Myths - ancient Greek mythology. Myths of Ancient Greece

There is not a single people who would not have their own idea of ​​the universe, the gods who rule life, as well as their struggle for power and influence. The myths of Ancient Greece, a brief summary of which we will consider in our article, are also special in that they pay a lot of attention to people. Powerful heroes have divine origins, but remain human - mortal and vulnerable, in need of help. And nothing human is alien to them.

What is a myth?

Before studying the myths of Ancient Greece (a brief summary - more is not available to us due to the volume of the article), it is worth understanding what a “myth” is. Essentially, this is a story that reflects people's ideas about the world and order in it, as well as the role of man in the Universe. If you believe the ancient authors, then people were active participants, and not just a crowd that expected mercy from the immortal celestials. But first things first.

Another feature of Greek myths is their high level of orderliness and culture. In addition, their character changed depending on the region of the country, since each polis had its own, more revered gods and heroes, from whom, as the Greeks believed, the population descended. Of course, over time the legends changed and acquired a different meaning. But the most important thing about them is the content, which tells about the life of society in the primitive era, not only in Greece. Researchers note that many stories echo the myths of other peoples who lived at that time, which may indicate that they were created in parallel and carry a grain of truth. The myths of Ancient Greece, a brief summary of which we are considering, is an attempt to explain the world around us and convey to our descendants views on morality and relations in society.

What do ancient Greek legends tell about?

We will talk very briefly about the essence of ancient legends, since many ancient myths of Greece have reached us. A summary of them could fill a whole book. For example, Nikolai Kun, a famous researcher of ancient heritage, collected, organized and translated more than two hundred legends. Many of them are presented in the form of cycles. We will try to divide them into several groups. This:

• myths about the origin of the world and the gods;
• stories about titans and the battle of gods with titans;
• myths about the gods who lived on Olympus;
• labors of Hercules;
• stories about people and heroes (Perseus, Theseus, Jason); a cycle about the Trojan War, its causes, course and end, as well as the return of the heroes of the battle home (the main characters of the myths are Paris, Menelaus, Helen, Achilles, Odysseus, Hector, Agamemnon);
• myths about world exploration and colonization (Argonauts).

Myths of Ancient Greece (summary). About Zeus the Thunderer

The Greeks paid a lot of attention to the main god of Olympus. No wonder, because an angry Thunderer could punish with lightning for a disrespectful attitude or send another grief, and even turn away from a person, which was even worse. Zeus was considered the youngest son of the titans Kronos and Rhea - time and the mother goddess. Rhea saved him from being consumed as Kronos swallowed all his children, fearing for his power.

Having matured, he overthrows his tyrant father and brings all his brothers and sisters back to life, and also distributes power between them. He himself was responsible for the wind, clouds, thunder and lightning, storm and hurricane. Zeus could calm the elements or send them, helped the offended and punished those who deserved it. However, he could not control fate.

The love affairs of Zeus are also described in the myths of Ancient Greece, a brief summary of which we are studying. God had a passion for beautiful girls and goddesses and seduced them in every possible way. From them he had many children - gods and goddesses, heroes, kings. Many of them were not loved by Hera, the legitimate wife of the Thunderer, and often persecuted them and harmed them.

Instead of an epilogue

In the pantheon of the ancient Greeks there were many gods responsible for all sectors of their life - agriculture, navigation, trade, war, crafts, the other world. However, there were also creatures, demigods, who patronized science and art, and monitored justice and morality. This means that great attention was paid to these aspects.

Every cultured person should know what the ancient myths of Hellas tell us about, so it’s worth reading them at least briefly. But reading them in their entirety allows you to plunge into an amazing world, full of interesting and unusual things.

2. Ancient myths about gods and heroes.

Olympian gods - their images and functions in Hellenic mythology.

Mythological heroes of Ancient Hellas

With the transition from matriarchy to patriarchy, a new stage of mythology develops, which can be called heroic, Olympian or classical mythology. In the mythology of this period, heroes appear who deal with all the monsters and bogeymen that once frightened the imagination of man, crushed by omnipotent nature.

Instead of small gods, one main, supreme god Zeus appears. the patriarchal community is now established on Mount Olympus. Zeus, who fights all sorts of monsters, imprisons them underground or even in tartarus. Other gods and heroes follow Zeus. Apollo kills the Pythian dragon and founds a sanctuary in its place. The same Apollo kills two monstrous giants, the sons of Poseidon, who grew up so quickly that, barely reaching adulthood, they began to dream of climbing Olympus, taking possession of Hera and Artemis and, probably, the kingdom of Zeus himself. Perseus kills the medusa. Hercules performs his 12 labors. Theseus kills the minotaur.

At the same time, a new type of gods appears. Female deities: Hera becomes the patroness of marriage and family, Demeter - agriculture, Athena - honest, open war (unlike Ares), Aphrodite - the goddess of love and beauty, Hestia - the hearth. Artemis acquired a beautiful and slender appearance and became a model of a sweet and friendly attitude towards people. The growing craft also required a god for itself - Hephaestus. Pallas Athena and Apollo, who are famous for their beauty and wisdom, became the gods of a specially patriarchal way of life. And Hermes, from the former primitive being, became the patron of every human enterprise, including cattle breeding, art, and trade. Nature now receives pacification and poeticization. Nymphs of rivers and lakes, oceanids, nymphs of the seas, Nereids, as well as nymphs of mountains, forests, and fields used to appear in a wild, terrible form. But now man's power over nature has increased significantly; he knows how to navigate it more calmly, find beauty in it, and use it for his needs. Now power over the sea element belongs not only to the formidable Poseidon, but also to the peaceful, wise Nereus. The nymphs received a beautiful, poetic appearance, they began to be admired and sung.

Zeus now rules everything and all elemental forces are subordinate to him, now he is no longer the terrible thunder and blinding lightning, which people are only afraid of, but now you can turn to him for help. The environment on Olympus is characteristic. Nike Victory is no longer a terrible and invincible Demon, but a beautiful winged goddess, who is a symbol of the power of Zeus himself. Themis used to be no different from the Earth and was a terrible law of its disorderly actions. Now she is the goddess of law and justice. The children of Zeus and Themis are Ora - cheerful, eternally dancing goddesses of the seasons and the state. routine, message. precipitation. Hebe is a goddess and symbol of eternal youth. The Moiras are the goddesses of time: Clotho - “the spinner”, Lachesis - “the giver of lots” spun the thread, Anthropos - “inevitability” broke the thread). The Romans have analogues: the Nona, Decima and Morta parks. They, the terrible and unknown goddesses of rock and fate, are now interpreted as the daughters of Zeus and lead a blissful life on a bright and cheerful Olympus. Apollo and 9 Muses, Aphrodite and Eros, Charites - Graces. God Poseidon and Apollo build the walls of Troy. Dionysus is the god of wine.

Kingdom of Hades. The chilling sacred river Styx flows there, the gods themselves swear by its waters. There flow the waters of the Lethe River, which give oblivion to all earthly things. The barren light shadows of the dead rush and groan. The dog Kerber is guarding the exit. Carrier of souls Charon. Hades sits on the throne with his wife Persephone. The goddesses of vengeance Erinyes serve him; they pursue criminals. The judges of the dead are Minos and Rhadamanthus. Hypnos puts mortals into sleep: neither mortals nor gods can resist it. Gods of dreams. The goddess Hecate rules over all ghosts.

Animals are tamed by man, an echo of which we get at least in the myth of Hercules and his pacification of the wild horses of Diomedes). Orpheus tamed storms, thunderstorms and wild animals by singing, which was also a symbol of human power. intelligence and people triumph over the forces of nature.

In the person of Hercules, the heroic era reaches its highest peak. Hercules, the son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene, is not only the destroyer of various kinds of monsters: the Nemean lion, the Lernaean hydra, the Cerynean fallow deer, the Erymanthian boar and the Stymphalian birds, he is not only the conqueror of nature in the myth of the Augean stables and the conqueror of matriarchy in the myth of the belt obtained from the Amazon Hippolyta. If he is still comparable with other heroes in his victory over the Marathon bull, the horses of Diomedes and the herds of Geryon, then there are two of his exploits by which he surpassed all the heroes of antiquity: in the far west of G. he reached the garden of the Hesperides and took possession of their apples, and in the depths of the earth got to Cerberus itself and brought it to the surface.

This kind of myths could only appear in the era of a person’s conscious and powerful struggle for his happiness. It is not surprising that such a hero was taken to heaven by Zeus and there married Hebe, the goddess of eternal youth.

Many myths talk about the victory of man over nature. When Oedipus solved the riddle of the Sphinx, the Sphinx threw himself from the cliff, when Odysseus (or Orpheus) did not succumb to the mesmerizing singing of the sirens and sailed past them unharmed, the sirens died at the same moment when the Argonauts sailed safely among the Symplegades - rocks that until then had continuously converged and dispersed, then these rocks stopped forever. When the same Argonauts sailed past the famous apples of the Hesperides, the Hesperides guarding them crumbled into dust and only later took on their former appearance.

MYTHS ABOUT GODS AND HEROES. THEIR ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANCIENT GREEK POETRY

The main material for poetic treatment in ancient Greek literature were myths about gods and heroes, which originated in the pre-class period, but continued to develop later. The Greeks' epics, lyrics and drama were full of mythological subjects, motifs and individual images taken from mythology. We can say that myths were a treasury that became the property of the entire Greek people. The deep penetration of myths into the consciousness of the masses created the conditions for direct artistic perception of the literary works that grew out of them. This equally applies to ancient Greek fine art - sculpture and vase painting.

Without taking into account the inextricable connection with mythology, it is impossible to understand the essence of ancient Greek poetry, the principles of its development, the nature of its perception by the Greeks themselves, and it is impossible to correctly perceive it now. Therefore, the basis for its correct study should be the famous statement of K. Marx (“Towards a Critique of Political Economy”):

“Regarding art, it is known that certain periods of its flourishing are not in any correspondence with the general development of society, and therefore also with the development of the material basis of the latter, which constitutes, as it were, the skeleton of its organization. For example, the Greeks in comparison with modern peoples, or also Shakespeare Regarding some forms of art, for example epic, it is even recognized that they in their classical form, constituting an era in world history, can never be created as soon as artistic production as such has begun, and that, therefore, in the field of art itself, known forms of great significance are possible only at a relatively low stage of artistic development.If this occurs in the field of art in the relations between its various types, then it is even less surprising that this circumstance occurs in relation to the entire field of art in relation to general social development.Difficulty consists only in the general formulation of these contradictions: one has only to highlight each of them, and they are already explained. Take, for example, the relationship of Greek art and then Shakespeare to modernity. It is known that Greek mythology constituted not only the arsenal of Greek art, but also its soil. Is that view of nature and social relations, which lies at the basis of Greek fantasy, and therefore Greek [art], possible in the presence of rural factors, railways, locomotives and the electric telegraph? What about Vulcan against Roberts & Co., Jupiter against the lightning rod and Hermes against Crédit mobilier! All mythology overcomes, subjugates and shapes the forces of nature in the imagination and with the help of the imagination; it disappears, therefore, with actual mastery over these forces of nature. What would happen to the goddess Fama if Printinghousesquare were available? The prerequisite for Greek art is Greek mythology, that is, nature and social forms, already processed in an unconsciously artistic way in folk fantasy. This is his material. But not any mythology, that is, not any unconscious artistic processing of nature (here the latter is understood as everything objective, therefore, including society). Egyptian mythology could never have been the soil or womb of Greek art. But in any case, it is mythology. Consequently, it is by no means a development of society that excludes any mythological attitude towards nature, any mythologizing of nature, which, therefore, requires from the artist fantasy independent of mythology.

On the other hand, is Achilles possible in the era of gunpowder and lead? Or even the Iliad along with the printing press and printing press? And don’t legends, songs and muses, and thus the necessary prerequisites for epic poetry, inevitably disappear with the advent of the printing press?

However, the difficulty lies not in understanding that Greek art and epic are connected by certain forms of social development. The difficulty lies in understanding that they still continue to give us artistic pleasure and, in a certain sense, retain the meaning of a norm and an unattainable model.

A man cannot turn back into a child, or he becomes childish. But doesn’t the child’s naivety please him, and shouldn’t he himself strive to reproduce his true essence at the highest level? Doesn’t a child’s nature in every era come to life with its own character in its unartificial truth? And why should not the childhood of human society, where it has developed most beautifully, have eternal charm for us, like a never-repeating stage? There are ill-mannered children and senile smart children. Many of the ancient peoples belong to this category. The Greeks were normal children. The charm that their art has for us does not contradict the undeveloped social level at which it grew. On the contrary, it is its result and is inextricably linked with the fact that the immature social relations in which it arose, and only could arise, can never be repeated again.”

A. M. Gorky also speaks about the role of myths:

“The older the fairy tale and myth, the more powerfully the victorious triumph of people over the forces of nature sounds in it and there are absolutely no dramas of a social nature, strife between human units... Myths in which there is a hopeless, pessimistic attitude towards life and enmity of people - these myths came from the East, where the first despotisms and the first mystical religions arose, where, as in India, a sharp division into castes was organized, where the most terrible images of gods were created. Mediterranean humanity gave birth to the humanoid cheerful gods of Olympus, and it is very noticeable that the raw material for the fabrication of these gods talented blacksmiths, potters, singers and musicians, weavers, cooks and, in general, real people served. The goddess Demeter leaves Olympus and the gods in order to live among people...

Myth and fairy tale embody and reflect labor, materialistic thinking, which served as the basis for the philosophy of Democritus, then was processed by Lucretius Carus into the famous poem “On the Nature of Things.”

Along the lines of the interests and goals of literature, as well as all other arts, myth and fairy tale tell us about the right and usefulness of exaggerating the created real in order to achieve the ideal, desired, and also talk about the positive and actual meaning of hypothesis in science and in literature creativity..."

A. M. Gorky spoke about the mythological roots of poetic creativity earlier, at the first congress of Soviet writers:

“Myth is a fiction. To invent means to extract from the sum of a real given its main meaning and embody it in an image - this is how we got realism. But if we add to the meaning of extracting from a really given - to conjecture, according to the logic of a hypothesis - what is desired is possible and This will further complement the image - we will get that romanticism that lies at the basis of the myth and is highly useful there, which helps to excite a revolutionary attitude towards reality, an attitude that practically changes the world."

A. M. Gorky's remark about the emergence of myths from the East is correctly accompanied by his indication that, when applied to the Mediterranean peoples, this statement must be subjected to severe limitations. In the second half of the 19th century, such dependence of gruesome mythology on the East was greatly exaggerated. A monument to this passion for finding oriental elements in almost every myth of the ancient Greeks is O. Gruppe’s book “Greek Myths and Cults in Their Connections with Eastern Religions” (1887). Currently, most scientists have abandoned such a revaluation of the role of the East. Modern bourgeois science is dominated by the so-called “anthropological school”, the founder of which is Taylor, and its most prominent representatives today are Fraser and Lang. Approaching more correctly than in the 19th century, the specific features of human thinking in pre-class society, when myths were born, denying the decisive role of the “migration” of myths from one people to another, this school, in its numerous studies of ethnographic material from a wide variety of peoples, revealed the phenomena of taboos, fetishism, totemism and animism, established a greater conservatism of oral tradition and the preservation in it of remnants of the social life of distant times. All this is of great importance for the study of ancient Greek mythology, which was previously considered without connection with genetic problems, with the social conditions in which primitive man lived. Representatives of the “anthropological school” are trying to reveal the reasons for the emergence of similar myths among different peoples; but they cannot be completely consistent, since they are dominated by idealistic views on the development of society in general, on the origin of forms of ideology, and in particular on the origin of religion and myth. The statements of A. M. Gorky, given above, contain a program for the study of myths, and in particular Greek mythology, from the point of view of consistent materialism.

At the same time, approaching from this point of view the study of ancient Greek myths and their role in the development of ancient Greek literature, one must keep in mind that their role outlined above is strictly limited chronologically, namely to the periods - “archaic” (before the 7th century BC) and the so-called “classical” (VII-IV centuries). For the scientific mythological poetry of the Hellenistic era, the forerunner of which was Antimachus of Colophon (late 5th century BC), and the largest poets were Callimachus, Apollonius of Rhodes, Euphorion and their numerous Roman imitators (Catullus, Propertius, Ovid, etc.), mythology was already only a rationalistically used “arsenal”, but not “soil”. Attempts by mythographers to revive mythology as a system of thinking were doomed to failure. Marx says about this: “... precisely in that era when the death of the ancient world was approaching, the “Alexandrian school” arose, which made every effort to prove the “eternal truth” of Greek mythology and its full correspondence with the “results of scientific research.” This direction ", to which Emperor Julian also belonged, believed that it would make the invading new spirit of the time disappear if it closed its eyes so as not to see it."

This eradication of mythology from itself did not occur immediately, of course. Already in the 5th century BC. e. among tragic and comic poets, among Anaxagoras and the sophists, a powerful stream of rationalism breaks through, threatening to abolish mythology. The latter, however, did not disappear immediately.

“The gods of Greece,” says Marx, “once already tragically wounded to death in Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound, had to die comically once more in Lucian’s Conversations.”

Gods of Ancient Greece and Rome

Wikipedia

The Olympic gods (Olympians) in ancient Greek mythology are the gods of the third generation (after the original gods and titans - the gods of the first and second generations), the highest beings who lived on Mount Olympus.

Traditionally, the Olympic gods included twelve gods. The lists of Olympians do not always match.

The Olympians included the children of Kronos and Rhea:

* Zeus is the supreme god, the god of lightning and thunderstorms.
* Hera is the patroness of marriage.
* Demeter is the goddess of fertility and agriculture.
* Hestia - goddess of the hearth
* Poseidon is the god of the sea elements.
* Hades is a god, ruler of the kingdom of the dead.

And also their descendants:

* Hephaestus is the god of fire and blacksmithing.
* Hermes is the god of trade, cunning, speed and theft.
* Ares is the god of war.
* Aphrodite - goddess of beauty and love.
* Athena is the goddess of just war.
* Apollo is the guardian of herds, light, sciences and arts. God is also a healer and patron of oracles.
* Artemis is the goddess of hunting, fertility, patroness of all life on Earth.
* Dionysus is the god of winemaking, the productive forces of nature.

Roman variants

The Olympians included the children of Saturn and Cybele:

* Jupiter,
* Juno,
* Ceres,
* Vesta,
* Neptune,
* Pluto

And also their descendants:

* Vulcan,
* Mercury,
* Mars,
* Venus,
* Minerva,
* Phoebus,
* Diana,
* Bacchus

Sources

The oldest state of Greek mythology is known from the tablets of the Aegean culture, recorded in Linear B. This period is characterized by a small number of gods, many of them are named allegorically, a number of names have female analogues (for example, di-wi-o-jo - Diwijos, Zeus and the female analogue of di-wi-o-ja). Already in the Cretan-Mycenaean period, Zeus, Athena, Dionysus and a number of others were known, although their hierarchy could differ from the later one.

The mythology of the “dark ages” (between the decline of the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization and the emergence of ancient Greek civilization) is known only from later sources.

Various plots of ancient Greek myths constantly appear in the works of ancient Greek writers; On the eve of the Hellenistic era, a tradition arose to create their own allegorical myths based on them. In Greek drama, many mythological plots are played out and developed. The largest sources are:

* Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
* “Theogony” by Hesiod
* "Library" of Pseudo-Apollodorus
* “Myths” by Guy Julia Gigin
* "Metamorphoses" by Ovid
* "The Acts of Dionysus" - Nonna

Some ancient Greek authors tried to explain myths from a rationalistic point of view. Euhemerus wrote about the gods as people whose actions were deified. Palefat, in his essay “On the Incredible,” analyzing the events described in myths, assumed them to be the result of misunderstanding or addition of details.

Origin

The most ancient gods of the Greek pantheon are closely connected with the pan-Indo-European system of religious beliefs, there are parallels in the names - for example, the Indian Varuna corresponds to the Greek Uranus, etc.

Further development of mythology went in several directions:

* accession to the Greek pantheon of some deities of neighboring or conquered peoples
* deification of some heroes; heroic myths begin to merge closely with mythology

The famous Romanian-American researcher of the history of religion, Mircea Eliade, gives the following periodization of ancient Greek religion:

* 30 - 15 centuries. BC e. - Cretan-Minoan religion.
* 15th – 11th centuries BC e. - archaic ancient Greek religion.
* 11th - 6th centuries. BC e. - Olympic religion.
* 6th - 4th centuries. BC e. - philosophical-Orphic religion (Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato).
* 3rd - 1st centuries BC e. - religion of the Hellenistic era.

Zeus, according to legend, was born in Crete, and Minos, after whom the Cretan-Minoan civilization is named, was considered his son. However, the mythology that we know, and which the Romans later adopted, is organically connected with the Greek people. We can talk about the emergence of this nation with the arrival of the first wave of Achaean tribes at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In 1850 BC. e. Athens, named after the goddess Athena, had already been built. If we accept these considerations, then the religion of the ancient Greeks arose somewhere around 2000 BC. e.

Religious beliefs of the ancient Greeks

Main article: Ancient Greek religion

Olympus (Nikolai Apollonovich Maikov)

The religious ideas and religious life of the ancient Greeks were in close connection with their entire historical life. Already in the most ancient monuments of Greek creativity, the anthropomorphic nature of Greek polytheism is clearly evident, explained by the national characteristics of the entire cultural development in this area; concrete representations, generally speaking, prevail over abstract ones, just as in quantitative terms humanoid gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines prevail over deities of abstract meaning (who, in turn, receive anthropomorphic features). In this or that cult, different writers or artists associate different general or mythological (and mythographic) ideas with this or that deity.
We know different combinations, hierarchies of the genealogy of divine beings - “Olympus”, various systems of “twelve gods” (for example, in Athens - Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes). Such connections are explained not only from the creative moment, but also from the conditions of the historical life of the Hellenes; in Greek polytheism one can also trace later layers (eastern elements; deification - even during life). In the general religious consciousness of the Hellenes, there apparently did not exist any specific generally accepted dogma. The diversity of religious ideas was also expressed in the diversity of cults, the external environment of which is now becoming increasingly clear thanks to archaeological excavations and finds. We find out which gods or heroes were worshiped where, and where which one was worshiped predominantly (for example, Zeus - in Dodona and Olympia, Apollo - in Delphi and Delos, Athena - in Athens, Hera in Samos, Asclepius - in Epidaurus); we know shrines revered by all (or many) Hellenes, like the Delphic or Dodonian oracle or the Delian shrine; We know large and small amphictyony (cult communities).
One can distinguish between public and private cults. The all-consuming importance of the state also affected the religious sphere. The ancient world, generally speaking, knew neither the internal church as a kingdom not of this world, nor the church as a state within a state: “church” and “state” were concepts in it that absorbed or conditioned each other, and, for example, the priest was the one or state magistrate.
This rule could not, however, be carried out with unconditional consistency everywhere; practice caused particular deviations and created certain combinations. If a well-known deity was considered the main deity of a certain state, then the state sometimes recognized (as in Athens) some other cults; Along with these national cults, there were also individual cults of state divisions (for example, the Athenian demes), and cults of private significance (for example, household or family), as well as cults of private societies or individuals.
Since the state principle prevailed (which did not triumph everywhere at the same time and equally), every citizen was obliged, in addition to his private deities, to honor the gods of his “civil community” (changes were brought by the Hellenistic era, which generally contributed to the process of leveling). This veneration was expressed in a purely external way - through feasible participation in certain rituals and celebrations performed on behalf of the state (or state division) - participation to which in other cases the non-civilian population of the community was invited; both citizens and non-citizens were given the opportunity to seek satisfaction of their religious needs, as they could, wanted and were able. One must think that in general the veneration of the gods was external; the internal religious consciousness was naive, and among the masses superstition did not decrease, but grew (especially at a later time, when it found food for itself coming from the East); But in an educated society, an educational movement began early, timid at first, then more and more energetic, with one end (negative) touching the masses; religiosity weakened little in general (and sometimes even - albeit painfully - rose), but religion, that is, old ideas and cults, gradually - especially as Christianity spread - lost both its meaning and its content. This is approximately, in general, the internal and external history of the Greek religion during the time available for deeper study.
In the foggy area of ​​the original, primordial Greek religion, scientific work has outlined only a few general points, although they are usually posed with excessive harshness and extremes. Already ancient philosophy bequeathed a threefold allegorical explanation of myths: psychological (or ethical), historical-political (not entirely correctly called euhemerical) and physical; She explained the emergence of religion from the individual moment. A narrow theological point of view also joined here, and essentially on the same basis Kreuzer’s “Symbolik” (“Symbolik und Mythologie der alt. Volker, bes. der Griechen”, German Kreuzer, 1836) was built, as were many other systems and theories who ignored the moment of evolution.
Gradually, however, they came to the realization that the ancient Greek religion had its own complex historical origins, that the meaning of myths should be sought not behind them, but in themselves. Initially, the ancient Greek religion was considered only in itself, for fear of going beyond Homer and generally beyond the boundaries of purely Hellenic culture (this principle is still adhered to by the “Königsberg” school): hence the localistic interpretation of myths - from the physical (for example, Forkhammer, Peter Wilhelm Forchhammer) or only from a historical point of view (for example, Karl Muller, German K. O. Muller).
Some paid their main attention to the ideal content of Greek mythology, reducing it to phenomena of local nature, others - to the real, seeing traces of local (tribal, etc.) characteristics in the complexity of ancient Greek polytheism. Over time, one way or another, the original significance of eastern elements in Greek religion had to be recognized. Comparative linguistics gave rise to "comparative Indo-European mythology". This hitherto predominant direction in science was fruitful in the sense that it clearly showed the need for a comparative study of ancient Greek religion and collated extensive material for this study; but - not to mention the extreme straightforwardness of the methodological methods and the extreme haste of judgment - it was engaged not so much in the study of Greek religion using the comparative method, but in the search for its main points, dating back to the time of pan-Aryan unity (moreover, the linguistic concept of the Indo-European peoples was too sharply identified with the ethnic ). As for the main content of myths (“disease of the tongue”, according to K. Müller), it was too exclusively reduced to natural phenomena - mainly to the sun, or the moon, or thunderstorms.
The younger school of comparative mythology considers the heavenly deities to be the result of a further, artificial development of the original “folk” mythology, which knew only demons (folklorism, animism).
In Greek mythology, one cannot help but recognize later layers, especially in the entire external form of myths (as they have come down to us), although they cannot always be determined historically, just as it is not always possible to distinguish the purely religious part of myths. Beneath this shell lie general Aryan elements, but they are often as difficult to distinguish from specifically Greek elements as it is to determine the beginning of a purely Greek culture in general. It is no less difficult to determine with any accuracy the basic content of various Hellenic myths, which is undoubtedly extremely complex. Nature with its properties and phenomena played a big role here, but perhaps mainly a service one; Along with these natural historical moments, historical and ethical moments should also be recognized (since the gods generally lived no differently and no better than people).
The local and cultural division of the Hellenic world remained not without influence; The presence of oriental elements in Greek religion is also undeniable. It would be too complex and too difficult a task to explain historically, even in the most general terms, how all these moments gradually coexisted with each other; but some knowledge in this area can be achieved, based especially on experiences preserved both in the internal content and in the external environment of cults, and, moreover, taking into account, if possible, the entire ancient historical life of the Hellenes (the path in this direction was especially pointed out by Curtins in his "Studien z. Gesch. d. griech. Olymps", in "Sitzb. d. Berl. Akad.", German E. Curtins, 1890). It is significant, for example, the relation in the Greek religion of the great gods to the small, folk deities, and of the supermundane world of gods to the underground; Characteristic is the veneration of the dead, expressed in the cult of heroes; The mystical content of Greek religion is curious.
When writing this article, material was used from the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (1890-1907).

Lists of gods, mythological creatures and heroes

Lists of gods and genealogy differ among different ancient authors. The lists below are compilative.

First generation of gods

At first there was Chaos. Gods who emerged from Chaos - Gaia (Earth), Nikta/Nyukta (Night), Tartarus (Abyss), Erebus (Darkness), Eros (Love); the gods that emerged from Gaia are Uranus (Sky) and Pontus (inner Sea).

Second generation of gods

Children of Gaia (fathers - Uranus, Pontus and Tartarus) - Keto (mistress of sea monsters), Nereus (calm sea), Taumant (sea wonders), Phorcys (guardian of the sea), Eurybia (sea power), titans and titanides. Children of Nyx and Erebus - Hemera (Day), Hypnos (Dream), Kera (Misfortune), Moira (Fate), Mom (Slander and Stupidity), Nemesis (Retribution), Thanatos (Death), Eris (Strife), Erinyes (Vengeance) ), Ether (Air); Ata (Deception).

Titans

Titans: Oceanus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Kay, Krios, Kronos.
Titanides: Tethys, Mnemosyne, Rhea, Theia, Phoebe, Themis.

Younger Generation of Titans (Children of the Titans)

* Asteria
* Summer
* Astraeus
* Persian
* Pallant
* Helios (personification of the sun)
* Selena (personification of the moon)
* Eos (personification of the dawn)
* Atlant
* Menetius
* Prometheus
* Epimetheus

Olympians

Council of the Gods (Rubens)

The composition of the pantheon has changed over the centuries, so there are more than 12 gods.

* Hades is the main god. Brother of Zeus, Rome. Pluto, Hades, Orcus, Deet. Lord of the underground kingdom of the dead. Attributes: three-headed dog Cerberus (Kerberus), pitchfork (bident). Wife - Persephone (Proserpina).
* Apollo - Greek. Phoebus. God of the sun, light and truth, patron of the arts, sciences and healing, god is a soothsayer. Attributes: laurel wreath, bow and arrows.
* Ares - Rome. Mars. God of bloodthirsty, unjust war. Attributes: helmet, sword, shield. Lover or husband of Aphrodite.
* Artemis - Rome. Diana. Goddess of the moon and hunting, patroness of women in labor. Virgin Goddess. Attributes: quiver with arrows, doe.
* Athena - Greek. Pallas; Rome. Minerva. Goddess of wisdom, just war, patroness of the cities of Athens, crafts, sciences. Attributes: owl, snake. Dressed like a warrior. On the chest there is an emblem in the form of the head of Medusa the Gorgon. Born from the head of Zeus. Virgin Goddess.
* Aphrodite - Rome. Cypris; Rome. Venus. Goddess of love and beauty. Attributes: belt, apple, mirror, dove, rose.
* Hera - Rome. Juno. Patroness of family and marriage, wife of Zeus. Attributes: cloth, tiara, ball.
* Hermes - Rome. Mercury. god of trade, eloquence, guide of the souls of the dead to the kingdom of the dead, messenger of Zeus, patron of merchants, artisans, shepherds, travelers and thieves. Attributes: winged sandals, invisibility helmet with wings, caduceus (a staff in the form of two intertwined snakes).
* Hestia - Rome. Vesta. goddess of the hearth. Attributes: torch. The goddess is a virgin.
* Hephaestus - Rome. Volcano. god of blacksmithing, patron of all artisans and fire. Chromium. Wife - Aphrodite. Attributes: pliers, blacksmith's bellows, pilos (worksman's cap).
* Demeter - rom. Ceres. goddess of agriculture and fertility. Attributes: staff in the form of a stem.
* Dionysus - Greek. Bacchus; Rome. Bacchus. god of viticulture and winemaking, agriculture. Patron of the theater. Attributes: vine wreath, cup of wine.
* Zeus is the main god. Rome. Jupiter. god of sky and thunder, head of the ancient Greek Pantheon. Attributes: one-prong, eagle, lightning.
* Poseidon is the main god. Rome. Neptune. lord of the seas. Attributes: trident, dolphin, chariot, wife - Amphitrite.

Gods and deities of the water element

* Amphitrite - goddess of the sea, wife of Poseidon
* Poseidon - god of the sea
* Tritons - retinue of Poseidon and Amphitrite
* Triton - water god, messenger of the depths, eldest son and commander of Poseidon
* Proteus - water god, messenger of the depths, son of Poseidon
* Rhoda - goddess of water, daughter of Poseidon
* Limnades - nymphs of lakes and swamps
* Naiads - nymphs of springs, springs and rivers
* Nereids - sea nymphs, sisters of Amphitriata
* Ocean - personification of the mythological world river washing the Oecumene
* River gods - gods of rivers, sons of Ocean and Tethys
* Tethys - Titanide, wife of Ocean, mother of oceanids and rivers
* Oceanids - daughters of the Ocean
* Pontus - god of the inland sea and water (son of Earth and Heaven, or son of Earth without a father)
* Eurybia - the embodiment of the sea element
* Thaumant - underwater giant, god of sea wonders
* Nereus - deity of the peaceful sea
* Forkis - guardian of the stormy sea
* Keto - goddess of the deep sea and sea monsters living in the depths of the seas

Gods and deities of the air element

* Uranus is the personification of Heaven
* Ether is the embodiment of the atmosphere; God is the personification of air and light
* Zeus - god-lord of the skies, god of thunder

Main article: Winds in ancient Greek mythology

* Aeolus - demigod, lord of the winds
* Boreas - the personification of the stormy northern wind
* Zephyr - a strong western wind, was also considered the messenger of the gods (among the Romans it began to personify a caressing, light wind)
*Not - south wind
* Eurus - east wind
* Aura - personification of light wind, air
* Nebula - cloud nymph

Gods of Death and the Underworld

* Hades - god of the underworld of the dead
* Persephone - wife of Hades, goddess of fertility and the kingdom of the dead, daughter of Demeter
* Minos - judge of the kingdom of the dead
* Rhadamanthus - judge of the kingdom of the dead
* Hecate - goddess of darkness, night visions, sorcery, all monsters and ghosts
* Kera - female demons of death
* Thanatos - the embodiment of Death
* Hypnos - god of oblivion and sleep, twin brother of Thanatos
* Onir - deity of prophetic and false dreams
* Erinyes - goddess of revenge
* Melinoe - goddess of redemptive donations for dead people, goddess of transformation and reincarnation; mistress of darkness and ghosts, who, near death, being in a state of terrible anger or horror, could not get into the kingdom of Hades, and are doomed to forever wander the world among mortals (daughter of Hades and Persephone)

Muses

* Calliope - muse of epic poetry
* Clio - the muse of history in ancient Greek mythology
* Erato - muse of love poetry
* Euterpe - muse of lyric poetry and music
* Melpomene - the muse of tragedy
* Polyhymnia - the muse of solemn hymns
* Terpsichore - the muse of dance
* Thalia is the muse of comedy and light poetry
* Urania - muse of astronomy

Cyclopes

(often “Cyclopes” - in Latin transcription)

* Arg - “lightning”
* Bront - “thunder”
* Sterop - “shine”

Hecatoncheires

* Briareus - strength
* Gies - arable land
* Kott - anger

Giants

(some of about 150)

* Agrius
* Alcyoneus
* Gration
* Clytius
* Mimanth
* Pallant
* Polybotes
* Porphyrion
*Toon
* Eurytus
* Enceladus
* Ephialtes

Other gods

* Nike - goddess of victory
* Selene - goddess of the moon
* Eros - god of love
* Hymen - god of marriage
* Iris - goddess of the rainbow
* Ata - goddess of delusion, darkness of the mind
* Apata - goddess of deception
* Adrastea - goddess of justice
* Phobos - deity of fear, son of Ares
* Deimos - god of horror, brother of Phobos
* Enyo - goddess of furious and frantic war
* Asclepius - god of healing
* Morpheus - god of dreams (poetic deity, son of Hypnos)
* Himerot - god of carnal love and amorous pleasure
* Ananke - the deity-embodiment of inevitability, necessity
* Aloe is the ancient deity of threshed grains

Non-personal gods

Non-personified gods are “many” gods according to M. Gasparov.

* Satires
* Nymphs
* Ora - three goddesses of the seasons and natural order

Greece and myths- the concept is inseparable. It seems that everything in this country - every plant, river or mountain - has its own fabulous story, passed down from generation to generation. And this is no coincidence, since myths reflect in allegorical form the entire structure of the world and the philosophy of life of the ancient Greeks.

And the name Hellas () itself also has a mythological origin, because The mythical patriarch Hellenes is considered the ancestor of all Hellenes (Greeks). The names of the mountain ranges crossing Greece, the seas washing its shores, the islands scattered in these seas, lakes and rivers are associated with myths. As well as the names of regions, cities and villages. I’ll tell you about some stories that I really want to believe. It should be added that there are so many myths that even for the same toponym there are several versions. Because myths are oral creations, and they have come down to us already written down by ancient writers and historians, the most famous of whom is Homer. I'll start with the name Balkan Peninsula, on which Greece is located. The current "Balkan" is of Turkish origin, meaning simply "mountain range". But earlier the peninsula was named after Amos, the son of the god Boreas and the nymph Orifinas. The sister and at the same time the wife of Emos was called Rodopi. Their love was so strong that they addressed each other by the names of the supreme gods, Zeus and Hera. For their insolence they were punished by being turned into mountains.

History of the origin of the toponym Peloponnese, peninsulas on peninsulas, no less cruel. According to legend, the ruler of this part of Greece was Pelops, the son of Tantalus, who in his youth was offered by his bloodthirsty father as a dinner to the gods. But the gods did not eat his body, and, having resurrected the young man, left him on Olympus. And Tantalus was doomed to eternal (tantalum) torment. Further, Pelops himself either descends to live among the people, or is forced to flee, but subsequently becomes the king of Olympia, Arcadia and the entire peninsula, which was named in his honor. By the way, his descendant was the famous Homeric king Agamemnon, the leader of the troops that besieged Troy.

One of the most beautiful islands in Greece Kerkyra(or Corfu) has a romantic history of the origin of its name: Poseidon, the god of the seas, fell in love with the young beauty Corcyra, daughter of Asopus and the nymph Metope, kidnapped her and hid her on a hitherto unknown island, which he named after her. Corkyra eventually turned into Kerkyra. Another story about lovers remains in the myths about the island Rhodes. This name was borne by the daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite (or Aphrodite), who was the beloved of the Sun god Helios. It was on this island, freshly born from the foam, that the nymph Rhodes united in marriage with her beloved.

origin of name Aegean Sea Many people know it thanks to the good Soviet cartoon. The story is this: Theseus, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, went to Crete to fight the monster there - the Minotaur. In case of victory, he promised his father to raise white sails on his ship, and in case of defeat, black ones. With the help of the Cretan princess, he defeated the Minotaur and went home, forgetting to change the sails. Seeing his son's mourning ship in the distance, Aegeus, out of grief, threw himself off a cliff into the sea, which was named after him.

Ionian Sea bears the name of the princess and at the same time priestess Io, who was seduced by the supreme god Zeus. However, his wife Hera decided to take revenge on the girl by turning her into a white cow and then killing her at the hands of the giant Argos. With the help of the god Hermes, Io managed to escape. She found refuge and human form in Egypt, for which she had to swim across the sea, which is called the Ionian.

Myths of Ancient Greece They also tell about the origin of the universe, the relationship to the divine and human passions. They are of interest to us, primarily because they give us an understanding of how European culture was formed.

The sons of the great hero Pelops were Atreus and Thyestes. Pelops was once cursed by the charioteer of King Oenomaus, Myrtilus, who was treacherously killed by Pelops, and with his curse doomed the entire family of Pelops to great atrocities and death. The curse of Myrtil weighed heavily on both Atreus and Thyestes. They committed a number of atrocities. Atreus and Thyestes killed Chrysippus, the son of the nymph Axione and their father Pelops. It was the mother of Atreus and Thyestes Hippodamia who persuaded them to kill Chrysippus. Having committed this atrocity, they fled from their father’s kingdom, fearing his wrath, and took refuge with the king of Mycenae Sthenel, son of Perseus, who was married to their sister Nikippa. When Sthenel died and his son Eurystheus, captured by Iolaus, died at the hands of Hercules’ mother Alcmene, Atreus began to rule over the Mycenaean kingdom, since Eurystheus did not leave behind heirs. His brother Thyestes was jealous of Atreus and decided to take away power from him in any way.

Sisyphus had a son, the hero Glaucus, who ruled in Corinth after the death of his father. Glaucus had a son, Bellerophon, one of the great heroes of Greece. Bellerophon was as beautiful as a god and equal in courage to the immortal gods. Bellerophon, when he was still a youth, suffered a misfortune: he accidentally killed one citizen of Corinth and had to flee from his hometown. He fled to the king of Tiryns, Proetus. The king of Tiryns received the hero with great honor and cleansed him of the filth of the blood he had shed. Bellerophon did not have to stay long in Tiryns. His wife Proyta, the godlike Antheia, was captivated by his beauty. But Bellerophon rejected her love. Then Queen Antheia was inflamed with hatred of Bellerophon and decided to destroy him. She went to her husband and told him:

O king! Bellerophon is seriously insulting you. You must kill him. He pursues me, your wife, with his love. This is how he thanked you for your hospitality!

Grozen Boreas, god of the indomitable, stormy north wind. He rushes frantically over the lands and seas, causing all-crushing storms with his flight. One day Boreas, flying over Attica, saw the daughter of Erechtheus Orithia and fell in love with her. Boreas begged Orithia to become his wife and allow him to take her with him to his kingdom in the far north. Orithia did not agree; she was afraid of the formidable, stern god. Boreas was also refused by Orithia's father, Erechtheus. No requests, no pleas from Boreas helped. The terrible god became angry and exclaimed:

I deserve this humiliation myself! I forgot about my formidable, frantic strength! Is it right for me to humbly beg someone? I must act only by force! I drive thunderclouds across the sky, I raise waves on the sea like mountains, I uproot ancient oak trees like dry blades of grass, I scourge the earth with hail and turn the water into ice as hard as stone - and I pray, as if powerless mortal. When I rush in a frantic flight over the earth, the whole earth shakes and even the underground kingdom of Hades trembles. And I pray to Erechtheus as if I were his servant. I must not beg to give Orithia to me as a wife, but take her away by force!

Perseus did not remain long after this bloody battle in the kingdom of Kepheus. Taking with him the beautiful Andromeda, he returned to Serif to King Polydectes. Perseus found his mother Danae in great grief. Fleeing from Polydectes, she had to seek protection in the temple of Zeus. She did not dare to leave the temple for a single moment. The angry Perseus came to Polydectes' palace and found him and his friends at a luxurious feast. Polydectes did not expect that Perseus would return; he was sure that the hero had died in the fight against the gorgons. King Serif was surprised when he saw Perseus standing in front of him, and he calmly said to the king:

Your order has been fulfilled, I have brought you the head of Medusa.

Beautiful, equal to the Olympian gods themselves in his beauty, the young son of the king of Sparta, Hyacinth, was a friend of the arrow god Apollo. Apollo often appeared on the banks of the Eurotas in Sparta to visit his friend and spent time there with him, hunting along the mountain slopes in densely overgrown forests or having fun with gymnastics, in which the Spartans were so skilled.

One day, when the hot afternoon was approaching, Apollo and Hyacinth competed in throwing a heavy discus. The bronze disk flew higher and higher into the sky. So, straining his strength, the mighty god Apollo threw the disc. The disk flew high to the very clouds and, sparkling like a star, fell to the ground. Hyacinth ran to the place where the disk was supposed to fall. He wanted to quickly pick it up and throw it, to show Apollo that he, the young athlete, was not inferior to him, God, in his ability to throw the discus. The disk fell to the ground, bounced off the blow and with terrible force hit the head of Hyacinth, who ran up. Hyacinth fell to the ground with a groan. Scarlet blood gushed from the wound in a stream and stained the dark curls of the beautiful young man.

The son of Zeus and Io, Epaphus, had a son Bel, and he had two sons - Egypt and Danaus. The entire country, which is irrigated by the fertile Nile, was owned by Egypt, from which this country received its name. Danau ruled in Libya. The gods gave Egypt fifty sons. I give fifty beautiful daughters. The Danaids captivated the sons of Egypt with their beauty, and they wanted to marry beautiful girls, but Danai and the Danaids refused them. The sons of Egypt gathered a large army and went to war against Danae. Danaus was defeated by his nephews, and he had to lose his kingdom and flee. With the help of the goddess Pallas Athena, Danai built the first fifty-oared ship and set sail on it with his daughters into the endless, ever-noisy sea.

Danae's ship sailed for a long time on the sea waves and finally sailed to the island of Rhodes. Here Danaus stopped; he went ashore with his daughters, founded a sanctuary to his patron goddess Athena and made rich sacrifices to her. Danaus did not stay in Rhodes. Fearing the persecution of the sons of Egypt, he sailed with his daughters further to the shores of Greece, to Argolis - the homeland of his ancestor Io. Zeus himself guarded the ship during its dangerous voyage across the boundless sea. After a long journey, the ship landed on the fertile shores of Argolis. Here Danai and the Danaids hoped to find protection and salvation from their hated marriage with the sons of Egypt.

The people of the Copper Age committed many crimes. Arrogant and wicked, they did not obey the Olympian gods. The Thunderer Zeus was angry with them; Zeus was especially angered by the king of Lykosura in Arcadia, Lycaon. One day Zeus, disguised as a mere mortal, came to Lycosurus. So that the inhabitants knew that he was a god, Zeus gave them a sign, and all the inhabitants fell on their faces before him and honored him as a god. Only Lycaon did not want to give Zeus divine honors and mocked everyone who honored Zeus. Lycaon decided to test whether Zeus was a god. He killed a hostage who was in his palace, boiled part of his body, fried part of it and offered it as a meal to the great Thunderer. Zeus was terribly angry. With a lightning strike, he destroyed Lycaon's palace, and turned him into a bloodthirsty wolf.

The greatest artist, sculptor and architect of Athens was Daedalus, a descendant of Erechtheus. It was said about him that he carved such marvelous statues from snow-white marble that they seemed alive; the statues of Daedalus seemed to be looking and moving. Daedalus invented many tools for his work; he invented the ax and the drill. The fame of Daedalus spread far and wide.

This great artist had a nephew Tal, the son of his sister Perdika. Tal was his uncle's student. Already in his early youth he amazed everyone with his talent and ingenuity. It was foreseeable that Tal would far surpass his teacher. Daedalus was jealous of his nephew and decided to kill him. One day Daedalus stood with his nephew on the high Acropolis of Athens at the very edge of the cliff. There was no one visible around. Seeing that they were alone, Daedalus pushed his nephew off the cliff. The artist was sure that his crime would go unpunished. Tal fell to his death from a cliff. Daedalus hastily descended from the Acropolis, picked up Tal's body and wanted to secretly bury it in the ground, but the Athenians caught Daedalus when he was digging a grave. The crime of Daedalus was revealed. The Areopagus sentenced him to death.

The wife of the king of Sparta Tyndareus was the beautiful Leda, the daughter of the king of Aetolia, Thestia. Throughout Greece, Leda was famous for its marvelous beauty. Leda became the wife of Zeus, and she had two children from him: the daughter Helen, beautiful as a goddess, and the son, the great hero Polydeuces. Leda also had two children from Tyndareus: daughter Clytemnestra and son Castor.

Polydeuces received immortality from his father, and his brother Castor was mortal. Both brothers were great heroes of Greece. No one could surpass Castor in the art of driving a chariot; he humbled the most indomitable horses. Polydeuces was a most skilled fist fighter who had no equal. The Dioscuri brothers took part in many of the heroic deeds of Greece. They were always together, the most sincere love bound the brothers.

The king of the rich Phoenician city of Sidon, Agenor, had three sons and a daughter, beautiful as an immortal goddess. This young beauty's name was Europe. Agenor's daughter once had a dream. She saw how Asia and the continent that is separated from Asia by the sea, in the form of two women, fought for her. Every woman wanted to own Europe. Asia was defeated, and she, who raised and nourished Europe, had to give it up to another. Europe woke up in fear; she could not understand the meaning of this dream. The young daughter Agenor humbly began to pray that the gods would avert misfortune from her if sleep threatened them. Then, dressed in purple robes woven with gold, she and her friends went to a green meadow covered with flowers, to the seashore. There, frolicking, the Sidonian maidens collected flowers in their golden baskets. They collected fragrant, snow-white daffodils, variegated crocuses, violets and lilies. The daughter Agenor herself, shining with her beauty among her friends, like Aphrodite, surrounded by Charites, collected only scarlet roses in her golden basket. Having collected flowers, the maidens began to dance in a merry round with laughter. Their young voices carried far across the flowering meadow and the azure sea, drowning out its quiet gentle splash.

The myths of Ancient Greece about heroes were created before the advent of writing in this country. Initially, it was purely oral creativity, passed on from person to person. These are tales about the archaic life of the Greek people, in which real facts are connected in legends about heroes with the imagination of the narrator. The memory of men and women who accomplished real feats, being ordinary citizens or high-born representatives of the people, stories about their achievements help the Greeks to look at their ancestors as beings favored by the gods and, at the same time, related to them. In the imagination of ordinary people, these citizens turn out to be the descendants of gods who created a family with mere mortals. Even now in schools they are forced to read the myths of ancient Greece about such heroes as Theseus, Prometheus, Odysseus and others.