regarded as being benevolent. Inti is also to have married his older sister Mama Killa who bore him two children. Within Inti’s court, he and Mama Quilla are served by the Rainbow, the Pleiades, Venus, and other celestial bodies.
Sun God
Where many will identify Inti as a sun god, he is more accurately viewed as a series of solar aspects, specifically the stages of the sun as it passes throughout the day.
Incan Astronomy – In Incan cosmology, the sun has three phases it goes through during the day. The first is known as Apu Inti, the “supreme Inti” and represents the father and is sometimes known as “The Lord Sun.” The next is Churi Init or “Son Inti” which represents the son of Inti and is known as “Daylight.” The last is Inti Wawqi, the “Sun Brother”. The name is also spelt Inti- Inti-Guauqui and Inti-Huaoqui. Inti Wawqi represents the sun god in his role as the founding father of Incan rule and ancestor of the Incan people.
The aspects of Apu Inti and Churi Inti are separated cosmically as they each represent the Summer and Winter Solstices. Inti Wawqi is not associated with any astronomical spot.
The other idea in Incan cosmology is that these different aspects of Inti involved different duties they undertook. One of the suns represented the actual sun giving heat and light to the earth. Another of the sun was in the sky during the day much like the moon is out at night. And that the last sun was responsible for the growth of plants and agriculture.
Eclipses – Like many cultures, eclipses were seen as a sign of ill omen, and with the Inca, that Inti was somehow displeased. The Inca couldn’t predict a solar eclipse, part of what led to beliefs in an angry sun deity. The priests would seek to find ways to divine and figure out what had caused Inti’s wrath and then figure out which sacrifices needed to be made. With an eclipse, this is when the Inca would resort to human sacrifice to appease Inti’s anger. In addition, the ruling Inca would withdraw to fast for several days before returning to their duties.
Creation Myth – One of the interpretations of this myth has a conflict between Viracocha and Inti over the Sun’s creation and if it meant it should be worshiped as a separate entity.
Agriculture – As a Sun god, Inti is also instrumental as an agricultural deity. Especially in the highlands of Peru where the sun’s heat was thought to be the cause of rain. The correlation makes sense when during the rainy season, the sun is hotter and during the dry season, the sun feels cooler. Without that rain, the production of crops for maize and other grains would be more difficult.
Each province of the Inca empire would dedicate a third of their land and herds to Inti. Each major province would have a Sun Temple where priests and priestesses would serve.
Inti-Raymi – Meaning “Sun Festival,” this is an annual festival held during the time for the start of a new planting season. In the Quechua language, the name Inti Raymi means “resurrection of the sun” or “the path of the sun.”
The festival began with three days of fasting, no fires lit and people abstaining from sex, the sacrificing of 100 brown llamas. Once the festival began, it would last nine days during which time people consumed a lot of food and drink. There would be ritual dances, chanting from sunrise to sunset with animal sacrifices throughout the day all dedicated to celebrating Inti. Other sacrifices to Inti included simple prayers, food, coca leaves, and woven cloth. At the conclusion of the festival, people would leave with permission.
Sacrifices – Oftentimes animals of various livestock would be given. The most common sacrifices to Inti were white llamas. Any human sacrifices were done during a special ceremonial occasion or in the event of an event such as an earthquake, solar eclipse, or a death in the royal family. Such sacrifices and ceremonies were conducted to ensure the continuation of the Incan empire for its people and harvests.
There is one particular story of an eagle being attacked by buzzards and falling from the sky during a ceremony to Inti in roughly 1526 C.E. This was seen as an omen or portent for the collapse of the Inca empire. This would also coincide with the arrival of smallpox brought by Spanish Conquistadors from Europe. The smallpox epidemic would devastate numerous populations throughout the Americas and in the case of the Inca, it weakened them to conquered by the Spanish.
After the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors, this festival would be changed to May or June to coincide with the feast of Corpus Christi. Of course, incoming invaders and conquerors saw the festival of Inti-Raymi as being too pagan and would try to replace it with Christian observances.
The Inti-Raymi festival has seen a revival and tourists are known to come to Cusco, the capital of the Incan Empire to observe it. Inti Raymi occurs during the Southern Hemisphere’s Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, and June 24th by modern Calendar dates. And of course, no human sacrifices in the modern day.
Christian Influence
With the arrival of Spanish Conquistadors, came also the arrival of Catholicism and Christianity. The incoming Christian priests saw any religion other than themselves as being Pagan. The Sun Worship observed among the Incans was no exception and quickly equated with paganism and thus evil. This religious zeal, fueled by Spanish greed led to many temples being destroyed along with many religious artifacts meeting the same fate.
It is known that the Spanish Conquistadors seized a huge golden disk that represented Inti in 1571. It was sent back to Spain and given to the pope. Since then, this artifact and religious icon have been lost and there is speculation it may have been melted down to bullion.
Nowadays, in the 20th and 21st centuries, Inti is equated with the Christian god by the Quechua people.
Syno-Deities
Apollo – A Greek god of the sun also worshiped by the Romans.
Arinna – A Hittite goddess of the sun and light.
Helios – An ancient Greek sun god.
Huitzilopochtli – The Aztec god of the sun.
Kinich Ahau – The Mayan sun god.
Lugh – The Celtic sun god and fierce warrior.
Mithra – The Persian god of the sun.
Ra – A solar god worshiped among the ancient Egyptians.
Sol – The name of the Roman personification of the sun.
Sunna – Or Sol, one of the few sun goddesses and venerated by the Norse.
Surya – The Hindi god of the sun.
Tawa – The Sun Kachina in Hopi beliefs.
Kim-un Kamuy
Etymology: Kamuy (god), Bears and Mountains
Also Known As: キムンカムイ, Metotush Kamuy, Nuparikor Kamuy
Alternate Spellings: Kim-un Kamui, Metotush Kamui, Nuparikor Kamui
Among the Ainu people of ancient Japan, Kim-Un-Kamuy is the god of bears and mountains.
Kamuy
In the Ainu language, the kamuy is a spiritual or divine being in Ainu beliefs and mythology. This term refers to any supernatural entity made of or having spiritual energy.
Bears
It should be noted that bears hold a very prominent place in Ainu beliefs and mythology. Among the Ainu, bears were seen as very benevolent.
Ritual Sacrifice – One important ritual held by every village is that they would go out and capture a bear cub. This cub would be fed and taken care of as well as the village could for the period of a year. At this time, a ceremony would be performed in which this bear would be shot to death with arrows. The flesh of this ritually slain bear would be eaten, this would free the bear’s spirit so it could return to the heavens where it would tell Kim-un Kamuy of the humans’ piety in gratitude.
Many of the stories that follow all share a commonality of the bear being killed and eaten so its spirit could return to the heavens.
Ararush –
There are exceptions to the rule, there are stories of Ararush or monstrous bears that do appear.
One story tells of a bear maiden who was particularly mean and went to a human village and killed a woman. The bear maiden was punished by the Kamuy Fuchi and restored the human woman back to life. The bear maiden was to then entertain the villagers before leaving her earthly body behind as she returned to the spirit world with gifts of wine and inau. The bear maiden told of the human’s generosity and villagers feasted on the flesh of her earthly form.
First Story –
This story explains the origin and purpose of the Ainu’s bear ritual.
One day, the bear god, Kim-un Kamuy is told by Crow that his wife has left the heavens to go down to a human village and hasn’t returned. Alarmed, Kim-un Kamuy rushes home to collect up his child and hurry to the human village.
There, Kim-un Kamuy is greeted by Kamuy Paseguru, the goddess of the hunt. She invites Kim-un Kamuy to visit the goddess of the hearth, Kamuy Fuchi. As they are talking, a fox comes in, bewitching Kim-un Kamuy and Kamuy Paseguru seizes the chance to knock him out.
When Kim-un Kamuy comes to, he is hanging up high in the branches of a tree. Below him, Kim-un Kamuy can see the body of an old bear laying down and its cub playing close by. As he watched, he saw humans come to worship the dead bear and make offerings of wine, dumplings, and inau (sacred rods). Eventually, they took the bear meat and the cub back to their village.
Back in the village, the people give the cub more offerings. Kim-un Kamuy finds his wife at the human village sitting near the hearth. They spend several days feasting with Kamuy Fuchi before returning back home to feast with the other kamuy. Kim-un Kamuy’s cub returned a year later with gifts of wine and inau when another feast would be held.
Second Story –
In this story, a young mother is out with her baby collecting herbs and forest bulbs. When the mother was down at the river washing the bulbs, she began to sing and attracted the attention of a bear.
Frightened, the young mother jumped up, leaving her baby and clothes behind as she ran. Disappointed that the woman had run away and ceased her singing, the bear went over to investigate the pile of clothing and found the baby. The bear cared for the baby for several days, feeding it the saliva from its mouth.
The men from the woman’s village came down to the river and found the baby still alive. They were convinced that the bear had been none other than Kim-un Kamuy. The men followed the bear’s tracks and proceeded to shoot it dead. After that, the men then held a feast of the bear’s meat and raised the bear’s head up on a stand offering it wine and inau. By holding this ritual, the men freed the bear’s ramat or spirit to return to the heavens.
Third Story –
Once, in ancient times, there was a couple, husband and wife. One day the husband fell ill and shortly after, died, leaving no children.
As the case was, there had been a decree made that the woman would bear a son at some future date. When that day drew close, the people of the woman’s village began to talk among themselves that surely the woman had married again while others said the husband had risen from the dead.
The woman herself said it was a miracle and related how one evening, when she had been sitting there alone in her home, a man came to her, dressed all in black. When the man turned toward her, he said that he was the god of the mountain, Kim-un Kamuy. That he had come to her in mortal form to let her know, with her husband gone, she would bear a child. That this would be his gift to her and when her son had grown, he would be great, eloquent, and wealthy.
After this, Kim-un Kamuy left her and the woman bore a son. In time, when the child had grown, he became a mighty hunter and indeed a great, eloquent, and wealthy man. He also went on to become the father of many children. Many of the Ainu who live among the mountains claim to be descended from a bear. This bear clan is called Kimun Kamui sanikir, the “descendants of the bear.”
Members of Kimun Kamui sanikir are proud to declare: “As for me, I am a child of the god of the mountains; I am descended from the divine one who rules the mountains.”
Hera
Pronunciation: hir’-uh
Etymology: Greek – “Lady” or from haireo – “chosen one”
Alternate Spellings & Other Names: Ἥρᾱ, Hērā; Ἥρη, Hērē in Ionic and Homeric Greek
Epithets: Ἀλέξανδρος or Alexandros (“Protector of Men”), Hera Aigophágos, Αἰγοφάγος or Akraia (“She of the Heights”), Ἀμμωνία or Ammonia, Ἀργεία or Argéia (“She of Argos”), Argive Hera (“Hera Argeia”), Hera Antheia (“Hera of the Flowers”), Βασίλεια or Basíleia (“Queen”), βοῶπις or Boōpis (“Cow-Eyed” or “Cow-Faced), Βουναία or Bounáia (“She of the Mound” in Cornith), Hera Gamelia (“Hera of Marriage”), Hera Heniokhe (“Hera of the Chariot”), Hera Hyperkheireia (“Hera, Whose Hand is Above”), Hera Nympheuomene (“Hera the Betrothed”), Ἥρᾱ Παῖς or Hera Pais (“Child Hera” for her role as virgin), Ἥρᾱ Τελεία or Hera Teleia (“Adult Hera” as goddess of marriage), Ἥρᾱ Χήρη or Hera Chḗrē (“Widowed”), Λευκώλενος or Leukṓlenos (“White-Armed”), Παρθένος or Parthénos (“Virgin”), “Goat Eater,” “Queen of the Immortals,” “Queen of Heaven,” “Queen of the Gods,” “Queen of Olympus,” “Golden-Throned Hera,” “Bride of the Thunderer,” “The Supreme Goddess”
Not only is Hera the Queen of the Gods in Greek mythology, she is also the goddess of marriage, women, childbirth, and family. All roles that appear nigh impossible to preside over when one is married to Zeus, King of the Gods who goes about doing whatever he wants. It is easily understandable why some myths and stories will depict Hera constantly angry with Zeus, taking it out on his many “love affairs,” offspring, and even mortals who cross her path.
Attributes
Animal: Cow, Crow, Cuckoo, Lion, Panther, Peacock
Element: Air
Month: June
Patron of: Women
Planet: Venus
Plant: Lily, Lotus, Pomegranate
Sphere of Influence: Marriage, Childbirth, Family
Symbols: Peacock Feather, Diadem, Scepter, Throne, Veil
Greek Depictions
In some art, Hera is shown riding in a chariot pulled by peacocks. Hera is often shown with those animals sacred to her. As the Queen of the Gods, Hera is depicted as majestic and solemn, sitting on a throne wearing a polo (think a high cylindrical crown) or diadem with a veil hanging down behind her. Sometimes Hera is shown holding a pomegranate symbolizing marriage, fertility, and even death.
The most famous statue depicting Hera is the one carved by Polycletus. It is considered the noblest image and one that represents the ideal image of Hera as a mature woman with a beautiful forehead and large, wide-opened eyes. She is regarded as having a grave expression thought to command reverence.
In some instances, there is no imagery used for Hera to represent her, or she can be difficult to distinguish from other goddesses in Greek art. In Argos, Hera was represented as a pillar and on the island of Samos where Hera is said to have been born, she was represented by a plank of wood.
What’s In A Name
There are several possible etymological roots for Hera’s name. One given is the Greek word ὥρα or hora meaning “season,” or “year,” and likely meant to refer to being ripe for marriage. According to Plato, Hera’s name comes from ἐρατή or eratē for “beloved” as Zeus is supposed to have married her out of love. Yeah… we will get back to that myth later.
If we go by Plutarch, Hera’s name is an anagram of ἀήρ or aēr meaning “air.” That’s a little better.
Now we get into some suspect meanings that have been offered up. In Walter Burkert’s “Greek Religion,” he makes note of how scholars have argued for a meaning of Hera as the feminine of Heros meaning Master. Close on Burkett’s heels is John Chadwick who in deciphering the Linear B Greek script, says that Hera’s name may be related to the word ἥρως or hērōs and thus, the modern word of “hero.” It does get pointed out that this connection is too tenuous and obscure for any firm confirmation.
Then we have A. J. van Windekens who suggests the meaning of “young cow” or “heifer” for Hera as one of her epithets is βοῶπις or boōpis meaning “cow-eyed.”
Finally, we have R. S. P. Beekes who has put forward the idea of Hera being of Pre-Grecian origins. That her name may have meant “Lady” or “Mistress” That one makes sense too; we do have Hera’s name appearing in the Mycenaean Greek Linear B script and tablets found in Pylos and Thebes that seem to point to that meaning.
According to Herodotus, Hera is the only goddess not introduced to Greece from Egypt.
Like many deities and even words for that matter, the meanings and what they stand for change over time. On this hypothesis, however tentative, Hera goes from being an ancient earth goddess with vast power to a goddess of marriage ruling alongside Zeus with diminished influence.
We’re talking ancient ancient Mycenaean Greece of about 1500 B.C.E. to the ancient Greek and its city-states that many think of and are familiar with around 500 B.C.E. So, about a thousand years and a lot has happened. A lot has changed and even been lost.
Worship & First Temple
For all that Zeus tends to get top billing in Greek mythology and appears to be very prominent, after all, he is the King of the Gods! Archeological evidence shows that Hera may have been the first deity that the Greeks built and dedicated an enclosed, roofed temple. Said temple is found on the island of Samos and dates to around 800 B.C.E. It must be noted that this temple was later replaced by Heraion of Samos, being an even larger temple.
There is some archaeological confusion with dates as there have been many temples built on Samos. Rhoecus sculptors and architects destroyed the temple sometime between 570 to 560 B.C.E. and then replaced it with the Polycratean temple between 540 & 530 B.C.E. A lack of tiles suggests that the temple was never finished or that it was open to the sky. Other excavations at Samos have found votive offerings that date to the 7th and 8th centuries B.C.E.
There are “house sanctuaries” that date from the Mycenaean era. On mainland Greece, there is the “Argive Hera,” another sanctuary found between the Mycenaean cities of Argos and Mycenae. Festivals honoring Hera would be held there. There are two Doric temples dedicated to Hera that were constructed at Paestum around 550 B.C.E. to 450 B.C.E. One of these temples had long thought to be a Temple of Poseidon until the 1950’s when it was properly identified as belonging to Hera.
Further archaeological evidence shows that people would come from across the Mediterranean to make offerings at this site. These people likely came from Armenia, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt and Iran.
Argos – This city is held to be Hera’s favorite city. There is a sanctuary devoted to her in the Peloponnesus where she was worshipped as the city’s goddess and protector
Other Temples – Other temples dedicated to Hera are found at Mycene, Sparta, Paestum, Corinth, Tiryns, Perachora, and on the islands of Samos and Delos.
In book IV of the Iliad, Hera refers to Argos, Sparta, and Mycenae as “The three cities I love best.” Many of Hera’s temples and sanctuaries were located outside the city as she served as the city protector and for the privacy of various sacred cult observances.
The Temple of Hera – Located at Olympia, the seated figure of Hera is older than the warrior statue of Zeus that accompanies her.
Great Daedala – This sacred festival honoring Hera was celebrated every sixty years in Euboea. During this festival and ritual, wooden dolls would be dressed up as brides and then burned in a pyre. This festival reenacts a myth where Hera and Zeus had a fight before reconciling.
Heraia – This is a New Year’s Festival held every year to honor Hera. The Heraia held at Argos is known to have had a sacrificial procession where priestess of Hera rode in ox carts as young men carried the “Shield of Hera.” This culminated with a “hecatomb” where one hundred bulls were sacrificed. For this, the Argive Heraia was sometimes known as the “Hecatombaia.”
In the region of Kanathos, every spring there was a special rite where Hera would renew her virginity by bathing in the stream. The Heraia festivals were also celebrated at the cities of Corinth, Elis and Samos. Couples would re-enact the marriage of Hera and Zeus and every four years, there would be sporting competitions for women held in Hera’s honor.
Toneia – A festival held on the island of Samos, there would be a scavenger hunt where people searched for an image of Hera. When it was finally found, the statue would be washed and dressed in new clothes.
Parentage and Family
Grandparents
Ouranos (the Sky) and Gaia (the Earth)
Parents
Depending on the source, Hera can have a few different origins.
Cronus and Rhea – The often-recognized version of Hera’s parentage, especially when referencing Hesiod’s Theogony as the source.
Father – Aether (Arcadian origin)
Father – Coelus (Arcadian origin)
Father – Saturnus (Cretan origin)
Consort
Zeus – Also her brother, who becomes King of the Gods.
Siblings
She is the third child born of Cronus and Rhea.
The birth order is Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.
Chiron – a half-brother by way of Cronus and the nymph Philyra.
Sidenote – Homer’s Iliad will have Hera stating she’s the oldest daughter of Cronus.
Children
With Zeus, Hera is the mother of Angelos (Angelia) an Underworld goddess, Ares god of War, Arge a nymph, Eileithyia goddess of Childbirth, Eleutheria goddess of Liberty, Enyo goddess of War, Eris goddess of Discord, Hebe goddess of Youth, Hephaestus god of Fire and Forge
The Charites – Goddesses of beauty and grace. Usually given as being the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, or Dionysus and Coronis. The poet Colluthus places them as the daughters of Hera though no father is mentioned.
Pasithea – One of the Graces, the Greek writer Nonnus places her as a daughter of Hera. Sometimes Dionysus is given as her parent and there is uncertainty if both Hera and Dionysus are meant to be her parents together.
Prometheus – The Hellenistic poet Euphorion lists the giant Eurymedon who raped a young Hera as being the parents of this Titan. Though other sources place Iapetus and Clymene as Prometheus’ parents.
Typhon – A serpent monster whom Hera gives birth to parthenogenically.
Olympian Goddess
Hera is counted among the twelve major deities who resided on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain peak in Greece and all of Europe. For the Greeks, this was the perfect location for where the gods would preside at while keeping watch on humankind down below them.
As there are several deities within Greek mythology, just who numbers among the Olympians vary. It’s generally agreed that the twelve major Olympians are: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and then either Hestia or Dionysus.
Peacock Chariot
During the Hellenistic era of Greek history, Hera becomes associated with peacocks and has a chariot pulled by them. Peacocks were not part of any associations, symbols, or attributes until Alexander the Great’s conquests and expanding the Greek empire. The peacock is also interpreted as a symbol of pride.
Aristotle, Alexander’s tutor calls the peacock, the “Persian bird.” It is during the Renaissance era that the peacock imagery is more heavily used by painters to fully identify Hera with her Roman counterpart, Juno.
Before this, Hera’s chariot had been pulled by horses.
Cuckoo
This bird has been associated with Hera the longest and before her associations with peacocks. It mainly comes from Zeus’ “wooing” Hera to get her to fall in love and marry him.
Yeah, I’ll cover that story more later down. So many of Zeus’ “affairs,” seducing, and “ravishing” women are too often a euphemism for rape.
Cow Goddess
One of Hera’s epitaphs is Boôpis meaning “cow-eyed.” On the island of Euboea, just off the coast of Greece, the region was known for having an abundance of cattle. Then in Cyprus, archaeologists have found several cattle skulls that have been used as masks. All of this has caused some to see a connection to the Egyptian goddess Hathor.
Queen of the Gods
Being married to Zeus does have some perks. With Zeus being the ruler of the Olympian gods, places Hera as the Queen of the gods and keeping some of her prominence and influence. Though with much of the known Greek culture, they were a patriarchy, and unfortunately, we don’t often see the might and power of Hera in surviving myths except as being petty, cruel, and vindictive. In fairness, this aspect gets attributed to a lot of the Greek gods, so it says something for the level of cruelty and vindicativeness that Hera becomes known for.
Looking at the story of Jason & The Argonauts, we do see a time when Hera did hold a lot of influence, sending Jason on his quest and the favors she grants him there. An old Ray Harryhaussen movie for Jason and the Argonauts depicts Hera as begging Zeus to allow her to be the one to guide the heroes on their quest. After having watched the movie, I can’t help but feel that they should have stayed closer to the source material.
One source does place that with Hera’s marriage to Zeus and being Queen of the Gods, this elevates her to a role of Goddess of the Heavens, Air and the constellations.
Ancient Earth Goddess
It is the scholar Walter Burkert who makes the claim that both Hera and Demeter have characteristics that link them to a Pre-Greek Great Goddess. Then we have the British scholar Charles Francis Keary suggest the idea of Hera as an Earth Goddess worshiped in ancient times. Keary further suggests this connection with Hera having been a Pelasgian goddess. This makes sense with Demeter given her connection to the Eleusinian mysteries and how it predates Grecian culture. Plus, it makes sense for Hera given how her temples are among some of the oldest in Greece, even dating to the Mycenaean era.
Some of the ancients viewed Hera as a personification of the atmosphere, the Queen of Heaven, the Goddess of the Stars, and as the Goddess of the Moon.
Matriarchy
With Hera clearly being the Queen of the Olympian Pantheon and the ideas put out connecting her as an ancient earth goddess, do make sense. Those cultures that are more agriculturally inclined are more often going to be matriarchal versus those cultures that are more nomadic and thus have a stronger tendency to be more patriarchal and war-like fighting over land and territory.
In the mid-nineteenth century, the anthropologist Johann Jakob Bachofen puts forward the idea that Hera was the goddess of a matriarchal culture; given her place in Greek religion and in the region before the rise of Hellenistic Greece that most think of as Ancient Greece.
It should be noted that the idea of a Great Mother Goddess among the ancient Greeks is seen as controversial even among modern scholars. But it’s worth taking note of when looking at various myths and why it is that so often, Hera comes across as jealous and petty towards Zeus and all his “affairs.”
Birth Of A Goddess
We start with Cronus and Rhea, the parents of Hera and all her siblings.
As the story goes, Cronus defeated his father, Uranus, overthrowing him to become the leader and King of the Titans. Shortly after, Cronus receives a prophesy that just as he killed his father, so too, would a child of his kill him.
This prompts Cronus to decide to devour his children whole as soon as they are born. This happens five times. Poor Rhea just gets to where she can’t take it anymore. With the birth of her sixth child, Zeus, Rhea hides him away and manages to convince Cronus that this large stone is their latest child. Bon Appetit, Cronus eats the “stone baby” none the wiser that he’s been tricked.
Rhea takes and hides Zeus, so that later when he is older, he can come to fulfill the prophecy of killing his father Cronus. During the battle, Zeus splits open Cronos’ stomach, freeing all of his brothers and sisters: Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia.
There is a ten-year long war known as the Titanomachy, and by the end, Zeus takes his place as ruler and king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Hera takes her place as Queen of the gods and the others take up their roles as part of the newly formed Pantheon.
Raising Hera – Childhood
Going by the Homeric poems, the Titans, Ocean and Tethys raised Hera and that she never knew who her birth parents are. As such, Hera marries Zeus later without knowing of the connection between them as brother and sister.
Looking at other traditions around the Mediterranean, the Arcadians say that Hera was raised by Temenus, the son of Pelagus. The Argives say that Hera was raised by Euboea, Prosymna and Acraea, the daughters of the river Asterion, And then, looking at Olen, he says that the Horae were Hera’s nurses.
Plus, many places in Greece such as Argos and Samos claim to be the birthplace of Hera. This makes sense as Hera was also prominently worshiped in these two cities.
Goddess Of Marriage
As the goddess of marriage, Hera is the protector of married women. She would preside over weddings and their arrangements and bless the unions. On the surface, that seems great until you look at the Greek myths and what life was like for Grecian women. Here it’s a bit spotty as we don’t have good records to show, but the general idea and belief are that Grecian women held fewer rights than men in regard to voting, owning land or inheritance, and were relegated to the home, raising children. Plus, this could vary by the Greek city-state in question such as Sparta, women being held in higher regard. Or we just erroneously assume that’s how it is given the nature of the myths and stories that have survived.
The biggest one is that while Hera is married and presumably faithful, Zeus however, is not and is frequently depicted having a roaming eye, chasing after every woman that catches his interest. How much of this is the result of mythological hijackings and the subsuming of many local myths to bring them all under an all-encompassing myth to try and justify or show nearly every hero, mortal or certain gods being a descendant of Zeus or not, is hard to say. Especially thousands of years later.
It is also worth noting that for all the reputations that many of the other Olympian deities have with affairs and resultant offspring, Hera is the only goddess who doesn’t cheat on her spouse, managing to keep fidelity on her part in the marriage with Zeus. Though given the reputation for being petty, vindictive and jealous, this attribute of fidelity is overlooked or dismissed.
Marriage To Zeus
As stated above, Hera is married to Zeus who is also her brother. For gods and immortals, this works out. There just weren’t very many other options. For those who are mortal and human, Ewww…. Inbreeding. Don’t do it!
Depending on the source, for Zeus, Hera is his second wife. Zeus had to trick Hera into marrying him as she had refused the first proposal. Knowing that Hera holds an affinity for animals and other beings, Zeus first created a thunderstorm and then transformed into a cuckoo. Pretending to be hurt, the cuckoo fluttered on Hera’s window where she would spot the “poor thing.” Naturally, Hera picked up the bird and held it close to her to warm it up. It is at that moment that Zeus transforms back to his godly self and rapes Hera. Shamed by what happened, Hera agreed to marry Zeus.
As a goddess connected to nature, it is said that all the earth burst to life and greenery and blossoms for their wedding and many lavish gifts were given. The Greek writer Callimachus says their wedding feast lasted for three thousand years. Gaia brought the Apples of Hesperides as a wedding gift.
Given how this marriage came by duress, I just don’t see how it will be a lasting or happy marriage.
Some myths will try to say that Zeus feared Hera’s wrath. It just comes across as a poor excuse to defend Zeus’ promiscuous nature, even if it really is just the ancient mythographers trying to connect every local god, hero, and ruler as being related to him. The same mythographers also add that Hera held great jealousy towards all of Zeus’ “lovers” and any resulting children.
With how Zeus is said to be powerless to stop Hera’s wrath, these could be holdovers remnants of ancient stories where Hera is resisting Zeus and the arrival of patriarchy. Hera is always said to be aware of Zeus’ actions, if not constantly on the look out for his antics when he descends down to the earth.
Womanhood
Close on the heels of Hera’s role as the goddess of marriage, she was also known as a matron goddess or Hera Teleia, the “adult Hera.”
That is interesting, digging further into this, aside from the fragments of a practice for a sacred marriage with Zeus, we find at Platea there is a sculpture of Hera seated in her role as a bride and another statue of a matronly standing Hera.
We find in Stymphalia, Arcadia where Hera was worshiped at a triple shrine, first as Hera the Girl (Hera Pais), the Adult Woman (Hera Teleia), and the Separated (Chḗrē, Divorced or Widowed).
Near the region Argos in Hermione, there is a temple of Hera as Hera the Virgin. Every spring in the region of Kanathos, close to the city of Nauplia, there is a rite where Hera would renew her virginity.
So, What Went Wrong?
Most people who have any understanding of the Greek myths know Hera to be a jealous woman and vengeful against Zeus for his many “affairs” where she would often punish Zeus’ “lovers” and children rather than confront her husband outright.
Like any of the Greek gods, yeah, Hera could favor or punish mortals at a whim too. However, in Hera’s case, this something really pointed out and noted between her and Zeus.
Why? The evidence is anecdotal and relies on looking at the surviving myths and connections of Hera being an Ancient Earth Goddess and worshiped first in the ancient, ancient Mycenean Greece and accepting the ideas of an early Matriarchal Greek culture.
There is a Neolithic, Cycladic culture that is best known for its female idols. Couple these archeological finds with Hera and her vehemence towards Zeus and his numerous affairs. Now it appears to be clear that the Greek myths we get of Zeus & Hera are the result of revisionist history and storytelling.
From that standpoint, then we see Hera as the goddess of marriage, being the arrival and introduction of patriarchy where Zeus becomes the leader and King of the gods, ruling over everything, and Hera is to somehow be subordinate to him.
Accepting this, we can see so much of Hera’s anger and jealousy as a holdover to a time when she and thus her cults resisted a theological takeover in Greek culture as Zeus rises to prominence, even replacing his brother Poseidon who in some early myths was once ruler.
There’s hints and evidence of all of these theological takeovers with the various myths, which Grecian scholar is writing down what and the apparent discrepancies as Greece and then Rome expanded, trying to absorb all of these local myths and to equate local deities and variations with their own myths and deities.
Homer – There is also influence from Homer’s writings where Hera is not treated as respectfully which leads to later retellings of the myths focusing more on Hera being vengeful as she is supposed to uphold the old rules of Hellenistic Greek culture.
Greek Culture – The way Hera’s stories are presented does show the misogynistic culture of the ancient Greeks and where a woman’s place is. Hera is the only properly married goddess in the Olympian Pantheon if you make an exception for Aphrodite. As such, Hera is expected and does show fidelity to Zeus even throughout all his affairs. However, much Zeus cheats on Hera, she remains faithful. Because of an oath that Hera swore to Zeus when she tried to initiate a revolt in the heavens, Hera is unable to move against Zeus. But she does frequently act against his “lovers” and children. With some futility against those such as Alcmene, Leto, Io and Herakles, it does show the limits of justice that women could expect and just whom the Greeks blamed in any of Zeus’ “affairs,” who was responsible.
Grandmother Of Monsters
Wait… isn’t that Echidna the mother of monsters? Yes, however looking at the Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo, Hera, in her older, more ancient form from Minoa is mother to the monstrous draconic looking Typhon, giving birth to him solely herself in an act of parthenogenesis. Not the only time for Hera. From there, Hera is to have given her monstrous child to the serpent Python to raise.
In the Iliad, Typhon is born in Cilicia and is the son of Cronus. Gaia is angry with the destruction of her children, the Giants slanders and insults Zeus in front of Hera. This results in Hera going to Cronus and he gives her two eggs fertilized with his own semen and instructs Hera to bury the eggs. Hera buries the eggs in Cilicia. By the time Typhon is born and begins his reign of terror and problems, Hera has reconciled with Zeus, and she informs him about the issue.
Heavenly Revolt
Sometime after Zeus has succeeded in overcoming all the previous challenges from Gaia, the various giants, and titans to become ruler of the heavens, a young Zeus had gotten rather prideful, temperamental, and arrogant in his rulership.
Enter Apollo, Hera, and Poseidon (and depending on the source, all the other gods except Hestia join in) and decide that Zeus needs to be taught a lesson.
Hera’s part was to drug Zeus so that he fell into a deep sleep. While Zeus is sleeping, they come in to steal his thunderbolts and tie him up with some one hundred knots. Powerless, Zeus lays there until the Neriad, Thetis comes and seeing the god’s predicament, calls the Hecatoncheire, Briareus who comes and unties Zeus.
With Briareus’ support, Zeus is able to put an end to the rebellion and punish those involved. Most notable is Hera’s punishment as she led the rebellion. Zeus hung her up int the sky with golden chains. Hera’s weeping kept Zeus up all night and the next morning, he agreed to end the punishments after Hera and all the gods swear never to rise up against him again.
This is the story of why Hera is to have her “petty jealousies” against Zeus and his many affairs. If she can’t outright go up against Zeus, she takes it out on those unable to stop her.
Lover’s Quarrel
This story seems to be a remnant of when Zeus and Hera got along relatively well before later additions where Hera gets her reputation for being petty and vindictive.
After a fight with Zeus, Hera left and went to Euboea. Nothing that Zeus said would get Hera to change her mind. She had had it. A local king, named Cithaeron suggested that Zeus make a wooden statue of a woman and pretend to marry it. That gives an idea of what they were fighting about.
Following this advice, Zeus named a wooden statue Plataea, claiming that she was the daughter of Asopus. When Hera heard this news, she came tearing in, interrupting the ceremony only to discover that it was only a lifeless statue and not a rival lover.
Hera and Zeus are to have reconciled and those gathered, celebrated with the two in a festival to become known as Daedala. During this festival, there is a reenactment of the myth where a wood statue of Hera is chosen, bathed in the river Asopus and then placed in a chariot where it is led around in a procession before being ritually burned.
Echo & Hera
This version of the story originates from Roman mythology from Ovid’s Metamorphosis. As it’s Roman, the Roman names for the gods are Jupiter or Jove (Zeus in Greece) and Juno (Hera in Greece). Anyone familiar with Greco-Roman mythologies knows of Jupiter’s reputation and his numerous affairs among mortals and gods alike; much to his wife, Juno’s displeasure. For most lay people, the two pantheons are virtually one and the same.
This is the main story about Echo that most everyone knows, it explains the origin of echoes or repeating sounds in mountains and valleys or anywhere an echo can be heard.
On one occasion, as Zeus is pursuing one of his latest affairs with a nymph, Hera comes among the nymphs looking for her husband as she hoped to catch him in the act. As the case was, Echo had been tasked by Zeus himself to keep Hera distracted with a lot of idle chatter while Zeus engages in his latest tryst. Hera wasn’t happy with the overly talkative nymph and when she discovers that Echo is merely distracting her; Hera punishes Echo that she would always be able to have the last word, but she would only be able to repeat the last thing said.
Birth Of Hephaestus
The timing of this story takes place right after Zeus is to have given birth to Athena without the need for sex. Except that, Zeus swallowed Metis who was pregnant with Athena who springs forth out of Zeus’ brow, all to avoid a prophecy that Gaia gave him.
In an act of parthenogenesis, Hera gives birth to Hephaestus. On seeing him, Hera was so repulsed by the sight of her infant son that she threw him from Mount Olympus where he would become crippled.
Hephaestus’ Revenge
It’s understandable that someone would grow up bitter towards the mother that rejected and threw them off a mountainside. Hephaestus got his revenge when he created a magical golden throne for Hera.
No hard feelings, right?
Nope, when Hera sat on the throne, she was unable to get up. The other gods begged and pleaded with Hephaestus for Hera’s release. Enter Dionysus who gets Hephaestus drunk and brings them back to Olympus riding a mule. Hephaestus agrees to release Hera after he is given Aphrodite in marriage.
Birth Of Hebe
While dining with Apollo, Hera became pregnant with Hebe, the goddess of Youth while eating some lettuce. Hera may have also become pregnant when she beat her hand against the earth. An act considered solemn to the Greeks.
Birth Of Apollo & Artemis
There are a few different versions of this story.
In the version of this story from the Homeric Hymn III to Delian Apollo, Hera is described as detaining Eileithyia the goddess of childbirth, from letting Leto birth to the twins Apollo and Artemis as their father is Zeus. As the other goddesses were present there at Delos, they send Iris to go fetch Eileithyia and bring her back so Leto can give birth.
Another version has Hera commanding all the nature spirits to prevent Leto from giving birth on any mainland, island or anywhere under the sun for that matter. Enter Poseidon who takes pity on Leto and guides her to the floating island of Delos. Here, Leto is finally able to give birth to her children. Afterword, Zeus secures Delos to the bottom of the sea.
The third version holds that Hera kidnaps Eileithyia to prevent Leto from being able to go into labor. The other gods got together and bribed Hera with a lovely, yet irresistible necklace to persuade her to give up Eileighyia and let the twins be born.
Either way, of the twins, it is Artemis who is born first, the moon, and then her brother, Apollo, the sun. Some versions will have Artemis then miraculously be old enough to help her mother give birth to Apollo after a period of nine days. Or that Artemis was born one day before Apollo on the island of Ortygia and that she helps Leto get to Delos to give birth to Apollo.
Hera’s Continued Spite Towards Leto
If that isn’t enough, Hera tries to get one of Zeus’ many prodigies, a giant by the name of Tityos to rape Leto on her way to the Delphi Oracle. Luckily Apollo and Artemis are there to slay Tityos as they protect their mother.
Hesiod’s Theogony – The birth of the twins, Apollo and Artemis is contradicted in this text as they’re born before Zeus is married to Hera. So why by this continuity she would have any animosity towards Leto doesn’t make sense.
Hera & Herakles
Better known by the Roman spelling of his name, Hercules. This hero is the most well-known for showcasing the vehemence, spite, and hatred that Hera could hold towards others. Hera is the stepmother to Herakles and no matter how the hero’s name means “Glory of Hera,” it wouldn’t be enough to placate her.
Birth of a hero – For this, we have three versions of this heroic origin story.
Homer’s Iliad – Right before Herakles was to be born, Zeus announced that when his son is born, that they would become the ruler of Argos (or Tiryns in some versions). Angered, Hera requested that Zeus swear an oath to enforce that proclamation. She then went down from Olympus to Argos caused the wife of Sthenelus, the son of Perseus, to give birth seven months early. As Sthenelus’ wife went into labor, Hera went to sit in the doorway of Alcimides’ home, preventing Eileithyia from coming in. so that his half-brother, Eurystheus would be born first and thus become ruler. This resulted in Eurystheus being born first instead of Herakles all while fulfilling Zeus’ oath.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses – When Alcmene is pregnant with Herakles, Hera tries to prevent the birth by ordering Eileithyia to “Alcmene’s legs in knots.” Hera’s plans were thwarted when Galanthis, Alcmene’s servant frighted off Eileithyia. Angry, Hera turned Galanthis into a weasel.
Pausanias’ Account – In this account, Hera sends witches (according to the translation available) to prevent Alcmene from giving birth to Herakles. The witches were successful until the daughter of Tiresias, Historis came up with a trick to deceive the witches. Historis called out that Alcmene had given birth and hearing that, the witches left, allowing Alcmene to really give birth.
Snakes In A Crib
Hera wasn’t done yet. This time she sent a pair of serpents into the infant Herakles’ crib. Imagine Alcmene’s surprise as she walks in to find her infant son holding a pair of dead snakes in his chubby baby hands playing with them like they were toys.
Side Note: This story and the imagery it invokes is something that the ancient Thebans would have been familiar with. That is a hero holding a serpent in each hand much like the Minoan goddess holding snakes and other Cabeiri.
The Milky Way
If that weren’t enough, by this time, Alcmene has become terrified of Hera. Not wanting to suffer Hera’s wrath further, Alcmene takes the infant Herakles out to the wilderness and leaves him there, exposing him to the elements. The goddess Athena, known for protecting heroes, found the infant and brought them to Hera who nursed the baby out of pity.
Once Hera realized which baby she was nursing, she pulled the infant away from her. The spurt of milk from her breast smeared across the heavens, creating the Milky Way. It is from the divine milk of Hera that Herakles is said to have gained great power.
After that, Athena brought the infant Herakles back to his mother.
Side Note: The Etruscan version of Herakles is shown as being fully bearded when he’s nursing. It has been suggested that later when Hera and Herakles do finally reconcile, this symbolizes when she adopted him, and he becomes immortal.
Driving Herakles Mad
All seemed well for a while, that is until Herakles became an adult. Hera drove Herakles mad, causing him to believe that his family were his enemies so that he murdered his wife and children.
Herakles’ Twelve Labors
To atone for his acts of murder, Hera assigned Herakles to go into servitude to his half-brother, King Eurystheus. This resulted in a series of twelve tasks or labors. In each of the labors, Hera strove to make each task harder. When Herakles went up against the Lernaean Hydra, Hera sent the crab to bite his feet to distract the hero.
Later, Hera would rile up the Amazons against Herakles during one of his labors. In another labor, when Herakles is sent to get the cattle of Geryon, Hera is shot in her right breast by a large, barbed arrow that leaves her in constant pain. In retaliation, Hera sent a gadfly to irritate the cattle causing them to scatter. Then Hera caused a flood of the river making it so Herakles wouldn’t be able to carry the cattle across it. Herakles eventually dropped a bunch of large stones into the river to make the river shallower. The cattle were then taken to Eurystheus and sacrificed to Hera.
The Cretan Bull is another of Herakles’ labors and Eurystheus wanted to sacrifice it to Hera. She refused of course as it would only glorify Herakles’ deeds. So the bull was let go and it wandered over to Marathon becoming the Marathonian Bull.
Gigantomachy & Reconciliation
Despite all of the animosity, Herakles does eventually win over Hera. The opportunity came during the Gigantomachy when Gaia sent the Gigantes to attack the Olympians after the defeat of the Titans. One such Giant was Porphyrion, the King of the Gigantes who attempted to rape Hera. Herakles killed Porphyrion with an arrow. An ever-grateful Hera offers the hand of her daughter, Hebe in marriage to Herakles as a further step to heal the rift between them.
This would make Herakles “Hera’s man” and the name meaning “Glory of Hera” more fitting and understandable. That maybe there was another name Herakles was known by or that all along, the name is a foreshadowing of how the story will end between them.
It is also worth noting that after the story of Herakles, Diodorus Siculus writes that Alcmene is the last mortal woman that Zeus had an “affair.”
Zeus & Io
Ever vigilante for Zeus’ next “affair,” Hera spotted a solitary thundercloud and knew that this could only be the latest. As Hera sped down to catch Zeus in the act, she arrived to find Zeus with a small, white cow. Naturally, Hera isn’t fooled, she knows that Zeus has likely transformed his latest love interest and demands that he give her the cow as a present. Unable to refuse, Zeus relents and gives Hera the cow.
The cow, Io in her possession, Hera takes and ties her to a tree where she has her servant, Argus watch over the heifer in order to keep Zeus away. Argus was a giant with a hundred eyes over his entire body. Even when asleep, some of his eyes would always be awake and watching.
Afraid and unwilling to face Hera’s wrath, Zeus ordered Hermes to lull Argus into a deep sleep so that all of his eyes would close. If anyone could do it, it would be Hermes, he succeeded at getting all of Argus’ eyes to close in sleep and the god killed him.
Furious that Io is free, Hera sends a gadfly to harry and sting her as she wandered the land. Eventually, Io would make her way to Egypt where the Egyptians would worship this snow-white cow and call her Isis. Hera finally relented and allowed Zeus to change Io back into a human on the condition that he never seeks her out again. Human again and worshipped as a goddess-queen in Egypt, the son that Io bore thanks to Zeus would become the next king or pharaoh of Egypt.
These stories linking Grecian myths with those of Egypt are just that, a means by which the Greeks and later Romans would say that all the myths were connected, and local gods are the same deities, just under a different name.
Ovid’s Metamorphosis – In this retelling, after learning about Argus’ death, Hera places his eyes on the tail feathers of peacocks, one of her sacred animals.
Callisto & Arcas
Another of Zeus’ many love interests and affairs, Callisto was a follower of Artemis and had taken a vow of chastity. Enter Zeus who disguises himself as Apollo and then “seduces” her.
Right…
Out of revenge, Hera turns Callisto into a bear. Later on, Zeus and Callisto’s son, Arcas nearly kills Callisto while hunting. Zeus then places the two up into the heavens.
A slighter alternative to this story is that Zeus disguised himself as Artemis before “seducing” Callisto. That an enraged Artemis turns Callisto into a bear. We still have Arcas nearly killing his bear mother while hunting with either Zeus or Artemis placing them up into the heavens to become the constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Hera becomes angry with Callisto and Arcas’ placement up in the heavens and asks her foster mother, Tethys the Titan goddess of the oceans for help. Tethys places a curse on the constellations so that they will forever circle the heavens and never drop below the horizon. Thus explaining why the two constellations are what’s known as circumpolar.
Semele & Dionysus
In this myth, Semele, the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia is “seduced” by Zeus. Hera learns of this and disguises herself as Semele’s nurse and tells the young woman to persuade Zeus to reveal himself to her. The mighty Zeus promised, swearing on the River Styx, the young Semele to reveal himself in all of his godly glory. However, Semele dies when Zeus reveals himself as thunder and lightning to her. Zeus takes the unborn child and completes Dionysus’ gestation by being sewn into Zeus’ thigh.
Another version of Dionysus’ birth has him as the son of Zeus and either Demeter or Persephone. An infuriated Hera sends her Titans to rip the infant apart, earning him the name Zagreus or “Torn to Pieces.” Zeus rescues the heart or part of it at least is saved by either Athena, Demeter, or Rhea. Whichever version of the story is followed, Zeus uses the heart to recreate Dionysus and places him in Semele’s womb. This also earns Dionysus the name “twice-born.” Alternatively, Zeus gives Semele the heart to eat, thereby impregnating her. The end story is still the same with Hera tricking Semele to get Zeus to reveal himself, thus killing her.
Later, Dionysus would return to the Underworld to retrieve his mother and the two would go to live on Mount Olympus.
The Judgement Of Paris
First, we have a prophecy, one that stated that the son of the sea-nymph Thetis would become greater than his father. Zeus with his reputation for an ever-roving eye fell in love while watching her in the sea just off the Grecian coast, learned of this prophecy, and decided to wed Thetis to an elderly mortal king, Peleus, the son of Aeacus. Sources vary, Thetis agrees to this arrangement either out of Zeus’ orders or because Hera had raised her, and did so to please Hera, the goddess of Marriage.
The gods were feasting at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, who would become the parents of Achilles. All the gods were invited except Eris who hadn’t received an invite. Chiron oversaw the wedding invites and didn’t invite Eris due to her reputation for stirring up trouble. This understandably miffed Eris to no end. After all, everyone else got invited, so why not her?
Coming off as seeking to be peaceful and with no hard feelings, Eris proposed a beauty contest between the goddesses Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera. As the prize, Eris tossed a golden apple of beauty, or better known, the golden apple of discord. In some retellings, it is noted that the golden apple has engraved or written the word: “Kallisti,” meaning: “for the fairest.”
This dispute, one driven by vanity over who was the loveliest of the goddess would escalate and the gods bring the matter before Zeus to decide. Not wanting to favor one goddess over the others, Zeus has the hapless mortal Paris called in to judge. Each of the goddesses attempted to bribe Paris to choose her. Hera offered political power, Athena offered battle prowess and Aphrodite tempted Paris with the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen.
Being a young mortal man, Paris chooses Helen and rewards Aphrodite with the golden apple. Only there is one problem, Helen is the wife of Menelaus of Sparta. In claiming and taking her, Paris sparks off the Trojan War. This causes Athena and Hera to side with the Greeks in the ensuing war.
Trojan War
Divine Set-Up – If we go by the “lost” epic, The Cypria attributed to Stasinus, this whole Trojan War was planned by Zeus and Themis. There are only about 50 lines of text from the Cypria and it’s seen as a prequel to Homer’s The Iliad and explains how the events come about.
Hera has a significant part in the Trojan War, making a number of appearances throughout The Iliad. First, we know that Hera is angry towards the Trojans due to Paris’ decision to favor Aphrodite and not her. Hence why Hera favors the Greeks and convinces Athena to aid the Achaeans to help interfere against the Trojans.
Later, Hera and Athena plot against Ares who was supposed to side with them initially but was convinced by Aphrodite to help her and thus the Trojans. Diomedes was able to see Ares aiding the Trojans and called for his soldiers to fall back. Seeing this, Hera asked Zeus for permission to drive Ares off the battlefield. At Hera’s encouragement, Diomedes threw his spear at Ares and Athena made sure the spear found its mark. Howling in pain, Ares fled back to Mount Olympus, causing the Trojans to fall back.
In another book, Hera attempts to persuade Poseidon to go against Zeus’ word and aid the Achaeans. Poseidon refuses, saying that he won’t. A still determined Hera and Athena head off towards the battlefield. Seeing this, Zeus sends Iris to intercept the two, telling them they must return to Olympus or face the consequences. After more fighting happens, Hera spots Poseidon doing what he told her he wouldn’t do and that is helping the Greeks and keeping them motivated to stay fighting.
Jumping to another book, Zeus has made a decree that the gods are not to get involved in the mortals’ war. Hera conceives of a plan in which she will seduce her husband. Hera lies to Aphrodite, saying she wants the help so that she and Zeus will stop fighting and Aphrodite loans Hera her girdle. Some additional help from Hypnos, the god of sleep, Zeus fell into a deep sleep. Now Hera and the other gods could continue to interfere in the Trojan War.
Free to do as she pleases, Hera has her son Hephaestus keep a river from harming Achilles. Hephaestus also sets the battlefield on fire, this causes the local river deity to plead with Hera, saying that he won’t help the Trojans if Hephaestus would cease his attacks. Hera persuades Hephaestus to stop and Hera returns to the field of battle, fighting with and against the other gods.
Zeus does eventually wake up and sees how much of the war he’s missed and that several of the gods are involved despite his decree not to. Seeing that he missed saving Sarpedon’s life, Zeus just does a deific shrug and says yeah, the other gods can get involved now.
Despite all of the interference, the Greeks won.
Lamia
Once the Queen of Libya, Lamia was another of Zeus’ many lovers. An infuriated Hera killed Lamia’s children and then turned her a monster. Driven insane, Lamia was also cursed to be unable to close her eyes so she would be forced to forever obsess over the image of her dead children. Lamia turned to killing children and eating them as she was held to be envious of other mothers with children. Zeus taking pity, gave her the ability to prophesy as well as remove her eyes so she could sleep.
Gerana
A minor story, Gerana was a Queen of the Pygmies. In an act of hubris, Gerana boasted of being more beautiful than Hera. An angry goddess responded by turning Gerana into a crane, stating that forever after, the crane’s descendants would be at war with the Pygmy people.
Antigone
In this quick story, Antigone, the daughter of Laomedon boasted of being the most beautiful, and like Gerana, Hera turned Antigone into a stork.
Sida
Also spelled Side and meaning “pomegranate,” she was Orion’s first wife. Like Antigone and Gerana, Sida also boasted of being more beautiful than Hera. Unlike the other two, Hera sent Sida straight to the Underworld.
Cydippe
In this story, Cydippe is a priestess of Hera who was headed to a festival honoring the goddess. The ox pulling her cart were late and Cydippe’s sons, Biton and Cleobis pulled the cart the rest of the way to the festival. Cydippe was pleased with her sons’ devotion and asked Hera for a boon, the best gift a mortal could receive. Hera decreed that both brothers would die in their sleep.
Tiresias
This is an interesting myth, Tiresias was a priest of Zeus. One day, he came upon a pair of snakes who were mating. He hit them with a stick and was turned into a woman. Tiresias then became a priestess of Hera, married and bore children, one of whom she named Manto. Seven years later, Tiresias came upon another pair of mating snakes. Now, depending on who is retelling the story, Tiresias either leaves the snakes alone, remaining a woman, or, as Hyginus tells it, tramples the snakes to become a man once more.
Battle Of The Sexes – As a result of his experiences, Zeus and Hera called on Tiresias to settle the question of who had more pleasure during sex. Men or Women? Zeus claimed it was women and Hera said it was men. Tiresias sided with Zeus and an angry Hera struck them blind. Since Zeus couldn’t undo what Hera did, he gave Tiresias the gift of prophecy.
Other sources say that Tiresias sides with Zeus in saying that men have more pleasure during sex and for that, Zeus allows him to live three times longer than other mortals. Yet another source says that Tiresias, having returned to being male, is struck blind by Athena after coming across her bathing. Chariclo, Tiresias’ mother begged Athena to undo the curse and as the goddess could not, she gave Tiresias the gift of prophecy.
Chelone
In a rather minor story or substory, during the marriage of Zeus and Hera, the nymph Chelone was regarded as being disrespectful by either being late or flat out not showing up. In anger, Zeus turned the nymph into a tortoise.
In this story, Hera became angry with Pelias as he had killed his step=mother, Sidero in one of the goddess’ temples. Given how power-hungry Pelias was, it was easy for Hera to plot and plan his downfall. A prophecy was given to Pelias about a one-sandaled man would kill him. Wanting to rule of all Thessaly, he seized the throne of Iolcus. Jason, the rightful heir was sent away and grew up under the tutelage of the centaur, Chiron. Many years later, Jason returned to Iolcus, and with a series of events and motions, such as his losing a sandal in the river while helping an old woman to cross, really Hera in disguise, the goddess was able to get Jason and Medea to ultimately kill Pelias after they returned from a long voyage to get The Golden Fleece.
This story is told more in full in the Argo Navis – Carina, Puppis, and Vela posts.
Ovid’s The Metamorphoses
Given that Ovid is Roman, this story fits more for Hera’s Roman counterpart Juno.
The rulers of Thrace, King Haemus and Queen Rhodope were turned into mountains, the Balkan and Rhodope respectively after the two dared compare themselves to Juno & Jupiter, thus incurring their wrath.
The first human guilty of murder, after he refused to pay a bride price. Ixion searched everywhere for anyone who could purify him of this crime. No one would or could until Zeus took pity on him and invited Ixion up to Olympus to live.
While there, Ixion tried putting some moves on Hera who complained to her husband, Zeus. In response, Zeus created a cloud named Nephele in Hera’s likeness. When Zeus caught Ixion trying to put some unwanted moves on Nephele, Zeus sentenced Ixion down to Tartarus to spin forever on a flaming wheel crying out how you should always show gratitude to your benefactor.
Shadow Goddess – Jealousy & Envy
With all the numerous stories of Hera’s jealousy towards Zeus, his various love affairs and children, Hera is seen as a goddess who represents jealousy, the need for revenge as she has never forgotten a slight or injury. All of this gives Hera a particularly vindictive nature, seemingly more so and notable compared to the other Olympian gods.
Like Zeus, how much a victim of the passage of time and the tellings and retellings of her myths over the millennia is hard to say. Most people aren’t aware of how the story between Hera and Herakles ends with them finally having reconciliation. I’ve had people mock the name of Herakles and the meaning of the name, for “Glory of Hera” and don’t seem to be aware of the part of the stories where Hebe is given to Herakles in marriage after he saves Hera from the giant Porphyrion trying to rape her.
“Hercules the Legendary Journeys” is a bit infuriating there with the ending where the reconciliation between Zeus, Hera, and Hercules all comes about with her getting amnesia. They could have built up a more meaningful ending that more closely matched the myths the writers were pulling from. That they didn’t just shows to me lazy writing on the part of the screenwriters. Many other shows and movies tend to gloss over the moral and marital problems as that usually is not the focus of the story at hand that writers want to tackle and tell.
Yet the reconciliation is there. It is in Herakles’ name as a foreshadowing of how the story ends and possibly, potential hints of when Greek culture went from being matriarchal to patriarchal and stories getting rewritten.
Triple Goddess?
We see an aspect that modern Wicca, Witchcraft, and Paganism would recognize as the Triple Goddess with Hebe, the Virgin of Spring, Hera, the Mother of Summer, and Hecate, the Crone of Autumn. Bear in mind, that this aspect comes from Robert Graves in his “The Greek Myths.”
Gaia – Greek Goddess
I’m my own Grandma!
Not really, leave it to the Greeks to continue with blending all their deities as being one and the same, to blur or ignore their own genealogies for their Pantheon. Gaia is the primordial goddess of the Earth and from whom all life sprang forth. Again, it works if you’re just seeing all of these deities as just different aspects of the divine.
In the case of Hera; older, more archaic versions place her as an ancient Earth Goddess. The Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo places Hera as the mother to Typhon, while most myths place Gaia as being his mother.
Hathor – Egyptian
In her role as a cow goddess or goddess of cattle, Hera has been identified with Hathor. Other than that, the similarities end there.
Juno – Roman
Where Hera is the Queen of the Gods in the Greek Pantheon, her Roman counterpart is Juno who is depicted as more warlike wearing a goatskin cloak as seen on those worn by Roman soldiers. The month of June gains its name from this goddess. There was a festival known as Matronalia, celebrated on March 1st honoring Juno as Juno Lucina, the goddess of childbirth. Juno Pronuba presided over marriage much like her Greek counterpart and Juno Regina was a special counselor and protector of the Roman state.
Thanks greatly to the influence of the Romans, many people will identify and equate Hera with Juno. The Romans were famous for subsuming many deities in their conquest across Europe, particularly the Mediterranean area, and identifying their gods with those of a conquered culture. The most famous being the Greeks, where many deities were renamed to those of Roman gods. Prominent examples like Zeus and Jupiter, Hera and Juno, Ares and Mars, and so on down the line.
With the Hellenization of Latin literature, many Greek writers and even Roman writers rewrote and intertwined the myths of these two deities so that they would virtually become one and the same. And this has become the tradition passed down through the centuries that many people know and accept. Just that there are still some differences that separate the two.
Uni – Etruscan
A cognate for Hera in the little-known Etruscan beliefs and mythology.
Cloacina
Etymology: From the Latin cloaca meaning “Sewer” Other meanings are Cleanser and Purifier.
Epitaphs & Other Names: Mistress of the Great Sewer, “The Cleanser,” Venus Cloacina (Venus the Cleanser)
Cloacina is the Roman Goddess of Sewers, Filth, and Purity. Before you laugh, the Romans had a spirit or deity for nearly everything. Naturally, when it comes to taking care of sewage and drainage, the Romans also have a deity for this. Enter Cloacina, the goddess responsible for purifying filth and whatever nasty things are in the sewers that we don’t want to think about.
Attributes
Element: Water
Plant: Myrtle
Sphere of Influence: Cleansing, Purification, Rivers, Sewers
Tool: Incense Burner
Etruscan Origins
It is generally accepted that Cloacina was an Etruscan goddess first before being adopted by the Romans. The Etruscans lived in the northern and central part of Italy called Tuscany where they were called Tusci or Etusci by the Romans.
Not much is known about the Etruscans, a few words have survived into the Latin language. What little we do have and know, shows that many deities were adapted and adopted by the Romans into their belief systems.
Plus, the whole story of the founding of Rome by the brothers Romulus and Remus comes to us from Etruscan stories. It’s also interesting to track history meeting myth and where things get muddled. Titus Tatius for example is credited as being the Sabine King co-ruling with Romulus and erecting a statue honoring Cloacina and the Great Sewer. Traditionally, Romulus is said to have ruled between 753 and 717 B.C.E., and Lucius Tarquinius Priscus’ rule from 616-579 B.C.E. and when the sewer’s construction is done. Which would put Titus Tatius about a century ahead of schedule.
Back to Cloacina, when we look at Rome’s foundation myth, we see that the king of Sabine, Titus Tatius commissions the statue where the Sabines and Romans meet to end the conflict following the rape of the Sabine women. It is Tatius who instituted the lawful marriage between Sabines and Romans to unite them as one people. This new peace between the Sabines and Romans would be noted by a cleansing ritual using myrtle performed near an old Etruscan shrine to Cloacina by a small stream. The same stream that would become part of the Cloaca Maxima.
Side Note: Myrtle is also one of Venus’ symbols, the Romans would later equate Cloacina with Venus in her function as a goddess of peace, union, and reconciliation. In this sense, Cloacina would be known as Venus Cloacina or Venus the Cleanser as she also presided over the purification of sex during marriage.
Goddess Of Water
In her early Etruscan origins, Cloacina began as a goddess of water and in that aspect, her attributes were that of Cleanser and Purifier. The stream that Cloacina was originally associated with was part of a marshy region that would empty out to the Tiber River. This region was also prone to flooding by the Tiber as well.
Goddess Of The Sewers
And thus filth, in this respect Cloacina is responsible for purification and cleansing to keep the streets and City of Rome clean.
Despite this seemingly unsavory position, Cloacina was greatly revered and respected by the Romans as they had statues of Fortuna in their latrines, shrines, art, and even prayers for her.
We’re talking that Roman sewers were well maintained to keep the streets and City of Roman free from flooding, diseases, and vermin such as rats.
Cloaca Maxima
This is the vast sewer system in Rome that kept the city clean and relatively free of excrement. At its peak, Rome had over a million people living in the city and it was very important to keep the place disease-free. Even today, the Cloaca Maxima still functions and works, which speaks a testament to the engineering abilities of the ancient Romans, notably Tarquin as one of the building projects he overtook for Rome. What we know, is that the Etruscan king, Tarquinius Priscus is credited as beginning the work on the Cloaca Maxima which would be completed by Tarquinius Superbus.
The Cloaca Maxima was originally built as an open-air canal that ran through the main Forum, collecting water from streams and emptying it into the Tiber River. Over time, it came to be built over and enclosed with later sections and branches being tunneled out as the city grew. In Ovid’s Fasti, it is mentioned that the Forum had been built on an area with swamp-like conditions.
Sacrum Cloacina
This is the name of the shrine that Romans built in the Forum to petition Cloacina’s aid to keep the streets and City of Rome clean. The Forum is where one could expect to find statues and shrines to all the major Roman gods like Jupiter, Saturn, Juno, and Minerva. From there, there was a manhole access cover to the sewer below. Today, the foundations of this shrine can still be seen. There are a number of layers of stonework that show how ancient this shrine is as the entrance had been raised many times and upkeep by the Romans. There is a set of stairs with a railing that leads down to where a pair of small statues stand that are either both Cloacina or Cloacina and Venus. Each statue holds an incense burner and a flower.
As a side note, Cloacina’s image can be found on the backside of Roman coins, opposite that of Julius Caesar dating from 44 B.C.E. These coins were likely tossed into the water as offerings to Cloacina for her favor and to be free from diseases. Another interesting note to this is that the Hall of Curia, where Julius Caesar was assassinated was turned into a public toilet and the waste from this hall would flow into the Cloaca Maxima.
There are even prayers and poems written to Cloacina as the Mistress of the Great Sewer.
A couple of these poems and prayers are as follows:
“Then Cloacina, goddess of the tide,
Whose sable (black) streams beneath the city glide
Indulged the modish flame, the town she roved,
A mortal scavenger she saw she loved.”
“O Cloacina, Goddess of this place,
Look on thy suppliants with a smiling face.
Soft, yet cohesive let their offerings flow,
Not rashly swift nor insolently slow.”
Venus – Roman
This one is somewhat surprising as Venus is the Roman goddess of Love and Beauty. This does make sense that one of Venus’ functions is that as a purifier and that’s also what Cloacina does too. Though if you ask some historians like Pliny the Elder why Cloacina is identified with Venus, he couldn’t tell you. But it makes sense when you look at one of Venus’ functions as a unifier, peace, and reconciliation, and that where the ancient Sabines and Romans made peace is right on the same location for Cloacina’s shrine. Plus, Rome had this thing for Pax Romana for trying to keep peace and stability within their empire that would extend to trying to appease every god that they had, even if it meant some becoming epitaphs or another name for a deity to try and keep the list down and simplified.
Dea Dia
Etymology: Latin “Bright Goddess,” “the Celestial Goddess” or “Goddess of Daylight”
Pronunciation: d̪e-a ˈd̪i-a
In ancient Rome, Dea Dia is the goddess of fertility and growth. By herself, she is a relatively minor goddess and as such, she is frequently equated with Ceres or her Grecian counterpart Demeter.
Attributes
Element: Earth
Month: May, December
Sphere of Influence: Growth, Crops, Fields, Planting
Ancient Origins
Dea Dia’s worship is very ancient, she was a goddess of the plowed field, concerned with the fertility and growth of crops, particularly grain and the earth.
It’s thought that Dea Dia’s worship extends back to ancient Sabine. The first part of her name, Dea simply means goddess and the second part means “light” or “bright” in reference to the sky. There is thought that Dia may be related to the goddess Diana as there is certainly an etymological root there with “dia.”
Since there’s a lot of getting into the Indo-European root words and languages. There are lines of thought that Dia Dea is an honorific and the actual goddess’ name was so sacred as to be forbidden to be spoken out loud as seen with another goddess known as Bona Dea. Additionally, one of Jupiter’s archaic names as a Sky-God is “Dies Pater” so there is another idea that Dea Dia may be the consort of an early form of Jupiter’s.
Ambarvalia
This is a three-day festival that would be held every May from the 27th to the 29th in honor of Ceres and where Dea Dia would be an epitaph to Ceres. Dea Dia’s priests, the Fratres Arvales presided over this festival. During this time, the priests would bless the fields and make offerings to the Underworld.
May of course, is the time of year when the days are getting longer and ideal for planting and growing crops. There was a minor festival held in December.
Lucus Deae Diae – This is the name of the sacred grove dedicated to Dea Dia where her festival was held. It’s about five miles south of Rome. Archeological evidence shows that this grove and temple have been used since the third century B.C.E.
Syno-Dieties
Acca Larentia – Roman
A mythical woman later turned fertility goddess. It is thought that her twelve sons became the priests associated with the first Arval priests.
Ceres – Roman
Ceres is the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherhood and is equated with Dea Dia or attached as an epitaph.
Mana Genita – Roman
An obscure goddess mentioned by Pliny, Plutarch, and Horace. The mother of the Manes or spirits known as Lares would also be associated with the Ambarvalia festival and the Underworld.
Demeter – Greek
A fertility and earth goddess, Dea Dia is often equated with Demeter or attached as an epitaph.
Fortuna – Roman
The Roman goddess of luck and fate, she held a connection to the Lucus Deae Diae grove and thus to Dea Dia. Fortuna sharing a temple here comes about with Augustus’ reforms and has caused several scholars to debate the precise connection between Fortuna and Dea Dia.
Larunda – Roman
A nymph and Underworld goddess, she is the mother of the Lares associated with the Ambarvalia festival. Incidentally, the only myths come from Ovid’s Fasti and are seen as a latecomer to the overall Roman myths and beliefs.
Ops – Roman
Another fertility goddess and goddess of the fields, Dea Dia would also be equated with Ops.
Brickthology 