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Greek gods and goddesses and their roles
Ancient Greek Religion Notes
Greek gods and goddesses and their roles
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Aphrodite and Demeter
Every culture has some form of higher being, to be a model for their behaviour, as well as to look up to. In Greek times, these were the gods and goddesses who made their home on Mount Olympus. Women identified with the goddesses because they shared some feminine attributes. Goddesses were a “symbol of motherhood and fertility, but also of strength, wisdom, caring, nuturing, temperance, chastity, cunning, trickery, jealousy, and lasciviousness” (Clarke, 1999). However, not all of the goddesses possessed all of these attributes. The goddess Aphrodite, for instance, was not nurturing, nor was she very caring.
Aphrodite was one of the nine that were known as the Great Goddesses, “an awful and lovely goddess,” according to Hesiod (Theogony), born of the foam that ensued when Kronos cut off Uranos’ genitals and they fell into the sea. She first walked ashore in Cyprus, and was welcomed by the Seasons (Hours):
"The breath of the west wind bore her
Over the sounding sea,
Up from the delicate foam,
To wave-ringed Cyprus, her isle.
And the Hours golden-wreathed
Welcomed her joyously.
They clad her in raiment immortal,
And brought her to the Gods.
Wonder seized them all as they saw
Violet-crowned Cytherea."
(Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite).
She tempted many, even Zeus: “she beguiles even his wise heart . . . mates him with mortal women, unknown to Hera” (Hesiod). The goddess of love, “she was a particular favourite with the city’s many prostitutes but also supervised the sexual life of married women” (Blundell, 1998). To curb her promiscuity, Aphrodite was married to Hephaistos (god of the forge), who cared deeply for her, and made he...
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Demeter, also, had secret rites performed for her. These were known as the Eleusian Mysteries, and were held in the town of the same name. The ceremonies were held twice every five years, in September and in March. Initiation was open to all; they were sworn to secrecy. Initiates were purified in the sea, then proceeded from Athens to Eleusis. This all took place over a period of nine days, after which the initiates went back to their very ordinary lives.
Bibliography:
References
Blundell, S. (1998). Women in Classical Athens. London: Bristol Classical.
Clarke, A. (2000). The Greek (and Roman) Goddesses. http://www.louisville.edu/~aoclar01/ancient/greece/greekgod.htm
Hesiod. Theogony.
Homer. The Homeric Hymns.
Garriso, M. (2000). Classical Mythology – Aphrodite (Venus). http://www.trinity.edu/mgarriso/Myth/MythAphrodite.html
life, i.e. birth, harvest, etc. Accompanying the 6 major goddesses (Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Hestia, Demeter and Artemis) we have the lesser divinities such as the Muses, the Graces, the Fates, etc.
The speech by Pausanius in Plato’s Symposium divides the goddess Aphrodite into two beings, each responsible for a different aspect of love. To prove the existence of her double life he cites her creation. There are two versions of the birth of Aphrodite, one coming from Hesiod’s work, Theogony, where she is borne out of Uranus’ castrated genitals as they splash into the sea; the other is from Homer’s work, the Illiad, where she is said to be the daughter of Zeus and Dione. (Notes on Plato’s Symposium 180e) From these two vastly different creations she takes on two vastly different forms. Pausanius describes one of her forms as “Celestial” love. This type of love springs out of the Aphrodite created from Uranus’ genitals. This form is “wholly male” (Symposium 180c) which inspires men to be a...
They were given free rein to do what they wanted to. The gods paid greatly for that by losing their children and being turned on by their wives. First, it was with Gaia and Ouranos, and then it was with the Titan Rhea and Chronus. The women in these two myths betray their husbands in order to save their children, a maternal instinct that most women have. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, loves too much. She loves everyone but her husband and sleeps with everyone except her betrothed. The goddess of passion influences women. The ancient Greeks would definitely associate women with being wild, rambunctious, and promiscuous if the Aphrodite had power over them. With all of surly behavior of the goddesses it caused the men to want more control over their daughters and wives. That means, there were no politics for them, no outside living, and no ability to own
Since Aphrodite had the magic girdle and was so beautiful, all of the gods fell in love with her. & nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp; All of the goddesses were jealous of Aphrodite because all of the gods loved her instead of the other goddesses. Because of this, Zeus arranged a marriage for her with Hephaestus, the lame smith-god.5 Aphrodite didn't really mind this marriage arrangement. though, because she thought Hephaestus would never notice her having marital affairs. Hephaestus knew nothing of deception until, one night, he caught his wife and Ares, the god of war, making love at Ares' home. Hephaestus went back to his home very angry.7 Hephaestus was so angry that he decided to get revenge on Aphrodite by literally catching the while they were making love.
She places in people the desire to have sexual relations and causes fear in men of the power of seduction by women. Her marriage to her husband was ignored as she had affairs with immortal and mortal men. Her infidelity in her marriage places her on the side with Greek men, rather than Greek women because only Greek men were able to cheat on their wives; not the other way around. In conclusion, the three important rules discussed in this paper that Greek women were required to obey, can be seen in the myths of the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Whether or not the Greek goddesses obeyed or did not obey these rules, their importance to the Greek culture is ever strong.
As time kept passing, more and more magnificent sculptures were made by numerous artists. One of the most memorable sculpture was Aphrodite of Knidos, goddess of love and beauty. Back in the Late Classical Period, the civilians were only used to seeing ideal male nude bodies, but Praxiteles decided to make a different approach and sculpted the first female nude. Because he obviously had never seen a goddess before, he used his imagination and sculpted bathing Aphrodite as humanlike possible. He did not make it look idealistic, but instead made it beautiful with flaws.
Demeter is the greek goddess of corn, wheat, and the harvest, as well as marriage, fertility, and child birth. She is the daughter of the titans Cronus and Rhea. She is the mother of Persephone, whose father is Zeus. Demeter is one of the twelve major deities of the greek pantheon, the others being Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Ares, Hermes, and Hestia, who was later replaced by Dionysus. Demeter is the sister of Hestia, Hera, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. She is considered to be one of the most peaceful Greek Gods.
These Goddess worshipping societies believed that spirituality and nature were one. In Minoan, Egyptian, Sumerian and various other ancient cultures, women became priestesses and served the Goddess. These cultures all gave their Goddesses
Mortal females cause struggles among men and are portrayed as wicked in Greek Mythology. In the story of How the World and Mankind Were Created, the Father of Men and of the Gods, Zeus, swears to get revenge upon mankind because of the poor sacrifices made to the altars. Therefore, he “[makes] a great evil for men, a sweet and lovely thing to look upon… they [call] her Pandora… the first woman… who are an evil to men, with a nature to do evil… is the source of all misfortu...
Finally, there are the goddesses. They represent women in all their glory. They are very human-like in that they feel the same emotions like jealousy, anger, pride, revenge, excitement, joy, compassion, etc. The exception being that they have supernatural powers. Homer even makes then human-like to the extent that they fall in love with mortals, for instance Calypso.
women were also treated as some what of sex symbols. In The Odyssey, Calypso, the sea nymph Odysseus (whom is the protagonist) lives with on her island for seven year, provides a near perfect example of this. Aside from being referred to as the “lusterous goddess” through out the work, Calypso and Odysseus have a few suggestive moments. For example, after Odysseus is told he will return (to his wife, I might add) him and Calypso almost immediately make love. “And now, withdrawing into the cavern’s deep recesses, long in each other’s arms they lost themselves in love. When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shone once more Odysseus quickly dressed himself in a cloak and shirt while the nymph slipped on a loose, glistening, rope, filmy, a joy to the eye…” (159).
--- Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Schocken Books. 1995, 2010. Kindle Edition. Location 2733 of 6360.
Aphrodite and Athena were both great powerful women who were revered as goddesses in greek mythology. They both were greatly worshipped, however due to their distinct personality traits they were worshipped and spoken about and very different ways. Both goddesses are immortal and female, and both seem to distinguish the incongruous gender roles between men and women throughout ancient Greece. What makes these two goddesses interesting, however, is their differences, which will determine how they will be reflected in myth. On one hand you have Athena, the androgynous goddess of war and wisdom. On the other you have Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sexuality. During this time, even among the immortals, women were seen as inferior and less
Demeter is a female god who had/have controlled for fertilizer and things that grow from the earth. She is very important because without her there would be no food on the table or probably wouldn’t be tables. Even if it does not sound like big thing it kind of is because there’s nothing in this world without food everyone would die of hunger or starvation. If theirs starvation people wouldn’t last in this world and all the population wouldn’t exist. Her parents are the top ones which are ‘Cronus and, Rhea and her siblings are Hestia, Hera, hades, Poseidon, Zeus, and Chiron which are very important and well known to the people. She has 8 beautiful sons named Persephone, Despoina, Arion, Plutus, Philomelus, Eubuleus, Chrysothemis and Amphitheus
Throughout all Greek myths, the gods were always created in the image of man. This shows how Greeks viewed men in a positive way and thought that they were more powerful and superior to women. In addition, they thought men and women are unequal and that men were given jobs that required more physical strength. Although women played a role in Greek myths, they were not as important as men. Women had a more easier and feminine jobs than men. In the Greek creation myth, we see Hades as the god of underworld and Aphrodite as the goddess of love. The difference between th...