Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome 11

Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome 11

Dionysus was regarded as the patron of the drama, and at the state festival

of the Dionysia, which was celebrated with great pomp in the city of

Athens, dramatic entertainments took place in his honour, for which all the

renowned Greek dramatists of antiquity composed their immortal tragedies

and comedies.

 

He was also a prophetic divinity, and possessed oracles, the principal of

which was that on Mount Rhodope in Thrace.

 

The tiger, lynx, panther, dolphin, serpent, and ass were sacred to this

god. His favourite plants were the vine, ivy, laurel, and asphodel. His

sacrifices consisted of goats, probably on account of their being

destructive to vineyards.

 

BACCHUS OR LIBER.

 

The Romans had a divinity called Liber who presided over vegetation, and

was, on this account, identified with the Greek Dionysus, and worshipped

under the name of Bacchus.

 

The festival of Liber, called the Liberalia, was celebrated on the 17th of

March.

 

AÏDES (PLUTO).

 

Aïdes, Aïdoneus, or Hades, was the son of Cronus and Rhea, and the youngest

brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He was the ruler of that subterranean region

called Erebus, which was inhabited by the shades or spirits of the dead,

and also by those dethroned and exiled deities who had been vanquished by

Zeus and his allies. Aïdes, the grim and gloomy monarch of this lower

world, was the {131} successor of Erebus, that ancient primeval divinity

after whom these realms were called.

 

The early Greeks regarded Aïdes in the light of their greatest foe, and

Homer tells us that he was "of all the gods the most detested," being in

their eyes the grim robber who stole from them their nearest and dearest,

and eventually deprived each of them of their share in terrestrial

existence. His name was so feared that it was never mentioned by mortals,

who, when they invoked him, struck the earth with their hands, and in

sacrificing to him turned away their faces.

 

The belief of the people with regard to a future state was, in the Homeric

age, a sad and cheerless one. It was supposed that when a mortal ceased to

exist, his spirit tenanted the shadowy outline of the human form it had

quitted. These shadows, or shades as they were called, were driven by Aïdes

into his dominions, where they passed their time, some in brooding over the

vicissitudes of fortune which they had experienced on earth, others in

regretting the lost pleasures they had enjoyed in life, but all in a

condition of semi-consciousness, from which the intellect could only be

roused to full activity by drinking of the blood of the sacrifices offered

to their shades by living friends, which, for a time, endowed them with

their former mental vigour. The only beings supposed to enjoy any happiness

in a future state were the heroes, whose acts of daring and deeds of

prowess had, during their life, reflected honour on the land of their

birth; and even these, according to Homer, pined after their career of

earthly activity. He tells us that when Odysseus visited the lower world at

the command of Circe, and held communion with the shades of the heroes of

the Trojan war, Achilles assured him that he would rather be the poorest

day-labourer on earth than reign supreme over the realm of shades.

 

The early Greek poets offer but scanty allusions to Erebus. Homer appears

purposely to envelop these realms in vagueness and mystery, in order,

probably, to heighten the sensation of awe inseparably connected with {132}

the lower world. In the Odyssey he describes the entrance to Erebus as

being beyond the furthermost edge of Oceanus, in the far west, where dwelt

the Cimmerians, enveloped in eternal mists and darkness.

 

In later times, however, in consequence of extended intercourse with

foreign nations, new ideas became gradually introduced, and we find

Egyptian theories with regard to a future state taking root in Greece,

which become eventually the religious belief of the whole nation. It is now

that the poets and philosophers, and more especially the teachers of the

Eleusinian Mysteries, begin to inculcate the doctrine of the future reward

and punishment of good and bad deeds. Aïdes, who had hitherto been regarded

as the dread enemy of mankind, who delights in his grim office, and keeps

the shades imprisoned in his dominions after withdrawing them from the joys

of existence, now receives them with hospitality and friendship, and Hermes

replaces him as conductor of shades to Hades. Under this new aspect Aïdes

usurps the functions of a totally different divinity called Plutus (the god

of riches), and is henceforth regarded as the giver of wealth to mankind,

in the shape of those precious metals which lie concealed in the bowels of

the earth.

 

The later poets mention various entrances to Erebus, which were for the

most part caves and fissures. There was one in the mountain of Taenarum,

another in Thesprotia, and a third, the most celebrated of all, in Italy,

near the pestiferous Lake Avernus, over which it is said no bird could fly,

so noxious were its exhalations.

 

In the dominions of Aïdes there were four great rivers, three of which had

to be crossed by all the shades. These three were Acheron (sorrow), Cocytus

(lamentation), and Styx (intense darkness), the sacred stream which flowed

nine times round these realms.

 

The shades were ferried over the Styx by the grim, unshaven old boatman

Charon, who, however, only took those whose bodies had received funereal

rites on earth, and who had brought with them his indispensable toll, which

was a small coin or obolus, usually placed under the {133} tongue of a dead

person for this purpose. If these conditions had not been fulfilled, the

unhappy shades were left behind to wander up and down the banks for a

hundred years as restless spirits.

 

On the opposite bank of the Styx was the tribunal of Minos, the supreme

judge, before whom all shades had to appear, and who, after hearing full

confession of their actions whilst on earth, pronounced the sentence of

happiness or misery to which their deeds had entitled them. This tribunal

was guarded by the terrible triple-headed dog Cerberus, who, with his three

necks bristling with snakes, lay at full length on the ground;--a

formidable sentinel, who permitted all shades to enter, but none to return.

 

The happy spirits, destined to enjoy the delights of Elysium, passed out on

the right, and proceeded to the golden palace where Aïdes and Persephone

held their royal court, from whom they received a kindly greeting, ere they

set out for the Elysian Fields which lay beyond.[47] This blissful region

was replete with all that could charm the senses or please the imagination;

the air was balmy and fragrant, rippling brooks flowed peacefully through

the smiling meadows, which glowed with the varied hues of a thousand

flowers, whilst the groves resounded with the joyous songs of birds. The

occupations and amusements of the happy shades were of the same nature as

those which they had delighted in whilst on earth. Here the warrior found

his horses, chariots, and arms, the musician his lyre, and the hunter his

quiver and bow.

 

In a secluded vale of Elysium there flowed a gentle, silent stream, called

Lethe (oblivion), whose waters had the effect of dispelling care, and

producing utter forgetfulness of former events. According to the

Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls, it was supposed that

after the shades had inhabited Elysium for a thousand years they were

destined to animate other bodies on {134} earth, and before leaving Elysium

they drank of the river Lethe, in order that they might enter upon their

new career without any remembrance of the past.

 

The guilty souls, after leaving the presence of Minos, were conducted to

the great judgment-hall of Hades, whose massive walls of solid adamant were

surrounded by the river Phlegethon, the waves of which rolled flames of

fire, and lit up, with their lurid glare, these awful realms. In the

interior sat the dread judge Rhadamanthus, who declared to each comer the

precise torments which awaited him in Tartarus. The wretched sinners were

then seized by the Furies, who scourged them with their whips, and dragged

them along to the great gate, which closed the opening to Tartarus, into

whose awful depths they were hurled, to suffer endless torture.

 

Tartarus was a vast and gloomy expanse, as far below Hades as the earth is

distant from the skies. There the Titans, fallen from their high estate,

dragged out a dreary and monotonous existence; there also were Otus and

Ephialtes, those giant sons of Poseidon, who, with impious hands, had

attempted to scale Olympus and dethrone its mighty ruler. Principal among

the sufferers in this abode of gloom were Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus,

Ixion, and the Danaïdes.

 

TITYUS, one of the earth-born giants, had insulted Hera on her way to

Peitho, for which offence Zeus flung him into Tartarus, where he suffered

dreadful torture, inflicted by two vultures, which perpetually gnawed his

liver.

 

TANTALUS was a wise and wealthy king of Lydia, with whom the gods

themselves condescended to associate; he was even permitted to sit at table

with Zeus, who delighted in his conversation, and listened with interest to

the wisdom of his observations. Tantalus, however, elated at these

distinguished marks of divine favour, presumed upon his position, and used

unbecoming language to Zeus himself; he also stole nectar and ambrosia from

the table of the gods, with which he regaled his friends; but his greatest

crime consisted in killing his own son, {135} Pelops, and serving him up at

one of the banquets to the gods, in order to test their omniscience. For

these heinous offences he was condemned by Zeus to eternal punishment in

Tartarus, where, tortured with an ever-burning thirst, he was plunged up to

the chin in water, which, as he stooped to drink, always receded from his

parched lips. Tall trees, with spreading branches laden with delicious

fruits, hung temptingly over his head; but no sooner did he raise himself

to grasp them, than a wind arose, and carried them beyond his reach.

 

SISYPHUS was a great tyrant who, according to some accounts, barbarously

murdered all travellers who came into his dominions, by hurling upon them

enormous pieces of rock. In punishment for his crimes he was condemned to

roll incessantly a huge block of stone up a steep hill, which, as soon as

it reached the summit, always rolled back again to the plain below.

 

IXION was a king of Thessaly to whom Zeus accorded the privilege of joining

the festive banquets of the gods; but, taking advantage of his exalted

position, he presumed to aspire to the favour of Hera, which so greatly

incensed Zeus, that he struck him with his thunderbolts, and commanded

Hermes to throw him into Tartarus, and bind him to an ever-revolving wheel.

 

The DANAÏDES were the fifty daughters of Danaus, king of Argos, who had

married their fifty cousins, the sons of Ægyptus. By the command of their

father, who had been warned by an oracle that his son-in-law would cause

his death, they all killed their husbands in one night, Hypermnestra alone

excepted. Their punishment in the lower world was to fill with water a

vessel full of holes,--a never-ending and useless task.

 

[Illustration]

 

Aïdes is usually represented as a man of mature years and stern majestic

mien, bearing a striking resemblance to his brother Zeus; but the gloomy

and inexorable __EXPRESSION__ of the face contrasts forcibly with that peculiar

benignity which so characterizes the countenance of the mighty ruler of

heaven. He is seated on a throne of ebony, with his queen, the grave and

sad Persephone, {136} beside him, and wears a full beard, and long flowing

black hair, which hangs straight down over his forehead; in his hand he

either bears a two-pronged fork or the keys of the lower world, and at his

feet sits Cerberus. He is sometimes seen in a chariot of gold, drawn by

four black horses, and wearing on his head a helmet made for him by the

Cyclops, which rendered the wearer invisible. This helmet he frequently

lent to mortals and immortals.

 

Aïdes, who was universally worshipped throughout Greece, had temples

erected to his honour in Elis, Olympia, and also at Athens.

 

His sacrifices, which took place at night, consisted of black sheep, and

the blood, instead of being sprinkled on the altars or received in vessels,

as at other sacrifices, was permitted to run down into a trench, dug for

this purpose. The officiating priests wore black robes, and were crowned

with cypress.

 

The narcissus, maiden-hair, and cypress were sacred to this divinity.

 

PLUTO.

 

Before the introduction into Rome of the religion and literature of Greece,

the Romans had no belief in a realm of future happiness or misery,

corresponding to the Greek Hades; hence they had no god of the lower world

identical with Aïdes. They supposed that there was, in the centre of the

earth, a vast, gloomy, and impenetrably dark cavity called Orcus, which

formed a place of eternal rest for the dead. But with the introduction of

Greek mythology, the Roman Orcus became the Greek Hades, and {137} all the

Greek notions with regard to a future state now obtained with the Romans,

who worshipped Aïdes under the name of Pluto, his other appellations being

Dis (from _dives_, rich) and Orcus from the dominions over which he ruled.

In Rome there were no temples erected to this divinity.

 

PLUTUS.

 

Plutus, the son of Demeter and a mortal called Iasion, was the god of

wealth, and is represented as being lame when he makes his appearance, and

winged when he takes his departure. He was supposed to be both blind and

foolish, because he bestows his gifts without discrimination, and

frequently upon the most unworthy objects.

 

Plutus was believed to have his abode in the bowels of the earth, which was

probably the reason why, in later times, Aïdes became confounded with this

divinity.

 

* * * * *

 

MINOR DIVINITIES.

 

THE HARPIES.

 

[Illustration]

 

The Harpies, who, like the Furies, were employed by the gods as instruments

for the punishment of the guilty, were three female divinities, daughters

of Thaumas and Electra, called Aello, Ocypete, and Celæno.

 

They were represented with the head of a fair-haired maiden and the body of

a vulture, and were perpetually devoured by the pangs of insatiable hunger,

which caused them to torment their victims by robbing them of their food;

this they either devoured with great {138} gluttony, or defiled in such a

manner as to render it unfit to be eaten.

 

Their wonderfully rapid flight far surpassed that of birds, or even of the

winds themselves. If any mortal suddenly and unaccountably disappeared, the

Harpies were believed to have carried him off. Thus they were supposed to

have borne away the daughters of King Pandareos to act as servants to the

Erinyes.

 

The Harpies would appear to be personifications of sudden tempests, which,

with ruthless violence, sweep over whole districts, carrying off or

injuring all before them.

 

ERINYES, EUMENIDES (FURIÆ, DIRÆ).

 

The Erinyes or Furies were female divinities who personified the torturing

pangs of an evil conscience, and the remorse which inevitably follows

wrong-doing.

 

Their names were Alecto, Megæra, and Tisiphone, and their origin was

variously accounted for. According to Hesiod, they sprang from the blood of

Uranus, when wounded by Cronus, and were hence supposed to be the

embodiment of all the terrible imprecations, which the defeated deity

called down upon the head of his rebellious son. According to other

accounts they were the daughters of Night.

 

Their place of abode was the lower world, where they were employed by Aïdes

and Persephone to chastise and torment those shades who, during their

earthly career, had committed crimes, and had not been reconciled to the

gods before descending to Hades.

 

But their sphere of action was not confined to the realm of shades, for

they appeared upon earth as the avenging deities who relentlessly pursued

and punished murderers, perjurers, those who had failed in duty to their

parents, in hospitality to strangers, or in the respect due to old age.

Nothing escaped the piercing glance of these terrible divinities, from whom

flight was unavailing, for no corner of the earth was so remote as {139} to

be beyond their reach, nor did any mortal dare to offer to their victims an

asylum from their persecutions.

 

The Furies are frequently represented with wings; their bodies are black,

blood drips from their eyes, and snakes twine in their hair. In their hands

they bear either a dagger, scourge, torch, or serpent.

 

When they pursued Orestes they constantly held up a mirror to his horrified

gaze, in which he beheld the face of his murdered mother.

 

These divinities were also called Eumenides, which signifies the

"well-meaning" or "soothed goddesses;" This appellation was given to them

because they were so feared and dreaded that people dared not call them by

their proper title, and hoped by this means to propitiate their wrath.

 

In later times the Furies came to be regarded as salutary agencies, who, by

severely punishing sin, upheld the cause of morality and social order, and

thus contributed to the welfare of mankind. They now lose their

awe-inspiring aspect, and are represented, more especially in Athens, as

earnest maidens, dressed, like Artemis, in short tunics suitable for the

chase, but still retaining, in their hands, the wand of office in the form

of a snake.

 

Their sacrifices consisted of black sheep and a libation composed of a

mixture of honey and water, called Nephalia. A celebrated temple was

erected to the Eumenides at Athens, near the Areopagus.

 

MOIRÆ OR FATES (PARCÆ).

 

The ancients believed that the duration of human existence and the

destinies of mortals were regulated by three sister-goddesses, called

Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, who were the daughters of Zeus and Themis.

 

The power which they wielded over the fate of man was significantly

indicated under the figure of a thread, which they spun out for the life of

each human being from his birth to the grave. This occupation they divided

between them. Clotho wound the flax round the distaff, {140} ready for her

sister Lachesis, who span out the thread of life, which Atropos, with her

scissors, relentlessly snapt asunder, when the career of an individual was

about to terminate.

 

Homer speaks of one Moira only, the daughter of Night, who represents the

moral force by which the universe is governed, and to whom both mortals and

immortals were forced to submit, Zeus himself being powerless to avert her

decrees; but in later times this conception of one inexorable,

all-conquering fate became amplified by the poets into that above

described, and the Moiræ are henceforth the special presiding deities over

the life and death of mortals.

 

The Moiræ are represented by the poets as stern, inexorable female

divinities, aged, hideous, and also lame, which is evidently meant to

indicate the slow and halting march of destiny, which they controlled.

Painters and sculptors, on the other hand, depicted them as beautiful

maidens of a grave but kindly aspect.

 

There is a charming representation of Lachesis, which depicts her in all

the grace of youth and beauty. She is sitting spinning, and at her feet lie

two masks, one comic, the other tragic, as though to convey the idea, that,

to a divinity of fate, the brightest and saddest scenes of earthly

existence are alike indifferent, and that she quietly and steadily pursues

her occupation, regardless of human weal or woe.

 

When represented at the feet of Aïdes in the lower world they are clad in

dark robes; but when they appear in Olympus they wear bright garments,

bespangled with stars, and are seated on radiant thrones, with crowns on

their heads.

 

It was considered the function of the Moiræ to indicate to the Furies the

precise torture which the wicked should undergo for their crimes.

 

They were regarded as prophetic divinities, and had sanctuaries in many

parts of Greece.

 

The Moiræ are mentioned as assisting the Charites to conduct Persephone to

the upper world at her periodical {141} reunion with her mother Demeter.

They also appear in company with Eileithyia, goddess of birth.

 

NEMESIS.

 

Nemesis, the daughter of Nyx, represents that power which adjusts the

balance of human affairs, by awarding to each individual the fate which his

actions deserve. She rewards, humble, unacknowledged merit, punishes crime,

deprives the worthless of undeserved good fortune, humiliates the proud and

overbearing, and visits all evil on the wrong-doer; thus maintaining that

proper balance of things, which the Greeks recognized as a necessary

condition of all civilized life. But though Nemesis, in her original

character, was the distributor of rewards as well as punishments, the world

was so full of sin, that she found but little occupation in her first

capacity, and hence became finally regarded as the avenging goddess only.

 

We have seen a striking instance of the manner in which this divinity

punishes the proud and arrogant in the history of Niobe. Apollo and Artemis

were merely the instruments for avenging the insult offered to their

mother; but it was Nemesis who prompted the deed, and presided over its

execution.

 

Homer makes no mention of Nemesis; it is therefore evident that she was a

conception of later times, when higher views of morality had obtained among

the Greek nation.

 

Nemesis is represented as a beautiful woman of thoughtful and benign aspect

and regal bearing; a diadem crowns her majestic brow, and she bears in her

hand a rudder, balance, and cubit;--fitting emblems of the manner in which

she guides, weighs, and measures all human events. She is also sometimes

seen with a wheel, to symbolize the rapidity with which she executes

justice. As the avenger of evil she appears winged, bearing in her hand

either a scourge or a sword, and seated in a chariot drawn by griffins.

{142}

 

Nemesis is frequently called Adrastia, and also Rhamnusia, from Rhamnus in

Attica, the chief seat of her worship, which contained a celebrated statue

of the goddess.

 

Nemesis was worshipped by the Romans, (who invoked her on the Capitol), as

a divinity who possessed the power of averting the pernicious consequences

of envy.

 

NIGHT AND HER CHILDREN.

DEATH, SLEEP, AND DREAMS.