olympian gods

THE OLYMPIAN GODS

How do we set about tracing their mythological ancestry?

ORIGINS OF GREEK MYTH

1. Iconography

GREECE: AN APPENDIX OF THE NEAR EAST

Greek civilization is in many ways a product of Near Eastern cultures.

THE HITTITE EMPIRE

A great power during the Bronze Age.

ÇATAL HÜYÜK

A Hittite town in southern Turkey.

GODDESS FROM ÇATAL HÜYÜK

A goddess giving birth and flanked by leopards (6500–5700 BC).

ARTEMIS DEPICTED ON THE FRANÇOIS VASE

Winged Artemis with a stag and a panther (c. 570 BC). She is ‘Potnia Theron’ –the ‘Mistress of Beasts’ who guarantees abundance of game.

CYLCADIC MOTHER FIGURINE

c. 2600–2300 BC.

GRECO-ROMAN APHRODITE

Is she a ‘descendant’ of the Cycladic goddess? Hard to say.


1. Iconography2. Comparative Study

THE GREEK LANGUAGE

Part of the Indo-European language family.

If languages are related, then what about gods and myths?

ARCHAIC STATUETTE OF ZEUS

He holds his most essential attribute.

ZEUS AND GANYMEDE

Note the thunderbolt in Zeus’ left hand.

CLASSICAL STATUE OF ZEUS

He was holding a thunderbolt.

CLASSICAL STATUE OF JUPITER

Like Zeus, he is a god of sky and weather.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES

All these languages come from a hypothetical mother language.

SKY GODS

Greek: Zeus pater (Ζεὺς πατήρ)

SKY GODS

Greek: Zeus pater (Ζεὺς πατήρ)Latin: Iuppiter

SKY GODS

Greek: Zeus pater (Ζεὺς πατήρ)Latin: IuppiterSanskrit: Dyau pit ṣ ṛ (द्यौष्पि��तृ)

AN INDO-EUROPEAN SKY GOD

Greek: Zeus pater (Ζεὺς πατήρ)Latin: IuppiterSanskrit: Dyau pit (ṣ ṛ द्यौष्पि��तृ)

Indo-European sky god: *Dyēus pə2tēr

Historical linguists reconstruct the original form of the name by comparing the three.

The Indo-European sky-god appears in three different cultures.

IUPPITER

ZEUS

DYAU PITṢṚ


1. Iconography2. Comparative Study3. Analysis of Greek Prehistory

BRONZE AGE GREECE

The Mycenaean culture was literate.

TABLET INSCRIBED IN ‘LINEAR B’ SCRIPT

It was a syllabary, not an alphabet.

MICHAEL VENTRIS (1922–1956)

He deciphered Linear B in 1952.

SOME GREEK WORDS IN LINEAR B

It is a fairly blunt instrument for transcribing Greek.

DIVINE NAMES THAT APPEAR IN LINEAR B TABLETS

ZeusHera

PoseidonAthenaArtemisPotnia

HermesDionysus

These gods (at least) were current in Greece 1600–1200 BC.

ZEUS

King of the gods, lord of the bright sky.


ZeusHera


HermesDionysus


HERA

Wife of Zeus, patron of mothers and marriage.


ZeusHera


HermesDionysus


POSEIDON

Lord of the sea, earth-shaker.


ZeusHera


HermesDionysus


ATHENA

Protector of the citadel.


ZeusHera


HermesDionysus


ARTEMIS

She was known to the classical Greeks as ‘Potnia Theron’ – ‘Mistress of Beasts’.


ZeusHera


HermesDionysus

These were evidently two separate gods in Mycenaean times.


ZeusHera


HermesDionysus


HERMES

Protector of wayfarers.


ZeusHera


HermesDionysus


DIONYSUS

The Greeks thought of him as a newcomer to the pantheon – and so did modern scholars.

DIONYSUS

His myth involved a triumphal procession from India – he was thought of as foreign.


ZeusHera


HermesDionysus

He is in fact as old as any of the other gods in the Mycenaean pantheon.

ZEUS AND THE OLYMPIANS

There is no evidence that any of the familiar myths had yet been invented.

HOMER: TRADITIONAL AUTHOR OF THE ILIAD AND ODYSSEY

The epic tradition was probably instrumental in putting stories to the gods.

HOMERIC BARDS

They entertained at aristocratic feasts with glorious tales of the epic past.

This is likely where the stories were generated …

… as well as the personalities of the gods.


Greek civilization is best seen as a development of Near Eastern culture.

ARCHAIC STATUETTE OF ZEUS

He holds his most essential attribute – or does he?

AN INDO-EUROPEAN SKY GOD

Greek: Zeus pater (Ζεὺς πατήρ)Latin: IuppiterSanskrit: Dyau pit (ṣ ṛ द्यौष्पि��तृ)

Indo-European sky god: *Dyēus pə2tēr

The root of *Dyēus is cognate with the English word ‘day’ and means ‘bright’

The Romans worshiped Jupiter on the Ides of the month – what’s that?

ZEUS/JUPITER: LORD OF THE BRIGHT SKY

Under the lunar calendar, it was the day of the full moon.

THE IDES

How did he become a storm-god?

ZEUS: LORD OF THE BRIGHT SKY


Greek civilization is best seen as a development of Near Eastern culture.

MESOPOTAMIA: CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION

Many Greek myths originated here.

LET’S ALL CLICK IT!

Please activate your clicker.

Which of the following cultures does not appear to have any direct connections with ancient Greek mythology?

A. Sumerians

B. Akkadians

C. Egyptians

D. Babylonians

SUMERIANS (c. 4000–2300 BC)

A non-Semitic people that invented writing.

SUMERIAN GODS

A pantheon of gods with many similarities to the later Greek gods.

GODS OF THE SUMERIANS

Most are associated with one or more of the larger cities of Sumer.


A personification of the sky and source of authority – kingship is from heaven.

URANUS

Like Anu, he recedes into the background after his initial role in cosmogony.


She’s a lover AND a fighter – insatiably lustful and violent.

ATHENA AND APHRODITE

Goddesses of War and Love.


Goddess of the Dead.

PERSEPHONE

Queen of the Dead.


Lord of the earth and of fresh waters, master of crafts, teacher of skills.

HEPHAESTUS AND PROMETHEUS

Craftsman and trickster.


Lord of the earth and of fresh waters, master of crafts, teacher of skills.

He apparently picked up his ‘stormy’ character from Near Eastern gods like Enlil.

ZEUS: LORD OF THE BRIGHT SKY

DEITIES OF THE ANCIENT EAST: MANY STORM GODS

The typical chief-god in Near Eastern cultures is a storm god associated with a mountain top.


The association with a mountain betrays the Near Eastern influence.

MOUNT OLYMPUS: THRONE OF ZEUS

AKKADIANS (c. 2300–1700 BC)

A Semitic people that conquered Mesopotamia.

BABYLONIANS (c. 1700–1500 BC)

Another Semitic people that conquered Mesopotamia.


Their gods appear to have been structurally and functionally related to the gods of Hesiod’s Theogony.

HESIOD’S THEOGONY

An account of the origins of gods and the cosmos.


The descent and function of Uranus, Cronus and Zeus in the Greek creation story parallels that of Anu, Ea and Marduk in the Babylonian creation story.

Uranus

Cronus

Zeus


The chief Babylonian deity is a storm-god.

Uranus

Cronus

Zeus

MARDUK

Founder of the cosmos and protector of the Babylonian monarchy.

EGYTPIANS

They controlled the Nile Valley and the Mediterranean coast to the north.

ABRAHAM, FATHER OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE

A new god – Yahweh – had chosen him to be the father of a Chosen People.

ISRAEL IN BONDAGE

The descendants of Abraham were enslaved in Egypt.

THE PARTING OF THE RED SEA

Moses leads Yahweh’s Chosen People on an incredible journey.

THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT

The Children of Israel journeyed to a land appointed for them by Yahweh, their national god.The land was filled with pagans who worshiped a multitude of local deities – the ba’alim.

BA’AL (LORD)

A typical Syro-Phoenician storm-god. Where do you encounter that sort of god?

BAAL: THE ARCH-ENEMY OF YAHWEH, GOD OF ISRAEL

The indigenous peoples of Canaan worshiped this sort of deity, mostly on mountaintops.

Yahweh – the god of Israel. Where did he come from?


Where did he come from?


He is supposed to have emigrated from Sumeria to Canaan.

YAHWEH: ORIGINALLY A STORM GOD?

The God of Israel manifested himself like a Near Eastern storm god on Mount Sinai.

‘Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because Yahweh descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently’ (Exodus 19:17–18)

YAHWEH: ORIGINALLY A STORM GOD?


That is just the sort of divine self-manifestation one would expect of a Near Eastern deity.

ELIJAH vs. THE PROPHETS OF BA’AL: A CONTEST OF STORM GODS?

Elijah challenges the priests of Ba’al to have their god ignite a sacrificial fire from heaven (I Kings 18).

ELIJAH CALLS DOWN FIRE FROM YAHWEH …

The God of Elijah would appear to be at home in the world of storm gods.

… AND THEN MASSACRES THE PRIESTS OF BA’AL

Religious enthusiasm of this intensity was foreign to the Greeks but typical of the Near East.

YAHWEH

Given the time and place, his M.O. is unsurprising.

EARLY ZEUS HAS CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EASTERN STORM GOD

He lives on Mount Olympus and wields lightning bolts.

BY CLASSICAL TIMES, HE IS LESS A TYRANTAND HAS A MORE ‘POLITICAL’ CHARACTER

The character of Zeus develops in tandem with Greek society.

HE LOSES HIS CHARACTER AS A STORM GOD …

… AND BECOMES THE PATRON OF POLITICAL ORDER IN HUMAN COMMUNITIES

In Homer, Zeus is called the ‘King of Gods and Men’.

ZEUS: LORD OF THE THUNDERBOLT

He retains his Near Eastern thunderbolts for the rest of his career.

GREEK MYTH: THE LITERARY SOURCES


The foundation of Greek – and European – literature.


The birth of the gods and origins of the cosmos.


Post-Homeric hymns celebrating the deeds of the Olympian gods.


Dramas by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, most on mythological themes.


A literary epic on Jason and the Argonauts.


An encyclopedic digest of all the Greek myths – more for reference than reading.


A witty epic treatment of mythological themes from creation to the deification of Julius Caesar.

olympian gods

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