the TITANS & early Greek Mythology

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Mythology, The Bible and the Postflood Origins of Greek History
Roy L. Hales
Greek tradition contains many stories similar to those of the first eleven chapters of the Bible: legends of a "Golden Age", like that of Eden, which ended through the first woman's disobedience; characters resembling Cain and the sons of Lamech from Genesis 4; Stories of a great flood and a "Noah," The Greeks also had traditions of mass migrations throughout the eastern Mediterranean shortly after their great flood. These stories have passed down to us through the often conflicting genealogies of the many early Greek states. Such is their similarity to Scripture that these legends must have been rooted in the same events described in Genesis 1 to 11.

Biblical Model Resolves Contradictions
Many apparent contradictions in Greek mythology are resolved through a Biblical interpretation, The classical writers and most mythologists since have assumed they could erect a chronology of these myths merely by adding up the names of the various kings cited by the various kinglists. As a result we find four generations allotted to what many archaeologists now believe is over 2,000 years of Trojan history. Similarly, while most Greek accounts stress a single great flood, at least three flood dates can be compiled from the various genealogies. From a Biblical perspective it seems obvious that the true key to mythic chronology lies not in adding up kinglists, but rather by starting from the event most common to all genealogies: the flood. Ancient Greek traditions of their beginnings easily break into preflood, flood and postflood eras. For the most part these traditions contain striking parallels to the corresponding Biblical era. One area where this is not true is the Greek belief that their nation was occupied from preflood times to the present and here, once again, the Scriptural model resolves many discrepancies. For example: an obscure tribe called the Leleges were cited as the original inhabitants of the Greek states Laconia, Boetia, Euboea and Arcarnis.1 This means that the Leleges lived before the flood, but other myths refer to their creation immediately after the flood.2 In a similar fashion the southern Greek city of Argos had traditions of seven kings who ruled it before the flood and of its foundation by an immigrant four generations after the flood.3 Such discrepancies appear to reduce Greek tradition to gibberish, but easily harmonise with a Scriptural model of history: When Greece was colonised after the flood the immigrants brought their own historical notions with them and, in time, these stories were recast in Greek settings. Later generations were faced with a chronological nightmare as they attempted to harmonise the many differing accounts, but the key lies in Genesis I to 11.

The Greek Fall Story
Both Greek tradition and the Bible mention the fall of the first human couple from paradise. The Greeks believed that men originally lived "like the gods": free from disease, sorrow or work. Then the first woman was made and, together with her husband, entrusted with a jar that was not to be opened. As long as the couple obeyed the "Golden Age" lasted. But the woman's curiosity finally overcame her and she decided to peek inside. As Eve's eating of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3) resulted in the expulsion of mankind from paradise and the entrance of death to the world, the Greek woman's peek ended the "Golden Age" and allowed all this world's evils to escape out of the jar.4

The "Ungodly Line" in Greek Tradition
Various attributes of the scriptural family of Cain (Genesis 4) appear in Greek myths of the preflood era. The southerly genealogies of Argos and Arcadia seemingly allude to Cain in their accounts of one of mankind's second generation who founded the first city and performed the first sacrifice. The Arcadian account repeats the Biblical theme of this man's evil and his committing murder;5 the stories from Argos are reminiscent of a Hebrew legend that Cain established the first market6. The chief Greek god Zeus appears to be a preflood Biblical character named Lamech. While Genesis 4:19-22 describes the three sons of Lamech as the inventors, respectively, of cattle herding, the lyre and pan pipes (NAS) and forging of bronze and iron implements, these same accomplishments are paralleled by Zeus' sons (the sun god) Apollo, (the messenger god) Hermes and (the blacksmith god) Hepaistos7. That the Greeks should elevate the memory of Lamech to such heights is understandable when we consider the immense innovations of his sons (presumably carried out during his majority) and the position implied by the literal translation of Lamech: "powerful"8,

The Flood
The flood of Greek tradition was as singular and as shattering an event as that of the Bible. As one account states; "All men were destroyed except for a few who fled to the high mountains of the neighbourhood. It was then that the mountains of Thessaly parted and that all the world outside the Isthmus and the Peloponnesus was ~ Another ancient author mentions the destruction of all plant life and elsewhere Speculates as ~o whether the lack of rainfall in the arid regions of upper Egypt may have allowed that region to escape.10

The Greek Noah
There can be no mistaking the principal Greek flood hero, Deucalion, for anyone other than Noah. Deucalion, like the Scriptural hero, was prewarned of the deluge to come and built an ark into which he escaped with his wife; was washed, in his ark, to the top of a mountain by the flood waters; released a dove to test conditions before landing; upon disembarking performed a sacrifice to the Almighty and was blessed right after this. Such similarities are too striking to ignore; even secular authorities such as Robert Graves admit the common origin of the Greek and Scriptural tales.11 Genesis 9:20-27 continues Noah's biography with an anecdote concerning his invention of wine. While there is no corresponding Story about Deucalion, Graves states that "Deucalion's claim to the invention has been suppressed by the Greeks in favour of (their wine god) Dionysus".12 Deucalion's true part in the discovery is revealed by the literal translation of his name: "new wine sailor".13

Postflood Migrations
Both the Bible and Greek tradition refer to massive migrations in the first few generations after the flood. Genesis 10 outlines the repopulation of the earth by Noah's descendants. The Greeks believed that the nations of Egypt, Libya and Phoenicia 14 derived their names from immigrants of this period. The effect of these immigrations on the Greek area itself was astronomical. The island of Crete was first occupied, 15 the cities of Athens, 16 Thebes and Argos were founded on the mainland, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), the Aegean islands and most of the Greek states were occupied.

Biblical Pattern of Settlement
The essential pattern of these Greek migration Stories assumes many Biblical aspects. As Genesis 10:21-25 indicates, it was in the fourth postflood generation that mankind dispersed to colonise the earth. The family of Von, usually translated as Javan, 17 is usually associated with the Greek area and the names of three of Von's sons are significant to this study: Elishah (who is sometimes identified with the Aeolian Greeks), Dodanim (who is sometimes identified with the island of Rhodes) and Tarshish (who is sometimes identified with the city of Tarshish in Asia Minor). is The name Von itself, finds quick parallels in several Greek names of the postflood era: Ion, Io and Ino. Of these three names, Io is the most significant: four generations after the flood the descendants of a mythical lady named 10, from Argos, settled much of the Greek area. Two of Io's descendants stopped on the island of Rhodes, already associated with Biblical Dodanim, prior to their arrival on the Greek mainland and a third colonised that same area of Asia Minor that the patriarch Tarshish is said to have reached.20 The patriarch Elishah finds a quick agreement in a Greek postflood hero named Aeolis. Their names (ELIS hah & a IE 0 LIS) bear a resemblance which is further strengthened in the name of Aeolis' kingdom, Hellas (h ELLAS) and in the fact that one of Aeolis' sons founded a colony in the southern Greek state of Elis. Aeolis is perhaps the most prominently mentioned of Deucalion's descendants and it seems significant that his sons were to establish kingdoms in areas as far apart as the northern Greek states of Macedonia, Magnesia and Thessaly and the southern states of Corinth and Elis. Such a wide dispersal of descendants, in positions of power, is precisely what we might expect from the patriarch Elishah.

Conclusion
The chronology of the Greek myths is very close to that of the Bible. These stories contain a great many personalities and details unheard of in Scripture, Vet of the eight people mentioned in the Biblical ark five (Noah, his wife and the wives of their three Sons) presumably had totally different family trees though only that of Noah's father and one family descended from Cain is recorded in Genesis. Greek tradition could contain any number of historically based legends Which are not Scriptural. More important, however, is the fact that when the Greeks talked of a time before their great flood, they referred to a fall from paradise, and they mentioned characters resembling Cain and Lamech's three sons from Genesis 4. The Greek flood legends sometimes come so close to Scripture that they mention things like a dove being Sent out from the ark, or the sacrifice Noah made when he disembarked on the top of a mountain. After the flood the Greeks have Stories of mass migrations which resemble Genesis 10 even down to the names of some of the participants. Modern scholarship has tended to downplay the fabulous elements of Greek tradition, the stories of Pandora's box and the flood, yet to the ancient Greeks and to those who believe Scripture, they are history.


FOOTNOTES
1 Connop ThirIwall, History of Greece (London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1855) vol.1, p.94.
2 Strabo7.7,1-2,
3 Horace Leonard Jones (trans) The Geography of Strabo (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, MCMLXVlI) vol.2, p.345 states that the text of Strabo 5.2.4 could be rendered as Danaus "founded" the city of Inachus or else that he "took up his abode" there. Most translators prefer to write he "founded" the city of Inachus (which was Argos) because Strabo 8.6.9 States that "the acropolis of the Argives is said to have been founded by Danaus." For further support of the idea Danaus founded Argos see Flavius Josephtis Against Apion 1.16 & Diodorus Siculius 1.28.
4 Hesiod, Work and Days 42-1 OS; Theogony 565-619. re Lycaon the "Cain" of Arcadia see Pausanias VIII.1; Apollodorus 111.8.1; ThirIwall, p.65.
6 re Phoroneus, the "Cain" of Argos, see Pausanias 11.15.4 & 11.19.5; Hyginus, Fabulae 143, Robert Graves, The Greek Myths (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin Books, 1980) vol.1, pps. 193-4; Apollodorus 11.1.1.
7 Carl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks (Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 195B) pps. 144-50, Graves, vol.1, pps. 63-67.
8 The Companion Bible (London, Samuel Bagster & Sons, 1 970) fn on Genesis 4: 18.
9 Apollodorus 1.7.1-2.
10 Diodorus Siculius 111.62.10 & 1.10.4.
11 "The myth of Deucalion's flood… has the same origin as the Biblical legend of Noah," Graves, vol. I. p.141.
12 Graves, loc cit.
13 Ibid. vol.11. p.338.
14 ApoIlodorus 11.1.4.
15 Diodorus Siculius IV.60; V.80.
16 ThirIwall, p.76, mentions a lesser known Greek legend that Athens was founded by an Egyptian immigrant named Cecrops 100 years after the flood. The more usual account is that Cecrops was a native Athenian and Apollodorus 111.14.1 represents him as preflood.
17 As David Livingston, Director of the Associates for Biblical Research, pointed out to this author: (1) there were no vowels in the early Semitic languages, (2) The J of Jvn is better represented as Y. (3) The "v" of Yvn could just as easily be translated as an 0, U or "w." Later Greek writings would differentiate between these letters with vowel points, but there were no vowel points when this passage was written, (4) "Therefore Yavan could just as easily be Yon or even Ion of Greece. The lonians".
18 Josephus, Antiqufties of the Jews l.iv.1 & C.H. Gordon, "Dodanim" The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible (Nashville & New York: Abingdon Press, 1962) vol.1, p.861.
19 Danaus, founder of Argos, & Cadmus, founder of Thebes. See Graves 195,200-204.
20 Josephus, Antiquities, loc cit & Apollodorus 111.1.1.
21 Apollodorus 1.9 & Thirlwall, pp.102-ill.
http://www.creationism.org/csshs/v07n4p20.htm

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From Plutarch's Lives, still inspirational after 19 centuries:
15 Ancient Greek Heroes
from Plutarch's Lives
PLOUTARCOU

A modern English edition, abridged and annotated by Wilmot H. McCutchen


Theseus The Athenian Adventurer (c. 1300 B.C.)
Theseus suppressed crime and brought the natives of Attica together into the first democracy. He saved the Athenian children from the Minotaur, but his kidnap of the queen of the Amazons brought trouble, and he ended his days in disgrace.

Lycurgus The Father of Sparta (c. 800 B.C.)
Lycurgus established harmony, simplicity, and strength in Sparta. This warrior society tamed its youth through systematic education aimed at developing leadership, courage, public spirit, and wisdom.

Solon The Lawmaker of Athens (c. 600 B.C.)
Athens, unlike Sparta, was a money-mad commercial city. The constitution framed by Solon mitigated the class struggle between the rich and the poor, and allowed for the growth of democratic institutions.

Aristides "The Just" (530 - 468 B.C.)
Aristides was so respected throughout Greece for his fairness that Athens assumed the leadership of the alliance against the Persian invaders. His character is a model for all ages.

Pericles "The Olympian" (495 - 429 B.C.)
By the power of his eloquence, and the money embezzled from Athens' unwilling allies, Pericles built Athens into a beautiful city and a powerful empire. Athenian imperialism, however, led to war with Sparta, known to history as the Peloponnesian War.

Nicias The Slave of Fear (died 413 B.C.)
The turning point of the war with Sparta was the disastrous Sicilian Expedition eagerly undertaken by the greedy Athenians. Nicias was the reluctant leader in this debacle.

Agesilaus The Lame King of Sparta (444 - 360 B.C.)
Agesilaus inherited the Spartan throne after Sparta had defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War. At that time, Sparta was the undisputed master of Greece and the Aegean. Because of his stubborn lust for conquest, Agesilaus violated the laws of Lycurgus against imperialistic ventures and fighting too much with the same enemy. By the time Agesilaus died, Sparta had lost most of its prestige and power.

Pelopidas The Freedom Fighter (410 - 364 B.C.)
Pelopidas led the Thebans to recover their liberty, then he led them to victory over the invincible Spartans. From beginning to end, his was the life of a hero.

Dion The Savior of Syracuse (409 - 354 B.C.)
Sicily was an important part of the Greek world. Dion led the struggle against tyranny in its largest city, Syracuse. Betrayal and ingratitude were his reward for indulging the democrats of Syracuse.

Timoleon The Friend of Fortune (411 - 336 B.C.)
Against heavy odds, but with the help of the gods, Timoleon took up where Dion had left off, and liberated Sicily from barbarians and tyrants. His courage and wisdom established peace and prosperity where before there had been desolation and war.

Alexander "The Great" (356 - 323 B.C.)
In an amazing eleven-year journey of conquest, young Alexander of Macedonia conquered all the way from Egypt to India. Behind him came Greek institutions and the Greek language, which became the standard of the ancient world. The intoxication of power caused Alexander to become strange to his friends, and he died unhappy.

Phocion "The Good" (402 - 318 B.C.)
After her defeat in the Peloponnesian War, and her surrender to the power of Macedonia, Athens became a decadent democracy. Phocion did his best to save his fellow citizens from their own foolishness, and at last he earned the reward of Socrates.

Pyrrhus The Fool of Hope (319 - 272 B.C.)
In Pyrrhus' wild career of restless trouble-making, we see a soul incapable of satisfaction. He was a mighty man of war, and nearly conquered Rome, but he could never finish what he started before getting distracted by a new project.

Agis The Reformer of Sparta (reigned 245 - 241 B.C.)
The love of money had virtually destroyed the laws of Lycurgus in Sparta by the time Agis became king. This idealistic young man tried to restore the old way of life that had made Sparta great, but he was defeated by the power of greed.

Philopoemen "The Last of the Greeks" (252 - 182 B.C.)
Philopoemen led the last remnants of resistance to the creeping domination of Rome in Greece. In this austere general, we see an indomitable character, superior to his circumstances.

Postscript: Plutarch (c. 40 - 120 A.D.)
Who was Plutarch, and why was his work such a hit in the Renaissance? Why has the Lives nearly disappeared after being long at the top of the Western classical canon? http://www.e-classics.com/

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S O L O N
The Lawmaker of Athens
(died 559 B.C.)
S O L W N
by Plutarch
Athens, unlike Sparta, was a money-mad commercial city. The constitution written by Solon mitigated the class struggle between rich and poor, and allowed for the growth of democratic institutions.

Go to Home Page for 15 Greek Heroes from Plutarch's Lives


Solon was born into a well-to-do family of Athens. He worked as a merchant in the export-import trade, and he considered himself relatively poor. He did not worship money, as is evident from these poems of his:

The man whose riches satisfy his greed
Is not more rich for all those heaps and hoards
Than some poor man who has enough to feed
And clothe his corpse with such as God affords.

I have no use for men who steal and cheat;
The fruit of evil poisons those who eat.

Some wicked men are rich, some good men poor,
But I would rather trust in what's secure;
Our virtue sticks with us and makes us strong,
But money changes owners all day long.

Poetry was for Solon a way to entertain himself, and he also used poetry to give his ideas easy access to the minds of the Athenians.

* * *

The seven wise men of Greece were well-known, both to each other and to the general public. 1 Anacharsis, who was one of these wise men, came to visit Solon in Athens. When Anacharsis saw Athenian democracy at work, he remarked that it was strange that in Athens wise men spoke and fools decided. Solon admired this man's ready wit and he entertained Anacharsis as his guest for a long time. Solon showed Anacharsis some laws that he was drafting for the Athenians. Anacharsis laughed at Solon for imagining that the dishonesty and greed of the Athenians could be restrained by written laws. Such laws, said Anacharsis, are like spiderwebs: they catch the weak and poor, but the rich can rip right through them.

When Solon went to visit another of the seven wise men, Thales of Miletus, Solon asked why Thales did not get married and have children. Thales gave no reply, but he hired an actor, who a few days later pretended to have just arrived from Athens. Solon asked this actor for the latest news, and the actor replied as he had been instructed by Thales. He said that nothing important had happened, except there was a funeral of some young man who had died while his famous father happened to be away. "Poor man," said Solon, "but what is his name?" With every question and answer, Solon got more and more worried, until finally he mentioned his own name. "That's the man!" said the actor, and Solon went into all of the usual expressions of grief while Thales watched impassively. After a while, Thales said to Solon: "You asked why I did not marry and have children. You now see the reason. Such a loss is too much for even your brave spirit to bear. But don't worry, it was all nothing but a lie."

Nevertheless, it shows a lack of judgment and courage to avoid having good things because we are afraid of losing them. Even our virtue, which is by far our most valuable possession, can be lost through sickness or drugs. The soul has an innate tendency of affection, and when it cannot fix itself on a child it seeks some other object, and grief comes just the same. When a dog dies, or a horse, smug bachelors collapse in sorrow, but some fathers can bear the loss even of a child without extravagant grief.

It is not affection, but weakness, that brings a man -- unarmed against fortune by reason -- into these endless pains and terrors. Because they are always worrying about what might go wrong, most are unable to enjoy their present opportunities for happiness.

* * *

For a long time, the Athenians and the Megarians had been fighting over the island of Salamis. The Athenians got tired of the war and passed a law that anyone who advocated possession of Salamis would die. Solon saw that most of the young men wanted to finish the fight, but were afraid to speak out because of this law.

So Solon pretended to go crazy. A rumor spread that Solon had made up some crazy poems and was now totally out of his mind. Then one day he appeared in the marketplace and stood in the speaker's place. All of the Athenians swarmed to hear the crazy man speak. Still keeping up the act of insanity, Solon sang a song of over a hundred verses about Salamis. The poem was so well done that the people forgave him for violating the new law. Before long, the law was repealed, and the Athenians prosecuted the war with greater vigor than ever before. Solon, who meanwhile had recovered, was chosen to be the general to lead them in it.

Salamis was occupied at the time by the Megarians. Solon sent a spy there to tell the Megarians of a great opportunity to kidnap the most noble ladies of Athens, who were celebrating a festival at the temple of Venus. This was true, but what the Megarians failed to realize was that Solon knew that they would be coming.

When he saw their sails coming from Salamis, Solon replaced the women with beardless men dressed in women's clothes. From a distance, the Megarians could not tell the difference. They landed and anchored their ships, jumping out into the water in their eagerness to get at the women. The last thing on their minds was defense, and every one of them was killed. Then the Athenians sailed to Salamis in the Megarians' ships and took the island by surprise.

* * *

Athens at this time had three factions: the people of the hills, who favored democracy; the people of the plains, who favored oligarchy; and the people of the shore, who favored a mixed sort of government and prevented either of the other two factions from prevailing. The political turmoil had come to the point where it appeared that the only way any government at all could be established would be for some tyrant to take all power into his own hands.

Under Athenian law at that time, if a loan went into default, the creditor could seize the debtor and his family and sell them as slaves to get money to pay off the debt. The cruelty and arrogance of the rich caused the poor to form into gangs to save themselves and rescue those who had been made slaves through usury. The best men of the city saw Solon as someone who was partial to neither the rich nor the poor, and they asked him to lead. The rich consented because Solon was wealthy, and the poor consented because he was honest.

Solon's task was dangerous and difficult because of the greediness of one side and the arrogance of the other. To placate both sides, Solon said: "Fairness breeds no strife." To the poor, "fairness" meant equal wealth; and to the rich, "fairness" meant keeping what they owned. 2

Both rich and poor, therefore, believed for a while that Solon was on their side. But soon the poor people became disgusted that Solon would not use his power to seize the property of the rich. Solon's friends advised him that he would be a fool if he did not take advantage of the opportunity that fate had presented. Now that he had this power, they said, he should make himself a tyrant. Solon, who was a wise man, replied that tyranny is indeed a very pleasant peak, but there is no way down from it.

* * *

Unlike Lycurgus, Solon could not change the state from top to bottom, so he worked only on what it was possible to improve without a total revolution. He only attempted what he thought he could persuade the Athenians to accept, with a little compulsion. Wherever possible, Solon made use of euphemisms, such as calling taxes "contributions." With a judicious mixture of sweet with sour, justice with force, he managed to achieve some success. When afterwards Solon was asked whether he had made the best laws he could for the Athenians, he answered: "The best they were able to receive."

Solon's first reform was forbidding mortgages on bodies. Even with the consent of the debtor, the creditor could no longer legally enslave him and his family. Those who had already become slaves were liberated, and those who had been sold to foreigners returned to Athens as free men. Solon also ordered that all outstanding debts were forgiven, so all mortgages on land disappeared.

But here Solon was disappointed by his friends. Shortly before he published his law releasing all mortgages, he told some of his most trusted friends. They immediately went out and borrowed money to buy land, giving the purchased land as security for repayment of the loan. When the law was published, they had their land free and clear. For this, Solon was suspected, but when it came to be known that he himself had lost fifteen talents by his own law, he managed to escape serious damage to his reputation.

Neither the rich nor the poor got all they wanted from Solon's reforms. There was no complete redistribution of wealth as the poor had demanded, and the rich were angry about the loss of the money they were owed. Both the rich and the poor now hated Solon for not obeying their desires. Even those who had been friendly to him before now looked at him with grim faces, as an enemy. But with time and success came forgiveness. When the Athenians saw the good result of the release of debts, they appointed Solon general reformer of their law.

Solon repealed the laws of Dracon, 3 which punished even small offenses with death, so it was said that the laws of Dracon [codified 621 B.C.] were written in blood instead of ink. When someone asked Dracon why he had made his laws so severe, he answered: "We need the death penalty to prevent small crimes, and for bigger ones I can't think of any greater punishment." Solon reserved the death penalty for murder and manslaughter.

Solon made it a law that anyone who refused to take sides in a revolution would lose all civil rights. By this law he made sure that the good would resist the bad and not hide hoping to save themselves, or wait until they could see which side will win.

When Solon was asked once which city he thought was well-governed, he said: "That city where those who have not been injured take up the cause of one who has, and prosecute the case as earnestly as if the wrong had been done to themselves." Accordingly, he allowed anyone to take up the cause of a poor man who had been injured.

* * *

Solon was willing to allow the rich men to continue to be the officers, but he wanted to allow the poor citizens to participate in the government. 4 He therefore classed the citizens according to income. The lowest class, the thetes, were ineligible for election to any office. However, the thetes were allowed to come into the assembly, and as jurors they decided cases submitted to their vote. Since Solon's laws were deliberately obscure and ambiguous, the courts had significant powers of interpretation. What had seemed an insignificant concession to the poor turned out to be a significant privilege.

Solon created a supreme court, whose members were former archons [annual presidents] of Athens. Seeing that after the release of debts the people were beginning to be unruly and arrogant, Solon also created a council of four hundred -- one hundred from each of the four tribes in Athens. This was an additional legislative body, whose powers were limited to debating matters before they were submitted to the people for a vote. Nothing could be voted on until it had been vetted by the four hundred. With the supreme court and the council of four hundred as anchors, the turbulence of the people was restrained within safe limits.

Solon made it a crime to defame the dead. As for the living, attacks on character were prohibited in the council-chambers of the city and at certain festivals. Solon knew that spite is part of human nature, but he established certain places where it was illegal to indulge this weakness. To suppress it completely would have been impossible.

If the aim is to punish a few, moderately, as an example -- rather than many, severely, to no purpose -- the lawmaker must confine his law to the limits of human nature, and not try to legislate perfection.

* * *

Many people had come to Athens rather than struggle to scratch a living from the barren land of Attica. Without something to sell, Athens could not feed itself. Therefore crafts became essential to the city's prosperity. Solon made it a law that a son was not bound to relieve his father's old age unless the father had set him up in some craft. He also made it a law that every man had to report each year how he made his living, and anyone found to be unemployed was punished.

The laws promulgated by Solon were written on boards. Every one of the leading citizens publicly swore to observe them. But now Solon was besieged every day by people asking for an interpretation of some provision, or complaining about how a law affected them. Solon decided that he should leave the Athenians for a while so that they would cease bothering him, and work things out by themselves. He got permission to leave Athens and took a ship to Egypt [590 B.C.].

* * *

The priests of Egypt told Solon the ancient story of the lost continent of Atlantis. 5 Solon translated the story of Atlantis into Greek verse, thinking that it would be a very good thing for the Greeks to know.

King Croesus of Sardis, who was at this time the richest man in the world, invited Solon to come and visit him at his palace. Solon arrived, and upon entering the palace he saw a man magnificently dressed and accompanied by a retinue of slaves and soldiers, so he assumed that this man must be Croesus. But he turned out to be only a minor official in Croesus' court. As Solon proceeded through the palace, he saw several other officials just as grand. Finally Solon was admitted to the king's chamber for the interview, and there was Croesus dressed in his most splendid clothes and jewelry.

Solon was not dazzled by this display of barbaric magnificence, which had awed so many others. So King Croesus commanded that his treasure houses be opened so that Solon could see how many beautiful clothes he had, and how much gold. Solon politely looked at everything, then came back to the king. "Well, Solon," said Croesus, "have you ever seen a man who was more fortunate than Croesus?"

Solon replied: "Yes, I have, and that was Tellus, a citizen of Athens. He was an honest man who left his children well provided for and with good will in the city. He lived to see grandchildren by his sons. Then he died gloriously, fighting for his country."

This frank answer enraged Croesus, but Solon pacified him by adding: "Oh mighty king of the Lydians, the gods have given us Greeks only small things, and our wisdom is only of small things and not the business of men as important as you. We consider how a man's life is so much subject to chance, and how disaster can come to us completely by surprise, so we don't consider any man to be successful until he has died well, with his good fortune intact to the end. Otherwise, if we should say that a living man is a success, when there is so much that can still happen to him, we would be like soldiers celebrating victory before the battle is over." After that speech, Solon made his exit and saved his life.

He happened to meet Aesop, the author of the famous fables, who also had been invited to the palace of Croesus. Aesop said: "Either we must not come to mighty men at all, or we must try to please them." But Solon replied: "Either we must not come to mighty men, or we must tell them the truth."

Afterwards, King Croesus was defeated by King Cyrus of Persia. Croesus lost his kingdom and was taken prisoner. He was tied to a stake, and was about to be burned alive for the amusement of Cyrus, when Croesus cried out Solon's name three times. Cyrus stopped the proceedings and asked Croesus whether this Solon was a man or one of the gods. Croesus answered: "He was one of the wise men of Greece, whom I invited to my palace. Not that I might learn anything, but so that he might witness my good fortune at that time. The loss of it now is more painful than its enjoyment was pleasant. My riches were really only words and opinion, and now they have brought me to be burned at the stake. Solon saw me in my foolish prosperity and foresaw my present misery. He warned me that I should consider the end of my life, and not boast on slippery ground, since no man is happy until he has died well." Cyrus saw the teaching of Solon confirmed by such a notable example. He released Croesus and kept him at his court as one of his most honored counselors.

* * *

While Solon was gone, the three factions [Hill, Plain, and Shore] began to quarrel again. Although they kept his laws, each one looked forward to some kind of change that might give an advantage over the others. Solon was too old to take an active role when he arrived back in Athens, but he met privately with the leaders and tried to calm down the partisan rancor.

Pisistratus, who led the poor, seemed to be the most willing of all. Pisistratus was a smooth talker and a master of fraud. He fooled the poor and even old Solon, who said that if only the worm of ambition could be plucked from the head of Pisistratus there would be no better citizen.

One day, Pisistratus smeared blood over himself and dramatically appeared in the marketplace. He told the people that their enemies, the rich, had done this to him because he was the friend of the poor. One of his followers then made a motion to appoint a fifty-man bodyguard to protect this martyr of the people's cause. Solon saw through this trick, but the poor were determined to gratify Pisistratus, and the rich were afraid to resist him.

Solon told the Athenians that they were indeed shrewd as individuals, but collectively they made one big fool. And with that parting shot, Solon went away, saying that he was wiser than some and braver than others -- wiser than those who had fallen for the trick, and braver than those who understood what was happening but did not dare to speak out against the coming of a tyrant. 6

No one questioned Pisistratus as he gathered many more than fifty armed men around him. No one noticed what Pisistratus was doing until one day he seized the strongholds of the city and made himself tyrant [561 B.C.]. The rich saved their lives by fleeing Athens. Solon was weak and old, and he had no man willing to stand by him, but he went to the marketplace and scolded the Athenians for being too afraid of Pisistratus and his gang to take back their liberty. "Before," he said, "you might have more easily stopped this tyranny, but now that it is already in place you can win even more glory by rooting it out."

But the Athenians did nothing, and Solon stayed home and wrote bitter poems. His friends warned him to get out of Athens, or at least not to anger Pisistratus with his free speech. They asked him why he thought he was safe to speak so boldly against the tyrant, and Solon answered: "My age." Pisistratus, however, continued to pay great respect to Solon, and continually consulted him. He kept most of Solon's laws, and even obeyed them himself.

Finishing the story of Atlantis proved to be too great a task for Solon in his old age. Instead, as he wrote:

But now the powers of Beauty, Song, and Wine,
Which are most men's delights, are also mine.

Go to Home Page for 15 Greek Heroes from Plutarch's Lives


Go to Life of Aristides


NOTES:

1. Solon was one of these seven wise men.

2. Land reform was much more difficult in Athens than in Sparta. The principal agricultural product of Athens was olive oil, a cash crop traded for commodities from the rest of the world. It was used not only for cooking but more importantly for burning in lamps for illumination. Greek olive trees take 16 years to mature and reach peak production after 40 years, so cultivation is labor-intensive and produces no reward for a long time. Athenian land reform would mean someone reaps where he has not sown.

3. From Dracon we get the modern adjective "draconian," which is used to describe laws where the penalties are extreme in relation to the harm of the crime. The same Draconian approach is taken today with regard to current political fads in crime, and the same flimsy justification is offered.

4. The poor in Athens had been powerless until Solon instituted his reforms.

5. Solon consulted the ancient records kept by the Egyptians and made a start on the story of Atlantis. Plato (427-347 B.C.), who was a relative of Solon, inherited the task, and his dialogue the Timaeus and a fragment entitled Critias tell part of this story. Nine thousand years (according to Plato) before Solon's visit to Egypt, a great civilization on an island in the Atlantic Ocean disappeared on a day of great rain and earthquakes. Plato did not finish the story, and what Solon wrote has disappeared.

Atlantis remains a controversial topic. Even extra-sensory perception has been offered as evidence. See W. Scott-Eliot, The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Continent of Lemuria (London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1925). The classic in the field is Donnelly's Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, first published in 1882 and frequently reprinted. Donnelly claimed that Greek mythology is merely a remnant of Atlantean history, and he adduced voluminous evidence (which, as Donnelly's critics gleefully point out, is not all reliable) in support of the existence of Atlantis as described by Plato. Recent attempts by scientists to place Atlantis in the Aegean, and at a more recent time, have failed. See Edwin S. Ramage, Atlantis: Fact or Fiction (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978).

6. The tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons lasted from 561 to 510 B.C. Cleisthenes and a group of exiled Athenian nobles, aided by an army from Sparta, liberated the Athenians from their tyrant.

The case of Pisistratus illustrates the paradigm of revolution turning into tyranny. The resentment of the poor against the arrogance of the rich empowers a dictator to reform the society. Supported by the parasites and criminals, the tyrant's gang of hired soldiers gradually kills off anyone who might threaten his control, and he disregards justice. No one's life and property are secure from the tyrant's power. No one dares to be the least bit original or ambitious because an army of professional informants directs the tyrant's paranoia against anyone who stands out from the crowd. With enthusiasm and innovation chilled by fear, the society becomes technologically retarded, morally timid, and artistically numb.

The classical era furnishes many examples of the tyrant paradigm, such as Dionysius of Syracuse (see the life of Dion). So does the twentieth century (Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot). http://www.e-classics.com/

[Helios]

t h e e t y m o l o g y a n d h i s t o r y o f f i r s t n a m e s:
Mythology Names http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/myth.html


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[Helios]

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http://www.webwinds.com/thalassa/olympics.htm
The Ancient Olympics
Their Origin in Greek Mythology and Religion
copyright 2001, 2002 by Tracy Marks

What is the origin of the Olympics?
The Olympic Games, originally created to honor Zeus, was the most important national festival of the ancient Greeks, and a focus of political rivalries between the nation-states. However, all competitions involved individual competitors rather than teams. Winning an Olympic contest was regarded more highly than winning a battle and was proof of an individual arete or personal excellence. The winners were presented with garlands, crowned with olive wreaths, and viewed as national heroes.

Although records of the Olympics date back to 776 BC when the Olympics were reorganized and the official "First Olympiad" was held, Homer's Iliad suggests that they existed as early as the 12th century BC. The games were held every four years in honor of Zeus, in accordance with the four year time periods which the Greeks called olympiads. Emperor Theodosius I of Rome discontinued them in the 4th century AD, and they did not occur again until they were reinstated in Athens in 1896.

Originally, the Olympics was confined to running, but by the 15th Olympiad, additional sports were added the pentathlon (five different events), boxing, wrestling, chariot racing, as well as a variety of foot races of varying lengths, including a long-distance race of about 2.5 miles.

Athletes usually competed ****, proudly displaying their perfect bodies. Women, foreigners, slaves, and dishonored persons were forbidden to compete; women, once they were married, were not even allowed to watch any Olympic events, except for chariot races. However, every four years, women held their own games, called the Heraea after Hera, held at Argos, and beginning as early as the 6th century B.C. and lasting at least six centuries until Roman rule.


How was the Olympics a sacred festival?
Unlike our modern Olympic games, the ancient Greek Olympic games was a religious rather than secular festival, celebrating the gods in general and Zeus in particular. The contests themselves alternated with altar rituals and sacrifices, as well as processions and banquets. Individual competitors trained rigorously not only for personal glory, but also to impress and please a god through demonstrating strength and agility.

Although one legend suggests that Heracles won a race at Olympia and decreed that races should be instituted every four years, the most common legends suggest that Zeus originated the games after he defeated Cronus in battle. Many events occurred at the Olympic stadium near the temple of Zeus in Olympia southwest of Athens. Inside the temple was the 42 foot high gold and ivory statue of Zeus sculpted by Pheidias, considered to be one of seven wonders of the ancient world.

Eventually the games were also held at other sacred spots in the Greek city-states, such as Delphi and Corinth. These games honored the ruling god of the particular locality, most notably Apollo and Poseidon in addition to Zeus. Apollo from the start had an indirect role in the festivities, since the winners were always lauded with garlands of laurel, the tree most sacred to Apollo ever since his beloved Daphne was transformed into a laurel tree.

The noteworthy classics web site, Perseus, from Tufts University, has a mini-site on the ancient Olympics at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/. According to Perseus scholars:

"The Games were held in honor of Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, and a sacrifice of 100 oxen was made to the god on the middle day of the festival. Athletes prayed to the gods for victory, and made gifts of animals, produce, or small cakes, in thanks for their successes.

According to legend, the altar of Zeus stood on a spot struck by a thunderbolt, which had been hurled by the god from his throne high atop Mount Olympus, where the gods assembled. Some coins from Elis had a thunderbolt design on the reverse, in honor of this legend.

Over time, the Games flourished, and Olympia became a central site for the worship of Zeus. Individuals and communities donated buildings, statues, altars and other dedications to the god."


SOURCES and RECOMMENDED LINKS http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/ http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/rel.html http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sports/A0860127.html http://www.hickoksports.com/history/olancien.shtml http://www.sltrib.com/2001/feb/02032001/saturday/68198.htm http://kids.infoplease.lycos.com/ce6/sports/A0860127.html http://scsc.essortment.com/athleticshistor_rjzj.htm http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa021798.htm



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[Helios]

Flood stories from around the world:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html
Celtic:
Heaven and Earth were great giants, and Heaven lay upon the Earth so that their children were crowded between them, and the children and their mother were unhappy in the darkness. The boldest of the sons led his brothers in cutting up Heaven into many pieces. From his skull they made the firmament. His spilling blood caused a great flood which killed all humans except a single pair, who were saved in a ship made by a beneficent Titan. The waters settled in hollows to become the oceans. The son who led in the mutilation of Heaven was a Titan and became their king, but the Titans and gods hated each other, and the king titan was driven from his throne by his son, who was born a god. That Titan at last went to the land of the departed. The Titan who built the ship, whom some consider to be the same as the king Titan, went there also. [Sproul, pp. 172-173]
Egypt:
People have become rebellious. Atum said he will destroy all he made and return the earth to the Primordial Water which was its original state. Atum will remain, in the form of a serpent, with Osiris. [Faulkner, plate 30] (Unfortunately the version of the papyrus with the flood story is damaged and unclear. See also Budge, p. c

Greek:
Zeus sent a flood to destroy the men of the Bronze Age. Prometheus advised his son Deucalion to build a chest. All other men perished except for a few who escaped to high mountains. The mountains in Thessaly were parted, and all the world beyond the Isthmus and Peloponnese was overwhelmed. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha (daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora), after floating in the chest for nine days and nights, landed on Parnassus. When the rains ceased, he sacrificed to Zeus, the God of Escape. At the bidding of Zeus, he threw stones over his head; they became men, and the stones which Pyrrha threw became women. That is why people are called laoi, from laas, "a stone." [Apollodorus, 1.7.2]

The first race of people was completely destroyed because they were exceedingly wicked. The fountains of the deep opened, the rain fell in torrents, and the rivers and seas rose to cover the earth, killing all of them. Deucalion survived due to his prudence and piety and linked the first and second race of men. Onto a great ark he loaded his wives and children and all animals. The animals came to him, and by God's help, remained friendly for the duration of the flood. The flood waters escaped down a chasm opened in Hierapolis. [Frazer, pp. 153-154]

An older version of the story told by Hellanicus has Deucalion's ark landing on Mount Othrys in Thessaly. Another account has him landing on a peak, probably Phouka, in Argolis, later called Nemea. [Gaster, p. 85]

The Megarians told that Megarus, son of Zeus, escaped Deucalion's flood by swimming to the top of Mount Gerania, guided by the cries of cranes. [Gaster, p. 85-86]

An earlier flood was reported to have occurred in the time of Ogyges, founder and king of Thebes. The flood covered the whole world and was so devastating that the country remained without kings until the reign of Cecrops. [Gaster, p. 87]

Nannacus, king of Phrygia, lived before the time of Deucalion and foresaw that he and all people would perish in a coming flood. He and the Phrygians lamented bitterly, hence the old proverb about "weeping like (or for) Nannacus." After the deluge had destroyed all humanity, Zeus commanded Prometheus and Athena to fashion mud images, and Zeus summoned winds to breathe life into them. The place where they were made is called Iconium after these images. [Frazer, p. 155]

"Many great deluges have taken place during the nine thousand years" since Athens and Atlantis were preeminent. Destruction by fire and other catastrophes was also common. In these floods, water rose from below, destroying city dwellers but not mountain people. The floods, especially the third great flood before Deucalion, washed away most of Athens' fertile soil. [Plato, "Timaeus" 22, "Critias" 111-112]

Scandinavian:
Oden, Vili, and Ve fought and slew the great ice giant Ymir, and icy water from his wounds drowned most of the Rime Giants. The giant Bergelmir escaped, with his wife and children, on a boat made from a hollowed tree trunk. From them rose the race of frost ogres. Ymir's body became the world we live on. His blood became the oceans. [Sturluson, p. 35]

[Helios]

http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/zeus.html

In his right hand a figure of Victory made from ivory and gold. In his left hand, his scepter inlaid with all metals, and an eagle perched on the sceptre. The sandals of the god are made of gold, as is his robe.

Pausanias the Greek (2nd century AD)

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This is the statue of the god in whose honor the Ancient Olympic games were held. It was located on the land that gave its very name to the Olympics. At the time of the games, wars stopped, and athletes came from Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and Sicily to celebrate the Olympics and to worship their king of gods: Zeus.

Location

At the ancient town of Olympia, on the west coast of modern Greece, about 150 km west of Athens.

History

The ancient Greek calendar starts in 776 BC, for the Olympic games are believed to have started that year. The magnificent temple of Zeus was designed by the architect Libon and was built around 450 BC. Under the growing power of ancient Greece, the simple Doric-style temple seemed too mundane, and modifications were needed. The solution: A majestic statue. The Athenian sculptor Pheidias was assigned for the "sacred" task, reminiscent of Michelangelo's paintings at the Sistine Chapel.

For the years that followed, the temple attracted visitors and worshippers from all over the world. In the second century BC repairs were skillfully made to the aging statue. In the first century AD, the Roman emperor Caligula attempted to transport the statue to Rome. However, his attempt failed when the scaffolding built by Caligula's workmen collapsed. After the Olympic games were banned in AD 391 by the emperor Theodosius I as Pagan practices, the temple of Zeus was ordered closed.

Olympia was further struck by earthquakes, landslides and floods, and the temple was damaged by fire in the fifth century AD. Earlier, the statue had been transported by wealthy Greeks to a palace in Constantinople. There, it survived until it was destroyed by a severe fire in AD 462. Today nothing remains at the site of the old temple except rocks and debris, the foundation of the buildings, and fallen columns.

Description

Pheidias began working on the statue around 440 BC. Years earlier, he had developed a technique to build enormous gold and ivory statues. This was done by erecting a wooden frame on which sheets of metal and ivory were placed to provide the outer covering. Pheidias' workshop in Olympia still exists, and is coincidentally -- or may be not -- identical in size and orientation to the temple of Zeus. There, he sculpted and carved the different pieces of the statue before they were assembled in the temple.

When the statue was completed, it barely fitted in the temple. Strabo wrote:


".. although the temple itself is very large, the sculptor is criticized for not having appreciated the correct proportions. He has shown Zeus seated, but with the head almost touching the ceiling, so that we have the impression that if Zeus moved to stand up he would unroof the temple."


Strabo was right, except that the sculptor is to be commended, not criticized. It is this size impression that made the statue so wonderful. It is the idea that the king of gods is capable of unroofing the temple if he stood up that fascinated poets and historians alike. The base of the statue was about 6.5 m (20 ft) wide and 1.0 meter (3 ft) high. The height of the statue itself was 13 m (40 ft), equivalent to a modern 4-story building.

The statue was so high that visitors described the throne more than Zeus body and features. The legs of the throne were decorated with sphinxes and winged figures of Victory. Greek gods and mythical figures also adorned the scene: Apollo, Artemis, and Niobe's children. The Greek Pausanias wrote:


On his head is a sculpted wreath of olive sprays. In his right hand he holds a figure of Victory made from ivory and gold... In his left hand, he holds a sceptre inlaid with every kind of metal, with an eagle perched on the sceptre. His sandals are made of gold, as is his robe. His garments are carved with animals and with lilies. The throne is decorated with gold, precious stones, ebony, and ivory.


The statue was occasionally decorated with gifts from kings and rulers. the most notable of these gifts was a woollen curtain "adorned with Assyrian woven patterns and Pheonician dye" which was dedicated by the Syrian king Antiochus IV.

Copies of the statue were made, including a large prototype at Cyrene (Libya). None of them, however, survived to the present day. Early reconstructions such as the one by von Erlach are now believed to be rather inaccurate. For us, we can only wonder about the true appearance of the statue -- the greatest work in Greek sculpture.

[Helios]

posted 07-27-2004 12:11
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Mount Olympus
quote:
"Traditionally regarded as the heavenly abode of the Greek gods and the site of the throne of Zeus, Olympos seems to have originally existed as an idealized mountain that only later came to be associated with a specific peak. The early epics, the Illiad and the Odyssey (composed by Homer around 700BC) offer little information regarding the geographic location of the heavenly mountain and there are several peaks in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus that bear the name Olympos. The most favored mythological choice is the tallest mountain range in Greece, the Olympos massif, 100 kilometers southwest of the city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece. The highest peak - shown in the photograph - is Mytikas at 2918 meters (9570 feet).

"The deities believed to have dwelled upon the mythic mount were Zeus, the king of the gods; his wife Hera; his brothers Poseidon and Hades; his sisters Demeter and Hestia; and his children, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes and Hephaestus. It is interesting to note that these Olympian gods and goddesses were understood in ancient times as archetypes representing idealized aspects of the multi-faceted human psyche. Worship of the deities was a method of invoking and amplifying those aspects in the behavior and personality of the human worshipper. Zeus was the god of mind and the intellect, and a protector of strangers and the sanctity of oaths; Hera was a goddess of fertility, the stages of a woman's life and marriage; Apollo represented law and order, and the principles of moderation in moral, social and intellectual matters; Aphrodite was a goddess of love and the overwhelming passions that drove humans to irrational behavior; Hermes was the god of travelers, of sleep and dreams and prophecy; Athena was spiritual wisdom incarnate; Hephaestus was the god of the arts and fire; and Ares represented the dark, bloodthirsty aspect of human nature.
These gods and goddesses did not actually live upon Olympos, rather the ancient myth can be understood to be a metaphor for the power of the sacred mountain. This spiritual power had drawn hermits and monks to live in the caves and forests of the mountain since long before the dawn of the Christian era. With the coming of Christianity the myths and legends of the old Greeks were suppressed and forgotten, and the holy mountain was seldom visited. Today, weekend hikers and young travelers on the vagabond trail through Europe dash up and down the peak in a single day. It is certainly a beautiful place for such a hasty hike, yet to draw upon the real magic of Olympos one must come as a pilgrim and stay some quiet days in the woods. The author has lived for a month in the forests of the sacred peak and experienced that the spirits of the old gods and goddesses are still powerfully present." http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/greece/mt_olympus.html

[Helios]

Olympus, Mount

In Greek mythology, was the abode of the gods, their home and the site of the throne of Zeus, the chief deity. The highest mountain peak in Greece, it reaches 9,570 feet (2,917 meters) above sea level.

Mount Olympus is part of the broader Olympus mountain mass near the Thermaic Gulf on the Aegean Sea. On the border of Macedonia and Thessaly, Olympus touches both northern and southern Greece.

Mount Olympus is sometimes called Upper Olympus, to be distinguished from Lower Olympus, a connecting peak to the south that is 5,210 feet (1,588 meters) high. http://www.occultopedia.com/o/olympus_mount.htm

[Helios]

"OPHIOTAUROS"

Greek: OfiotauroV Transliteration: Ophiotauros Translation: Serpent-Bull
"OPHIOTAUROS" was a monster born with the foreparts of a black bull and the rearparts of a serpent. During the Titan-War it was revealed that whoever fed the innards of this creature to flame would be victorious over the gods. So Zeus' ally, the goddess Styx, then imprisoned the beast near her home in the Underworld. When Briareus, an ally of the Titanes, came and slew the creature, Zeus sent a kite-bird to steal the innards away to heaven and thwart the prophecy.

(This story appears to be part of the lost Greek epic known as the Titanomachia (War of the Titanes), in which the giant AIGAION appears as an ally of the Titanes. Ovid here calls Aigaion Briareus, the name of his son in both the Titanomachia and the Iliad).

Parents

GAIA (Ovid Fasti 3.793)

“The Kite star Milvus … If you want to know what bestowed heaven on that bird: Saturnus [Kronos] was thrust from his realm by Jove [Zeus]. In anger he stirs the mighty Titanes to arms and seeks the assistance owed by fate. There was a shocking monster born of Mother Terra (Earth) [Gaia], a bull, whose back half was a serpent. Roaring Styx [as an ally of Zeus] imprisoned it, warned by the three Parcae [Moirai the Fates], in a black grove with a triple wall. Whoever fed the bull’s guts to consuming flames was destined to defeat the eternal gods. Briareus [Aigaion] slays it with an adamantine axe and prepares to feed the flames its innards. Jupiter [Zeus] commands the birds to grab them; the kite brought them to him and reached the stars on merit.” –Ovid Fasti 3.793

Sources:

* Ovid, Fasti - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD http://www.theoi.com/Tartaros/Ophiotauros.html

[Helios]

Chronos

Member
Member # 2051

Member Rated:
   posted 07-28-2004 11:23 AM                       
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From Helios:
THE HEKATONKHEIRES

Greek: 'EktanceireV
'EkatontaceiraV Transliteration: Hekatonkheires
Hekatontakheiras Translation: Hundred-Handed
Latin Spelling: Hecatoncheires
THE HEKATONKHEIRES were three GIANT sons of Ouranos and Gaia who each had a hundred arms and fifty heads. Ouranos fearing their strength threw them into Tartaros. Zeus later killed their jailor Kampe and enlisted them in his war against the Titanes.
After the war they were given palaces in the River Okeanos and set to guard the gates of Tartaros, prison of the Titanes.

Parents

OURANOS & GAIA (Theogony 147, Titanomachia Frag 1, Apollodorus 1.1, Hyginus Pref)

Names

BRIAREOS-OBRIAREOS, KOTTOS, GYES (Theogony 147, Apollodorus 1.1, Suidas 'Tritiopatores')
Greek: BriarewV
ObriarewV
KottoV
GuhV Transliteration: Briareos / Obriareos
Kottos
Gyes Translation: Strong

.

"And again, three other sons were born of Gaia and Ouranos, great and doughty beyond telling, Kottos and Briareos and Gyes, presumptuous children. From their shoulders sprang an hundred arms, not to be approached, and each had fifty heads upon his shoulders on their strong limbs, and irresistible was the stubborn strength that was in their great forms. For of all the children that were born of Gaia and Ouranos, these were the most terrible, and they were hated by their own father from the first. And he used to hide them all away in a secret place of Gaia (Earth) so soon as each was born, and would not suffer them to come up into the light: and Ouranos rejoiced in his evil doing. But vast Gaia (Earth) groaned within, being straitened, and she made the element of grey flint and shaped a great sickle, and told her plan to her dear sons [the Titanes]. And she spoke, cheering them, while she was vexed in her dear heart:
`My children, gotten of a sinful father, if you mwill obey me, we should punish the vile outrage of your father; for he first thought of doing shameful things." -Theogony 147-163

posted 07-27-2004 12:18
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THE HEKATONKHEIRES

Greek: 'EktanceireV
'EkatontaceiraV Transliteration: Hekatonkheires
Hekatontakheiras Translation: Hundred-Handed
Latin Spelling: Hecatoncheires
THE HEKATONKHEIRES were three GIANT sons of Ouranos and Gaia who each had a hundred arms and fifty heads. Ouranos fearing their strength threw them into Tartaros. Zeus later killed their jailor Kampe and enlisted them in his war against the Titanes.
After the war they were given palaces in the River Okeanos and set to guard the gates of Tartaros, prison of the Titanes.

Parents

OURANOS & GAIA (Theogony 147, Titanomachia Frag 1, Apollodorus 1.1, Hyginus Pref)

Names

BRIAREOS-OBRIAREOS, KOTTOS, GYES (Theogony 147, Apollodorus 1.1, Suidas 'Tritiopatores')
Greek: BriarewV
ObriarewV
KottoV
GuhV Transliteration: Briareos / Obriareos
Kottos
Gyes Translation: Strong

"And again, three other sons were born of Gaia and Ouranos, great and doughty beyond telling, Kottos and Briareos and Gyes, presumptuous children. From their shoulders sprang an hundred arms, not to be approached, and each had fifty heads upon his shoulders on their strong limbs, and irresistible was the stubborn strength that was in their great forms. For of all the children that were born of Gaia and Ouranos, these were the most terrible, and they were hated by their own father from the first. And he used to hide them all away in a secret place of Gaia (Earth) so soon as each was born, and would not suffer them to come up into the light: and Ouranos rejoiced in his evil doing. But vast Gaia (Earth) groaned within, being straitened, and she made the element of grey flint and shaped a great sickle, and told her plan to her dear sons [the Titanes]. And she spoke, cheering them, while she was vexed in her dear heart:
`My children, gotten of a sinful father, if you mwill obey me, we should punish the vile outrage of your father; for he first thought of doing shameful things." -Theogony 147-163

"But when first their father [Ouranos] was vexed in his heart with Obriareos and Kottos and Gyes, he bound them in cruel bonds, because he was jealous of their exceeding manhood and comeliness and great size: and he made them live beneath the wide-pathed earth, where they were afflicted, being set to dwell under the ground, at the end of the earth, at its great borders, in bitter anguish for a long time and with great grief at heart.

And amongst the foremost [in the battle] Kottos and Briareos and Gyes insatiate for war raised fierce fighting: three hundred rocks, one upon another, they launched from their strong hands and overshadowed the Titanes with their missiles, and buried them beneath the wide-pathed earth, and bound them in bitter chains when they had conquered them by their strength for all their great spirit, as far beneath the earth to Tartaros ... There by the counsel of Zeus whodrives the clouds the Titan gods are hidden under misty gloom, in a dank place where are the ends of the huge earth. And they may not go out; for Poseidon fixed gates of bronze upon it, and a wall runs all round it on every side. There Gyes and Kottos and great-souled Obriareos live, trusty warders of Zeus who holds the aegis." -Theogony 617-735

Sources:

* Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
* Homerica Titanomachia, Fragments - Greek Epic BC
* Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC
* Suidas - Byzantine Greek Lexicography C10th AD


[This message has been edited by Chronos (edited 07-28-2004).]


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Posts: 1008 | From: various | Registered: Jul 2004 

[Helios]

BRIAREOS

Greek: BriarewV
BriarhoV
ObriarewV Transliteration: Briareôs
Briarêos
Obriareôs Translation: Strong
Latin Spelling: Briareus
BRIAREOS was one of the HEKATONKHEIRES, the hundred-armed, fifty-headed sons of Ouranos. After the Titan-War he married Poseidon's gigantic daughter Kymopoleia and settled with her in a palace in the River Okeanos.
A firm ally of Zeus, he was summoned by Thetis to assist the god when Hera, Athene and Poseidon had bound him in chains.

Parents

(1) OURANOS & GAIA (Theogony 147, Titanomachia Frag 1, Apollodorus 1.1, Hyginus Pref)
(2) AIGAIOS (Iliad 1.397, Ion of Chios Frag 741)
(3) THALASSA (Ion of Chios Frag 741)

Offspring

OIOLYKA (Ibycus Frag 299)

"But the glorious allies of loud-crashing Zeus have their dwelling upon Okeanos' foundations, even Kottos and Gyes; but Briareos, being goodly, the deep-roaring Earth-Shaker [Poseidon] made his son-in-law, giving him Kymopolea his daughter to wed." -Theogony 817-819

“You [Thetis] said you only among the immortals beat aside shameful destruction from Kronos’ son [Zeus] the dark-misted, that time when all the other Olympian gods sought to bind him, Hera and Poseidon and Pallas Athene. Then you, goddess, went and set him free from his shackles, summoning in speed the creature of the hundred hands to tall Olympos, that creature the gods name Briareos, but all men Aigaios’ son, but he is far greater in strength than his father. He rejoicing in the glory of it sat down by Kronion, and the rest of the blessed gods were frightened and gave up binding him.” –Iliad 1.397-406

"Ion says in a dithyramb that Aigaion was summoned from the ocean by Thetis and taken up to protect Zeus, and that he was the son of Thalassa (Sea) [the author here confuses Briareus with his father Aigaion, son of Thalassa]." -Greek Lyric IV Ion of Chios Frag 741 (from Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes)

“The mount of Aitna smoulders with fire and all its secret depths are shaken as the Gigantos under the earth, even Briareos, shifts to his other shoulder, and with the tongs of Hephaistos roar furnaces and handiwork withal; and firewrought basins and tripods ring terribly as they fall one upon the other.” -Callimachus, Hymn IV to Delos 140

”The Korinthians say that Poseidon had a dispute with Helios about the land, and that Briareos arbitrated between them, assigning to Poseidon the Isthmos and the parts adjoining, and giving to Helios the height above the city.” –Pausanias 2.1.5

”The Akrokorinthos [at Korinthos] is a mountain peak above the city, assigned to Helios by Briareos when he acted as adjudicator [between Helios & Poseidon over the land of Korinthos].” –Pausanias 2.4.5

"She [Thetis] was sent to follow Aegaeon freed [Zeus] from his stubborn bonds and to count the hundred fetters of the god.” –Achilleid 1.209

"O Lord Zeus! If thou hast gratitude for Thetis and the ready hands of Briareus, if thou hast not forgot Aigaion the protector of thy laws.” –Dionysiaca 43.361

See also The Hekatonkheires

Sources:

* Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
* Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC
* Greek Lyric IV Ion of Chios, Fragments - Greek Lyric BC
* Callimachus, Hymns - Greek C3rd BC
* Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD
* Statius, Achilleid - Latin Epic C1st AD
* Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD
http://www.theoi.com/Ouranos/Hekatonkheires.html.

[Helios]

From Helios:
THE KYKLOPES (1)

Greek Singular:
Greek Plural: Kuklwy
KuklwpeV Transliteration: Kyklôpes
Kyklôpes Translation: Orb-Eyed
Epithets: Gasteroceiroi Transliteration: Gasterokheiroi Translation: Belly-Hands
Latin Spelling: Cyclops Cyclopes
THE ELDER KYKLOPES were three one-eyed GIANTS, known as craftsmen and builders. Their father Ouranos feared their strength and locked them away in Tartaros. Zeus later freed them from this prison enlisting them in the war against the Titanes.
They forged thunderbolts for Zeus, a trident for Poseidon, a helm of invisibility for Hades, and constructed the first altar as well as numerous walls and battlements.

Some say there were a total of seven Kyklops craftsmen - the usual Arges, Brontes and Steropes and four others named Euryalos, Elatreus, Trakhios and Halimedes who were presumably sons of the first three.

It is said that Apollon killed those Kyklopes that forged the thunderbolt that Zeus used to kill Asklepios.
One would suppose that the three eldest were immortal, so perhaps the Kyklopes Apollon killed were their sons.

The tribe of Younger Kyklopes, that Odysseus encountered on his travels, were a different breed, probably born from the blood of the castrated Ouranos. See The Kyklopes (2)

Parents

OURANOS & GAIA (Theogony 139, Titanomachia Frag 1, Apollodorus 1.1)

Names

(1) BRONTES, STEROPES, ARGES (Theogony139, Apollodorus 1.1 Callimachus Hymn to Artemis)
(2) BRONTES, STEROPES, AKMONIDES (Ovid Fasti 4.287)
(3) BRONTES, STEROPES, PYRAKMON (Aeneid 8.414)
(4) BRONTES, STEROPES, ARGES, EURYALOS, ELATREUS, TRAKHIOS, HALIMEDES (Dionysiaca 14.52)
(5) BRONTES, STEROPES (Silvae 1.1.3)
Greek: BronthV
SterophV
ArghV ArgilipoV Transliteration: Brontês
Steropês
Argês Argilipos Translation: Thunder
Lightning
Vivid-Flash
Greek: EurualoV
ElatreuV
TracioV
‘AlimhdhV Transliteration: Euryalos
Elatreus
Trakhios
Halimedes Translation: Wide-Stepping
Forged-Iron
Rugged
Sea-Lord

BIRTH & NAMES OF THE KYKLOPES

"And again, she bare [Gaia to Ouranos] the Kyklopes, overbearing in spirit, Brontes, and Steropes and stubborn-hearted Arges, who gave Zeus the thunder and made the thunderbolt: in all else they were like the gods, but one eye only was set in the midst of their fore-heads. And they were surnamed Kyklopes (Orb-eyed) because one orbed eye was set in their foreheads. Strength and might and craft were in their works. And again, three other sons were born of Gaia and Ouranos, [the Hekatonkheires] ...
For of all the children that were born of Gaia and Ouranos, these were the most terrible, and they werehated by their own father from the first. And he used to hide them all away in a secret place of Gaia (Earth) so soon as each was born, and would not suffer them to come up into the light: and Ouranos rejoiced in his evil doing. But vast Gaia (Earth) groaned within, being straitened, and she made the element of grey flint and shaped a great sickle, and told her plan to her dear sons [the Titanes]. And she spoke, cheering them, while she was vexed in her dear heart:
`My children, gotten of a sinful father, if you mwill obey me, we should punish the vile outrage of your father; for he first thought of doing shameful things." -Theogony 139-163



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Helios]

KYKLOPES & THE TITAN-WAR
"And he [Zeus] set free from their deadly bonds the brothers of his father [Kyklopes], sons of Ouranos whom his father in his foolishness had bound. And they remembered to be grateful to him for his kindness, and gave him thunder and the glowing thunderbolt and lightening: for before that, huge Earth had hidden these. In them he trusts and rules over mortals and immortals." -Theogony 492-506

"All mine [Zeus'] armoury [lightning] which the Kyklopes' might to win my favour wrought with tireless hands." -Quintus Smyrnaeus 14.445

"After ten years of fighting Ge prophesied a victory for Zeus if he were to secure the prisoners down in Tartaros as his allies. He thereupon slew their jail-keeper Kampe, and freed them from their bonds. In return the Kyklopes gave Zeus thunder, lightning, and a thunderbolt, as well as a helmet for Pluto and a trident for Poseidon. Armed with these the three gods overpowered the Titanes, confined them in Tartaros, and put the Hekatonkheires in charge of guarding them." -Apollodorus 1.1-7

“Altar. On this altar the gods are thought to have first made offerings and formed an alliance when they were about to oppose the Titanes. The Cyclopes made it. From this observance men established the custom that when they plan to do something, they make sacrifices before beginning the undertaking.” –Hyginus Astronomica 2.39

“[The giant Typhoeus declares his intentions to Zeus when he seizes the throne of heaven:] And cannibal Kronos I will drag up once more to the light ... and bring back the Titanes to heaven, and settle under the same roof in the sky the Kyklopes, sons of Gaia.” –Dionysiaca 2.336
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sources:

* Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
* Hesiod, Catalogues of Women - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
* Homerica Titanomachia, Fragments - Greek Epic BC
* Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th BC
* Apollodorus, The Libary - Greek Mythography C2nd BC
* Callimachus, Hymns - Greek C3rd BC
* Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd BC
* Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th AD
* Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st BC - C1st AD
* Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD
* Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st BC
* Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd AD
* Hyginus, Astronomica - Latin Mythography C2nd AD
* Virgil, Aeneid - Latin Epic C1st BC
* Ovid, Fasti - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD
* Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica – Latin Epic C1st AD
* Statius, Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st AD
* Statius, Silvae - Latin Epic C1st AD
* Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD
http://www.theoi.com/Ouranos/Kyklopes.html

[Helios]

A GUIDE TO THE LOVERS & CHILDREN OF ZEUS KING OF THE GODS.
Some of the lovers and children of the god are only connected with him through brief genealogical reference (which are given at the bottom of this page).
Those relationships which are expanded upon in myth are fully described on separate pages (see the LOVES and FAMILY hyperlinks below).

OTHER SECTIONS ON ZEUS:

THE CULT OF ZEUS
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Immortal Offspring (Olympian Gods)

(1) ARES (by Hera) (Theogony 921, Iliad 5.699, Apollodorus 1.13, Pausanias 2.14.3, Hyginus Pref, and other sources)
(2a) ATHENE (innumerable sources)
(2b) ATHENE (by Metis) (Theogony 887, 924; Apollodorus 1.20)
(3) HEPHAISTOS (by Hera) (Apollodorus 1.19, De Natura Deorum 3.22)
(4a) APHRODITE (innumerable sources)
(4b) APHRODITE (by Dione) (Iliad 5.370; Euripides Helen 1098; Apollodorus 1.13)
(5a) APOLLON (innumerable sources)
(5b) APOLLON (by Leto) (Theogony 918, Works & Days 770f, Iliad 1.9 & 21.495, Odyssey 6.100 & 11.318, Homeric Hymn XXVII to Artemis, Orphic Hymn 35, Pindar Nemean 6 & 8, Pindar Processional Song on Delos, Callimachus Hymn to Artemis & Hymn to Delos, Apollodorus 1.21 & 3.46, Pausanias 8.9.1 & 8.53.1. Hyginus Fab 9 & 140, and other sources)
(6a) ARTEMIS (innumerable sources)
(6b) ARTEMIS (by Leto) (Theogony 918, Works & Days 770f, Iliad 1.9 & 21.495, Odyssey 6.100 & 11.318, Homeric Hymn XXVII to Artemis, Orphic Hymn 35, Pindar Nemean 6 & 8, Pindar Processional Song on Delos, Callimachus Hymn to Artemis & Hymn to Delos, Apollodorus 1.21 & 3.46, Pausanias 8.9.1 & 8.53.1. Hyginus Fab 9 & 140, and other sources)
(7a) HERMES (innumerable sources)
(7b) HERMES (by Maia) (Theogony 938, Homerica The Astronomy 1, Homeric Hymn IV to Hermes 1, Homeric Hymn XVII to Hermes 3, Alcaeus Frag 308, Simonides Frag 555, Apollodorus 3.112, Ovid Fasti 5.79)
(8a) DIONYSOS (innumerable sources)
(8b) DIONYSOS (by Semele) (Theogony 940, Homeric Hymns 1 & 7 & 26, Pindar Pythian 3, Bacchylides Frag 19, Apollodorus 3.26, Pausanias 3.24.4, Diodorus Siculus 4.2.1, Hyginus Fabulae 179, Nonnus Dionysiaca, et al)
(8c) DIONYSOS (by Dione) (Scholiast on Pindar's Pythian 3.177; Hesy****s)
(8d) ZAGREUS (by Persephone) (Orphic Hymns 29 &30, Hyginus Fabulae 155, Diodorus Siculus 4.4.1, Dionysiaca 6.155, Suidas 'Zagreus')

Immortal Offspring (Other Gods)

(1) PERSEPHONE (by Demeter) (Theogony 912, Homeric Hymn II to Demeter, Apollodorus 1.29, Pausanias, Dionysiaca 5.562, Metamorphoses 5.501, Ovid Fasti 4.575)
(2) THE HORAI named: EUNOMIA, DIKE, EIRENE (by Themis) (Theogony 901, Orphic Hymn 43, Pindar Frag 30, Apollodorus 1.13, Pausanias 5.17.1, Hyginus Fab 183)
(3) THE MOIRAI named: KLOTHO, LAKHESIS, ATROPOS (by Themis) (Theogony, Apollodorus 1.13)
(4a) THE KHARITES named: AGLAIA, EUPHROSYNE, THALEIA (by Eurynome) (Theogony 907, Apollodorus 1.13, Callimachus Aetia Frag 6, Pausanias 9.35.1, Hyginus Pref)
(4b) THE KHARITES named: AGLAIA, EUPHROSYNE, THALEIA (by Eunomia) (Orphic Hymn 60)
(5) THE MOUSAI named: KLEIO, EUTERPE, THALEIA, MELPOMENE, TERPSIKHORE, ERATO, POLYHYMNIA, OURANIA, KALLIOPE (by Mnemosyne) (Theogony 915, Orphic Hymn 76 & 77, Alcman Frag 8, Solon Frag 13, Apollodorus 1.13, Diodorus Siculus 4.7.1, Antoninus Liberalis 9, De Natura Deorum 3.21)
(6) EILEITHYIA (by Hera) (Theogony 921, Apollodorus 1.13)
(7) HEBE (by Hera) (Theogony 921, Pindar Isthmian 4, Apollodorus 1.13, Pausanias 2.13.3, Aelian On Animals 17.46, Hyginus Pref)
( ERIS (by Hera) (Iliad 4.441, Quintus Smyrnaeus 10.51)
(9) ATE (Iliad 19.85)
(10) THE LITAI (Iliad 9.450, Quintus Smyrnaeus 10.300)
(11) ALATHEIA (Pindar Olympian 11)
(12) KAIROS (Pausanias 5.14.9)
(13) HARMONIA (by Elektra) (Diodorus Siculus 5.48.2)
(14) BRITOMARTIS (by Karme) (Pausanias 2.30.3, Diodorus Siculus 5.76.3, Antoninus Liberalis 40)
(15) ERSA (by Selene) (Alcman Frag 57)
(16) PANDEIA (by Selene) (Homeric Hymn 32 to Selene, Hyginus Pref)
(17) NEMEA (by Selene) (Scholia)
(18a) AIGIPAN (by Boetis) (Hyginus Fab 155)
(18b) AIGIPAN (by Aix) (Hyginus Astronomica 2.13)
(19) PAN (by Hybris)
(20) ZAGREOS (by Persephone) (Orphic Hymns 29 & 30, Hyginus Fabulae 155, Diodorus Siculus 4.4.1, Dionysiaca 6.155, Suidas 'Zagreus')
(21) MELINOE (by Persephone) (Orphic Hymn 71)
(22) THE THRIAI (by Themis) (Apollodorus 2.114)
(23) THE NYMPHAI (The Precepts of Chiron Frag 3, Odyssey)
(24) AGDISTIS (by Gaia) (Pausanias 7.17.
(25) THE PALIKOI (by Thaleia) (Macrobius Saturnalia 5.19.15)
(26) THE KABEIROI (or THE KORYBANTES) (by Kalliope) (Strabo 10.3.19)
(27) ASOPOS (by Eurynome) (Apollodorus 3.156)
(28) PHASIS (Valerius Flaccus 5.205)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mortal Offspring (Combined Kingdoms of Greece)

(1) HELLEN (by Pyrrha) (Apollodorus 1.49, Hyginus Fabulae 155)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of the Graikoi in North-Western Greece)

(1) GRAIKOS (by Pandora) (Catalogues of Women Fragment 2)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdoms of Makedonia in North-Eastern Greece)

(1) MAKEDON (by Thyia) (Catalogues of Women Frag 3)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Magnesia, Thessalia in Northern Greece)

(1) MAGNES (by Thyia) (Catalogues of Women Frag 3)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of the Lapithai, Thessalia in Northern Greece)

(1) PIRITHOOS (by Dia) (Hyginus Fabulae 155)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Phthiotis in Northern Greece)

(1) MYRMIDON (by Eurymedousa) (Clement)
(2) MELITEUS (by Othreis) (Antoninus Liberalis 13)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Orkhomenos in Central Greece)

(1) TITYOS (by Elare) (Apollodorus 1.23)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Thebes, Boiotia in Central Greece)

(1a) HERAKLES (by Alkmene)
(1b) HERAKLES (by Lysithoe) (De Natura Deorum 3.16.42)
(2) AMPHION & ZETHOS (by Antiope) (Odyssey 11.260, Apollodorus 3.41, Pausanias 2.6.1, Hyginus Fabulae 7)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdoms of Boiotia in Central Greece)

(1) ORION (urination along with the gods Poseidon and Hermes) (Hyginus Fab 195 & Astr 2.34, Ovid Fasti 5.493, Dionysiaca 13.96)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Ithaka & Cephallenia in Central Greece)

(1) ARKEISIOS (Metamorphoses 13.144)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Megaris in Southern Greece)

(1) MEGAROS (by a Nymphe Sithnis) (Pausanias 1.40.1)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Korinthos in Southern Greece)

(1) KORINTHOS (Pausanias 2.1.1)

Mortal Offspring (Island Kingdom of Aigina in Southern Greece)

(1) AIAKOS (by Aigina) (Catalogues of Women Frag 53, Pindar Isthmian 8, Pindar Nemean 7, Corinna Frag 654, Bacchylides Frag 9, Apollodorus 3.156, Pausanias 2.29.2, Diodorus Siculus 4.72.1, Antoninus Liberalis 38, Hyginus Fab 52, Dionysiaca 13.201)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdoms of the Argolis in Southern Greece)

(1a) ARGOS (The Great Eoiae Frag 1 / Pausanais 2.26.3)
(1b) ARGOS (by Niobe) (Apollodorus 2.2, Pausanias 2.22.5, Hyginus Fabulae 155)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Lakedaimonia in Southern Greece)

(1) LAKEDAIMON (by Taygete) (Apollodorus 3.116, Pausanias 3.12, Hyginus Fab 155, Hyginus Astronomica 2.21, Dionysiaca 32.65)
(2) POLYDEUKES (by Leda) (Catalogues of Women Frag 66, Homeric Hymn XXXII, Pindar Nemean 10, Alcaeus Frag 34, Terpander Frag 5, Hyginus Fabulae 14 & 77 & 80, and other sources)
(3) KASTOR (by Leda) (Catalogues of Women Frag 66, Homeric Hymn XXXII, Alcaeus Frag 34, Terpander Frag 5, Hyginus Fabulae 14, and other sources)
(4a) HELENE (by Leda)
(4b) HELENE (by Nemesis) (Cypria 8, Apolllodoros 3.127f, Hyginus Astronomy 2.

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Elis in Southern Greece)

(1a) AITHLIOS (by Kalyke) (Catalogues of Women Frag
(1b) AITHLIOS (by Protogeneia) (Pausanias 5.1.3, Hyginus Fabulae 155)
(2) ENDYMION (by Kalyke) (Apollodorus 1.56)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Olenos, Akhaia in Southern Greece)

(1) KRINAKOS (Catalogues of Women Frag 52 / Diodorus Siculus 5.81.4)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Arkadia in Southern Greece)

(1) ARKAS (by Kallisto) (The Astronomy Frag 3, Apollodorus 3.100, Pausanias 8.3.6, Hyginus Fabulae 176 & Astonomica 2.1, Metamorphoses 2.409)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mortal Offspring (Island Kingdom of Samos in the Greek Aegean)

(1) SAON (by a Nymphe) (Diodorus Siculus 5.48.1)

Mortal Offspring (Island Kingdom of Samothrake in the Greek Aegean)

(1) IASION (by Elektra) (Catalogues of Women Frag 102, Apollodorus 3.138, Diodorus Siculus 5.48.2, Hyginus Fab 250)
(2) EMATHION (by Elektra) (Dionysiaca 3.124)

Mortal Offspring (Island Kingdom of Rhodes in the Greek Aegean)

(1) SPARTAIOS, KRONIOS, KYTOS (by Himalia) (Diodorus Siculus 5.55.4)

Mortal Offspring (Island Kingdom of Krete in the Greek Aegean)

(1) MINOS (by Europa) (Catalogues of Women Frag 19A)
(2) RHADAMANTHYS (by Europa) (Catalogues of Women Frag 19A)
(3) ATYMNIOS (by Kassiopeia) (Apollodorus 3.1.2)
(4) BRITOMARTIS (by Karme) (Pausanias 2.30.3, Diodorus Siculus 5.76.3, Antoninus Liberalis 40)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Troy in Asia Minor)

(1) DARDANOS (by Elektra) (Catalogues of Women Frag 102, Quintus Smyrnaeus 13.545, Apollodorus 3.138, Lycophron 71, Diodorus Siculus 5.48.2, Hyginus Fab 155, Ovid Fasti 4.31, Aeneid 8.134, Dionysiaca 3.124)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor)

(1a) TANTALOS (by Plouto) (Strabo 12.8.21, Pausanias 2.22.3, Antoninus Liberalis 36, Hyginus Fab 155, Dionysiaca 1.145 & 48.729, Suidas)
(1b) TANTALOS (Strabo 12.8.21, Diodorus Siculus 4.74.1)
(2) AKHILLEUS (by Lamia) (Ptolemy Hephaestion Bk6)
(3) MANES (Dionysius Halicarnassus)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Lykia in Asia Minor)

(1a) SARPEDON (by Laodameia) (Iliad 6.205, Apollodorus 3.1.1)
(1b) SARPEDON (by Europa) (Catalogues of Women Frag 19A, Apollodorus 3.1.1)
(1c) SARPEDON (Apollodorus E3.35)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Kolkhis on the Black Sea)

(1) KOLAXES (by Hora) (Valerius Flaccus)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Skythia on the Black Sea)

(1) TARGITAUS (by Borysthenes' daughter) (Herodotus 4.5.1)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Aigyptos in North Africa)

(1) EPAPHOS (by Io) (Prometheus Bound 589, Apollodorus 2.5, Strabo 10.1.3, Aelian On Animals 11.10, 145, Metamorphoses 1.750, Dionysiaca 3.257 & 32.65)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Libya in North Africa)

(1) HEROPHILE (by Lamia) (Pausanias 10.12.2)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of the Moors in North Africa)

(1) IARBAS (by a Libyan Nymphe) (Aeneid 4.198)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Lation (Rome) in Central Italia)

(1) LATINOS (by Pandora) (Ioannes Lydus de Mens. i. 13)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1) DIVINE LOVES

APHRODITE The Goddess of Love and Beauty was pursued by Zeus when she first emerged from the sea but managed to escape him. According to some, she later had an affair with the god, and through the curses of Hera bore a deformed son: the god Priapos (most sources however say his father was Dionysos).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & APHRODITE]

ASTERIA A Titaness who was pursued by Zeus through the heavens after the fall of the Titan-Gods. She assumed many forms to escape him, but eventually leapt from the heavens in the shape of a quail, and metamorphosed into the island of Delos.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & ASTERIA]

DEMETER The Goddess of Agriculture and Zeus mated in the form of intertwining serpents. From this union the goddess Persephone was born (some say Dionysos was also their son).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & DEMETER]

DIONE A Titaness who, according to some, bore Zeus the goddess Aphrodite (though most accounts say she was born in the sea, grown from the severed genitalia of Ouranos). An even rarer account, makes her the mother of Dionysos, also by Zeus (again contrary to the usual tradition where Dionysos' mother is Semele).

EURYNOME A Titaness who bore Zeus the three Kharites (Graces) and, according to some, the river-god Asopos.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & EURYNOME]

GAIA The Goddess of the Earth was accidentally impregnated by Zeus on two separate occasions: in Phrygia where she gave birth to the goddess Agdistis, and in Kypros where she bore the Kentauroi Kyprioi.

HERA The Queen of the Gods wed Zeus in a secret ceremony back in the days of the Titan-War. She bore him several divine children: Ares, Eileithyia and Hebe (and, according to some, also Eris).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & HERA]

HYBRIS The Goddess of Excessive Pride was, according to some, the mother by Zeus of Pan (though he is usually called a son of Hermes and Penelopeia).

KALLIOPE A Goddess of Music and one of the nine Mousai was, according to one account, the mother of the Korybantes (or Kabeiroi) by Zeus (however, these gods were usually called sons of some other god).

LETO A Titanis who was loved by Zeus. She bore him the twin gods Apollon and Artemis.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & LETO]

METIS The Titaness of Good Counsel was impregnated and then swallowed whole by Zeus, who feared a prophecy that their son would depose him. She gave birth to Athena within the belly of the god, who emerged fully grown from the split skull of Zeus.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & METIS]

MNEMOSYNE The Titaness of Memory was seduced by Zeus in the disguise of a shepherd. He lay with her for nine nights and gave birth to the nine goddesses known as Mousai.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & MNEMOSYNE]

NEMESIS The Goddess of Retribution was seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan. After their union she laid the egg from which Helene of Troy was hatched.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & NEMESIS]

PERSEPHONE The Goddess of Spring (before her abduction to Haides) was seduced by Zeus in the form of a serpentine Drakon. She bore him a son, the short-lived god Zagreos. Later, as goddess of the underworld, she was again seduced by Zeus but this time disguised as her husband Haides.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & PERSEPHONE]

SELENE The Goddess of the Moon bore Zeus two daughters: Pandia and Ersa.

STYX The Goddess of the great Underworld River Styx was, according to one author (perhaps in error), the mother of Persephone by Zeus (all others accounts say her mother was Demeter).

THEMIS The Titaness of Custom and Tradition was one of the first wives of Zeus. She bore him two sets of offspring: the three Horai (Seasons also representing Justice, Peace, Good Governance), the three Moirai (Fates), and in some accounts, of certain Nymphai called the Thriai.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & THEMIS]

THETIS A Goddess of the Sea who was wooed by Zeus. The god abandoned his attempts to seduce her when it was revealed that she was destined to bear a son greater than his father.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & THETIS]
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2) SEMI-DIVINE LOVES (NYMPHAI)

AIGINA A Naias Nymphe of the Argolis (in Southern Greece) who was abducted by Zeus in the shape of a eagle to the island of Aigina where she bore him a son named Aiakos.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & AIGINA]

AIX (aka BOETIS) The Nymphe wife of the god Pan who assumed the form of a she-goat to escape the attentions of Zeus. The god seduced her in this form and she bore him the godling Aegipan (Goat-Pan).

BORYSTHENES' DAUGHTER A Naias of the River Borysthenes in Skythia (North-Eastern Europe) who was loved by Zeus and bore him a son Targitaus.

DEINO The Nymphe mother by Zeus of certain Nymphai.

ELEKTRA A Pleiad Nymphe of the island of Samothrake (in the Greek Aegean), who was loved by Zeus and bore him several sons: Dardanos, Emathion, Iasion.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & ELEKTRA]

HIMALIA A Nymphe of the Island of Rhodes (in the Greek Aegean) who bore Zeus three sons: Spartaios, Kytos and Kronios.

HORA A Nymphe of the Tauric Khersonese [in North-Eastern Europe] who was loved by Zeus and bore him a son Kolaxes.

IO A Naias Nymphe of the Argolis (in Southern Greece) who was loved by Zeus. She was transformed into a heifer by Zeus and driven under torment by Hera all the way to Aigyptos (Egypt in North Africa). There she bore Zeus a son, Epaphos. Some say that she also gave birth to a daughter on the Straits of Bosporos (Asia Minor) named Keroessa.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & IO]

KALLIRHOE A Naias Nymphe of Aitolia (in Central Greece) who was loved by Zeus (no offspring born from this union are mentioned).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & KALLIRHOE]

KARME An Agricultural Nymphe, Lady of Krete (in the Greek Aegean) or Princess of Phoinikia (in West Asia) who was loved by Zeus and bore him a daughter named Britomartis.

MAIA A Pleiad Nymphe of the Arkadia's Mt Kyllene (Southern Greece). She was loved by Zeus and bore him the god Hermes.

NYMPHE UNNAMED (1) A Nymphe of the land of the Moors (in North Africa) who was the mother of Iarbos by Zeus.

NYMPHE UNNAMED (2) A Naias Nymphe of Megaros (in Southern Greece), one of the Sithnides. She was the mother by Zeus of Megaros.

NYMPHE UNNAMED (3) A Nymphe of the island of Samothrake (in the Greek Aegean) who, according to some was the mother of Saon by Zeus.

OTHREIS A Nymphe of Malis (in Northern Greece) who was loved by Zeus and bore him a son named Meliteus.

PLOUTO An Okeanis Nymphe (and Goddess of Wealth) who bore Zeus a son named Tantalos.

SINOPE A Naias Nymphe of the Argolis (in Southern Greece) who was abducted to Assyria (in Asia Minor) by Zeus. He promised her the fulfillment of a wish, and she declared "I wish to remain a virgin".
[See LOVES: ZEUS & SINOPE]

TAYGETE A Pleiad Nymphe of Lakedaimonia's Taygetos Mountain range (in Southern Greece). She was loved by Zeus and bore him a son named Lakedaimon.

THALEIA A Nymphe of Sikelia (Sicily in Southern Italia) who was loved by Zeus and prayed the god hide her beneath the earth to avoid the jealous wrath of Hera. Their sons were the twin Palikoi gods. (According to others, the Palikoi were sons of Hephaistos).
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(3) MORTAL LOVES (WOMEN)

ALKMENE A Lady of Thebes in Boiotia (Central Greece) who was seduced by Zeus in the form of her own husband. She bore twins: Herakles by Zeus and Likymnios by her husband Amphitryon.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & ALKMENE]

ANTIOPE A Lady of Thebes in Boiotia (Central Greece) who was seduced by Zeus in the shape of Satyros. She bore him twin sons Amphion and Zethos which were exposed at birth.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & ANTIOPE]

DANAE A Princess of Argos (in Central Greece) who was imprisoned by her father in a bronze tower. Zeus seduced her in the form of a golden shower, and she gave birth to a son, the hero Perseus.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & DANAE]

DIA A Queen of the Lapith tribe of Thessalia (in Northern Greece), wife of King Ixion. According to some, she was seduced by Zeus, and bore him a son Peirithoos (but others say, the father was her husband Ixion).

ELARE A Princess of Orkhomenos (in Central Greece) who was loved by Zeus. In fear of the wrath of Hera, he hid her beneath the earth, where she gave birth to a son the Gigante Tityos.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & ELARE]

EUROPA A Princess of Phoinikia (Phoenicia in West Asia) who was abducted to Krete )in the Greek Aegean) by Zeus in the form of a bull. She bore him three sons: Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthys.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & EUROPA]

EURYMEDOUSA A Princess of Phthiotis (in Northern Greece) who was seduced by Zeus in the form of an ant. Their son was named Myrmidon (Ant-Man).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & EURYMEDOUSA]

KALLISTO A Princess of Arkadia (in Southern Greece) who was seduced by Zeus in the guise of the goddess Artemis. She was transformed into a bear by a wrathful goddess into a bear and in this form bare a son named Arkas.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & KALLISTO]

KALYKE A Queen of Elis (in Southern Greece), the wife of King Aithlios. She was the mother by Zeus (or by her husband Aithlios) of Endymion.

KASSIOPEIA A Lady of Krete (in the Greek Aegean) who bore Zeus a son named Atymnios.

LAMIA A Queen of Libya (in North Africa) who was loved by Zeus. When the jealous Hera stole her children by the god - Herophile and Akhilleus - she was driven mad with grief.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & LAMIA]

LAODAMEIA A Princess of Lykia (in Asia Minor) who was loved by Zeus and bore him a son, Sarpedon.

LEDA A Queen of Lakedaimonia (in Southern Greece) who was seduced by Zeus in the form of swan. She laid an egg from which were hatched the Dioskouroi twins - one Polydeukes was the son of Zeus, the other Kastor the son of her husband Tyndareus. According to some, she was also the mother of egg-hatched Helene (though others say this egg was given her by the goddess Nemesis).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & LEDA]

LYSITHOE A woman who bore Zeus a son named Herakles (a man with the same name as the famous hero).

NIOBE A Princess of Argolis (in Southern Greece). She was the very first mortal woman loved by Zeus, and bore him two sons: Argos and Pelasgos (though according to others Pelasgos was a son of Poseidon or Earth-Born)..
[See LOVES: ZEUS & NIOBE]

OLYMPIAS An (historical) Queen of Makedonia, and mother of Alexandros the Great. According to legend, her son was fathered by the god Zeus.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & OLYMPIA]

PANDORA A Princess of the combined kingdoms of Northern & Central Greece. She was loved by Zeus and bore him two sons: Latinos and Graikos.

PROTOGENEIA A Princess of combined kingdoms Northern & Central Greece who was loved by Zeus. she bore him a son Aithlios.

PYRRHA A Queen of the combined kingdoms Northern & Central Greece, and wife of Deukalion, they were the couple who survived the Great Deluge. According to some, her first born son, Hellen, was fathered by Zeus (though others say Deukalion was the father).

SEMELE A Princess of Thebes in Boiotia (Central Greece) who was loved by Zeus, but through the machinations of Hera was consumed by the heat of his lightning bolts. Zeus rescued their unborn son, Dionysos, from her body and sewed him up in his thigh until he was old enought to be born.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & SEMELE]

THYIA A Princess of Northern & Central Greece who was loved by Zeus. She bore him two sons: Magnes and Makedon.
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(4) MORTAL LOVES (MEN)

GANYMEDES A Prince of Troy (in Asia Minor) who was abducted to Olympos by Zeus in the form of an eagle to be his lover and the cupbearer of the gods.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & GANYMEDES]