The deeds of the gods of ancient Greece. Ancient myths and legends of Greece. Myths about the ancient gods of Greece

Demeter heard the cry of her daughter, the goddess Persephone was looking everywhere, but she was not there. She went to other gods for help, and Helios - the sun answered her that Persephone had been abducted by Hades. The mother got sad. She left Olympus.

All growth on earth ceased, The leaves on the trees withered and flew around. The forests became bare. But it was still the goddess Demeter. Zeus did not want humanity to perish, and begged Demeter to return. The goddess agreed, only on the condition that Persephone returned to her. But Zeus could not do this. And both sides agreed that Persephone would live with her mother for two thirds of the year, and return to her husband Hades for one third. Since then, when Persephone leaves her mother, autumn comes, and when she returns to her mother, the goddess of fertility pours her gifts to people with a generous hand and rewards the work of the farmer with a rich harvest.

There is not a single people who would not have their own idea of ​​the universe, the gods who control life, as well as their struggle for power and influence. Myths of Ancient Greece, summary which we will consider in our article, are also special because they pay a lot of attention to a person. Mighty heroes are of divine origin, 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 summary - more is not available to us due to the volume of the article), it is worth understanding what it is - a "myth". In fact, 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. According to ancient authors, 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 order and culture. In addition, their character changed depending on the region of the country, since each policy had its own, more revered gods and heroes, from whom, as the Greeks believed, the population originated. Of course, over time, the legends changed, acquired a different meaning. But the most important thing in them is the content that 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 summary of which we are considering, is an attempt to explain the world around us and pass on to descendants views on morality and relations in society.

What are the ancient Greek legends about?

We will talk very briefly about the essence of ancient legends, since many ancient Greek myths have come down to us. A brief summary of them can take a whole book. For example, Nikolai Kun, the most famous researcher of the ancient heritage, collected, streamlined 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 is:

• myths about the origin of the world and gods;
• stories about the titans and the battle of the gods with the 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 much attention to the main god of Olympus. No wonder, because the angry Thunderer could punish with lightning for a disrespectful attitude or send another grief, and even turn away from the 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 swallowed, as Kronos was swallowing all of 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 her, helped the offended and punished those who deserved it. However, he could not control fate.

The love affairs of Zeus also describe the myths of Ancient Greece, a 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 disliked by Hera, lawful spouse Thunderer, often pursued them and harmed them.

Instead of an epilogue

In the pantheon of the ancient Greeks there were many gods responsible for all branches of their life - agriculture, navigation, trade, war, crafts, the other world. However, there were also beings, demigods, who patronized science and art, followed 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, so it’s worth reading them at least briefly. But reading them in their entirety allows you to plunge into a wonderful world full of interesting and unusual.

The most ancient gods of Ancient Greece, known to us from myths, were the personifications of those forces of nature, whose activity determines physical life and excites in the heart of a person now fear and horror, now hope and trust - by the personifications of forces mysterious to man, but obviously dominating his fate, which were the first objects of worship among all peoples. But the gods of ancient Greece were not only symbols of the forces of external nature; they were at the same time the creators and keepers of all moral blessings, the personifications of all the forces of moral life. All those forces of the human spirit by which cultural life is created, and the development of which among the Greek people gave it such importance in the history of mankind, were invested by them in the myths about the gods. The gods of Greece are the personifications of all the great and beautiful forces of the Greek people; the world of the gods of Ancient Greece is a complete reflection of Greek civilization. The Greeks made their gods in myths like men, so they felt obliged to become like gods; concern for perfection was a religious duty for them. Greek culture has a close relationship with the Greek religion.

Gods of Ancient Greece. video film

Different generations of the gods of ancient Greece

The basis of the religion of ancient Greece in Pelasgian times was the worship of the forces of nature, manifested in heaven, on earth, in the sea. Those gods who were among the pre-Greek Pelasgians the most ancient personifications of the forces of earth and sky, were overthrown by a series of catastrophes, the traditions of which have been preserved in ancient times. Greek myths about the struggle of the Olympians with the titans and giants. The new gods of Ancient Greece, who took dominion from the former, descended from them, but already had a completely human image.

Zeus and Hera

So, new anthropoid gods began to rule the world, the main of which was Zeus, the son of Kron, in myths; but the former gods, personified by the forces of nature, have retained their mysterious effectiveness, which even the omnipotent Zeus cannot overcome. As almighty kings are subject to the laws of the moral world, so Zeus and other new gods of ancient Greece are subject to the laws of nature, fate.

Zeus, chief god in the myths of Ancient Greece - the collector of clouds, sitting on a throne in the height of the ether, stunning with his lightning shield, Aegis ( thundercloud), life-giving and fertilizing the earth, and at the same time, the establisher, the guardian of the lawful order. Under his protection are all rights and in particular family law and the practice of hospitality. He tells rulers to be concerned about the welfare of those who are ruled. He gives prosperity to kings and peoples, cities and families; he is justice. He is the source of all that is good and noble. He is the father of the goddesses of hours (Or), personifying the correct course of annual changes in nature and the correct order of human life; he is the father of the Muses, who give joy to the heart of man.

His wife, Hera, in the myths of Ancient Greece, is a quarrelsome goddess of the atmosphere, who has a rainbow (Irida) and clouds (the Greek name for the cloud, nephele, a feminine word) as her servants, at the same time she is the establisher of the sacred marriage union, in honor of which the Greeks performed on feast of abundant flowers spring solemn ceremonies. The goddess Hera is a strict guardian of the sanctity of the marriage union and under her protection is a housewife faithful to her husband; she blesses marriage with children and guards children. Hera relieves women of the suffering of childbirth; she is assisted in this care by her daughter Eileithyia.

Athena Pallas

Athena Pallas

The virgin goddess Pallas Athena, according to the myths of ancient Greece, was born from the head of Zeus. Initially, she was considered the goddess of the clear sky, who disperses gloomy clouds with her spear, and the personification of victorious energy in any struggle. Athena was always depicted with a shield, sword and spear. Her constant companion was the winged goddess of victory (Nika). Among the Greeks, Athena was the guardian of cities and fortresses, she also gave people the right, fair public and state orders. The image of the goddess Athena personified wise balance, a calm, penetrating mind, necessary for the creators of works of mental activity and art.

Statue of Athena the Virgin in the Parthenon. Sculptor Phidias

In ancient Greece, Pallas was most revered by the Athenians, the inhabitants of the city named after this goddess. The public life of Athens was imbued with the service of Pallas. A huge statue of Athena by Phidias stood in the magnificent temple of the Athenian Acropolis - the Parthenon. Athena was connected with the famous ancient Greek city by many myths. The most famous of these was the myth of the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica. The goddess Athena won it, giving the region the basis of its agriculture - the olive tree. Ancient Athens made many holidays in honor of the beloved goddess. The main of them were two Panathenaic holidays - Great and Small. Both of them, according to the myths of ancient Greece about the gods, were established by one of the oldest progenitors of Athens - Erechtheus. Small Panathenaic was celebrated annually, and the Great - once every four years. On the great Panathenaia, all the inhabitants of Attica gathered in Athens and staged a magnificent procession, during which a new mantle (peplos) was carried to the Acropolis for the ancient statue of the goddess Pallas. The procession marched from Keramik through the main streets, which were crowded with people in white robes.

God Hephaestus in Greek myths

To Pallas Athena, the goddess of the arts, Hephaestus, the god of heavenly and earthly fire, was close in meaning in ancient Greek myths. The activity of Hephaestus was most strongly manifested by volcanoes on the islands, especially on Lemnos and in Sicily; but in the application of fire to the affairs of human life, Hephaestus greatly helped the development of culture. Prometheus, who brought fire to people and taught them worldly arts, is also closely related to the concept of Athena. The Attic festival of running with torches was dedicated to these three gods, a competition in which the winner was the one who first ran with a burning torch to the goal. Athena Pallas was the inventor of those arts that women were engaged in; lame Hephaestus, who was often joked about by poets, was the founder of blacksmithing and a master in metal work. Like Athena, he was the god of the hearth in ancient Greece. family life, therefore, under the auspices of Hephaestus and Athena, a wonderful holiday of the “state family”, the feast of Anaturius, was celebrated in Athens, on which newborn children were surrounded by a steep hearth, and this rite consecrated their acceptance into the family union of the state.

God Vulcan (Hephaestus). Statue by Thorvaldsen, 1838

Hestia

The importance of the hearth as the center of family life and the beneficial effect of a stable home life on the moral and public life were personified in the myths of ancient Greece by the virgin goddess Hestia, a representative of the concepts of a strong settled way of life, a comfortable home life, the symbol of which was the sacred fire of the hearth. Initially, Hestia was in the ancient Greek myths about the gods the personification of the earth, over which the ethereal fire of the sky burns; but later it became a symbol of civil well-being, which receives strength on earth only when the earth is in union with heaven, as a divine institution. Therefore, in every Greek house, the hearth was the religious center of the family. Whoever approached the hearth and sat on its ashes, he acquired the right to patronage. Each tribal union of Ancient Greece had a common sanctuary of Hestia, in which they reverently performed symbolic rites. In ancient times, when there were kings and when the king made sacrifices, as a representative of the people, resolved litigations, gathered noble people and ancestors for advice, the hearth of the royal house was a symbol public communications people; after, the pritaney, the religious center of the state, had the same significance. An inextinguishable fire burned on the state hearth of the pritanei, and the pritanes, the elected rulers of the people, had to take turns being constantly at this hearth. The hearth was the link between earth and heaven; because Hestia was in ancient Greece and the goddess of sacrifice. Each solemn sacrifice began with a sacrifice to her. And all public prayers of the Greeks began with an appeal to Hestia.

Myths about the god Apollo

For more details, see the separate article God Apollo

The god of shining light, Apollo, was the son of Zeus from Latona (who was the personification of the dark night in ancient Greek myths). His cult was brought to Ancient Greece from Asia Minor, where the local god Apelun existed. According to Greek myths, Apollo spends the winter in the distant country of the Hyperboreans, and in the spring he returns to Hellas, infusing life into nature, and joy and the desire to sing into man. Apollo was therefore recognized as the god of singing - and in general of that inspiring force that gives rise to art. Thanks to the life-giving qualities, the cult of this god was also associated with the idea of ​​healing, protection from evil. With his well-aimed arrows (solar rays), Apollo destroys all filth. This idea was symbolically expressed by the ancient Greek myth about the murder of the terrible serpent Python by Apollo. The skilled shooter Apollo was considered the brother of the goddess of hunting Artemis, with whom he killed the sons of the excessively proud sons with arrows. Niobe.

The ancient Greeks considered poetry and music to be the gift of Apollo. Poems and songs were always performed at his holidays. According to legend, having defeated the monster of darkness, Python, Apollo composed the first paean (victory hymn). As the god of music, he was often depicted with a kithara in his hands. Since poetic inspiration is akin to prophetic, in the myths of Ancient Greece, Apollo was also recognized as the supreme patron of soothsayers, who gives them a prophetic gift. Almost all Greek oracles (including the main one - Delphic) were founded in the sanctuaries of Apollo.

Apollo Saurokton (killing a lizard). Roman copy of a statue of Praxiteles, 4th c. BC

The god of music, poetry, singing, Apollo was in the myths of Ancient Greece the lord of the goddesses of the arts - muses, nine daughters of Zeus and the goddess of memory Mnemosyne. The groves of Parnassus and Helikon located in the vicinity of Delphi were considered the main abode of the Muses. As the ruler of the Muses, Apollo had the epithet "Muzageta". Clio was the muse of history, Calliope of epic poetry, Melpomene of tragedy, Thalia of comedy, Erato of love poetry, Euterpe of lyrics, Terpsichore of dances, Polyhymnia of hymns, Urania of astronomy.

The sacred plant of Apollo was laurel.

The god of light, purity and healing, Apollo in the myths of Ancient Greece not only heals people from ailments, but also cleanses from sins. From this side, his cult comes into even closer contact with moral ideas. Even after the victory over the evil monster Python, Apollo found it necessary to cleanse himself of the filth of the murder and, in his atonement, went to serve as a shepherd for the Thessalian king Admet. By this, he gave people an example that he who committed bloodshed should always repent, and became the god-purifier of murderers and criminals. In Greek myths, Apollo healed not only the body, but also the soul. He found forgiveness for penitent sinners, but only with sincerity of repentance. According to ancient Greek customs, the murderer was supposed to earn forgiveness from the relatives of the murdered, who had the right to take revenge on him, and spend eight years in exile.

Apollo was the main tribal god of the Dorians, who every year celebrated two great holidays in honor of him: Karnei and Iakinthii. The Karney festival was held in honor of Apollo the Warrior, in the month of Karney (August). During this holiday, military games, competitions in singing and dancing were held. Iakinthia, celebrated in July (nine days), was accompanied by sad rites in memory of the death of the beautiful young man Iakinf (Hyacinth), the personification of flowers. According to the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, Apollo accidentally killed this favorite of his while throwing a disc (a symbol of how the disc of the sun kills flowers with its heat). But Hyacinth was resurrected and taken to Olympus - and at the festival of Iakinthius, after the sad rites, cheerful processions of young men and girls with flowers took place. The death and resurrection of Iakinf personified winter death and spring rebirth of plants. This episode of ancient Greek myth seems to have developed under strong Phoenician influence.

Myths about the goddess Artemis

Apollo's sister, Artemis, the virgin goddess of the moon, walked the mountains and forests, hunting; bathed with nymphs, her companions, in cool streams; was the patroness of wild animals; at night she irrigated the thirsty earth with life-giving dew. But at the same time, in the myths of Ancient Greece, Artemis was also a goddess who destroyed seafarers, so in ancient times of Greece, people were sacrificed to her to propitiate her. With the development of civilization, Artemis became the goddess of virginal purity, the patroness of brides and girls. When they got married, they brought gifts to her. Artemis of Ephesus was the goddess of fertility, who gave harvest to the earth and children to women; in the idea of ​​it, the myths of ancient Greece were probably joined by oriental concepts. Artemis was depicted as having many nipples on her chest; this signified that she was a generous breadwinner of the people. At the magnificent temple of Artemis there were many hierodula and many servants dressed in a man's dress and armed; therefore, in ancient Greek myths, it was believed that this temple was founded by the Amazons.

Artemis. Statue in the Louvre

Initial physical meaning Apollo and Artemis in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods were more and more closed by morality. Therefore, Greek mythology created a special sun god, Helios, and a special moon goddess, Selene. - A special god, the son of Apollo, Asclepius, was also made a representative of the healing power of Apollo.

Ares and Aphrodite

Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, was originally a symbol of the stormy sky, and his homeland was Thrace, the land of winter storms. Among the ancient Greek poets, he became the god of war. Ares is always armed; he loves the noise of battle. Ares is furious. But he was also the founder of the sacred Athenian tribunal that judged cases of murder, which had its seat on the hill dedicated to Ares, the Areopagus, and was also called the Areopagus after this hill. And as the god of storms, and as a furious god of battles, he is the opposite of Pallas Athena, the goddess of the clear sky and judicious conduct of battles. Therefore, in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods, Pallas and Ares are hostile to each other.

In terms of Aphrodite, goddess of love, physical character love in ancient Greek myths also joined over time with a moral element. The cult of Aphrodite passed to Ancient Greece from the colonies founded by the Phoenicians in Cyprus, Cythera, Thasos and other islands. In the myths of the Phoenicians, the concept of the perceiving and giving birth element of the forces of nature was personified by two goddesses, Ashera and Astarte, ideas about which were often mixed. Aphrodite was both Asherah and Astarte. In the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, she corresponded to Ashera, when she was a goddess who loves gardens and flowers, lives in groves, a goddess of joyful spring and voluptuousness, enjoying the love of the beautiful young man Adonis in the forest on the mountain. She corresponded to Astarte, when she was revered as the "goddess of heights", as a stern Aphrodite Urania (heavenly) armed with a spear or Aphrodite of Akreia, whose places of service were the tops of the mountains, who imposed a vow of eternal girlhood on her priestesses, guarded the chastity of conjugal love and family morality . But the ancient Greeks knew how to combine these opposing ideas and from their combination created in myths a wondrous image of a graceful, charming, physically beautiful and morally sweet goddess, admiring the heart with the beauty of her forms, arousing tender affection. This mythological combination of physical feeling with moral affection, giving sensual love its natural right, protected people from the coarse vulgarity of unbridled oriental voluptuousness. The ideal of female beauty and grace, the sweetly smiling Aphrodite of ancient Greek myths and the goddesses of the East burdened with heavy and precious attire are completely different creatures. There is the same difference between them as between the joyful service of the goddess of love in better times Ancient Greece and the noisy Syrian orgies, in which the goddess, surrounded by eunuchs, served with an unbridled revelry of gross sensuality. True, in later times, with the depravity of morals, vulgar sensuality also penetrated into the Greek service to the goddess of love. Heavenly Aphrodite (Urania), the goddess of honest love, the patroness of family life, was pushed aside in the myths about the gods by Aphrodite of the People (Pandemos), the goddess of voluptuousness, whose holidays are in big cities turned into rampant vulgar sensuality.

Aphrodite and her son Eros (Eros), turned by poets and artists into the oldest among theogonic gods, into the youngest of the Olympian gods, and who became a young man accompanying his mother, later even a child, were favorite objects of ancient Greek art. The sculpture usually depicted Aphrodite naked, emerging from the waves of the sea; she was given all the charm of a beauty, whose soul is full of feelings of love. Eros was portrayed as a boy with soft, rounded body outlines.

Myths about the god Hermes

With the development of culture in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, the Pelasgian god of nature Hermes also received moral significance, to whom Arcadian shepherds made sacrifices on Mount Kyllene; he was with them the personification of the power of heaven, giving grass to their pastures, and the father of their ancestor, Arkas. According to their myths, Hermes, still a baby, wrapped in a lullaby (in the fog of dawn), stole the herds (bright clouds) of the sun god, Apollo, and hid them in a damp cave near the seashore; stringing strings on a tortoise shell, he made a lyre, and by presenting it to Apollo, gained the friendship of this more powerful god. Hermes also invented the shepherd's flute, with which he walks through the mountains of his homeland. Subsequently, Hermes became the guardian of roads, crossroads and travelers, the guardian of streets, boundaries. Stones were placed on the latter, which were symbols of Hermes, and his images, which gave the boundaries of the plots holiness, strength.

God Hermes. Sculpture of Phidias (?)

Hermes (that is, the symbols of Hermes) were originally just heaps of stones, poured on the boundaries, along the roads and especially at the crossroads; these were landmarks and road signs, considered sacred. Passers-by threw stones to those laid before. Sometimes oil was poured on these heaps of stones dedicated to the god Hermes, as on primitive altars; they were decorated with flowers, wreaths, ribbons. Subsequently, the Greeks placed trihedral or tetrahedral stone pillars as travel and boundary signs; over time, they began to give them a more skillful finish, they usually made a pillar with a head, sometimes with a phallus, a symbol of fertility. Such germs stood along the roads, and along the streets, squares, at the gates, at the doors; they were also placed in palestras, in gymnasiums, because Hermes was the patron of gymnastic exercises in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods.

From the concept of the god of rain penetrating the earth, the idea of ​​mediation between heaven, earth and the underworld developed, and Hermes became in the myths of ancient Greece a god who escorts the souls of the dead to the underworld (Hermes Psychopompos). Thus, he was put in close connection with the gods living in the earth (the chthonic gods). These ideas came from the concept of the connection between the emergence and death of plants in the cycle of life of nature and from the concept of Hermes as the messenger of the gods; they served as the source of many ancient Greek myths that placed Hermes in very diverse relationships to the everyday affairs of people. The original myth already made him cunning: he deftly stole the cows of Apollo and managed to make peace with this god; with deft inventions, Hermes knew how to extricate himself from predicaments. This feature remained an invariable attribute of the character of the god Hermes in the later ancient Greek myths about him: he was the personification of worldly dexterity, the patron of all activities in which success is given by the ability to speak deftly and the ability to remain silent, hide the truth, pretend, deceive. In particular, Hermes was the patron god of trade, oratory, embassies and diplomatic affairs in general. With the development of civilization, the concept of these activities became predominant in the idea of ​​Hermes, and his original shepherd meaning was transferred to one of the minor gods, Pan, "the god of pastures", just as the physical meaning of Apollo and Artemis was transferred to less important gods, Helios and Selena.

God Pan

Pan was in ancient Greek myths the god of goat herds who grazed on the wooded mountains of Arcadia; there he was born. His father was Hermes, his mother was the daughter of Dryop ("forest god"). Pan walks through shady valleys, sheltering in caves; he has fun with the nymphs of the forest and mountain springs, dancing to the sounds of his shepherd's pipe (syringa, syrinx), an instrument that he himself invented; sometimes he himself dances with the nymphs. Pan is sometimes kind to the shepherds and enters into friendship with us; but sometimes he makes trouble for them, raising a sudden fear (“panic” fear) in the herd, so that the whole herd scatters. God Pan forever remained in Ancient Greece as a merry fellow of pastoral holidays, a master of playing the reed pipe, funny for the townspeople; later art characterized Pan's closeness to nature, giving his figure goat's feet, or even horns and other animal features.

God Pan and Daphnis, the hero of an ancient Greek novel. antique statue

Poseidon in the myths of ancient Greece

For more details, see the separate article God Poseidon

gods of the sea and flowing waters and the gods living under the earth, more than the deities of heaven and air, retained the original meaning of the personified forces of nature: but they also received human features. Poseidon - in the myths of ancient Greece divine power all waters, the god of the sea and all rivers, streams, springs that fertilize the earth. Therefore, he was the main god on the coasts and capes. Poseidon is strong, broad-shouldered, and his character is indomitable. When he strikes the sea with his trident, a storm rises, the waves beat against the rocks of the coast so that the earth trembles, the cliffs crack and collapse. But Poseidon is also a good god: he draws springs from the cracks of the rocks to fertilize the valleys; he created and tamed the horse; he is the patron of horseback riding and all military games, the patron of all daring journeys, whether on horseback, in chariots, by land or by sea in ships. In ancient Greek myths, Poseidon is a mighty builder who approved the earth and its islands, laying firm boundaries for the sea. He stirs up storms, but he also gives a favorable wind; at his beckon, the sea swallows up the ships; but he also sees the ships in the pier. Poseidon is the patron saint of navigation; he guards maritime trade and governs the course of maritime warfare.

The god of ships and horses, Poseidon played, according to the myths of ancient Greece about the gods, an important role in all campaigns and sea expeditions of the heroic age. The birthplace of his cult was Thessaly, a country of Neptunian formation, horse herds and seafaring; then the service to him spread to Boeotia, Attica, the Peloponnese, and his holidays early began to be accompanied by military games. The most famous of these games in honor of the god Poseidon took place in the Boeotian city of Onchest and on Isthma. In Onhest, his sanctuaries and their grove picturesquely stood on a beautiful and fertile hill above Kopai Lake. The terrain of the Isthmian games was a hill near Skhina (Schoinos, "Reeds", a lowland overgrown with reeds), overshadowed by a pine grove. Symbolic rites borrowed from the legend of the death of Melikert, that is, from the Phoenician service to Melkart, were introduced into the worship of Poseidon on the Isthm. - Fast as the wind, the horses of the heroic age were created by the god Poseidon; in particular, Pegasus was created by him. - The wife of Poseidon, Amphitrite, was the personification of the noisy sea.

Like Zeus, Poseidon had many love affairs in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods, many sea gods and goddesses, and many heroes were his children. Tritons belonged to the retinue of Poseidon, the number of which was innumerable. They were funny creatures. various forms, the personifications of noisy, ringing, sliding waves and the mysterious forces of the depths of the sea, fantastically transformed sea animals. They played pipes made of shells, frolicked, dragged after the Nereids. They were one of my favorite pieces of art. Proteus, the sea god, the soothsayer of the future, who, according to ancient Greek myths, had the ability to take on all kinds of forms, also belonged to the numerous retinue of Poseidon. When the Greek sailors began to sail far, then, returning, they surprised their people with myths about miracles. western sea: about sirens, beautiful sea girls who live there on underwater islands under the bright surface of the waters and seductively lure sailors into death with seductive singing, about the good Glaucus, the sea god who predicts the future, about scary monsters ah Scylla and Charybdis (personifications of a dangerous rock and whirlpool), about the wicked Cyclops, one-eyed giants, the sons of Poseidon, living on the island of Trinacria, where Mount Etna, about the beautiful Galatea, about the rocky, walled island, on which the god lives cheerfully in a magnificent palace the winds of Aeolus with their airy sons and daughters.

Underground gods - Hades, Persephone

In the myths of ancient Greece, the worship of those gods of nature that acted both in the depths of the earth and on its surface had the greatest similarity with Eastern religions. Human life is in such close connection with the development and withering of vegetation, with the growth and ripening of bread and grapes, that divine services, popular beliefs, art, religious theories and myths about the gods combined their most profound ideas with the mysterious activity of the gods of the earth. Circle of phenomena plant life was a symbol of human life: luxurious vegetation quickly withers from the heat of the sun or from the cold; perishes at the onset of winter, and is reborn in the spring from the ground in which its seeds hid in the fall. It was easy to draw a parallel to ancient Greek mythology: so a person, after a short life under the joyful light of the sun, descends into the dark underworld, where instead of the radiant Apollo and the bright Athena Pallas, the gloomy, stern Hades (Hades, Aidoneus) and the strict beauty, his wife, reign in the magnificent palace , formidable Persephone. Thoughts about how close birth and death are to each other, about the fact that the earth - both the mother's womb and the coffin, served in the myths of Ancient Greece as the basis for the cult of the underground gods and gave it a dual character: it had a joyful side, and there was a sad side. And in Hellas, as in the East, the service to the gods of the earth was exalted; its rites consisted in expressing feelings of joy and sadness, and those who performed them had to indulge in boundless action of the emotional disturbances they caused. But in the East, this exaltation led to a perversion of natural feelings, to the fact that people mutilated themselves; and in ancient Greece the cult of the gods of the earth developed the arts, aroused reflection on religious questions, led people to acquire sublime ideas about the deity. The holidays of the gods of the earth, especially Dionysus, greatly contributed to the development of poetry, music, dances; plastics liked to take subjects for their works from the circle of ancient Greek myths about funny fantastic creatures that accompany Pan and Dionysus. And the Eleusinian mysteries, whose teachings spread throughout the Greek world, gave thoughtful interpretations of the myths about the “mother earth”, the goddess Demeter, about the abduction of her daughter (Cora) Persephone by the harsh ruler of the underworld, that Persephone’s life goes on earth, then underground. These teachings inspired man that death is not terrible, that the soul survives the body. The forces ruling in the bowels of the earth aroused reverent caution in the ancient Greeks; these forces could not be spoken of fearlessly; thoughts about them were conveyed in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods under the guise of symbols, were not expressed directly, had only to be guessed under allegories. Mysterious teachings surrounded with solemn mystery these formidable gods, in the concealment of darkness, creating life and perceiving the dead, ruling the earthly and afterlife of man.

The gloomy husband of Persephone, Hades (Hades), "Zeus of the underworld", rules in the depths of the earth; there are sources of wealth and fertility; hence he is also called Pluto, "the enricher." But there are all the horrors of death. According to ancient Greek myths, wide gates lead to the vast dwelling of the king of the dead Hades. Everyone can freely enter them; their guardian, the three-headed dog Cerberus, kindly lets those in, but does not allow them to return. Weeping willows and barren poplars surround the vast palace of Hades. The shadows of the dead hover over gloomy fields overgrown with weeds, or nest in the crevices of underground rocks. Some of the heroes of ancient Greece (Hercules, Theseus) went to the underworld of Hades. According to different myths in different countries, the entrance to it was in the wilderness, where rivers flow through deep gorges, the water of which seems dark, where caves, hot springs and evaporation show the proximity of the kingdom of the dead. Thus, for example, there was an entrance to the underworld at the Thesprotian Gulf in southern Epirus, where the Acheron River and Lake Acheruz infected their surroundings with miasma; at Cape Tenar; in Italy, in a volcanic area near the city of Cum. In the same areas were those oracles whose answers were given by the souls of the dead.

Ancient Greek myths and poetry spoke a lot about the realm of the dead. Fantasy strove to give curiosity precise information that science did not give, to penetrate into the darkness surrounding the afterlife, and inexhaustibly created new images belonging to the underworld.

The two main rivers of the underworld, according to the myths of the Greeks, are the Styx and Acheron, "a deafly noisy river of eternal sorrow." In addition to them, there were three more rivers in the realm of the dead: Lethe, whose water destroyed the memory of the past, Piriflegeton (“Fire River”) and Cocytus (“Sobbing”). The souls of the dead were taken to the underworld of Hades by Hermes. Stern old man Charon transported in his boat through the Styx surrounding the underworld kingdom those souls whose bodies were buried with an obol placed in a coffin to pay him for the transportation. The souls of the unburied people had to wander homelessly along the banks of the river, not taken into the boat of Charon. Therefore, whoever found an unburied body was obliged to cover it with earth.

The ideas of the ancient Greeks about the life of the dead in the kingdom of Hades changed with the development of civilization. In the oldest myths, the dead are ghosts, unconscious, but these ghosts instinctively do the same things they did when they were alive; are the shadows of living people. Their existence in the kingdom of Hades was dreary and sad. The shadow of Achilles tells Odysseus that she would rather live on earth as a day laborer for the poor than to be the king of the dead in the underworld. But offering sacrifices to the dead improved their miserable lot. The improvement consisted either in the fact that the severity of the underground gods was softened by these sacrifices, or in the fact that the shadows of the dead drank the blood of the sacrifices, and this drink restored their consciousness. The Greeks offered sacrifices to the dead in their tombs. Turning their faces to the west, they cut the sacrificial animal over a deep hole, purposely dug in the ground, and the blood of the animal flowed into this hole. After, when ideas about the afterlife were more fully developed in the Eleusinian mysteries, the myths of Ancient Greece began to divide the underworld kingdom of Hades into two parts, Tartarus and Elysius. In Tartarus, villains led a miserable existence, condemned by the judges of the dead; they were tormented by Erinyes, strict guardians of moral laws, inexorably avenging any violation of the requirements of moral feeling, and countless evil spirits, in the invention of which the Greek fantasy showed the same inexhaustibility as the Egyptian, Indian and medieval European. Elysium, which, according to ancient Greek myths, lay by the ocean (or an archipelago on the ocean, called the islands of the Blessed), was the area of ​​​​the afterlife of the heroes of ancient times and the righteous. There the wind is always mild, there is no snow, no heat, no rain; there, in the myths of the gods, the good Cronus reigns; the earth gives harvest there three times a year, the meadows there are forever in bloom. Heroes and the righteous lead a blissful life there; on their heads are wreaths, near their hands are garlands of the most beautiful flowers and branches of beautiful trees; they enjoy singing, horseback riding, gymnastic games.

The most just and wise legislators of the mythical Cretan-Carian time also live there, Minos and Rhadamanthus, and the pious ancestor of the Aeacids, Aeacus, who, according to later myth, became judges of the dead. Under the chairmanship of Hades and Persephone, they examined the feelings and deeds of people and decided, according to the merits of a deceased person, his soul should go to Tartarus or Elysium. - As they, and other pious heroes of ancient Greek myths, were rewarded for their beneficial activities on earth by continuing their studies in the afterlife, so the great transgressors of mythical stories were subjected to divine justice with punishments in accordance with their crimes. Myths about their fate in the underworld showed the Greeks what bad inclinations and passions lead to; this fate was only a continuation, a development of the deeds they committed in life and gave rise to the torments of their conscience, the symbols of which were the pictures of their material torments. So, the impudent Titius, who wanted to rape the mother of Apollo and Artemis, lies thrown to the ground; two kites constantly torment his liver, an organ that, according to the Greeks, was a receptacle for sensual passions (an obvious alteration of the myth of Prometheus). The punishment for another hero of myths, Tantalus, for his former lawlessness was that the cliff hanging over his head constantly threatened to crush him, and besides this fear, he was tormented by thirst and hunger: he stood in the water, but when he bent down to drink, the water moved away from his lips and went down "to the black bottom"; fruits hung before his eyes; but when he stretched out his hands to pluck them, the wind lifted the branches up. Sisyphus, treacherous king Ethers (Corinth), was condemned to roll a stone up the mountain, constantly rolling down; - the personification of the waves, constantly running on the banks of the Isthm, and running away from them. The eternal vain labor of Sisyphus symbolized unsuccessful tricks in ancient Greek myths, and the cunning of Sisyphus was the mythical personification of the quality developed in merchants and sailors by the riskiness of their affairs. Ixion, the king of the Lapiths, "the first killer", was tied to a fiery wheel that was always spinning; this was a punishment for him because, while visiting Zeus, he violated the rights of hospitality, he wanted to rape the chaste Hera. - The Danaids always carried water and poured it into a bottomless barrel.

Myths, poetry, art of ancient Greece taught people goodness, turned them away from vices and evil passions, depicting the bliss of the righteous and the torment of the evil in the afterlife. There were episodes in the myths that showed that, having descended into the underworld, one could return from there to the earth. So, for example, it was said about Hercules that he defeated the forces of the underworld; Orpheus, by the power of his singing and his love for his wife, softened the harsh gods of death, and they agreed to return Eurydice to him. In the Eleusinian mysteries, these legends served as symbols of the idea that the power of death should not be considered irresistible. Ideas about the underground kingdom of Hades received an interpretation in new myths and sacraments that reduced the fear of death; the gratifying hope of bliss in the afterlife was manifested in ancient Greece under the influence of the Eleusinian mysteries, and in works of art.

In the myths of ancient Greece about the gods, Hades gradually became the good lord of the kingdom of the dead and the giver of wealth; the trappings of horror were eliminated from representations of him. The genius of death in the oldest works of art was depicted as a dark-colored boy with twisted legs, symbolically denoting the idea that life is broken by death. Little by little, in ancient Greek myths, he took on the form of a beautiful young man with a bowed head, holding an overturned and extinguished torch in his hand, and became completely similar to his meek brother, the Genius of sleep. Both of them live with their mother, night, in the west. From there every evening a winged dream arrives and, rushing over people, pours calmness on them from a horn or from a poppy stalk; he is accompanied by the geniuses of dreams - Morpheus, Phantaz, bringing joy to the sleeping. Even Erinyes lost their ruthlessness in ancient Greek myths, they became Eumenides, "Well-wishers". So with the development of civilization, all the ideas of the ancient Greeks about the underground kingdom of Hades softened, ceased to be terrible, and its gods became beneficent, life-giving.

Goddess Gaia, who was the personification general concept about the earth that gives birth to everything and perceives everything back into itself, did not come to the fore in the myths of Ancient Greece. Only in some of the sanctuaries that had oracles, and in the theogonic systems that set out the history of the development of the cosmos, she was mentioned as the mother of the gods. Even the ancient Greek oracles, which originally all belonged to her, passed almost all under the rule of the new gods. The life of nature, developing on earth, was produced from the activity of the deities who ruled over its various regions; the worship of these gods, which had a more or less special character, is in very close connection with the development Greek culture. The power of vegetation, producing forests and green meadows, vines and bread, was explained even in Pelasgian times by the activity of Dionysus and Demeter. Later, when the influence of the East penetrated Ancient Greece, a third, borrowed from Asia Minor, the earth goddess Rhea Cybele, was added to these two gods.

Demeter in the myths of ancient Greece

Demeter, "earth-mother", was in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods the personification of that force of nature, which, with the assistance of sunlight, dew and rain, gives rise and ripening to bread and other fruits of the fields. She was a "fair-haired" goddess, under whose patronage people plow, sow, reap, knit bread in sheaves, thresh. Demeter brings forth harvests. She sent Triptolemus to walk all over the earth and teach people arable farming and good morals. Demeter combined with Jasion, the sower, and bore him Plutos (wealth); she punished the impious Erysichthon, "corrupting the earth," with an insatiable hunger. But in the myths of ancient Greece, she and the goddess married life giving children. The goddess who taught people about agriculture and proper family life, Demeter was the founder of civilization, morality, and family virtues. Therefore, Demeter was the "law-setter" (Thesmophoros), and the five-day feast of Thesmophoria, "laws", was celebrated in her honor. The rites of this holiday married women, were a symbolic glorification of agriculture and marriage. Demeter was the main goddess of the Eleusinian festival, the rites of which had as their main content the symbolic glorification of the gifts received by people from the gods of the earth. The Amphictyonic Union, which met at Thermopylae, was also under the auspices of Demeter, the goddess of civic amenities.

But the highest significance of the cult of the goddess Demeter was that it contained the doctrine of the relationship between life and death, the bright world under heaven and the dark kingdom of the bowels of the earth. The symbolic expression of this teaching was the beautiful myth of the abduction of Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, by the ruthless ruler of the underworld. Demeter "Grieving" (Achaia) went all over the earth, looking for her daughter; and in many cities the feast of Demeter the Sorrowful was celebrated, the sad rites of which resembled the Phoenician cult of Adonis. The human heart yearns for an explanation of the question of death; The Eleusinian mysteries were among the ancient Greeks an attempt to solve this riddle; they were not a philosophical exposition of concepts; they acted on the sense of aesthetic means, consoled, aroused hope. The Attic poets said that those dying are blessed who are initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries of Demeter: they know the purpose of life and its divine beginning; for them, the descent into the underworld is life, for the uninitiated it is horror. The daughter of Demeter, Persephone, was in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods a link between the realm of the living and the underworld; she belonged to both.

Myths about the god Dionysus

For more details, see the separate article God Dionysus

Dionysus in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods originally personified the abundance of plant power. It was clearly manifested in the form of grapes, whose juice intoxicates people. Vine and wine became symbols of Dionysus, and he himself became the god of joy and brotherly rapprochement of people. Dionysus is a powerful god, overcoming everything hostile to him. Like Apollo, he gives inspiration, excites a person to sing, but not harmonious, but wild and violent songs, reaching exaltation - those that later formed the basis of ancient Greek drama. In the myths of Ancient Greece about Dionysus and in the feast of Dionysius, various and even opposite feelings were expressed: fun at that time of the year when everything blooms, and sadness at the withering of vegetation. Joyful and sad feelings then began to be expressed separately - in comedies and tragedies that arose from the cult of Dionysus. In ancient Greek myths, the symbol of the generative power of nature, the phallus, was closely related to the veneration of Dionysus. Initially, Dionysus was a rude god of the common people. But in the era of tyranny, its importance has increased. The tyrants, who most often acted as leaders of the lower classes in the struggle against the nobility, deliberately contrasted the plebeian Dionysus with the refined gods of the aristocracy and gave the festivities in honor of him a broad, nationwide character.

The most interesting and instructive stories, fascinating stories and adventures gave the world Greek mythology. The narrative immerses us in a fairy-tale world where you can meet heroes and gods, scary monsters and unusual animals. The myths of Ancient Greece, written many centuries ago, are currently the greatest cultural heritage of all mankind.

What are myths

Mythology is an amazing separate world in which people opposed the deities of Olympus, fought for honor and resisted evil and destruction.

However, it is worth remembering that myths are works created exclusively by people using fantasy and fiction. These are stories about gods, heroes and deeds, unusual phenomena nature and mysterious creatures.

The origin of legends is no different from the origin folk tales and legends. The Greeks invented and retold unusual stories that mixed truth and fiction.

It is possible that there was some truth in the stories - a life case or an example could be taken as a basis.

Source of the myths of ancient Greece

How do modern people know the myths and their plots for certain? It turns out that Greek mythology was preserved on the tablets of the Aegean culture. They were written in Linear B, which was deciphered only in the 20th century.

The Crete-Mycenaean period, to which this type of writing belongs, knew most of the gods: Zeus, Athena, Dionysus, and so on. However, due to the decline of civilization and the emergence of ancient Greek mythology, mythology could have its gaps: we know it only from the latest sources.

Various plots of the myths of Ancient Greece were often used by writers of that time. And before the onset of the Hellenistic era, it became popular to create their own legends based on them.

The largest and most famous sources are:

1. Homer, Iliad, Odyssey
2. Hesiod "Theogony"
3. Pseudo-Apollodorus, "Library"
4. Gigin, "Myths"
5. Ovid, "Metamorphoses"
6. Nonnus, "Acts of Dionysus"

Karl Marx believed that the mythology of Greece was a vast repository of art, and also created the ground for it, thus fulfilling a dual function.

ancient greek mythology

Myths did not appear overnight: they took shape over several centuries, passed from mouth to mouth. Thanks to the poetry of Hesiod and Homer, the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, we can get acquainted with the stories at the present time.

Each story has value, keeping in itself the atmosphere of antiquity. Specially trained people - mythographers - began to appear in Greece in the 4th century BC.

These include the sophist Hippias, Herodotus of Heracles, Heraclitus of Pontus and others. Dionysius of Samoia, in particular, was engaged in compiling genealogical tables and studied tragic myths.

There are many myths, but the most popular are stories related to Olympus and its inhabitants.

However, the complex hierarchy and history of the origin of the gods can confuse any reader, and therefore we propose to understand this in detail!

With the help of myths, it becomes possible to recreate the picture of the world in the view of the inhabitants of Ancient Greece: the world is inhabited by monsters and giants, among which are giants - one-eyed creatures and Titans.

Origin of the gods

Eternal, boundless Chaos enveloped the Earth. It contained the world source of life.

It was believed that it was Chaos that gave birth to everything around: the world, the immortal gods, the goddess of the Earth, Gaia, who gave life to everything growing and living, and the mighty force that animates everything - Love.

However, a birth also took place under the Earth: the gloomy Tartarus was born - an abyss of horror filled with eternal darkness.

In the process of creating the world, Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness, called Erebus, and the dark Night, named Nikta. As a result of the union of Nikta and Erebus, Ether was born - the eternal Light and Hemera - the bright Day. Thanks to their appearance, the light filled the whole world, and day and night began to replace each other.

Gaia, a powerful and gracious goddess, created an immense blue sky- Uranus. Spread over the Earth, he reigned throughout the world. High Mountains proudly stretched towards him, and the noisy Sea spread over the whole Earth.

Goddess Gaia and her Titan children

After Mother Earth created the Sky, Mountains and Sea, Uranus decided to take Gaia as his wife. From the divine union came 6 sons and 6 daughters.

Titan Ocean and the goddess Thetis created all the rivers that rolled their waters to the sea, and the goddesses of the seas, called oceanides. Titan Gipperion and Theia gave the world Helios - the Sun, Selena - the Moon and Eos - the Dawn. Astrea and Eos gave birth to all the stars and all the winds: Boreas - the north, Eurus - the east, Notus - the south, Zephyr - the west.

The overthrow of Uranus - the beginning of a new era

The goddess Gaia - the mighty Earth - gave birth to 6 more sons: 3 cyclops - giants with one eye in the forehead, and 3 fifty-headed hundred-armed monsters called Hekantocheirs. They possessed boundless power that knew no limits.

Struck by the ugliness of his giant children, Uranus renounced them and ordered them to be imprisoned in the bowels of the Earth. Gaia, being a Mother, suffered, weighed down by a terrible burden: after all, her own children were imprisoned in her bowels. Unable to stand it, Gaia called her children-titans, persuading them to rebel against their father - Uranus.

Battle of the gods with the titans

Being great and powerful, the titans were still afraid of their father. And only Kronos, the youngest and most treacherous, accepted his mother's offer. Having outwitted Uranus, he overthrew him, seizing power.

As a punishment for the deed of Kronos, the goddess Night gave birth to death (Tanat), discord (Eris), deceit (Apata),

Kronos devouring his child

destruction (Ker), nightmare (Hypnos) and vengeance (Nemesis) and other terrible gods. All of them brought horror, discord, deceit, struggle and misfortune to the world of Kronos.

Despite his cunning, Kronos was afraid. His fear was built on personal experience: after all, the children could overthrow him, as he once overthrew Uranus - his father.

Fearing for his life, Kronos ordered his wife Rhea to bring him born children. To Rhea's horror, 5 of them were eaten: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon.

Zeus and his reign

Heeding the advice of her father Uranus and her mother Gaia, Rhea fled to the island of Crete. There, in a deep cave, she gave birth younger son Zeus.

Hiding the newborn in it, Rhea tricked the hard Kronos into swallowing a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead of her son.

As time went. Kronos did not figure out his wife's deceit. Zeus grew up while in Crete. His nannies were nymphs - Adrastea and Idea, instead of mother's milk, he was fed with the milk of the divine goat Amalthea, and industrious bees carried honey to baby Zeus from Mount Dikty.

If Zeus began to cry, the young Curetes, who stood at the entrance to the cave, struck their shields with their swords. Loud sounds they drowned out the crying so that Kronos would not hear it.

The myth of the birth of Zeus: feeding the milk of the divine goat Amalthea

Zeus grew up. Having defeated Kronos in battle with the help of the Titans and the Cyclopes, he became the supreme deity of the Olympian Pantheon. The lord of heavenly forces commanded thunders, lightnings, clouds and showers. He dominated the universe, giving people laws and protecting order.

Views of the Ancient Greeks

The Greeks believed that the gods of Olympus are like people, and the relationship between them is comparable to human. Their lives were also filled with quarrels and reconciliations, envy and interference, resentment and forgiveness, joy, fun and love.

In the views of the ancient Greeks, each deity had its own occupation and sphere of influence:

• Zeus - lord of the sky, father of gods and people
• Hera - the wife of Zeus, the patroness of the family
• Poseidon - the sea
• Hestia - family hearth
• Demeter - agriculture
• Apollo - light and music
• Athena - wisdom
• Hermes - trade and messenger of the gods
• Hephaestus - fire
• Aphrodite - beauty
• Ares - war
• Artemis - hunting

From the earth, people each turned to their god, according to their destiny. Temples were built everywhere to propitiate them, and gifts were offered instead of sacrifices.

In Greek mythology, not only Chaos, the Titans and the Olympian Pantheon mattered, there were other gods.

• Nymphs Naiads who lived in streams and rivers
• Nereids - nymphs of the seas
• Dryads and Satyrs - nymphs of the forests
• Echo - nymph of mountains
• Goddesses of fate: Lachesis, Clotho and Atropos.

The rich world of myths was given to us by ancient Greece. It is filled with deep meaning and instructive stories. Thanks to them, people can learn ancient wisdom and knowledge.

How many different legends exist at the moment, do not count. But believe me, every person should get acquainted with them after spending time with Apollo, Hephaestus, Hercules, Narcissus, Poseidon and others. Welcome to the ancient world of the ancient Greeks!

2. Ancient myths about gods and heroes.

Olympic 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, Olympic or classical mythology. In the mythology of this period, heroes appear who deal with all the monsters and monsters that once frightened the imagination of a person crushed by omnipotent nature.

Instead of small gods, one main, supreme god Zeus appears. the patriarchal community is now settling on Mount Olympus. Zeus, who fights with all sorts of monsters, imprisons them underground or even in tartar. Zeus is followed by other gods and heroes. Apollo kills the Pythian dragon and builds a sanctuary in its place. The same Apollo kills two monstrous giants, the sons of Poseidon, who grew up so fast that, having barely matured, they began to dream of climbing Olympus, mastering 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, gods of a new type also appear. 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 increased craft demanded for itself also a god - 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 existence became the patron of every human enterprise, including cattle breeding, art, and trade. Nature now receives appeasement and poeticization. The nymphs of rivers and lakes, the oceanids, the nymphs of the seas of the Nereids, as well as the nymphs of mountains, forests, and fields used to be presented in a wild, terrible form. But now the power of man over nature has increased considerably; he knows how to navigate it more calmly, find beauty in it, use it for his own needs. Now the power over the sea element belongs not only to the formidable Poseidon, but also to the peaceful, wise Nereus. The nymphs got a beautiful, poetic look, they began to admire and sing.

Everything is now ruled by Zeus and all the elemental forces are subordinate to him, now he is no longer a 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. Nika 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 the terrible law of its erratic actions. Now she is the goddess of law and justice. The children of Zeus and Themis are Ores - cheerful, eternally dancing goddesses of the seasons and states. order, message. precipitation. Hebe is the goddess and symbol of eternal youth. Moira - the goddess of time: Cloto - "spinning, spinning", Lachesis - "giving lots" twisted the thread, Anthropos - "inevitability" tore the thread). The Romans have analogues: the parks of Nona, Decima and Morta. They, the terrible and unknown goddesses of fate and fate, are now interpreted as the daughters of Zeus and lead a blissful life on the 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 winemaking.

Kingdom of Hades. There flows the ever-chilling sacred river Styx, by whose waters the gods themselves swear. In the same place, the Leta River, giving oblivion to all earthly waters, flows. The barren light shadows of the dead rush and moan. The dog Kerber guards the exit. Carrier of souls Charon. Hades sits on the throne with his wife Persephone. He is served by the goddesses of vengeance Erinyes, they pursue criminals. The judges of the dead are Minos and Rhadamanthus. Hypnos plunges the dead into sleep: neither mortals nor gods can resist him. Dream gods. 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 the singing of storms, thunderstorms and wild animals, which was also a symbol of human power. intellect 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 a fighter different kind monsters: the Nemean lion, the Lernean hydra, the Kerinean fallow deer, the Erymantic boar and the Stymphalian birds, he is not only the winner of nature about the myth of the Augean stables and the winner of matriarchy in the myth of the belt obtained from the Amazon Hippolyta. If he, with his victory over the marathon bull, the horses of Diomedes and the herds of Gerion, is still comparable to other heroes, then there are two of his feats by which he surpassed all the heroes of antiquity: in the extreme west, G. reached the garden of the Hesperides and took possession of their apples, and in the depths of the earth got to Cerberus himself and brought him to the pov-st.

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

Many myths speak of the victory of man over nature. When Oedipus solved the riddle of the Sphinx, the Sphinx threw himself off a cliff, when Odysseus (or Orpheus) did not succumb to the bewitching singing of the sirens and sailed unscathed past them, the sirens died at the same moment when the Argonauts safely sailed among the Symplegades - rocks that until then had incessantly converged and diverged, 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 processing in ancient Greek literature was myths about gods and heroes, which originated in the pre-class period, but continued to develop later. Greek epics, lyrics and drama were full of mythological plots, motifs and individual images taken from mythology. It can be said that the 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 a direct artistic perception of the literary works that grew out of them. This also applies to the ancient Greek fine arts - to sculpture and to vase painting.

Without taking into account the inseparable 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 well-known statement of K. Marx (“On the Critique of Political Economy”) should serve as the basis for a correct study of it:

“Regarding art, it is known that certain periods of its heyday are not in any way consistent 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 Shakespeare With regard to certain forms of art, for example the epic, it is even admitted that they, in their classical form, which constitutes an epoch in the history of the world, can never be created as soon as artistic production as such has begun, which, therefore, in the field of art itself, known forms of great importance are possible only at a comparatively low stage of artistic development.If this is the case in the field of art in the relations between its various kinds, it is even less striking that this circumstance takes place in relation to the whole field of art to the general social development. lies only in the general formulation of these contradictions. t just highlight each of them, and they are already explained. Take, for example, the relation of Greek art and then Shakespeare to modernity. It is known that Greek mythology was not only the arsenal of Greek art, but also its soil. Is that view of nature and social relations that underlies Greek fantasy, and therefore Greek [art], possible in the presence of self-factors, railways, locomotives and electric telegraph? Where is Vulcan against Roberts & Co., Jupiter against the lightning rod and Hermes against the Crédit mobilier! Every mythology overcomes, subdues and shapes the forces of nature in and through the imagination; it disappears, therefore, with a real mastery over these forces of nature. What would have become of the goddess Fama if Printinghousesquare existed? The premise of Greek art is Greek mythology, that is, nature and social forms, already reworked in an unconsciously artistic way in popular fantasy. This is his stuff. But not any mythology, i.e., not any unconsciously artistic reworking of nature (here, the latter is understood to mean everything objective, hence including society). Egyptian mythology could never have been the soil or mother womb of Greek art. But in any case, it is mythology. Consequently, it is by no means such a development of society that excludes any mythological relation to nature, any mythologization of nature, which, therefore, requires from the artist a fantasy independent of mythology.

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

However, the difficulty lies not in understanding that Greek art and the epic are connected by known 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 significance of a norm and an unattainable model.

A man cannot become a child again, or he becomes childish. But doesn’t the child’s naivete please him, and shouldn’t he himself strive to reproduce his true essence at the highest level? Does not the child's nature in every epoch revive its own character in its artless truth? And why shouldn't the childhood of human society, where it developed most beautifully, have eternal charm for us, like a stage that never repeats itself? There are ill-bred children and senilely intelligent children. Many of the ancient peoples belong to this category. Greeks were normal children. The charm that their art possesses for us does not contradict the undeveloped social stage on which it grew up. On the contrary, it is its result and is inextricably linked with the fact that the immature social relations in which it arose, and could only arise, can never be repeated again.

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

“The older the fairy tale and the myth, the more forcefully the victorious triumph of people over the forces of nature sounds in it and there are absolutely no dramas of a social nature, feuds of human units ... Myths in which a hopeless, pessimistic attitude to 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 mankind gave birth to human-like cheerful gods of Olympus, and it is very noticeable that the raw material for fabricating these gods talented blacksmiths, potters, singers and musicians, weavers, cooks and in general - real people. 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."

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

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

"A myth is a fiction. To invent means to extract its main meaning from the sum of the real given and embody it in an image - this is how we got realism. But if we add to the meaning of extracting from the real given - to conjecture, according to the logic of the hypothesis, - the desired, perhaps to supplement the image with this, we get that romanticism that underlies the myth and is highly useful there, which contributes to the excitation of 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, as applied to the Mediterranean peoples, this assertion must be severely restricted. In the second half of the 19th century, such dependence of Greek mythology on the East was greatly exaggerated. A monument to this fascination with the search for Eastern elements in almost every myth of the ancient Greeks is the book by O. Gruppe "Greek myths and cults in their connections with Eastern religions" (1887). At present, most scientists have abandoned such a reassessment of the role of the East. Modern bourgeois science is dominated by the so-called "anthropological school", whose founder is considered Taylor, and its most prominent representatives today are Fraser and Leng. Approaching more correctly than in the 19th century to 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 the ethnographic material of the most diverse peoples, revealed the phenomena of taboo, fetishism, totemism and animism, established the great conservatism of oral tradition and the preservation in it of the 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 uncover the causes of similar myths among different peoples; but they cannot be consistent to the end, 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, cited 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 the study of ancient Greek myths and their role in the development of ancient Greek literature from this point of view, it must be borne in mind that their role outlined above is strictly limited chronologically, namely by periods - "archaic" (until 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 is Antimachus of Colophon (the end of the 5th century BC), and the largest poets are Callimachus, Apollonius of Rhodes, Euphorion and their numerous Roman imitators (Catullus, Propertius, Ovid, etc.), mythology was already only a rationalistically used "arsenal", but by no means "soil". Attempts by mythographers to revive mythology as a system of thought were doomed to failure. Marx says on this occasion: “... just at that epoch when the death of the ancient world was approaching, the “Alexandrian school” arose, which in every possible way tried to prove the “eternal truth” of Greek mythology and its full compliance with the “results of scientific research”. This is the direction , to which the emperor Julian belonged, believed that it would make the invading new spirit of the times disappear if it closes its eyes so as not to see it.

This outliving of itself by mythology did not come all at once, of course. Already in the 5th century BC. e. in the tragic and comic poets, in Anaxagoras and the sophists, rationalism breaks through with a powerful stream, 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 Chained Prometheus, had to die once more comically in Lucian's Conversations."