Theseus

Theseus in Greek mythology

Incroduction

Theseus was a Greek king of Athens, in Greek mythology, son of Aegeus and Aethra, the most popular hero in ancient Greece after Hercules.

Once Hercules passed Trizina of Argolida where he was hosted in the palace of King Pittheas.When he sat down to eat, Hercules took the lion's skin and left it on the ground. A group of children watching the lion's skin frightened and ran away. But a seven year old child, thinking he saw real lion grabbed an axe and lunged to kill it .He was Theseus, grandson of King Pitthea.One more hero of Greek mythology.

Birth of Theseus

Because Aegeus had no children despite his efforts, he went to the Oracle of Delphi and got a tricky oracle. Returning to Athens he thought going through his friend,King of Trizina,Pittheus, who hosted him. Aegeus told him the oracle, so Pittheus comprehending its meaning,drunk Aegeus and threw him to the bed of his daughter Aethra, aiming thus to become the grandfather of  Crown Prince of the Athenian throne. At the morning, when Aegeus recovered from the hangover next to Aethra, persuaded her to promise him that if she would have his offspring she would secretly grew him in the city. Still, hid under a large rock his sandals and his sword,telling Aethra that when the child would raise just enough to be able to pick up the rock,to order it to go to Athens and show him the objects. Meanwhile, the night that she slept with Aegeus, Aethra saw in her dream the goddess Athena, which led her walking on reefs to pass on the islet Sferia, which is so close to the coast Trizina so can someone go by walking. As she walked into the sea is said that Poseidon impregnated her. So after nine months, Aethra gave birth to Theseus,on the road leading to the port.Therefore  the hero has uncertain authorship, shared between the Athenian king and the god of the sea.

The journey to Athens

(Attention!!This paragraph has some violence scenes described,so be prepared or avoid it)

In the end of his teen age, Theseus learned from his mother, Aethra,his origin and he was able to pick up the rock and find the things that Aegeus had hidden . Immediately he began his journey to go to Athens to meet his father, but not with a ship as recommended his mother. He wanted to go by land, which ravaged several bandits and  somehow emulate the feats of Hercules, which was his model, but also to clear the way to Athens by the criminals.

Indeed, near Epidaurus he  met Perifiti known as "Koryniti" from the iron bat that he used to kill pedestrians. Theseus was able to grab it and kill him. Then,at the Isthmus of Corinth, he met Sinis the "Pityokampti" (= one who bends the pines) who was tearing apart his victims, by tying them between the two bent pine trees. Theseus killed him in the same way. In Skironides Stones, the current "Kakia Skala"(=wicked stairs), faced the bandit named Skironas,he was forcing the passersbys to wash his feet,and as they were hunched he kicked them and threw them off the cliff, where they were eaten by a giant turtle. Theseus threw him off the cliff. The hero moving to Eleusis, he fought with Kerkyonas,who was killing the passers drowning them with a strong embrace, Theseus killed him by hitting his head on the earth. Finally,at Kifisos he killed Polypimonas, father of Sinis, known as the "Procrustean" because he was cheating travelers and lured them into his home, where he smashed the legs or cut them with a saw so they can "suit" in his bed legs. After all this, Theseus received clearance from Fytalus sons at the waters of Kifisos, for the murders of all bandits,in order to face for the first time his father as a purged hero.

At Athens

Without revealing who he is, Theseus appeared to his father as a stranger. However, Medea realized his identity and fearing that he would get the succession from her son, which she had acquired with Aegeus. For this reason,she convinced the king that he had to kill the stranger,so she made a poison based  in "Aconite" a deadly herb derived from the saliva of Cerberus. But at dinner Theseus drew his sword to cut the meat, so the father recognized the weapon he had hidden in Trizinia,legacy of his grandfather,Cecrops. Then Aegeus immediately intervened and saved his son from the poisoned food. Medea fled from Athens with her son Median. The brother of Aegeus,Pallantas and his sons tried to usurp the throne, but Theseus prevented them and confirmed the power of his father.

The bull of Marathon

The wild bull of Crete, conceived by Hercules during the seventh feat and which the coward Eurystheus had let free, had taken refuge in the surrounding area of ​​Marathon and wreaked havoc. Theseus went to look for him (some authors show the capture of the "Marathon Taurus' task commissioned Aegeus the hero before recognize him, believing that this way Theseus would be killed  ). On his way a storm caught him  and he took shelter in the hut of an old Ekali. She, wanting to please him because he had killed Kerkyona, whose victims were her two sons, hosting and promises sacrifice to Zeus if the hero returned unharmed from hunting. Upon his return , Ekali had already died, so the locals have taken to celebrate the sacrifice in honor of "Ekaleiou Zeus." In Marathon, the hero managed to capture alive the bull.He led him to Athens strapped by the horns,crossing the roads in front of the astonished Athenians,he went to the Acropolis and there he sacrificed the bull to the gods.

The mission for the Minotaur

The most famous feat of Theseus was the killing of  the Minotaur. Minos,in order to punish the Athenians because they killed his son Androgeo, declared war in which he won. As punishment of the Athenians appointed every nine years seven young Athenian boys and seven young Athenian girls to be sent to Crete and mangled by the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. Theseus decided to set sail for Crete and put an end to the embarrassing contribution in blood.He took the place of one of the seven young and sailed with them from the Faliro at the begining of  month Mounychiona. In Salamina he chose as the captain of the ship the most capable Nafsithos,since then the Athenians had not yet deal with shipping.Arriving to Crete  he met Minos' daughter,Ariadne, and the two young people fall in love. Ariadne made ​​him promise to take her back home and marry her. Then gave him a ball of thread, the "Ariadne's Thread", so when Theseus entered the maze to unwind it,so after slaying the Minotaur,he can find the exit. Indeed, the hero anchored one end to the entrance of the labyrinthine building, searched, found and killed the monster, and rewinding the thread managed to get out of the Labyrinth. Taking advantage of the darkness of night, Theseus, Ariadne and the other young people escaped to the harbor and took their ship to the return trip.However,on the journey back,they made ​​a stop in Naxos.There, in the dream of Theseus,the god Dionysus appeared and told him he had to leave the island without Ariadne, as it was meant to stay there and become his wife. Ariadne stayed on Naxos and married the god Dionysus so developed her worship like a goddess on the island. Dionysus (or Venus or Hours) gifted her a gold crown, work of Hephaestus, and brought her to Olympus.So the mortal Ariadne  became immortal god's wife.There was also a needed stop on the sacred island of Delos to offer sacrifice to Apollo.

Prior to departure, Aegeus and Theseus had agreed that the latter would raise white sails if successfully complete the mission, otherwise his companions would leave the black sails with which they had departed,in order to show the mourning. But because maybe some curse Ariadne (Ariadne had abandoned on Naxos) nobody remembered to change the sails. Aegeus watching the ship arrive with black sails,committed suicide from Cape Sounion out of despair  falling down the cliff, thus giving the Aegean Sea its name. Of course, the logical version places elsewhere the point of observation, since it would be difficult for Aegeus to stay constantly for weeks in so far (for the season) point as Sounion having given up his royal duties waiting Theseus: thus, Aegeus was watching  the sea from the temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis, where there was a tower. Seeing the ship to return with black sails, fell from the tower and died. Instead he fell Athenians founded a small namesake sacred Aegion, which recorded Pausanias climbing the Acropolis. Once Theseus returned to Athens, the Athenians celebrated the homecoming and his victory, that he deliverance them from the terrible tax, and immediately proclaimed him as king.

The death of Theseus

Later, Theseus left Athens and went to the island of Skyros. The king of the island, Likomidis, welcomed him initially, but after a while they supposedly went for a walk on the highest point and he pushed Theseus to the cliff. Theseus fell and was killed. According to another mythology, it was suicide. The Athenians remembered  him years later, when his children, Demophon and Akamas, took part in the Trojan War with Menestheas.

Themis

Themis in Greek mythology

According to Greek mythology,Themis  belonged to the Titans, the children of Gaia(earth) and Uranus(sky). She was the anthropomorphic personification of physical and moral order, and etiquette. The word themis(legit) factors from the verb tithimi and states,what has been entered, the current.

In practical symbolic level represents the law and its firm order, the divine law.

Otherwise Hesiod could not include such a titanic allegorical significance deity  in the first gods,daughter of the first divine couple of Uranus and Gaia, Themis then appears as the second companion of Zeus. His marriage with her marked after swallowing his first wife Metis, stabilizing the reign of the strongest of all the gods. A kingdom that time was guaranteed with fixed rules for mortals and gods.

Themis in mythology is the one who bestows. The law which she represents is sacred and it applies to gods and is superior even by their wishes. As a goddess she was represented as triune, goddess of natural order, goddess of moral order and prophetess goddess,status which she  inherited from her mother Gaia.

So according to these,daughters of Themis as representative of the natural order were the Ores(Hours) (= seasons with the typical precision rotation,), as representative of the moral order was  Eunomia, the Trial, and Peace, which are the supreme goods of a society, and the three Fates(Mires) (Klotho, Lachesis and Atropos) who personified the destiny of every human  and in which their father Zeus commissioned to distribute the goods to the people, and finally as representative of the prophecy were the Nymphs and virgin Astraea also was the  personification of justice.

Originally Themis having inherited the clairvoyance of her mother replaced her first,  at the Oracle of Delphi. But when Apollo was borned she showed to him special love and affection and according to legend she was the first that offered him food,so considered  as nurse of Apollo handing him later this oracle.

According to Homer's epics,emphasizes that Themis despite Zeus has herald duties and that in his name convene councils of the Olympian gods and supervised the order during the ceremonies of the banquet. Also, she was the one  announcing  every time the decisions of Zeus hence called "Zeus Themistes" as were called the laws and decisions created by the people in the image of justice of Olympus.

With these concepts Hesiod coined  in his Theogony,Themis as wife of Zeus, since the idea of ​​order is comorbid status of supreme god. So Themis is presented as protector of law and hospitality and penalize any infringement on them, especially against Paris,who violated the principles, at the Trojan war,which  he decided with Zeus.

Sometimes Themis was referred  as Ihnei goddess, meaning the  goddess seeking traces of  torts also she was referred as Panderkis goddess,beacuse of the fact that nothing would escape from her attention. At last some mythographers thought Themis as daughter of the Sun in the light of which nothing could be hidden. Indeed,it was said that Themis saw everything ,before people would see it.That was the reason she was considered as an oracle goddess .Aeschylus recognizes Themis as  mother of  proactive Prometheus.

Holy Themis existed in Thessaly, Attica, Boeotia and Olympia.

Aeolus

Aeolus(gr.Eolos) in Greek mythology 

Aeolus, in Greek mythology, was appointed by Zeus as the  keeper of the winds.

Aeolus kept the winds in the bag and left them when  Zeus commanded him. He was the son of Ippotis(knight), as Homer says. So he was called Ippotadis. He lived on the island of Aeolia, which had bronze walls. This island was thought to be the Stroggili(round), the current Stromboli, hence the name Aeolian Islands for complex owned Stromboli.

He lived on the island with his wife Amphithea. They had six sons and six daughters, who personified the winds. His sons represented the strong winds,and his daughters the mild (auras). According to a later version of the myth, Aeolus was the son of Poseidon and Arne.He lived with his mother and his brother Viotios, in  Metapontio. When forced to leave Metapontion because of the murder of his adoptive mother Autolycus, fled to an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, where he built the town of Bara,according to Diodorus Siculus. He invented sails so ships could move and taught their use to the nationals. Odysseus and his companions went to Aeolia, where Aeolus hosted them one month. When they asked for help from Aeolus to depart, he closed all the winds in a sack and left only Zephyrus blowing favorably for them. With the help of Zephyr Odysseus and his companions came close to Ithaca. But sometime that Odysseus fell asleep, his companions opened the sack, thinking that it has gold inside, and letting  all winds free.Α violent storm broke out and sent Odysseus back to the island of Aeolus, who did not consent to help him again, punishing him for impiety of his companions.The Greeks believed Aeolus was the treasurer of the winds,and  not the god of the winds. So he was not sacred, nor were sacrifices in his honor.But the Romans had him as a god. Virgil in the 'Aeneid' refers to him as king residing in a lair where he had inprisoned the winds,Hera turns to him though when she decides to destroy the ships of the Trojans.

One of the daughters of Aeolus was  Alcyone,which is associated with the legend of the Alkion days. Alcyone fell in love with Keykas(Ceyx) and they lived happily, but one day while Keykas(Ceyx)  was fishin,he fell and  he drowned and Alcyone not being able to bear the pain she fell off the rocks and got killed. The gods took pity on them  and make them birds. Zeus even commanded Aeolus annually in January to stop the winds so Alcyon will be able to incubate her eggs.

Persephone

Persephone in Greek mythology

Persephone in Greek mythology was the daughter of the goddess Demeter. Her father was Zeus and her husband was Hades. She gave birth to Zagreus, the Eyboulos and Savazio. Hades took her down to the underworld because of her  beauty.But  the Goddess Demeter requested to bring her back. Hades agreed to let her live  six months Persephone at  the upper world and the next six months,at the underworld. So,the months that Persephone was at  the upper world,goddess Demeter was rejoiced and there was summer, while the other six months there was bad weather. The myth of the abduction first appears in Hesiod's Theogony. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter is the major source of our describes how she was taken from the Nucl field when the Maiden was picking flowers in a meadow with the bevy of virgin of  Okeadnidon nymphs , Athena and Artemis. And while she was picking a narcissus, the earth opened,  Hades sprang with his chariot and grabbed her. The cries for help were not heard from anyone, except Hecate and Helios(Sun). Zeus was away.

The myth of the abduction

The  natural  theory of vegetation and agricultural cycle. Firstly seen in antiquity by the S

toics. The Maiden(Persephone) coincides with the grain and her absence with the underground containment.Her abduction is the allegory of the cycle of fertility of the nature: the cathode of Maiden to the underworld each autumn coincides with the absence of fruit, which emerge in the spring with her rise.But such an approach seems to be rejected because, as we are informed from our main source of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Persephone lived four months in the Underworld and eight months in the world above. But the  grains germinate just few weeks after sowing. Also the collection of flowers from Persephone or the wanderings of Demeter in search of her daughter can not be associated with agricultural operations
The anthropological dimension of myth. It focuses mainly on the human dimensions of myth: marriage and death-that is dominant in the myth-Traumatic separation of the mother from her young daughter, sadness and anger and ultimately reconciliation. There is also  a view  that says Hades should be considered "effete, sexually weak, while Persephone represents the erotic adventures of a teen"

Panas(Pan)

Greek deity Pan 

Panas (ancient Pan) is an ancient Greek, virtual, anthropomorphic and secondary deity , which was intertwined with "panida(fauna)" of nature (humans and animals) in a two-way relationship of protection and personalization of genetic life force.
Combining human and animal factor, Pan was depicted having  animal legs, "goat-footed God," now a patron of farmers, hunters and fishermen with permanent residence in places of nature (mountains, forests, caves, valleys, ravines, etc. ). His cult received maximum growth parallel to that of Zeus and the other Gods throughout the Greek world and beyond.
In the main mythology of the ancient Greeks Pan was the son:

>(Arcadia): Hermes and the nymph Penelope, who later was translated to heaven as a weaver of the heavenly veil and which later mythographers identification with the Spartan wife of Odysseus. And she was born on Mount Kyllini of ancient Arcadia.
>(Arcadia): Hermes and the nymph Callisto, escort of Artemis in Arcadia, and later was transformed also into the sky forming the Big Dipper.
>Zeus and the nymph Callisto or of Zeus and the nymph Thymvridos or
Of Uranus(Heaven) and Gaia(Earth), or
Of  Etheros(ether) and some nymph, or end
Apollo and Inoe(wine).

The myth of Pan

The appearance of Pan in Greek mythology seems to be estimated at  the 7th century BC. According to the prevailing traditions he was born on Mount Lykaion in Arcadia. But once he saw his mother leaving  him terrified of the form that he had two horns goat head, pointy ears, and he was bearded goat-footed. Hermes that saw the scene, rushed and protected the exhibitor Pan, whom conveyed to Olympus and where he was presented to Zeus and the other gods who welcomed him . He then returned and raised by the Arcadian nymphs, where he became a friend of Dionysus, and appeared more as a protector of farmers and pastoralists and their products, wine lovers and fun.
Panas was the companion of the nymphs and a tireless lover of any new or re-approaching young people that came close to his place,meaning the Nature. Patron of  goat proliferating,was soon considered himself a stallion even of those. He loved the natural life outdoors where he spent endless hours playing with his pastoral flute,syringe. It is said that the syringe (Latin: Syrinx) was also a Nymph,who in order to avoid Pan morphed into a stubble. Then Pan cut off  this reed  into lawlessness pieces which and joined in series and created his  flute.
The sexual adventures he had with various nymphs are many,the most important of which was the seduction of the Moon (idealized interpretation of New Moon)
Associated with Pan, is the legend that in the Battle of Marathon he helped the Greeks against the Persians,with loud and frightening voices echoing rhythmically his name "pan -pan- pan .... consistently Persians, listening those voices, seized by panic (a word derived from the name of Pan) and they retreated.

The worship of Pan

Naturally at the beginning Pan was worshiped in Arcadia on the Mount he was born as a shepherd and a secondary god, that's why Arcadia formerly  was called  Pania. In Lykaio was the oldest temple dedicated to Pan and the Moon. Later in Lykosoura created an important temple of Pan in which they were doing, as noted by Pausanias, and divination. Also in place Melpeia outside the temple of Pan found numerous pottery and bronze statuettes of the 6th and 5th centuries BC, probably as offerings. Gradually Pan, worshiped by fishermen,that's why he took the name "Pan over Aktion(Pan over the shores)" or "Pan Aktion",there were created coastal sanctuaries mainly fishing shelters of antiquity.
Also when the Athenians regarded Pan as an important factor in their victory over the Persians, Pan acquired and  polemical(war) divinity character. So many caves and hills in  Attica  got its name. Among them is the cave at the northwestern side of the Acropolis of Athens, another in Parnitha, third in Marathon and fourth Vari called "Cave Nymfoliptou or Archedimou." In all these reliefs are found Pan,Hermes and the Nymphs and many offerings one of which is the votive relief set forth in the Stoa of Attalos. Also Paneio term, Northeast Varis and the hill today the so-called "Pani(vail)" at Alimos was dedicated to Pan. Pan also worshiped in Aegina, Argos, in Psyttaleia, of Sicyon Troizina, in Oropos Megalopolis in Corycian, mostly Pianos Arcadia and the village took its name from the god. It should be noted here that the last-mentioned village there is the cave of Pan, which can be visited only on foot along the path, or as attributes inform us and  a "goat-road" through a path of unparalleled beauty (which starts from the village square) and to see on the rock  the form of the deity (looking at the cave entrance at the top-right diagonal). In the recent past, the cave was used by local shepherds who found there a shelter to protect themselves and their animals from the rain. The black color, might make an impression to the visitor, the walls of the cave comes from the fires set by shepherds to keep warm in winter.
However,the cult of Pan can be found also outside of Greece. Specifically, in the Egyptian city Chemmin, the "Panopoli" of ancient Greek,god Pan was identified with the god Min. And in Rome combined with Louperko in honor of whom they were the Lupercalia. Also in the Hellenistic period, the Stoic philosophers and the Orphic philosophers described Pan as god of "universe" (ex pan = all, universe) and ideal personification of Nature and its forces. In later years, Pan was considered as a  mortal demonic form. So with the advent of Christianity the form of Pan instead of the virtual form of outdoor life,was adopted as a distorted form of the Devil of Hell.

Pan in the Art

The god Pan holds a very important place in art. His sacred tree was the oak and Pityous (pine).His symbols are the syringe (the lumen) and the bezel. The sacrifices that were offered to him,included cows, rams and sheep milk and honey.
Important sculptors of antiquity took their subjects from Panama that Praxiteles and Zeuxis some of which are preserved in Roman copies. Feature is the cluster of Pan (1st picture) exposed at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens where Aphrodite threatens Pan with her sandal.
In modern times Pan continued  is an inspiration by artists such as sculptors FRAGAVILLA, Rodin and painters Romano, Rubens, Poussin and even Picasso
The asteroid 4450 Pan (4450 Pan), discovered in 1987, took its name from the God.

Iaso

The Greek goddess of healing,Iaso

Iaso or Iiso (in the Ionic dialect) is an ancient Greek ideal, anthropomorphic, secondary (attached Aesculapius) god intertwined with the "sacred" sense of healing (healing). Reportedly daughter of Asclepius and Ipioni, sister goddesses Hygeia(health), Akesos, Panacea and Aegle or as Amphiaraos daughter .
As derivatives of the verb iaomai (= heal) place names: Iasis (Healing) - Jason - Iasos - Jesus (implicitly) - Iatir - Iatos - Iatros(doctor) - Iator and the Iama(remedy) as a means of therapy - as holy water of Christians.
Pausanias reports that in Amphiaraeion Oroposu was the altar, one of the five parts of which were dedicated to Aphrodite, the Panacea, the Iaso, Hygeia(health) and Peony Athena.
Also worshiped at Epidaurus and Athens.

Hebe

Goddess Hebe in Greek mythology

Hebe in Greek mythology is presented as a (minor) goddess of youth and vitality. She was the daughter of Zeus and Hera. According to a legend, Hera got pregnant to Hebe, when she was called by Apollo for lunch and she  had eaten wild lettuce.
Hebe was responsible to supply the gods with nectar and ambrosia. Ambrosia was the food that  maintained them forever  young. The duty of the supplier of the gods took Ganymede when the goddess married Hercules. Among her duties was the preparation and the chariot of Hera.
Hebe married Hercules when he ascended to Olympus as a demigod. So Hercules remained forever young. Together they had two children: Alexiaris and Anikitos(unbeatable). It is also said that his nephew Iolaus became young again with the help of Hebe after  Hercules himself begged her.
In Heraion of Argos, according to Pausanias,near the statue of Hera was a golden statue of the goddess Hebe,made by Nafkydous .

Eros

The god of love,Eros in Greek mythology

 Eros in Greek mythology, love's longing personified, is regarded as Aphrodite's constant companion, and according to the later idea, as her son. In their train are found Peitho ( persuasion) and the Charites, to whom Aphrodite is otherwise closely related ; for in the Iliad Charis is the wife of Hephaestus, while according to the Odyssey Aphrodite herself occupies this position.
Eros, on the other hand, was the masculine representative of love. He was worshiped as a real god from
ancient times, probably even by the prehellenic population of Thespiae in Boeotia, Parion on the Hellespont,
and Leuctra in Laconia. At Thespiae he was worshiped under the very ancient symbol of a rough stone ; but he was there considered the son of Hermes, the dispenser of fruitfulness, and of the Artemis of the lower world (a goddess of earth's fruitfulness, much like Derneter and Persephone). In the Homeric poems, however, he does not yet 'appear as a divinity ; and Hesiod, though certainly acquainted with his actual worship, regards him only as a world-engendering primitive force. Himeros (Lat. Cupido), the longing of impetuous love, and Pothos, love's ardent desire, were after a while distinguished from Eros ; but they were not recognized as actual divinities. Thus there was gradually developed a plurality of Erotes not easily distinguished from each other. After the beginning of the fifth century B.C. Eros was represented in art as a winged boy or a youth of tender years, with a flower and a lyre, a fillet (taenid) and a garland in his hands, often in company with Aphrodite, who now was regarded as his mother. After the fourth
century B.C. he received as attributes a bow and arrow,and also a torch ; for love's smart which he inflicted was regarded as a wound. Still later, through a misunderstanding, the torch was supposed to symbolize the light of life, and Eros, like Aphrodite, was associated also with death and the lower world. The torch in his hand was reversed or extinguished, and sometimes he was represented as fatigued and just sinking down to sleep ; thus lie became practically identical with Thanatos, the god of death.Finally, the Platonic conception, that love both blesses and curses and torments the human soul, was expressed by
representing Eros as now flatteringly embracing, and again cruelly torturing Psyche (' soul '), who was pictured as a butterfly , or as a maiden with a butterfly's wings.

Hecate

Goddess Hecate in Greek mythology

Hecate was worshiped principally in Caria and the adjacent provinces of Asia Minor, where she seems to have been an ancient goddess of the country. In Greece proper she was really worshiped only on the east coast, where she was particularly honored on the island of Aegina by secret rites or mysteries (Hysteria). In earlier times she was represented with but one body, fully clothed, in her hands two burning torches, which were attributed to her because of her character as a goddess of light; but Alcamenes (toward the end of the fifth century B.C.) made for the Acropolis at Athens a figure representing her as having three bodies (triformis). These three bodies were placed back to back so that one of them constantly, like the crescent moon, looked towards the left, another, like the waning moon, towards the right, while the one standing between them, like the full moon, turned her face towards the beholder. The dish and measure that she carries in representations of this type characterize her as dispenser of dew. Afterwards her worship at the crossroads was associated with these figures, and hence she was called Trioditis, Lat. Trivia ('the goddess of the crossroads').

Hecate was a kind of patron goddess of the belief in ghosts and witchcraft, and, as a natural consequence, a
goddess of the lower world. The first of these functions belongs properly to the moon goddess as the mistress of the dismal nighttime ; but she came to be considered a witch because she herself, i.e. the moon, has the power of changing her own form, a trick that plays an important part in all witchcraft. Therefore she was regarded as the mother of the enchantresses Circe and Medea ('the shrewd/ 'the cunning woman'). Her association with the realm of the dead, however, was based on the idea that night and the world below are in general closely related ; it was also believed that at its setting the moon sank down into the lower world, so that a subterranean or gloomy Hecate (Ckthonia, fikotia) was commonly recognized.

In the Greek world the classic form of Hecate stands rigid and strange, embossed on a triangle, with her faces turned in three directions. The Greeks tried to get rid of the severity of these statues breaking the triune aspect deity in three virgin dancers. In subsequent seasons, insisted strongly on the triune aspect of divinity than the classic era of Hesiod. The fact that the Ekateia celebrated in tristrata and that these sites were dedicated to Hecate does not contravene the hesiodic or secular conception of number three. Simultaneously Hecate as lady of spirits, warned the Greeks that a threefold division would necessarily create next to an organized world of Zeus a chaotic region, which continues on the shapeless part of the primordial world as Underworld. The Greeks believed that the triplicity of Hecate was something sinister.

In earlier times, even before petrified the three faces of Hecate in the known Ekateia, these three aspects seem to have constituted many forms or kingdoms of the world, many possible developments of one and the same solid idea. Thus, in this form which is obviously the smallest of goddesses, the lowest of the three, one discerns an internal relationship between Demeter, Kore and Hecate. From here stems and obvious idea of the mythology , as it unfolds in the anthem.

Dionysus

God Dionysus in Greek mythology

Dionysus (Lat. Bacchus) himself, the most important of the divinities of fruitfulness, was once represented in animal form, namely, that of a bull, richly endowed with procreative power, as is seen from certain
of the customs of his worship in Argos and Elis ; and at a later period the bull and the he-goat were still considered the most acceptable offerings to him. Nevertheless, the worship of Dionysus (' Zeus-man ? or ' Zeus-hero ') had its origin, properly speaking, in Thrace ; and from there, by an emigration of part of the inhabitants toward the southwest, it reached Phocis and Boeotia, and, later, Attica also. The Phocians w.ere closely related to the Phrygians of Asia Minor, among whom he was worshiped, under the name Sdbazius, as son of Ma, the mother of the gods.
In his native home, and later also in Greece, the worship of the god was celebrated by women, who
in sensual ecstasy, carrying torches, reveled by night through the mountain forests in so-called 'orgies/ a
word that is connected with greek "orgao"= (' to swell with fructifying moisture'). These devotees of his became in mythology sometimes his nurses, the nymphs, and sometimes his attendants, the Bacchae (' exulting ones '), Maenades (' raving ones '), and Thyiades (' raging ones ').To fill themselves (and typically, at the same time,
the rural districts represented by them) with new procreative power, they tore in pieces young animals (and,
in the earliest times, probably even children) which had been dedicated to the god, and which, according to
the older idea, filled his place. Then they drank the blood, which was regarded as the seat of vital strength,
devoured the raw flesh, and wrapped themselves in the fresh skin. At the same time with a loud voice they besought the god (whom at the time of the winter solstice fancy pictured as a sleeping child in a winnowing fan) to dispense fruitfulness in the year just beginning. The god was called also Bacchus or lacchus from the shouts uttered by them.
It was for the same purpose that in the rural districts of Attica the phallus was carried about during the
lesser Dionysia, which came at the same time in the year (Poseideon = December-January). In Athens itself, at the festival of the Anthesteria (' flower festival ?), this favor of the god was sought by the ceremony of his symbolic marriage with a queen representing the soil. In the times of the republic her place was filled by the wife of the ArcJwn Basileus.

Sacred things for Dionysus

As the bull and the he-goat, of all the animals,were especially sacred to Dionysus, so in the vegetable
kingdom were the evergreen ivy and the vine swelling with juice, on account of their luxuriant growth. The vine was especially appropriate also for the reason that the enjoyment of wine drinking has the faculty of increasing the sensual excitement peculiar to this worship to a point of enthusiasm that is like madness (drunkenness). (Of.i Spirit/'spirits of wine.') Such an effect, moreover, corresponded to the nature of Dionysus, who was so generally believed to be taken into oneself in drink that his relation to wine gradually drove into the background all other phases of his character.As Lyaeus ('freer from care ') he carries for a symbol the vine branch or the tliyrsus (vine-prop). In his honor was celebrated at Athens the vintage festival of the Oschophoria (' carrying about of vines'), as well as the Lenaea (' feast of the wine press'); while the island of Naxos, which abounded in wines, and was the center of the worship of Dionysus among the islands having an Ionian population, the ditliyrambus was probably first sung. This' was originally a simple drinking song in honor of the god, which in Corinth became a chorus rendered by singers in the costume of Satyrs. From this was developed the dithyramb of Pindar at the festivals of Dionysus in Thebes. In Athens, however, it became the drama, at first in the form of ( tragedy= ' goat song') or satyr-play. Here, at the spring games of the greater Dionysia, the presentation of the dramas that grew out of the dithyramb came at length to constitute the most essential part of the festival.When the real significance of the above-mentioned
sacrifice of children was no longer understood, the Orphic poets, i.e. the representatives of the religious poetry developed by the worship of Dionysus, about the time of Pisistratus, attempted to explain that sacrificial custom by inventing the story that Dionysus himself, when a child, or in animal form, had been torn in pieces by the Titans, and had therefore received the name Zagreus.There was, however, symbolized in that fable an idea based  an actual process of nature ; for Dionysus really seemed to die in the fall. As the reproductive power of nature vanishes after the harvest time for a season, so its awakening in the spring, which in Athens was celebrated by the Anthesteria (' flower festival '), could be looked upon as a resurrection of the fructifying god, and thus he could easily be regarded as having been temporarily dead. This was the case particularly at Delphi, and probably also in the 'mysteries' of Eleusis.

Dionysus  and Ariadne

The legend of the marriage of Dionysus with Ariadne, a Cretan goddess very much like Aphrodite,which was localized on the island of Naxos (Dia) near Crete, is entirely in harmony with the nature of the fructifying god; and the significance of this wedlock is indicated by the names of their sons, Oenopion (' wine drinker '), Staphylus (' grape-cluster '), and Euanthes(' the richly blooming '). He is, however, associated with Aphrodite as the father of Priapus, god of gardens and flocks, who was worshiped at Lampsacus on the
Hellespont and was essentially like his father The oldest symbol of the worship of Dionysus is a consecrated post or pillar (the idea of which probably arose from a sacred tree) ; and from this, by the addition of a mask and clothing, the oldest regular images naturally developed. The type of the god in which he is bearded and fully clothed was the prevalent one till sometime during the fourth century B.C. ; later he appeared as a child on the arm of Hermes or of a bearded Satyr. After Praxiteles represented him as a youth nearly nude, clothed only with a skin of a fawn, the nude and youthful form came to be universally accepted.

Other greek gods

Other deities of Greek mythology are:

Pluto [or Hades, in early antiquity]: God of the Lower and the Invisible World.
Dionysus: God of drama and play, god of wine. It is also associated with fertility.
Hecate: Goddess of sorcery.
Eros: God of love.
Hebe: Goddess of youth.
IASO: Goddess of healing.
Pan: God of fauna and pastors.
Persephone: Goddess of seasons [daughter of Demeter].
Aeolus: God of winds.
Themis: Goddess of justice.

Locally the Twelve could change. In some areas the Twelve entered Hearth and Pluto and local deities, especially rivers, because they play an essential role in the survival of humans.

Hades

God of the underworld,Hades in Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Hades(Pluto), god of the underworld, was son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. He had three older sisters, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera, as well as two younger brothers, Poseidon and Zeus. After his birth  his father  Cronus "swallowed" him and his brothers in an allegorical performance superiority followed then "Saturnian religion" that everything is shaded destruction time-Cronus.

The just grown up Zeus, who was rescued from the infanticide tactics of his father, managed to force him to release his siblings. After their release the six younger gods, along with allies they managed to gather, claimed by their parents and uncles the power, causing Titanomachy. The three brothers have received from the Cyclopes weapons that will help them in the battle between the gods. Zeus had given the thunderbolt, Poseidon a trident and Pluto a helmet that made anyone who wore it invisible.

Pluto took as his wife, Persephone, through trickery, a story that connected the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries with the Olympian pantheon, an early allegorical presence - connecting life and death.
Pluto ruled the dead, assisted by demons over whom he had absolute power. Strictly forbid his subjects to leave his domain and become angry if anyone tried to escape (to come back to life), or if someone was trying to remove that belonged to him.

Besides Hercules, the only other living people who ventured to the underworld and return, also all heroes,were : Orpheus, Theseus, Odysseus and Aeneas (accompanied by the Sibyl). None of them enjoyed particularly by what they saw in the kingdom of the dead. Specifically, the hero of the Trojan war Achilles, whom Odysseus met in Hades said:

"Do not speak soothingly to me about death, glorious Odysseus.I would rather choose to serve as the hireling of another, rather than lord over the dead that were lost."

Hades: the residence of the dead

There were many areas of Hades, including the Elysian Fields and Tartarus.
In Roman mythology, an entrance to the underworld  was in Avernous, a crater near Cumae in Campania was the road that Aeneas used to descend to the underworld. Connotations, the word may have been Avernous substitute whole importance underworld. The Inferi Dii were the Roman gods of the underworld.
The dead people entered the underworld by crossing the Acheron River,on the boat of Charon, who charged a donation for passage,which was placed under the tongue of the dead by pious relatives. The poor men and the friendless gathered forever on the bank of the river. The other side was guarded by Cerberus, the three headed dog defeated by Heracles. Beyond Cerberus, the shades of the departed entered Tartarus, the land of the dead.

The five rivers of Hades are Acheron (o river of sorrow), Cocytus (o river of lamentation) Flegethon (o river has fiery flames), Oblivion (o river of forgetfulness) and Styx (o river of hate).

The first area of Hades includes Fields of Asphodel,as described in Odyssey, where the shades of heroes that wander desperately among lesser spirits, who twitter around them like bats.
Besides there was the Erebus, which can be regarded as a euphemism of Hades, the name of which caused dread. There were two pools, that of Lethe, where the common souls flocked to erase all memory, and the source of Mnemosyne, where instead were drinking the initiates of the Mysteries. Outside the baleful palace of Hades and Persephone were sitting the three judges of the Underworld: Minos, Rhadamanthus and Aeacus. There, place shrine dedicated to Hecate, where the three roads meets, souls are judged and returned to the Fields of Asphodel if they are neither virtuous nor evil, sent to Tartarus if they are impious or evil, or  driven to the Elysian Fields to acompany the heroic and the blessed.

Pluto was a fearsome figure to the living. Not in hurry to meet him, they were reticent to swear oaths in his name. For many, simply to say the word Pluto was frightening. This is why there has been used an euphemism. Since precious minerals come from under the earth (ie the underworld governed by Pluto)was considered that ruled over these, too, and was referred to as Pluto (Pluto, relative of the word "wealth"), and hence the Roman name Pluto. Sophocles explained referring to Pluto as the "rich one" with these words: "the overbearing Pluto enriches himself with our sighs and our tears." In addition, they called him Clymene, Evvoulefs and Polydegmon.

Although he was an Olympian, he spent most of his time in his dark realm. Formidable in battle, he proved his ferocity in the famous Clash of the Titans, the battle of the Olympians versus the Titans, which established the rule of Zeus.
Because of his dark and morbid personality he was not especially liked by either the gods nor the mortals. His character is described as "savage and ruthless" and by all the gods were by far the most hated by mortals. However, it was not bad god, for although he was stern, ruthless and without grace, but he was  just. Hades ruled the Underworld and therefore most often associated with death and was feared by men, but he was not death itself. The actual embodiment of Death was Thanatos.

When praying to him it was customary to strike on the ground with the hands, that the god might hear; and
black sacrificial animals were offered to him, as to the dead themselves. Black animals, such as sheep, were sacrificed in his honor. The blood from sacrifices to Hades dripped into a pit to reach him. The person who offered the sacrifice had to turn his head. Every one hundred years festivals were held in his honor.

Pluto's weapon was a fork, which shatter everything that was in his way or what was not to his liking, much as Poseidon did with his trident.
One of the objects that he possessed and identified him was a famous helmet, given to him by the Cyclopes, which made ​​anyone who wore it invisible. It is known that Pluto sometimes loaned his helmet to gods and men (such as Perseus). His dark chariot, drawn by four black horses, always a fearsome and impressive sight. Also Pluto attributes were the Narcissus and Cypress plants, the Key of Pluto and Cerberus, the three-headed dog.

Hermes

God Hermes in Greek mythology

In  Greek mythology Hermes is the messenger of the gods . Even works as a  psychopomp, ie leads the souls of the dead to Hades (as we learn in the Odyssey), but  he is also patron of thieves, gambling and trade. According to the  prevailing myth, the father of Hermes was Zeus and his mother Maia, one of the Pleiades, the daughters of Atlas, the giant who held on his backs the sky. This is the Pleiades daughters whom  later Zeus turned into a constellation, along with the hunter Orion, as he was pursuing them.

He is perhaps the most sympathetic deity of Greek twelve, combining  very strong human and divine elements, but also because he is essentially the first teacher of the human race, He  introduced letters and sciences to humanity taught using intellect and indeed there are myths which attribute to him imparting knowledge of fire to humans. Simultaneously he is a patron of commerce, sacrificial rites and magic. Expresses an almost archetypal way of speed, flexibility, versatility, but also the fraudulent ways that sometimes  the mind follows as it gets easily fraud and makes mistakes. He has, moreover, a shadowy and further human side, being first in fraud, lies and thievery. The British scholar John R. Willet writes the following:

"... Hermes is the most likeable, the most unstable, the most confused the most complex and therefore more Greek than all the Olympian gods."

Ηowever,his main features,are that he works as a messenger of the gods, ie as an intermediary between them and the people, and fulfills the proffesion of psychopomp, leading the souls of the dead to Hades.He is also one of the deities which for his activities uses the dark nights and for that he is considered to have very good relationship with the Moon. Even mentioned that at the night that he stole the sacred cattle of Apollo, only the fourth day of his birth, the Moon came out twice to ease him in moving from Pieria to the mountains of Kyllinis. His symbols are the caduceus, emblem Swift messengers, and winged sandals. In the Internal Tradition Hermes symbolizes the "Logos", ie the set of all minds in the universe or to any of the subsystems.

History of Hermes

The origin of Hermes is very distant and is associated with the prehistoric Greece, as there is evidence suggesting that the Herms, (; upraised stones used to define areas and also as signposts for travelers) they were widespread in prehistoric Crete and in other regions of ancient Greece, and is deemed to have a close relationship with Kaveiria mysteries, most primordial mysteries of Greek territory in ancient times.

As is known from the Ptolemaic period, the city of Alexandria in Egypt is one of the most famous spiritual center of the era which meet and mix all the philosophical currents. Than before, however, since the Greeks came into contact with the Egyptian culture and religion, came an identification of the Greek Hermes and Egyptian Thoth, and found that there were common features between the two deities. However, during the Ptolemaic and Roman period and the early centuries AD was a new archetypal form, which was not exactly either Hermes or Thoth, but a combination of characteristics of both seasoned and probably influenced by the Jewish tradition .

The 2nd century BC the Jew Artapanos novelist wrote a narrative of the life of Moses, which identifies the hero with Hermes, ie Thoth, considering that he imported to the Egyptians,  ships, machines, guns, philosophy etc.. Considers him also inventor of hieroglyphs. More generally, Hermes in the Hellenistic period was a carefully constructed cosmopolitan deity, which  could be identified perfectly with mortal ones. For example, Lycaon had no difficulty recognizing in the face of the Apostle Paul incarnate Hermes, because he was a skilful speaker. This is because due to the status of Hermes-Thoth as messengers of the gods established the Hellenistic Hermes as "Logos", meaning those people who interpret the divine will.

Hephaestus

God Hephaestus in Greek mythology

Hephaestus is the god of fire and metalworking in Greek mythology. He was the son of Zeus and Hera. This refers at the Homeric verses, which were followed by later writers. However, Hesiod presents the god as the child of Hera only, who was born with parthenogenesis without the involving of  a father.Borned ugly and distorted,but his mother Hera was shamed so she, threw him from Mount Olympus.The god-infant fell into the sea, where he was collected by Thetis and Eurynome,they raised him for nine years. Once the god grew up, he immediately erected his first ironworks in the depth of the Aegean sea, hammering there beautiful objects for these two deities.
One day, Hera, envious of the jewelery of Thetis the Nereid asked them about their origins, and when she discovered that they were crafted by the son that she had despised, she went, took him and brought him back to the mountain of the gods. There, she offered him a blacksmith with 20 bellows and gave him as wife, the beautiful Aphrodite.
There is also another version,about the return of Hephaestus at the picks of Olympus,  according to which he sent a gift to his mother, a unique art throne, when she sat on it she got trapped automatically by invisible shackles and forced to seek the help of the despised son to be released.
In the Iliad, Aphrodite appears to cheat Hephaestus with the charming  Ares on the marital bed, but one day,unawared they got caught by the ugly but also clever god of fire ,trapping them in a thin gold net and then expose them in front of all the other gods . Hesiod, however, displays as a wife of Hephaestus Aglaia, the youngest of the Graces.
In a later incident, Zeus threw god-blacksmith from the god's residence because he was rushing to help Hera when she was hanging from the celestial vault, grounded for the storm she had sent against Hercules. This time, the fate of Hephaestus was to fall into shore on the island of Lemnos, where he was found by the Sintis at the evening, exhausted and broken both his legs from falling on the hard ground. The care and the hospitality of these poor people made ​​ their island the favorite place of God on earth of mortals. There, on Mount Mosychlos, he recreated, his permanent this time workshop. There he will create many exquisite objects which were  ordering the gods, and weapons for some people.
Among the crafts of Hephaestus stands out the clay woman, Pandora, whom Zeus gave to Epimetheus as a wife in order to avenge the insult  that  had  done by his brother Prometheus, when  stole the fire.

Hephaestus and volcanoes

The name of Hephaestus was given to the "volcanoes mountains," currently known in geology as volcanoes, which in turn baptized and the whole industry, the Volcanology. It is obvious why,people imagined that beneath a mountain from which derived smoke, fire and more sonorous sounds,a god had his forge. For the same reason, except Mosychlos (which for centuries was emitting fumes), other versions want the forge of Hephaestus to "conceals" in other volcanic places, usually in Etna, Mount Vesuvius or the Aeolian Islands.

Athena

Goddess Athena in Greek mythology

Athena, in Greek mythology, was the goddess of wisdom, strategy and war. Older types of the name of the goddess were the types Athan (Doric) and Athens, and the name Athena which  eventually prevailed, resulting from the adjective Athanaia.At the platonic Cratylus the name Athena derives from A-god-Noa or H-god-Noah, that means  the mind of God (Kratyl. 407b), but this explanation is not totaly correct. 

Associated by the Etruscans with their goddess Menrva and later by the Romans as Minerva, symbolized by an owl, kept a shield of goatskin, called Aegis, which had been given to her  by her father and accompanied by the goddess Nike. Athena often helped heroes. She was armed, never as a child, always a virgin. The Parthenon in Athens is the most famous temple dedicated to her. Never had a partner or lover, although once Hephaestus tried and failed.

The birth of Athena

Athena was the favorite daughter of Zeus. Her mother was Metis, the first wife of Zeus. Zeus learned after prophecy that Metis would give birth to a child which would overturn the power of his father, so he had swallowed her while she was pregnant to Athena. Later, Zeus began to suffer from headaches and asked Hephaestus to help him. Then Hephaestus with a big hammer hit the head of Zeus and Athena popped out wearing armor, helmet and holding a shield. Seeing Zeus,she  threw everything to his legs, sample of  recognition as a supreme god.

Athena as a goddess (and) of  the war was jacketed with Aegis, different from that of Zeus. In one version, Athena made he armor by the skin of Chimera , in another version, her armor was make of the skin of the monster Aegis or Aigientos, which destroyed everything in Libya, Egypt, Phrygia and Phoenicia, which Athena exterminated. Also the shield (and chest armor) of Athena was made by the head of Medusa. Medusa was a beautiful mortal and for this reason she was sieged by Neptune, but insulted  Athena by "polluting" a temple of her  by flirting inside  it. Then Athena transformed her into a monster so no man would besiege her again and her gaze would turn to stone anyone who looked at it. When Perseus killed Medusa, offered to the goddess's her head as thanksgiving gift, because thanks to the glossy shield she gave him, he was able to defeat Medusa by looking only at her idol .

City of Athens

Athena and Poseidon claimed the same city. So went the Acropolis and before the Athenians decided that whoever gave the most beautiful gift it would have the city. Poseidon struck the side of a cliff with his trident and immediately gushed a well. The people marveled, but the water was salty as the sea water, which overwhelms Neptune and was thus not very useful. Athena's gift was an olive tree, which was better, as provided to the city, food, oil and timber. Thus,Athena won the duel, ,and named the city of Athens.

Athena and Erichthonius

Athena had no love affair,she was  the symbol of eternal virginity. Only once Hephaestus tried to reach her out and was rammed into her arms. The goddess repelled his passion but Hephaestus  managed to leave his semen on her thigh. Athena full of disgust swept her leg with a piece of wool and threw it to the earth. From this piece, and the with the help of Gaia, was borned Erichthonius.

Athena and Arachne

A woman named Arachne, famous weaver, once bragged that she was superior in the art of weaving even from Athens herself, and challenged her to a duel. Athena in her tapestry depicted the conflict with Poseidon for Athens, while Arachne scoffed the love exploits of the gods of Olympus. Angry Athena for this insult to the gods tore the Arachne's weaving, Arachne not being able to endure the shame, hanged herself. Athena felt pity and loosened the noose from her neck, but she punished her by transforming Arachne in Arthropods spider.

Nicknames of Athena

Pallas

Maybe the nickname comes from the giant Pallas, whom Athena killed in fierce battle. In another version was nicknamed that because he was born from the head of Zeus shaking her spear.

Glafkopis

Often used by Homer. Has the meaning blue eyed (glaucous + ops). It is interesting that the owl , the sacred bird of Athena, comes from the same root, probably due to its own large and bright eyes.

Areia

The nickname that became the goddess Athena in the trial of Orestes in the Supreme Court for the murder of his mother, Clytemnestra. The critical vote in favor of Athena, Orestes was acquitted.

Ergane

They attributed this nickname, as she was the protector of artisans and crafts.

Virgo

With this epithet was worshiped in the temple of the Parthenon.

Promahos

With this name called Athena,when she was entering into battle ,fully armed .

Polias

This nickname was attributed to her ,as patron goddess of Athens and the Acropolis.

Artemis

Artemis goddess in greek mythology

Artemis (in latin Diana) is one of the oldest, most complex and most interesting forms of the Greek pantheon. Daughter of Zeus and Leto, twin sister of Apollo, Queen of the mountains and forests, hunting goddess, protector of small children and animals.

Hestia, Athena and Artemis, were the only goddesses on whom Venus had no power  (which had subjugated all Gods and men).

Equivalent of Artemis in Roman mythology is Diana, while Etruscan deity Artoumes.

The myth

The birth of the peculiar goddess is placed at the island Ortygia. In this barren rocky island after terrible hardships and wanderings had fled the pregnant Leto to hide and protect  from persecutive fury of the lawful wife of Zeus, Hera. There, with the help of all female deities (except Hera) came to light Artemis and later her brother Apollo.

From the first hours of her birth Artemis was initiative. Although newborn infant, helps her exhausted mother to give birth to her second child, Apollo, and is identified in this way with Eilithia from ELEFTHO son, ie, grandchild, and so the goddess of childbirth. Beautiful and brilliant Artemis, had very early gained the appreciation of other gods. Since the age of three had specific requirements relating to the clothing, equipment and the sequence of her most favorite pastime, hunting. She was a child who knew what she wanted and really stable and rigid in her decisions.

Zeus  admired her for her perseverance and because of her versatility, he harbored great love and satisfied all her desires. One of the first things Artemis asked as a gift from her father was the eternal purity and virginity. Faithful and steady in what called and committed, the maiden goddess never besmirched her ethics, nor her character. Serious and proud, maintained her purity disregarding erotic sieges and assaults. Dedicated to hunting and nature, unconcerned about the joys of marriage and the pleasures of love. With enforcement and stringency demanded innocence and virginity not only of herself but of the Nymphs that surround it, and also those who with their services honored her.

Artemis was a goddess relentless ever almost never forgave. Any wrongdoing against her, any deviation from her beliefs and principles deserved punishment. Her unrelenting fury was ready to erupt at any moment against the violator of her strict rules. Her deadliest arrows were continuously targeting  mortals, gods and heroes who ignored her existence or neglected her principles and her worship.
Once Aktaionas, the son of Autonoe and Aristaeus, happened to see Artemis naked, the time she was taking ​​her bath. The goddess feared of spreading  the incident, transformed him into a deer and put the fifty dogs that accompanied him to devour him. In another case Callisto, daughter of Lycaon (and one of the attendants of Artemis in hunting) was nearly killed by the arrows of the goddess because seduced by Zeus had lost her virginity and  got pregnant. Also Artemis killed Ariadne, because according to legend she was kidnapped and molested by Theseus on Naxos. Finally, the Orion, the son of Poseidon, he also found tragic death by the arrows of Artemis, because according to tradition he had mingle with the goddess of dawn Eos, or because according to another tradition had boasted that he was better than her in the  art of the bow.

Artemis had particularly fond for children and adolescents. Young men and women who maintained their innocence and who lived according to her principles, were always minions and were constantly under her protection. Hippolytus, indeed, had dedicated to it and worship, is a living example of this tactic and weakness of the goddess.

Hippolytus, was, a keen hunter and horse tamer, he had dedicated his life to the beautiful Artemis and the ideal that she believed in. No challenge, no woman it was not ever able to sets him adrift. Nor Phaedra, wife of Theseus, was able to charm to seduce him. His exemplary behavior made ​​the goddess to be touched and to spare him honors, and eternal glory-after his death-his memory name. Artemis was one of the most beautiful and most elegant goddesses of Olympus. The ancient Greeks really admired her. They imagined her  tall, with graceful beauty, imperious posture and walking proud.

Generally  goddess Artemis was  energetic, hard and restless. In most events appears conscious, mature and decisive, while a few were those events which show a completely different picture of her.

In the war of Gods, the proud and demanding daughter of Zeus appears as a small immature girl who had to obey, to respect and comply with the requirements of his wife's father and her brother. Faced with the reluctance of Apollo to duel with Poseidon, Artemis holds negative attitudes and faces her twin brother with  ironically words, insolent and contemptuous. Hera, saw this incident, enraged at the behavior and furiously started beating Artemis with her ​​own arrows.

One of the favorite occupations of Artemis was hunting. Female active, impetuous and agile, free and restless goddess channeled most of her energy in the search and tracking of prey in the mountains. Accompanied by cool and beautiful nymphs and surrounded by wild hounds running around the lakes, rivers, meadows and mountains to find mainly wild animals. Dressed in a simple light clothing and equipped with the appropriate equipment for the occasion she was thrown with excitement and fury in what mainly interested her. Untamed, brutal and imperious, excellent  literate of art of archery and very capable runner and hunter, served with passion in hunting.

One of the main features of Artemis was the universal domination of nature. Domestic and wild animals, fish the waters and birds in the air were all under her protection.

As goddess and protector of nature Artemis considered to be responsible for both agriculture and for husbandry. Areas that worshiped her and honored unfailingly always had fertile land, dotted fields, bountiful harvest and animals healthy and fertile. In contrast, many of the areas that did not comply properly with their obligations towards her and moreover disregarded her existence, had to face her vengeful rage and fury, which mean the destruction of crops and decimation of herds.

The punishment of Admetus
Admetus and Oineas faced  the wrath of the goddess because of their neglect and indifference that they showed. The Admetus in the wedding feast had forgotten to sacrifice (as required) to Artemis. Artemis angry by this irregularity sent to the bridal bed, a herd of snakes, while prepared to take his life. Apollo tried in vain to coax her. Eventually he persuaded the Fates to spare his life and in return get someone else's life from his own man. In this requirement of the Fates only his wife Alcestis is willing to be offered. ,however,at the last moment, the intervention of Hercules saves her  before her  soul  descended into Hades.

The punishment of Oineas
 Oineas once had forgotten to sacrifice the patron of the city of Calydon, meaning Artemis. His ignorance costed to the city and its people. A huge boar sent by the goddess caused massive damage to land, animals and people. Nobody dared to kill him. The only one who dared was Meleager, the son of Eneas,he was finally the one who killed him, but later he was killed in a scuffle around the deal of the boar's meat. The wife and the mother of Meleager could not handle the grief of his death and suicide by their unhappiness. His sisters, that were weeping him incessantly, transformed by Artemis into fowls.

Artemis and Hercules
Apart from her participation in all of the above events, the goddess of the hunt takes an active part in one of the twelve labors of Hercules. Hercules for a long time hunted a beautiful doe with golden horns and bronze legs, ownership of the goddess Artemis. Artemis, with the assistance of her brother, Apollo, prevents him to kill the wild animal and urges him to deliver it in Tiryns to King Eurystheus. Upon receiving the animal Eurystheus undertakes to dedicate it again to the goddess. As in the myth of Hercules, and so many other incidents Artemis joins her brother Apollo in the reach of a perpose.In case of Niobi who  bragged (compared to Leto) on the many beautiful children she had,we have the cooperation of the two twins(Artemis and Apollo) in her punishment.Seven Arrows of Artemis and seven arrows of Apollo were nailed  to the  fourteen children of  Niobi and killed them. In exactly the same way and for the same reason Artemis killed once the Chioni (daughter Daidaliona and lover of Apollo)because she had boasted that her beauty surpassed even that of the beautiful goddess.

Artemis in the Trojan war
The war between Greeks and Trojans can not find Artemis disinterested. Along with her ​​brother Apollo, Ares, Venus and Leto actively involved with part of the Trojans. One of the first events that occurred even before the start of the war was due to the anger and wrath of Artemis. The Greek fleet because of the apnea(not windy) that had created by the goddess,could not start. A random incident  of the leader of the Achaean Agamemnon had caused this situation. Once without his noticing he  had invaded in a forest dedicated to Artemis and had killed a sacred deer. The goddess was angered so much that demanded the sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia to favorable winds to help the Greek ships set sail.

The wounded Aeneas  by Diomedes, during the war had been  receiving help of Artemis and Leto and had succeeded thanks to them to regain his strength and return to battle.
The symbols of Artemis were many and varied. Ranged from animals and plants and resulted in weapons: goat, billy goat, deer, bear, dog, snake, laurel, palm, cypress, sword, quiver, javelin and more.

Ares

God Ares in Greek mythology

Ares is the god of war in Greek mythology, son of Zeus and Hera and his sister was Eris. Because of his special warlike nature, several authors of the 19th century claimed(without any proofs) that he was foreign god, and considered that the Greek imagination couldnt have created such a savage god.In the myths Ares appears warlike and defiant and represents the impulsive nature of war. He had two sons, Deimos and Phobos, who gave their name to the respective satellites of planet Mars. God Ares participated in the Trojan War on the side of the Trojans.He had a love affair with the goddess Venus,which was discovered by her husband, god Hephaestus. Thanks to his son Oinomaos from Steropi,Ares became ancestor renowned persons such as  Atreus, of Thyestes, Agamemnon, Menelaus, of Aegisthus, Orestes, Electra, Pylades, the Pittheus Theseus, Hippolytus of Iphigenia, the Demophon, the Akamas, Eurystheus, of Amphitryon, Alcmene, Iolaus, Heracles, of Admetus, Kopreus, the Alkathoou and Ala of Telamon.From his daughter Harmony he became ancestor of the descendants of Cadmus, who are the god Dionysus, the monster Sphinx and famous figures such as Semele-Thyoni, Ino-Leukothea, Pentheus, the Aktaionas the Melicertes-Palaimonas, Laios , Oedipus, the Oinopiona, the grapes, and Thoas Anios. From Thestios Ares became ancestor of Althea, Lida, of Meleager, Deianeira's of Tydeus, Diomedes, of Helen, Clytemnestra, and the Dioscuri Amphiaraos. From Flegya was ancestor of the god Asclepius.

Apollo

Apollo god in Greek mythology 

Apollo is the Great god of Greek pantheon ("Aplon" in Thessalian dialect), with around 350 invocations, his aliases and local cults were, healer, clairvoyant and solar ("Phoebus"). Likely to inspire the god "Aplou" in Etruscan mythology.
Born by the god Zeus (which in invocations clear, unclouded, overclouded allegory in air and sky) and godmother goddess Leto (which allegory in starry nocturnal firmament). The invocation of "Delios' naturally means not only the born on the island of Delos, but God makes visible Dila and everything, but everything vision (" panderkes having faesimvroton OMMA "according to the 34th Orphic Hymn, ie as the god glance illuminates mortals and observes everything).
The belief that the cause of all of the products is the Sun, whose light penetrates the hidden causes, (according to the magical papyrus collection Papyri Graecae Magicae) «telescopes and the ruler world" god Phoebus Apollo is closely associated with the functions of the so-called Fate and thighs, as God divine (Agnomantis, true, Dafnaios, divining Moiragetis, Tripodilalos). The divination property of Apollo is explained by the fact that he was a music producer capacity, as we will see below, allows full clarity of vision at various points of time motion, whose time traffic mainstay and is the father of rhythmic part of the Triune (rate , melody, harmony) that defines the music.
The god Apollo was associated with youth and beauty (because the Sun that emerges eternally young new every morning, and then with a light show on earth all nice and "miraculous." Related invocations are Olviourgos, perfectness, Fanis, gladsome), with Medical and Therapeutic (because sunlight offers health, disinfects, and also increases the healthy and healing herbs. Related invocations Peonies, Alexikakos, Ipiocheir, MD) with the music (because everything is illuminated vibrate as part of Universal Music) and any artistic creation (god of the Muses, God Musagete or Musagetes. Related invocations of the Musician Kitharodos, Musagete).
Sacred plants of the laurel, sunflower, the juniper, the myrtle sunflower and hyacinth. Daphne is a nymph daughter of the river Peneus, who loved the great Greek god but without much success. So after fervent invocation to Gaia transformed the namesake plant. Apollo than that found no response to erotic call in Daphne honored her making her the most famous sanctuary of plant. The Hyacinth is also a loved one for the god of the Sun. Apollo and Hyacinth were playing with a golden disc and the Zephyr blew and struck the fatal gorgeous new. Then Apollo from his blood made the sanctuary of plant. Sacred symbols of the Tripos, the Guitar and bow and arrow. Sacred animals the wolf, the hawk, the swan, the crow, the rooster, the cicada, the dolphin and the ram. Sacred devotional color gold. As the goddess Athena's sacred number is seven (ie the number of completeness, spirit and macrocosm). Other famous invocations of the Agraios, Agretis, Aktion Amyklaion, Generator, Deiradiotis, Dionysodotis, Enagonios, Epakyios, Sun, Karneios, Kitharodos, Kourotrophos, legally, Ogkaios, Ogkeatas, Ptoon, Pythian, Spondios, Tmoos, Tiritas Luxury Villas, Hyperborean and more

In ancient Crete god Apollo was called "Apollo Tarraios" after Dorian rule by the name of the ancient city Tarra where had become the major center of worship in the island.
In the Doric legendsin in Crete Apollo asked atoning cleansing  for the murder of the dragon Python, at Delphi, which was in town Tarra in the residence of the priest Karmanora. From that city was developed the worship of the god Apollo as Tarraios, in Crete he was worshiped with his sister Artemis (Vritomaris) and to honor them, great temples were founded.