Lesser Deities, pg2-Text

•Persephone - daughter of Zeus and Demeter; wife of Hades •Struck by the charms of her beauty, Hades obtained permission from his brother, Zeus, to carry her off by force. –An arrangement was made allowing her to stay with her mother half the year on earth, and the other half as queen of the Underworld.	9	•Proteus - a minor sea-deity, often called the Old Man of the Sea. •His dwelling place was the depths of the sea. •Thought to possess prophetic power and the secrets of witchcraft.. –Proteus would not be persuaded to exercise this power except by deceit or under threat of violence. •He made every effort to evade questioners, changing himself into a great variety of shapes, such as those of a lion, panther, swine or serpent, and as a last resource, into a form of fire or water.

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•Tritona minor sea deity, was the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, sometimes of Oceanus and Tethys.

•As the herald of Poseidon, Triton announced his approach, and summoned other marine deities.

• He blew through a conch-shell horn a loud blast to agitate the sea with storms, and a gentle note when a storm was to be hushed into rest.

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The Group Deities

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•The Group Deities were sisters who were in charge of a general function.

•Each had a special attribute.

–The Graces and Muses were daughters of Zeus who lived in Olympus and on earth.

–The nymphs were beautiful ladies that resembled the mermaids and fairies of modern superstition.

•They were gifted with the power of making themselves visible or invisible at pleasure.

•There were several classes of nymphs that lived in mountains and grottoes, or rivers and trees.

– The Fates were daughters of Night. They have the subtle but, awesome power of deciding a man’s destiny. The assign a man to good or evil.

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The Group Deities

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•The Fates - three sisters that controlled the destinies of all mortals; daughters of Erebus and Night

–Clotho, the youngest, put the wool around the spindle and spun the thread of life.

•This determined a person's life.

–Lachesis measured the thread once it was spun.

•She determined how long a person should live.

–Atropos, cut the thread.

•Once she cut the thread, the person was dead.

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The Graces - all things that were pleasant and cheerful could come to mortals through them; sisters, unknown parents

beautiful, winning and charming always dancing, singing, and running, or

the rose was sacred to them

Aglaia represented Splendor and Festivity

Euphrosyne represented Cheerfulness and Merriment

Thalia represented Bountifulness and Bloom.

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The Group Deities: The Muses

•Muses - nine females who specialized in the fine arts such as history, comedy, dance, poetry, and song; daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus.

•Generally associated with Apollo

•Sources of artistic inspiration.

•Defeated the Sirens in a musical contest and often referred to as the queens of songs.

–No Olympian banquet was complete without their presence.

Cleio - Muse of history

Euterpe - Muse of flute-playing

Thaleia - Muse of comedy

Melpomene - Muse of tragedy

Terpsichore - Muse of lyric poetry and dance

Erato - Muse of wedding songs

Polymnia - Muse of mime

Urania - Muse of astronomy

Calliope - Muse of epic poetry.

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The Group Deities: The Nymphs

•Nymphs - personifications of all of nature's living things; it is assumed that they were the offspring of Zeus and the Nereid Thetis.

•On a level just beneath gods

–inhabited every mountain, valley, plain, forest, every thicket, bush, and tree, and every fountain, stream, and lake.

–They greatly resembled what we consider today to be mermaids and fairies.

•The nymphs were friend to both man and god.

•They could be seen if they wanted to be, or remain invisible.

•They feasted on ambrosia, as the gods did, but they were not immortal.

•Any place that featured dripping or flowing water was sacred to the nymphs.

•The actual origin of the Nymphs is hard to classify; there are many stories concerning their parentage.

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Nymphs

•There are twelve different types of Nymphs, usually classified by their dwelling places.

•Dryads, or Hamadryads were the Nymphs of the woods and trees, and were often seen frolicking with Apollo, Hermes, and Pan, and were usually described as being dressed as huntresses.

•Oreads, or the mountain nymphs, were sometimes named after the particular areas where they lived, such as Peliads, (from Pelion), Idæan (from Ida), Kithæronian (from Kithæron), etc.

•Limoniads, or Leimoniads were nymphs of flowers and meadows.

•Napææ, or Auloniads were nymphs of the mountain vales in which herds fed. They were usually found in the company of Pan, rushing swiftly and happily over the hills and valleys. One of the favorite nymphs was Eurydice, who was felled by a snakebite. Orpheus sang a song of her in what remains a touching love myth throughout history.

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Nymphs

•Okeanids - daughters of Okeanos,

•Nereïds - daughters of Nereus, were sometimes called Dorids, after their mother.

•Naiads - Nymphs of the liquid element. They were usually found in the company of Zeus, Poseidon, and Dionysus, as well as Demeter, Persephone, and Aphrodite, and were seen as deities of marriage and sacred rites.

•Potamids - Nymphs of the rivers and streams.

•Limnads - Nymphs of lakes, marshes, and swamps. They were dangerous, because they tried to allure and trap travelers by their songs or mimicking screams for help.

•Pleiads - the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and sisters of the Hyads.

•Atlantids - Offspring of Atlas

• Hyads - daughters of Atlas and Æthra; nurses of Zeus

–distraught over the death of Hyas by wild animals, they were changed into stars, which are the seven stars of the constellation Taurus.

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