Hecate (CC 1,2)

In Greek mythology, Hecate is a goddess associated with entrance-ways, fire, light, the Moon, magic, witchcraft, etc. She is usually seen holding a key or torches. She was a protecting goddess, mainly worshiped in Athenian households in Greece. Athens is where the first statue of the goddess, Hecate, was found. It was believed that she would provide the family with daily blessings. It is seen that she has a universal role and is a savoir. Hecate is also seen as an Earth deity or a worldly spirit. She is identified as Trivia in the Roman gods and goddesses, which originated from the Greek gods and goddesses, but they were renamed. In some cases, she is seen in three different forms, but is often found in only one. In some cases, she is actually seen in four forms, but that is very rare. When she is seen in three forms, she has three heads composed of a dog, a serpent, and a horse. This is seen more commonly among Egyptian art. She is also seen in Classical Greek art with torches, a key, serpents, daggers, and other items. There are also pieces of classical art of the goddess with a dog by her side.

Hecate was an only child, a rarity in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Perseus and Asteria. Asteria was the daughter of two Titans, Phoebe and Coeus. Asteria was also the sister of Leto. Leto was a mortal, who was one of the parents of the twin gods, Artemis and Apollo. The other parent was the lightning god, Zeus. Asteria was also seen as the star goddess, of shooting stars and of oracle. She was a Titan. This is the reason that Hecate is seen as a Titan. Hecate is seen as a pre-Olympian goddess, because she was seen in the beginning of time rather than later with gods like Cronus and later, Zeus. Asteria was seen fleeing into the Aegean Sea as a quail in order to escape the oncoming Zeus, it is obviously seen that he chose Leto rather than Asteria because she fled into the Aegean Sea before Zeus could get to her.

Hecate is seen in different ways in Ancient Greek writings. An example of this would be the writings of Theogony. In this writing, she is depicted more as a household goddess and a goddess of humble household worship rather than the temple goddess that she was actually seen as in Greek mythology. This did have a positive effect on the goddess’s myth, though. It spread the knowledge of the goddess and made her more popular than what she was at the time. In Athens, she was seen as a goddess that was worshipped in daily life. This was along with the more popular gods and goddesses of Zeus, Hermes, Hestia, and Apollo. They were the main gods and goddesses of the household. In some ways, she was seen as a foreign goddess, who was later accepted in Greek mythology. The reasoning behind this was the numerous amounts of art and statues that were seen for worship of Hecate, but it was seen at a later time in different parts of the world. Sometimes she is seen as a helper or protector of the humans. She is seen in a more positive way than other Titans because she was on the Olympian side of the Battle of Gods and Titans, which took place in order to get rid of the brutal ruler, Cronus. She was also not sent to the underworld after this war. The Titans who were against Zeus in the war were sent to the underworld or were greatly punished in a different way, such as Atlas holding up the world.

Hebe (BB 1,2)

In Greek mythology, Hebe is a god, the daughter of his well-known parents, Hera and Zeus. She was also known as Ganymeda. Hebe’s name means ‘Flower of Youth’ and this makes sense because she was the goddess of eternal youth. Because she was the daughter of Zeus and Hera, Hebe had many siblings. Some of these siblings were Ares, Athena, Apollo, Helen, Hercules (oddly enough he would become her future husband when Hercules becomes a mortal), Eileithyia, Eris, Artemis, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Helen of Troy (who was half mortal and half immortal), Hephaestus, Perseus, Minos, the Muses, and the Graces. She has many more half mortal and half immortal brothers and sisters because her father is Zeus, but the ones that are listed above are the most prominent of those children. Hebe was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus. She would serve them their nectar and ambrosia, until she was married to Hercules. She isn’t that famous of a goddess because she served the more popular and powerful gods and goddesses, rather than becoming one herself. She is also the goddess of young people. She can grant people youth, but she cannot delay aging for older people. She drew baths for Ares and helped Hera into her chariot when her assistance was needed by the gods. This is her only power.

                Hebe was the god that granted Iolaus his wish to become young again. Iolaus was the nephew of Hebe’s future, Hercules. Iolaus was known for helping Hercules on some of his labors. He was one of the reasons that he had to complete twelve labors instead of the ten labors he was originally given to complete. Eurystheus, who was in charge of the labors, declared that he was cheating on the labors because he was given help by Iolaus. He also thought that Hercules cheated on some of his labors, but that is a different story. Hercules gave Iolaus his first wife, Megara and they had a daughter together. Iolaus wanted to be young in order to fight Hercules’ tormentor, Eurystheus, the man in charge of Herucles’ twelve labors.

                Hebe was Herucles’ fourth and final wife. His third wife, Deianira, thought that he was cheating on her with another god, Iole. She soaked on of his shirts in poison in order to kill him but he was half mortal and half immortal at the time seeing that he was the son of Zeus. This shirt was called the poisoned shirt of Nessus. When he put on the shirt, it burned his skin. He tried to take off the shirt and it stuck to his flesh, so when he tried it separated his flesh from his bones. He then chose to die voluntarily and had a pyre constructed in order to kill him. He couldn’t completely dies seeing that he was half mortal and half immortal. After he was “killed,” he became a god on Mount Olympus. The mortal part of Hercules died and he was completely immortal. The gods transformed him completely into an immortal so he could join his father on Mount Olympus. This is when he met Hercules. When Hebe was married to Hercules, they had two daughters together. They were named Alexiares and Anicetus.

                                There are multiple fountains and artwork created in praise to this goddess. There are multiple in the United States. An example of this would be in Vicksburg, Mississippi. There is a fountain there and also a rose garden located near it. There are also different statues of Hebe in international locations, such as Birmingham city centre in England and Forli, Italy. 

Greek Monsters (1/?) (AA)

                One animal in Greek mythology was Chimera. It was an animal depicting of three different parts. It was a lion, snake, and a goat. It was generally seen as a lion, with the head of a goat arising from its back, and its tail is of a snake. It was a monstrous fire breathing animal. Chimera was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. Typhon was a giant Greek monster that threatened the Olympians. It was unleashed by Uranus so that he would remain in a powerful state.  He was eventually captured and put underneath a mountain, Mount Aetna, to spend eternity. The Greeks believed that when any volcanoes erupted it was Typhon getting angry.

Chimera was also the sibling of Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra. Cerberus is the guard dog of the underworld for the god, Hades. The Lernaean Hydra was defeated by Hercules. Whenever one of the five Hydra’s heads was cut off, two more would regrow in its place. When Hercules had to defeat it for one of his five labors, he burned where the head would regrow to prevent two more heads from reappearing. He was helped on this labor, and it didn’t count for his punishment of performing twelve labors completely.

The Chimera is generally seen as a female because of its mention in Ancient Greek writings, such as The Iliad. “Sightings” (It is a mythical animal after all. It could not be seen even if someone wanted to see it) of the Chimera were generally seen as omens for storms, disasters, or wreckage of some sort.

In one version of Greek mythology, Chimera is seen as the wife of her brother, Orthus. Orthus was a two-headed dog, similar to his brother Cerberus that had three heads total. He was owned by a three-bodied giant, Geryon. Geryon is often described as a Greek monster with human faces. Orthus was the guard for Geryon’s herd of red cattle in the “sunset” land of Erythria. For Hercules’s tenth labor, he needed to capture these red cattle to move onto his next task. When he arrived on this land, he killed Geryon, Orthus, and Eurytion and left with the cattle. Eurytion was the master of Orthus, who was also involved in guarding the cattle of Geryon. He was also mentioned in the modern novel Percy Jackson: The Battle of The Labyrinth.

Chimera was killed by Bellerophon, helped by Pegasus who is the offspring of Medusa, under the order of King Iobates of Lycia. Bellerophon was a great hero of Greek mythology. With Pegasus, who could fly, Bellerophon flew overhead Chimera and killed her. He did this while maintaining a distance from her so he would not be killed by the fire in which she would kill with if provoked. This monster is often seen in Greek art.

Another kind of Greek monsters were the Gorgons. There were three Gorgons: Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale. Out of these three Gorgons, Medusa was the only mortal. They are commonly seen as three women with snakes as their hair and women whose glance will turn a person into stone. Medusa was killed by the mortal hero, Perseus in his quest to save his mother from her dreaded faith. Perseus killed Medusa when she was sleeping so that he would not turn into stone by looking into her eyes. These Gorgons are mainly seen in the writing of Homer. The name Gorgon is derived from the Greek word, “gorgos.” This literally translates into dreadful or terrible, suitable for these monstrous Greek women. They supposedly live on their own island in order to prevent massive killings.

Greek monsters in The Odyssey (2/2) (Z1, Z2)

The next isn’t necessarily a Greek monster, but it is an obstacle that prevents the protagonist of The Odyssey, Odysseus from continuing on his adventure home. The Lotus Flower was that obstacle. The Lotus Flower was found on one of the islands that Odysseus and his crew had landed on. When the men landed on the island, they were extremely hungry. They ate the only thing available, and that was the Lotus Flower. This flower is highly addictive, preventing the men from wanting to leave the island. There were other men there also; they seemed to be there for a long time. This flower made the men have very strong hallucinations, making them forget about their families and homes. Odysseus received advice from Athena telling him not to consume the flower, so he remained sane. Odysseus had to drag his crew back to the ship in order to leave or they would be stranded on the island for forever. These flowers are representation of drugs in today’s society, making a person completely forget about everything important in their life. It also stands for a certain thing that distracts a person from getting to a place or destination that can make you forget about everything important in your life.
                Scylla is the next Greek monster that Odysseus encounters on his journey home. Scylla is a six headed monster that takes six men from each boat that passes by, one man for each of the heads. She lives in a cave opposite of a whirlpool, Charybdis. Odysseus had to decide which side he wanted to go on. If he went to the whirlpool, everyone on the ship would drown, but if he went on the Scylla route, he would end up losing six of his men. He chooses to go the Scylla route and doesn’t scare his men by telling them that six of them will die.

            Charybdis is the whirlpool that is opposite of Scylla. It is seen as a sea monster, and people in Greek myth generally try to avoid it. Odysseus was the exception of this, but he did avoid the whirlpool by going the Scylla route of his journey. This resulted in the loss of six of his men, but it would have been better than losing all of his men, including himself, and his ship; everyone would have died. Later in the story, Odysseus is one a raft going down the same narrow pathway where Charybdis and Scylla are. This time, he goes down the path of Charybdis because by himself, he would have been killed instantly by Scylla. His raft was sucked into the Charybdis whirlpool, but he survived by holding on to a fig tree that was fortunately positioned right above the Charybdis darkness. In the next burst of water, his raft was thrown out of Charybdis’ mouth. Odysseus miraculously got ahold of his raft and paddled away to safety. This was the only story in Greek mythology in which a Greek mortal hero survived with Scylla and Charybdis. 

            The Cattle of the Sun were also among the Greek animals in which Odysseus encountered. They weren’t exactly monsters, but because of them, Odysseus and his men were punished by Zeus. These cattle belonged to Helios, the god of the sun. Odysseus and his men were trapped on the island, Thrinacia. The only food on the island was the cattle, so the men slaughtered them and ate them. They were trapped there from winds blowing the wrong way after the wind god gave them a bag of air to steer them home. When it was opened, it took them to this island.

Greek monsters in The Odyssey (1/2) (Y1, Y2)

One of the most popular stories of Greek mythology is the epic poem, The Odyssey, told by the blind poet, Homer. It tells of a hero’s journey through Greek mythology and his adventures throughout his journey. The protagonist in this story is Odysseus, and through his adventures, he discovers more than war, with the involvement of Greek mythology.

                In some cases, Calypso is seen not as a Greek goddess, but as a Greek monster instead. She is a nymph who was cursed and forced to stay on her deserted island forever. When Odysseus came across the island, he, because of Calypso, lost track of time. For what felt like a day gone by, years have actually gone by in reality. Calypso was fond of Odysseus so she kept him on her island until he finally was snapped out of his brain wash, so to speak, and left to continue on his journey home. The Greeks believed that Calypso is seen in the daily lives of people as others holding us back. She is seen as misleading, selfish, and full of herself, and we’re supposed to get rid of the “Calypso,” in our life. 

                One of the most well-known monsters of The Odyssey is the Cyclops, Polyphemus. This Cyclops lived in a cave which he covered with a rock upon leaving and being inside of the cave. When they had the chance, Odysseus and his crew when into the cave and became trapped. The Cyclops ended up killing some of the crew by consuming them (ew!), but Odysseus and some of his men did end up surviving. The survivors got together, and when the Cyclops fell asleep, they took a sharp spear and pierced the eye of the Cyclops. This blinded the Cyclops, making it possible for the crew to eventually escape. They escaped by tying themselves under the sheep in the cave. When the Cyclops let the sheep out, the men untied themselves, unsuspecting of the blind Cyclops, and barely escaped alive.

                Circe is another nymph that Odysseus encountered on his journey. Odysseus goes to the home of Circe to find out how he was supposed to get home because he was currently at a stop on his journey. Circe allowed Odysseus and his crew to eat and drink what she had in her home. Odysseus was protected by Athena so when he ate, he remained a human being. His crew was turned into swine. She threatens her and she eventually turns Odysseus’s crew back into human beings. She also tells him that he needs to go to the Underworld to figure out how to get home. Circe represented wealth and taught the Greeks that they should never let their greed overcome them. 

                The Sirens are the next of the Greek monsters that Odysseus encountered on his never ending journey. They were “women” that sang on their island trying to lure men onto their island, in order to eat them. He encounters them after visiting Circe. The other nymphs on Circe’s island told Odysseus that if he wanted to, he could hear the song of the Sirens. He had his men tie him up to a post so he wouldn’t be tempted to jump off the boat and die. He had his men put wax in their ears in order to prevent them from jumping off the ship as well. The men were instructed not to untie Odysseus no matter how much he pleaded. The Sirens are known about singing about men’s pasts. Odysseus heard about his involvement in the Trojan War. The Sirens represent people who try to make you live in your past.