Download Greek Mythology Part II

Greek Mythology Part II
The Olympians
Aphrodite / Venus
Embodies the overwhelming
power of human sexual
attraction, married to
Hephaestus.
Concern:
• Human sexuality, lust
passion, beauty.
Attributes:
Eros (‘love’ or ‘desire’ shown
as a winged boy, with bows
and arrows) often shown
nude, doves, girdle.
“The Birth of Venus”
Botticelli, 1485-1486
Athena / Minerva
Virgin patron Goddess of
Athens, represented reason’s
control over elemental force.
Concern:
• Civilization (cities), arts and
crafts, wisdom, protector of
heroes.
Attributes:
• Helmet, spear, shield, aegis
(breastplate), owl, olive tree,
snake.
“Minerva Victorious Over
Ignorance” Spronger, 1591
Ares / Mars
God of war and battle, the
personification of blood lust
and the warrior’s desire to
kill.
Concern:
• War and battle,
mercilessness, fearlessness,
indifference to pain in
combat.
Attributes:
• Mostly shown in full armour.
“Ares”
Leagros Group, 515-500 BCE
Artemis / Diana
Virgin goddess of the hunt, protector
of all things virgin and pure in nature.
Concern:
• Hunting, wild beasts, hunter of
human prey (sudden deaths of
women particularly in childbirth were
said to be caused by Artemis as
punishment for their loss of purity).
Attributes:
• Nymphs, arrows and bow of gold,
short dress, wild animals.
“Diana”
Renoir, 1867
Apollo
Oral poet of the Gods, bearer
of traditional male aristocratic
Greek culture.
Concern:
• The arts (dancing, music,
singing, entertaining) plague
and sickness, healing
(purification), prophecy.
Attributes:
• Shown as an attractive
beardless young man, lyre,
bow.
“Apollo and Artemis”
Hephaestus / Vulcan
Patron God of metalworkers,
chief promoter of civilisation
and city life, protector of the
artisan class.
Concern:
• The fire of the metalworkers
forge, volcanoes, crafts
(metal work, pottery).
Attributes:
• Lame, ugly, often shown
wearing a cap, hammer.
“Hephaestus and Thetis”
Dutuit Painter 480 BCE
Hermes / Mercury
The trickster god whose stone likeness
(Herms) were used as boundary markers
and street signposts.
Concerns:
• Protector of travellers, merchants,
shepherds and their flocks. Herald of the
gods and protector of human heralds,
guide of souls to the underworld, bringer
of dreams, governor of intelligent speech.
Attributes:
• Caduceus (staff entwined with two
snakes), winged helmet and sandals.
“Mercury”
Schardt, 1530
Hestia / Vesta
Virgin goddess of the hearth and
home, never left Olympus and
never got involved in the
struggles of men or gods.
Concern:
• Discovered how to build
houses, altars, hearths, States,
and town halls. The guardian of
the innermost things.
Attributes:
• Rarely shown.
‘Hestia Giustiniani’
Graesk c470
Hades / Pluto
Along with Zeus and Poseidon,
shared the governance of the
universe. The “unseen one”
was associated with the realm
beneath the earth’s surface.
Concerns:
• The general agent of death,
removed the dead from the
sight of the living. Ruler of the
Underworld.
Attributes:
• Rarely shown
“Persephone and Hades”
Mid 4th century BCE
Dionysus / Bacchus
God of wine, the life force, the distinctive
side of personality, admitted to Olympus
later than the others (thought to be at the
expense of the colourless Hestia).
Concerns:
• Discovered honey, the vine and its
cultivation, male fertility, wine, sexual
license, madness / liberation from
rationality, theatre (drama), pine trees.
Attributes:
• Maenads and satyrs, panthers, figs, ivy,
goats, bulls, dolphins.
“Bacchus”
Michelangelo, 1497
Persephone / Proserpina
Queen of the dead, represents the Greek
girls who upon marriage, lose both their
childhood and mothers. As she lives in the
Underworld and is so closely associated
with her mother Demeter, Persephone is
not considered an Olympian but is closely
associated with them.
Concern:
• The seasons (the seasonal pattern of
growth and harvest).
Attributes:
• Rooster, pomegranate, wheat, often
shown with Demeter.
“Pluto and Proserpina”
Bernini, 1621-1622