Category Archives: Gods and Goddesses

Zeus and Dionysus in Crete

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The Cretan Zeus is not quite the same as the Classical Greek version of the God. For one thing, the Cretan Zeus is more of a harvest God who is born again each spring and dies in the Fall. Since Classical Greeks thought all Gods and Goddesses should be immortal, they changed the attribute of the God whose name they’d taken and declared all Cretans are liars. They kept, however, the story of his upbringing in a cave after his father, Cronus in Classical Greek mythology, swallowed all his children.  A prophesy declared one would be his killer. To prevent that, Cronus swallowed them. But Rhea, to protect her remaining child, dressed a stone in swaddling clothes so Cronus swallowed the rock instead.

In both versions, Zeus was nursed by a nanny goat – or one of several other animals such as a pig. Take your pick. I’ve now read several variations. Zeus’s crying was masked by the Kouretes, a group of armed men who clashed their weapons together to hide the cries.

So what does this have to do with Dionysus? Well, the Cretan Zeus is more like Dionysus. A mortal harvest God followed by ecstatic worshippers.

When I was in Greece at Delphi I asked our tour guide why Dionysus was so different from the Classical Greek Gods. They do not embody the Dionysian wildness and several represent rationality. She didn’t know but I have the answer now. Dionysus is a very old God. He is named in the linear B tablets. And in many, if not most, of the other Middle Eastern Bronze Age religions there are other Gods like him.

These early beliefs were concentrated on fertility – not just human fertility although in Bronze Age Crete the High Priestess, as an earthly representation of the Goddess, represented that fertility. Ritual intercourse was practiced not only in the Mediterranean but as far away as Norway. For these early farmers, fertility among the livestock and of course a good harvest meant the difference between life and death. According to Joseph Campbell, in very early times the king of the land, (or the consort to the Priestess) was sacrificed so that his blood would nourish the land and promote that fertility. This practice evolved to a ritual sacrifice, using animals or other rites that stood in for the death of the king.

That is why the High Priestess had such power. Although we are not entirely sure how much, I imagined her as THE power, with her consort controlling the administration of the state. Bulls and other animals were sacrificed, but other rituals were also employed. I suggest that the consort is required to reestablish his strength by facing a bull in the ring.

Of course, as the Priestess comes to the end of her fertile years, she would be replaced with a younger woman.

Janus

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January is named after the Roman God Janus. Unlike many of their Gods, from Jupiter (Zeus), Juno (Hera), as well as Artemis and Dionysus, Janus was not adopted from Greece. Instead, Janus appears to be of Etruscan beginnings, 

Janus is frequently depicted with two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. Janus is the god of transitions, doorways, choices and duality – opposites in fact like war and peace.

The name Janus is from a photo-IndoEuropean language that means doorway or gate.

Although Janus was not as powerful a God as Zeus or Artemis, e.g. because he oversaw transitions, he was ritually recognized at ceremonies for other Gods.

One interesting trivia tidbit is that Janus – January became the first month in the Gregorian calendar, instead of March. 

(That does explain the Biblical story of Jesus’ birth when the lambs were being delivered. That happens in the Spring, not in December and January.)

Aphrodite

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Like several other of the Greek Gods we are familiar with, Aphrodite’s origins are much earlier than Classical Greece.

There are two myths about her birth. One is a fairly standard one in which Zeus was her father and Dione, a sea nymph, her father. The other is much darker. Gaia, the earth goddess, married her own son Uranus. This was a loveless marriage. He hated their children (the Titans and the Cyclops among others) and trapped them under Gaia’s belly in the earth. Gaia persuaded another of her sons, Cronus, to help her. He did so by castrating his brother. (I told you it was dark.) His male parts fell into the sea and drifted east from the island Cyprus. From the foaming mess arose Aphrodite.

The historical past of this Goddess is more prosaic. Fertility Goddesses were common in the Bronze Age Middle East. These Goddesses went by various names: Inanna, Ishtar and Astarte. (One theory of Aphrodite’s name is that it is a corruption of Asteroth.) All of these Goddesses inhabited the sky in the form of a star – actually the planet we still call Venus.

The Pomegranate is her fruit and birds are sacred to her. I want to point out that Birds were also sacred to the Supreme Goddess in Crete. In the beginning of the third Crete mystery, (coming soon), Martis participates in a ritualistic bird dance honoring the Goddess.

Another interesting point. Aphrodite was not only the Goddess of romantic and carnal love, but also of the lust for battle and conquest.

The cult of Aphrodite spread throughout the Mediterranean, with its center in Cyprus. (Supposedly her birth place.) Aphrodite is also associated with copper – which is mined on Cyprus.

Medusa

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One of the Greek myths that has captured even modern imaginations is that of Medusa.

In the Greek myth, Medusa was a priestess for Athena. Poseidon violated her inside Athena’s temple and Athena was so enraged by the sacrilege she changed Medusa from a beautiful girl into a monster with venomous snakes for hair and a gaze that turned people into stone.

Medusa and her two sisters were banished to a small, faraway island where they lived until Perseus slew Medusa. (He used her head as a weapon but that is another story.)

Here are my takeaways. Athena was supposed to be the goddess of wisdom but she chose to punish Medusa instead of Poseidon. Athena was a powerful goddess but instead of confronting another God she attacked a mortal woman.

Clearly, the attitudes toward rape haven’t changed much. Many of the rape victims in the Greek myths, like Medusa, are the ones punished, not the rapists.

According to some of the sourcesI read, this is an example of the unfairness of divine retribution in the Greek myths. The Gods were frequently unfair.

What color was the Minoans Hair?

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I’m sure the overwhelming response is black. After all, dark hair and eyes are consistent with Mediterranean coloring. What then, does one make of Apollo, whose hair was a golden blond? When I asked my Greek guide several years ago why Apollo was supposed to have blond hair, she replied that his hair fit in with his role as the sun god.

Fast forward a few years and a lot more research. It turns out that, although blond hair was uncommon, it was not that unusual. Some of the ancient pottery depicts warriors with blond hair and Achilles in fact was supposed to be fair. Another famous blond – Helen of Troy. She literally was fair. They were not the only ones.

DNA evidence confirms that although the prevailing hair colors were black and dark brown, blond and red hair were not unknown. Partly that was due to contact with people from the steppes.

My takeaway: people have always traveled from place to place, intermarrying with local populations. We are all mutts.

I hope to see everyone at the Cohoes Public Library this Saturday, 11 – 4.

Who is the Minoan Lady of the Beasts?

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Artemis is described in the Iliad as Potnia Theron or the Lady of the Beasts. (Potnia is a term of respect, meaning Lady or Mistress.) It is also a title formerly used by a Minoan Goddess – the Lady of the Beasts.

A similar goddess was worshipped throughout the Aegean. In fact, the Mistress of the Beasts – or something similar – was worshipped as far back as the Neolithic, including Crete. I don’t think it is a big stretch of the imagination to believe that Artemis either took over the role of her precursor or was the Lady of the Beasts under a different name.

What do we know about Artemis? She was a beautiful winged Goddess, usually associated with the Moon. (Although, since her twin brother was Apollo, the sun, there are solar elements as well. Both were children of Leto and Zeus.) She was passionate about her virginity and could be quite cruel to her nymphs when they lost their theirs, even if usually by rape. Young girls were frequently dedicated to her at the age of somewhere between 9 and fifteen. (Scholars disagree about the age.) Suidas and Arktos e Brauroniols wrote that the Athenians decreed that no virgin could be married unless they played the bear for the Goddess. (Interesting and odd to me in light of the beliefs about young girls who die before marriage and children – who become spirits, or willies.) Martis would have been dedicated as well but, unlike most of her peers, she plans to remain a virgin and dedicated to the Virgin Goddess.

Artemis is also a patron of childbirth, again an interesting juxtaposition with a virgin goddess. Women prayed to her for an easy and safe childbirth and shrines to her were present well into Roman times.

She was also a huntress and is frequently pictured with her golden bow and arrows and a pack of hunting dogs. This is the piece that fits in with the Lady of the Beasts. As a beautiful but unattainable woman, she was frequently the object of men’s attentions. With the Greek predilection for violent drama, her reaction toward them tended to be fatal. In one myth, a mortal saw her bathing naked. Artemis turned him into a stag and his own hunting dogs tore him apart.

Although Artemis is a hunter and a protector of women in childbirth, the apparent disconnect does make sense. Fertility of both women and animals, domestic and wild, was necessary for prosperity.

In Classical Greece, Artemis is a daughter of Zeus. But her history is far older than that.