Showing posts with label Greek mythology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greek mythology. Show all posts

Greek gods and goddesses iv


Greek gods and goddesses 
iv

Greek Gods and Goddesses

... The PRIMEVAL GODS or PROTOGENOI ...


The primeval gods or "Protogenoi" of Greek mythology were the basic components of the universe which were emerged at creation. They included Earth, Air, Sea, Sky, Fresh Water, Underworld, Darkness, Night, Light, Day, Procreation and Time.
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Nyx

Goddess of night.

 


NYX The Protogenos of night, Nyx drew the dark mists of her consort, Erebus, across the heavens at night, cloaking the bright light of the heavenly aether. Her anthropomorphic form was of a woman clothed in star-spangled mantle.



Greek Gods and Goddesses v


Greek Gods and Goddesses v 

... The Titans ...

The  Titans (Greek Τιτάν, plural Τιτάνες) were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age in Greek mythology. At the beginning, there were 12 Titans (Apollodorus adds a thirteenth Titan, Dione, a double of Theia). They were associated with various primal concepts, some of which are simply extrapolated from their names: ocean and fruitful earth, sun and moon, memory and natural law. The twelve first-generation Titans were led by the youngest, Kronus, who overthrew their father, Uranus ("Heaven"), at the urgings of their mother, Gaia ("Earth"). The Titans later gave birth to other Titans, notably the sons of Iapetus — Prometheus, Epimetheus, Atlas, and Menoetius.  The Titans preceded the Twelve Olympians, but were eventually overthrown by them, led by Zeus, in the Titanomachy ("War of the Titans"), and were imprisoned in Tartarus, the depths of the underworld.


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KRONOS (or Cronus)

KRONOS was the Titan god of time and the ages, especially time where regarded as destructive and all-devouring. He ruled the cosmos during the so-called Golden Age, after castrating and deposing his father Ouranos (the Sky). In fear of a prophecy that he would be in turn be overthrown by his own son, Kronos swallowed each of his children as soon as they were born. Rhea managed to save the youngest, Zeus, by hiding him away on the island of Krete, and fed Kronos a stone wrapped in the swaddling clothes of an infant. The god grew up, forced Kronos to disgorge his swallowed offspring, and led the Olympians in a ten year war against the Titanes, before driving them defeated into the pit of Tartaros.  Many human generations later, Zeus released Kronos and his brothers from this prison, and made the old Titan king of the Elysian Islands, home of the blessed dead. Kronos was essentially the same as Khronos, the primordial god of time in the Orphic Theogonies.




Greek gods and goddesses iii

Greek gods and goddesses 
iii


Greek Gods and Goddesses iii 

... More Greek gods and goddesses ...

In the wide variety of legends and stories that constitute ancient Greek mythology, the deities that were native to the Greek peoples are described as having essentially human but ideal bodies. Although each god's physical appearance is distinct, they have the power to take on whatever form they choose. Below are other Gods and Goddesses  other than The 12 Olympians.

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HYGEIA 

The goddess of good health, one of the many daughters of Asclepius. 




Greek gods and goddesses ii



Greek Gods and Goddesses ii 

... More Greek gods and goddesses ...


In the wide variety of legends and stories that constitute ancient Greek mythology, the deities that were native to the Greek peoples are described as having essentially human but ideal bodies. Although each god's physical appearance is distinct, they have the power to take on whatever form they choose. Below are other Gods and Goddesses  other than The 12 Olympians.
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Demeter  

Earth Mother and Goddess of Grain


Goddess of fertility, agriculture, nature, and the seasons. Symbols include the poppy, wheat, torch, and pig. Middle daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Her Latin name, Ceres, gave us the word cereal."


Greek gods and goddesses i



Greek Gods and Goddesses

... The 12 Olympians ...


The ancient Greeks worshipped many gods and goddesses. According to their legends, there were twelve major deities. Together, they were called the twelve Olympians. The twelve Olympians did not rule the world from the very beginning. They had a falling-out with the Titans. The two sides went into war that lasted for nearly ten years. When the fight was finally over, the Olympians had won. They threw the Titans to the underworld. Then they moved to live on top of Mount Olympus. They ruled the world from there.
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Zeus

Ruler of the gods


King of the gods and ruler of Mount Olympus;The father of all fathers, the wisdom and light, god of the sky and thunder. Youngest child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Symbols include the thunderbolt, eagle, oak tree, scepter and scales. He is often shown in ancient art as a powerful man with a full beard. As god of the heavens, Zeus wields a thunderbolt and has power over the weather. He is also seen as looking down on the world of mortal men and women and is angered by certain kinds of wrongdoing, in particular the breaking of oaths, ill treatment of guests or murder between family members. Zeus himself however, was not to be taken as an example of good behaviour for mortals. Brother and husband of Hera, although  married to Hera, he is known for his many amorous liaisons with both mortals and with nymphs (minor nature goddesses who lived on earth and lived in the woods, on mountains, streams or pools). He is known for turning himself into different animals in order to trick and gain access to those who took his fancy, for example he turned into a swan to approach Leda, who became the mother of Helen the beautiful woman whose abduction lead to the famous war between Greece and Troy.



Nyxie or 'Nyx'

 Nyx is Night.



NYX was the goddess of the night, one of the ancient Protogenoi (first-born elemental gods). In the cosmogony of Hesiod she was born of Air (Khaos), and breeding with Darkness (Erebos) produced Light (Aither) and Day (Hemera), first components of the primeval universe. Alone, she spawned a brood of dark spirits, including the three Fates, Sleep, Death, Strife and Pain.

Nyx was a primeval goddess usually represented as simply the substance of night: a veil of dark veil of mist drawn forth from the underworld which blotted out the light of Aither (shining upper atmosphere). Her opposite number was Hemera (Day), who scattered the mists of night, or Eos, the goddess of the dawn.

In ancient art Nyx was portrayed as a either a winged goddess or charioteer, sometimes crowned with an aureole of dark mist.