July 24, 2017

This week’s Mythic Monday stars the great god Marduk, a major figure in ancient Babylonian mythology. He was the son of the god Ea, the Babylonian name for Enki, the Sumerian god of wisdom. The Sumerians ruled southern Mesopotamia, in what is now southeastern Iraq, before the Babylonians. The Babylonians adopted elements of Sumerian culture and combined old stories about the Sumerian gods with newer stories.

This clay seal shows a Babylonian priest in prayer in front of a spade, a symbol of the god Marduk. Marduk, originally a warrior-god of the city of Babylon, became the most important god in Mesopotamia. Credit: © Erich Lessing, Art Resource

Marduk originally was a warrior-god of Babylon, a great city on the banks of the Euphrates River. Babylon served as the capital of the ancient region of Babylonia and as a major religious center of the ancient world from about 1894 until 539 B.C. As Babylon emerged as the most important and powerful city in Mesopotamia, Marduk became the most important god of the area. He was called the “great lord, the lord of heaven and earth.” Babylonian stories describe how he rose to power, taking over the roles of many Sumerian deities. Marduk’s power was said to lie in his wisdom, which he used to help the good and punish the wicked. Some accounts describe him as having extra eyes, ears, or heads, and power over weather and wind.

A Babylonian creation tale describes how Marduk crafted an orderly universe as well as human beings following a battle in which he defeated the goddess Tiamat. The story tells how Tiamat, the saltwater goddess, and her mate Apsu, the fresh water god, coupled to produce what would become several generations of younger gods. The younger gods began to disrupt the tranquility of their elders, and so Apsu plotted to kill them. However, Tiamat and Apsu’s clever descendant Ea killed Apsu first and took his place. Tiamat then became angry and waged war against the other gods, who asked Ea’s son Marduk to be their champion. The other gods offered to submit to Marduk’s rule as king if he could defeat Tiamat.

Tiamat assembled an army of dragons and monsters led by the god Qingu, but Marduk overcame these fearsome forces. He commanded the wind to enter Tiamat’s mouth and puff up her body. He then killed her with an arrow that split her into two halves. With one half he created the heavens, and with the other, the Earth. Marduk also created the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, rain clouds, and mountains from Tiamat’s body. He set the cosmos working in an orderly fashion and ordered the gods to build a city—Babylon. Having also killed Qingu, Marduk used that god’s blood to create human beings as servants of the gods. Judging from such accomplishments, it is no wonder Babylonians held Marduk in such high regard.

July 17, 2017

Loki, the god of strife in Teutonic mythology, was a clever trickster. Teutonic mythology, also called Norse mythology, consists of the myths and legends of Germany and Scandinavia that date from about the A.D. 400’s. The “good” gods of Norse Mythology, the Aesir, were born of Odin the All-Father. Mischievous Loki, however, was the son of the wind giant, Fárbauti, who belonged to a race of giants called the Jötun. In Norse mythology, the Jötun and other giants were enemies of the Aesir gods. Loki’s descent from, and involvement with, the giants made him a suspect and untrustworthy character.

Loki strikes a defiant, fearsome, and dramatic pose. Credit: © Vuk Kostic, Shutterstock

Loki lived and was later imprisoned in Asgard, the Upper World of the Aesir. Loki did whatever he pleased there, however, which often displeased the other gods, and he took every opportunity to cause mischief. His antics riled the other gods so much he was sometimes called the “spirit of evil.” Loki was also jealous and hateful of his foster brother, the great god of thunder, Thor, and of his foster father, Odin, the ruler of Asgard.

Odin’s son Balder was the god of beauty, goodness, and light, and beloved by all. Balder’s mother, the goddess Frigg, made animals, plants, and even stones swear an oath never to harm Balder. Loki, who had powers of sorcery and shape-shifting, appeared as an old woman to trick Frigg into revealing Balder’s only weakness: the mistletoe plant. Loki guided the hand of the blind god Hoder to throw mistletoe at Balder and kill him. Balder’s death began the twilight of the gods, the great battle called Ragnarok which would consume the gods, giants, Asgard, and Midgard (Earth) in fire. Balder would then return to the purged Earth to rule a new era.

Loki paid dearly for his hand in Balder’s death. The trickster was chained to three rocks and tied down with his son’s intestines under a serpent dripping poisonous venom. His wife, Sigyn, held a bowl above Loki’s head to catch the venom. Each time she left to empty the bowl, the venom hit Loki’s face, and his agonized writhing caused earthquakes on Earth. Loki eventually broke free from his chains to lead the giants against the gods in the calamitous Ragnarok.

In modern times, Loki is a character that appears in Marvel comics and motion pictures. Loki plays either the role of archvillain or antihero, depending on his whim and desire to help or hinder Thor and the Avenger superheroes on Earth.

June 26, 2017

Juno was the most powerful goddess of ancient Roman mythology. She was married to Jupiter, the king of the gods, and she was the queen. The Romans considered Juno a protector who would warn them of danger to their empire. Major shrines dedicated to Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, stood on the Capitoline Hill, the religious center of ancient Rome. Juno’s shrine housed a flock of geese, which were sacred to the goddess. Legend claimed that the geese once saved Rome when their honking alerted the Romans to enemies sneaking up on the city.

A marble statue of Juno holding the golden apple of discord stands in a park in Sokyryntsi, Ukraine. Credit: © IMG Stock Studio/Shutterstock

Juno received special devotion from Roman women. She was the goddess of marriage, and her name may have been the source for the name of the month of June—still a popular month for marriages today. She was also the goddess of childbirth. In that role, she was called Juno Lucina, which means Juno Who Brings to Light.

Many stories about Juno come from Greek mythology. After the Romans came into contact with the Greeks, they identified Juno with Hera, the wife of Zeus, the king of the Greek gods. Although both Juno and Hera were goddesses of marriage, their own marriages were portrayed as rather stormy. Modern historians believe the reasons for this go back to ancient—very ancient—Greek history.

The hierarchy and worship of ancient Greek gods was not always as we understand it and label it today. People in different parts of ancient Greece often worshiped different gods, and only after cultures mixed were the religious traditions interwoven. In some areas, people had worshiped Hera for many generations before they ran into people who worshiped the sky god Zeus. Modern historians think the two religious traditions eventually merged, and this was expressed in mythical legends as a marriage between Hera and Zeus. The new people did not always get along, and thus neither did their gods. The legends further described other goddesses (and mortal women, too) as rivals for Zeus’s affections, and Hera came to be pictured as a jealous and vengeful wife. The Romans absorbed these stories into their own mythology, and they similarly portrayed Juno as a wife with many rivals who had to keep a watchful eye on her husband.

Juno’s watchful ways have not entirely disappeared, even today in the 21^st century. In 2011, NASA sent an unmanned spacecraft called Juno on a mission to Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. Juno arrived at Jupiter in 2016, and has since been observing the planet’s unique and often turbulent behavior. Juno remains as vigilant as ever.

June 19, 2017

In Egyptian mythology, Horus is the son of the gods Osiris and Isis, the rulers of Egypt. The kingdom flourished under this divine couple until the jealous god of disorder, Seth, murdered Osiris and seized the throne. Isis, who was pregnant, fled to the marsh islands of the Nile River, where she gave birth to Horus. To keep the newborn god hidden from the evil Seth, Isis kept Horus in a papyrus thicket. In this place, known as the Nest of Horus, he was watched over and raised by Hathor, the goddess of the sky.

In this relief carving from the Temple of Kom Ombo in Egypt, a falcon-headed Horus wears the double crown of ancient Egypt. Credit: © Gary Cook, Alamy Images

After Seth learned that Osiris had an heir, he became angry and fearful. Seth knew that the throne rightfully belonged to Horus, and he feared Horus would someday overthrow him. Seth tried to kill young Horus, taking the form of such animals as hippopotamuses or serpents to raid Horus’s nest in disguise. However, the child god thwarted all Seth’s murderous attempts. This story is often told in the hieroglyphics of scrolls and tombs, where Horus is shown as a royal child overpowering dangerous animals. Horus is also sometimes depicted as a man with the head and wings of a falcon. In this form, he is a sky god and protector of royalty.

Seth used any opportunity to attack Horus, who dodged the attacks and retaliated with clever tricks and pranks. In one tale, Seth ripped out Horus’ eye and buried it in a mountainside, where the eye grew into a lotus flower. Hathor used her loving powers to nurture the flower until it matured into a replacement eye for Horus. In another story, Horus challenged Seth to a race in stone boats. Seth accepted the challenge and built a stone boat, but Horus built a wooden boat and painted it gray to give it the appearance of stone. Predictably, Seth’s boat sank in the Nile as Horus floated on and won the race.

Seth eventually succeeded in killing Horus with the poisonous sting of a scorpion. Distraught over her son’s death, Isis cried out to the other gods for help. The sun god, Re, and Thoth, the moon god and scribe of the underworld, took pity on Isis. Re paused time by stopping his daily path across the sky, as Thoth recited a magic spell over Horus’ body. The scorpion’s poison then flowed out of Horus, and he was brought back to life.

Horus grew to be a strong and mighty god. To defeat Seth and other enemies, he took the form of a great winged disk, and this became his symbol. The lengthy war between Horus and Seth eventually ended in a trial, in which it was decided that Horus, as the son of Osiris, would take the throne. Horus enjoyed a long and celebrated reign over Egypt, and for centuries, ancient Egyptians referred to their kings as the “Horus.”

June 12, 2017

Hermes was one of the busiest ancient Greek gods who lived on Mount Olympus. Hermes was the messenger of the gods, the god of roads and doorways, and the protector of travelers. He was also the god of shepherds and literature, specifically poetry. In addition, he was honored among some believers as the inventor of music. Hermes served as the guide for dead souls on their way to the underworld. He protected boundaries and assisted public speakers and merchants. Hermes was also a god of fertility and found time to conduct numerous love affairs with mortals, goddesses, and nature sprites called nymphs. The Greeks believed Hermes brought good or unexpected luck. He had a clever and cunning personality and a reputation as a trickster, which accounted for his being a patron of vagabonds, criminals, and thieves. Hermes is similar to Rome’s Mercury, a god with his own lively list of responsibilities.

Mercury (a.k.a. Hermes) rides the mythical winged horse Pegasus in the Jardin des Tuilieries in Paris, France. Credit: © Zoran Karapancev, Shutterstock

Hermes was born in a cave on a mountain in Arcadia, a region in southern Greece. There he was associated with the protection of sheep and cattle. He was conceived and born in a single day. On that first day of his existence, Hermes invented a stringed instrument called the lyre, stole the cattle of the god Apollo, and may have invented fire as well. Hermes inherited his vast capacity for industry from his parents—Zeus, the king of the gods, and Maia, a minor goddess. Hermes had several children himself, including Pan, the half man-half goat god of woods and pastures.

Hermes is generally portrayed as a handsome young man wearing a winged hat and winged sandals (adding to his fleetness of foot while delivering messages). He carried a caduceus «kuh DOO see uhs», a staff with snakes wrapped around it. Snakes were a symbol of fertility.

May 1, 2017

According to ancient Greek and Roman mythology, human destiny is often controlled by the whims of three witchy weavers. Known in English as the Fates (from the Latin word fatum, meaning prophetic declaration, oracle, or destiny), these three powerful goddesses spun and cut the thread of life. They were called Moirai (MOY ry)—”the apportioners”—among the Greeks and Parcae (PAHR see)—”the sparing ones”—among the Romans.

The Fates in Greek mythology were, from left to right, Clotho, Atropos, and Lachesis. They ruled people’s lives and decided how long they would live. Credit: © Shutterstock

In Greek mythology, Clotho (KLOH thoh), called Nona among the Romans, was the spinner of the thread of life, and Lachesis (LAK uh sihs), called Decima by the Romans, decided how long it was to be. Atropos (AT ruh puhs), called Morta by the Romans, cut the thread. They were the daughters of Zeus (Roman Jupiter) and Themis (Roman Justitia).

Ancient artists sometimes represented Clotho as holding a spindle of thread. Lachesis carries rods that she shakes to decide a person’s fate. Atropos holds a tablet on which she records the decision.

The Fates were usually described as stern, gloomy, elderly goddesses. But in ancient Greece, the Moirai were also worshiped sometimes as goddesses who helped with childbirth and a successful harvest.

In northern Europe, the Scandinavians had their own version of the Fates. They were three sisters called the Norns: Urd (Past), Verdandi (Present), and Skuld (Future). They lived around the base of a giant ash tree that supported all creation. Urd was old and looked toward the past. Verdandi faced straight ahead into the present. Skuld represented the future, and looked in a direction opposite from that of Urd. The fate of people and gods was decided by the Norns. The early Scandinavians believed that there were many lesser Norns, and one for each person.

April 24, 2017

If you’ve ever given or received a Valentine’s Day card, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered the subject of this week’s Mythic Monday: Cupid, the ancient Roman god of love. Known as Eros in Greek mythology, Cupid is often depicted as a chubby winged infant armed with a bow and arrow. Cupid’s gold-tipped arrows were said to cause people to fall in love. But he also carried lead-tipped arrows that produced the opposite effect.

This statue of Eros, also called Cupid, stands in Piccadilly Circus in London, England. Credit: © Shutterstock

One of the most famous stories about Cupid tells how he fell in love with the beautiful mortal princess Psyche. The goddess of love, Venus, became jealous of Psyche because people thought Psyche’s beauty outshone her own. Venus sent Cupid to give Psyche a potion to prevent anyone from falling in love with her. However, while Cupid was giving Psyche the potion, her charms overcame him, and he fell in love with her.

Psyche went to Cupid’s palace, but Cupid would visit her only in the dark of night. He told her that he would leave her forever if she ever saw him in the light. One night Psyche lighted a lamp so she could look at Cupid while he slept. Unfortunately, he awoke and fled the palace. Psyche searched for Cupid, eventually arriving at the palace of Venus. Venus was still angry and jealous of Psyche’s beauty, so she ordered Psyche to perform several seemingly impossible tasks. While trying to perform one of these tasks, Psyche became trapped in the underworld, but Cupid came quickly to the rescue. With the help of Jupiter, the king of the gods (called Zeus in Greek mythology), Cupid convinced Venus to stop tormenting Psyche. Jupiter then made Psyche immortal, and she became Cupid’s wife.

April 17, 2017

This week’s Mythic Monday features Anubis, one of the best-known gods of ancient Egyptian mythology. Famously depicted in ancient Egyptian art as a crouching jackal or dog, or as a man with a jackal’s head, Anubis served as the god of mummification, the ancient Egyptian technique of embalming the dead. His main center of worship was at Kynopolis, which means Dog City in Greek. The culture of ancient Egypt existed for thousands of years. Over time, the role of Anubis changed, but he always held an important place in Egyptian mythology.

This exquisite statue of Anubis, the god of mummification and the afterlife, was found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun. Credit: © Prisma/Alamy Images

Thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, hungry jackals would dig up bodies buried in shallow desert graves and feed on them. To ancient Egyptians, who thought that a person’s body needed to be preserved in order to enjoy the afterlife, this was a fate worse than death itself. Consequently, people would pray and make offerings to the jackal god to spare the bodies of their loved ones. In this way, the jackal became associated with the dead, and Anubis was worshipped as the god of the underworld.

As burials became more complex, another pest became a threat to the comfortable afterlives of ancient Egyptians: grave robbers. After powerful people died, they would be buried with their favorite possessions and other valuable objects. Ancient Egyptians believed that the deceased could enjoy these objects in the afterlife. But the value of the grave goods would often attract thieves looking to make their present lives more comfortable. To ward off would-be robbers, artisans decorated tombs with sculptures and carvings of Anubis. Priests inscribed curses into the tomb walls, invoking the jackal god and promising punishment in this life and the next to any who desecrated the tombs.

This Anubis statue from the Temple of Luxor dates from around 1400 B.C. Credit: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark

Later in ancient Egyptian history, the god Osiris rose to prominence and replaced Anubis in myths as ruler of the dead. Anubis retained an important role in the mythology of the dead, however. He was credited with inventing the mummification process, enabling mortals to live on in the afterlife. With the moon god Thoth, Anubis weighed the hearts of the dead on the scales of justice in the underworld, judging the merit of their souls.

Anubis was depicted as a close ally of Osiris, as either his brother or son. In one story, Osiris’s jealous brother Seth murdered the god-pharaoh Osiris and cut the body into pieces, stuffed the pieces into a box, and set the box afloat on the Nile River. With the help of other sympathetic deities, Osiris’s wife Isis found the dismembered remains. She gave them to Anubis, who reassembled the pieces and embalmed the body, enabling Osiris to live on in the afterlife. Thus restored, Osiris descended to the underworld and became the king of the dead.

April 10, 2017

What do wine lovers, farmers, and thespians have in common? All owe a debt of gratitude to this week’s star of Mythic Monday, the Greek god Dionysus. Dionysus was the god of wine and farmers, and the art form of drama was first performed in his honor.

This statue of Dionysus, the god of wine, stands at Holy Trinity Bridge (Ponte Santa Trinita) in Florence, Italy. Credit: © Shutterstock

In Greek mythology, Dionysus’s parents were Zeus, king of the gods, and Semele, the mortal daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes. Dionysus married Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Crete.

The ancient Greeks associated Dionysus with violent and unpredictable behavior, especially after drinking too much wine. Most stories about Dionysus tell of his leading sessions of drunken merrymaking. Dionysus’s followers included nymphs (maidens), creatures called satyrs that were half man and half horse or goat, and women attendants called maenads.

But not all the stories about Dionysus concern drunkenness or violent behavior. Many Greeks believed that Dionysus taught people farming techniques, especially those related to viticulture (the cultivation of grapes) and making wine.

The Greeks also dedicated the great theater in Athens to Dionysus. Their concept of tragedy in drama grew from a ceremony that honored Dionysus. The word tragedy comes from the Greek words tragos, meaning goat,and oide, meaning song. The goat was sacred to, and symbolic of, Dionysus. Why a goat? One explanation is that at festivals honoring Dionysus, a goat was sacrificed and the satyrs sang a song of lamentation to their hircine (goatlike) “half brother.” Another explanation is that satyr plays—bawdy tragicomedy performed by people dressed as satyrs—were performed at the festivals to honor Dionysus. Yet another explanation is that song contests were held in the god’s honor at these festivals and that a goat was given as a prize to the winner. In fact, in about 534 B.C. in Athens, the Greek actor Thespis, who helped to create drama as we know it, won the prize at the first production of tragedies at the festival honoring Dionysus. Competitions in playwriting were held regularly at the festival after this time. Whichever the explanation, the goat connection stuck to Dionysus, the “good time” god of “tragedy.”

The ancient Romans had their own version of Dionysus. After coming into contact with Greek culture in the 700′s B.C., the Romans adopted Dionysus as their god of wine, but they called him Bacchus. The Romans held an annual festival honoring Bacchus. This festival, called the Bacchanalia, featured drinking and wild behavior. The word bacchanalian means drunken or riotous, and bacchant means merrymaker. Roman artists showed Bacchus as a handsome young man. But many later artists, especially painters of the Renaissance, portrayed Bacchus as a drunken, fat old man.

March 13, 2017

This week’s mythological figure is the hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest epic poems in world literature. It tells the adventures of the Sumerian king Gilgamesh. Sumer was an ancient region in southern Mesopotamia (now southeastern Iraq). Historians believe Gilgamesh probably existed, so like King Arthur, he is not technically an entirely mythic figure. His “real” acts, however, such as reigning as king for 126 years, sometimes defy reality. Gilgamesh—possessed of superhuman strength—is also said to have built the walls of Uruk, an ancient settlement that was one of the world’s first cities.

The Sumerian hero Gilgamesh, shown here in a relief sculpture presenting a slain lion to the gods, is the main character in one of the oldest poems in world literature. The earliest verses of the Epic of Gilgamesh were composed before 2000 B.C. in Mesopotamia. Credit: © Werner Forman, Art Resource

At the beginning of the epic poem, Gilgamesh is a powerful but cruel ruler. His subjects pray for help, and the gods create a beastlike man named Enkidu to fight Gilgamesh. After a fierce scuffle, however, the two become friends and share many adventures. Enkidu dies after helping Gilgamesh defeat a heavenly bull sent by the goddess Ishtar, whose romantic advances Gilgamesh had spurned.

After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh falls into a deep depression and begins to contemplate his own mortality. He decides to visit Utnapishtim, a man who survived a great flood and who holds the secret to immortality. (You may know other great flood survivors such as Manu and Noah.) Beyond the Waters of Death, Gilgamesh finds Utnapishtim, who tells him that a magical plant growing at the bottom of the sea can grant immortality. Gilgamesh dives to the sea floor and gathers the plant, but loses it soon after. He fails in his quest for physical immortality, but the gods take mercy on him and allow him to visit his friend Enkidu in the underworld. In the end, like other heroes of ancient mythology, Gilgamesh did achieve immortality through legend and the written word.

The earliest parts of the Epic of Gilgamesh were composed in Mesopotamia more than 4,000 years ago. Like many ancient epics, the tale of Gilgamesh was passed down orally from generation to generation. It was eventually carved into clay tablets. Some of the tablets no longer exist and others are badly damaged. But scholars have pieced together the story of Gilgamesh from numerous fragments.