Questions tagged [greek]
For questions about Greek mythology and legends from ancient Greece to the present day.
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Was there a god called Tyrimnas or Tyrimnos worshipped at Thyatira?
I've seen a few Christian sources (such as this one) mentioning a god called Tyrimnos (I've also seen it spelled Tyrimnas) that was worshiped at Thyatira, but I have not been able to find any ...
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What source says the Pythia warned Aegeus he would die of grief?
Robert Graves phrases her oracle to Aegeus as follows:
The Oracle warned him not to untie the of mouth his bulging wine-skin
until he reached the highest point of Athens, lest he one day die of
grief
...
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Why does Achilles sacrifice 12 Trojan men on Patroclus' funeral pyre? Will this benefit Patroclus in the afterlife? (Illiad Book 23)
In the Iliad, Achilles gives his friend Patroclus an elaborate funeral, involving the sacrifice of various animals, including 2 of Patroclus own dogs (presumably so they can be with him in the ...
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How is 𐌂𐌀𐌕𐌌𐌉𐌕𐌄, a.k.a Catamite, the Etruscan form of Gadymedes?
It's obvious why 𐌂𐌀𐌕𐌌𐌉𐌕𐌄 is catamite, but not how the Etruscans got it from "Gadymedes".
Is it just "We know they're the same character / name, but we dunno how the Etruscans got ...
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What is the great gulf mentioned by Hesiod?
In Hesiod's Theogony he mentions a place where the sources and ends of the Earth, Tartarus, Sea and Heaven are located:
And there, all in their order, are the sources and ends of gloomy earth and ...
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Is Emily Wilson's 2018 translation of Homer's Odyssey correct to say the sorceress Circe had nymphs as 'slaves' (Book 10 line 349)?
'10.349 Meanwhile, four slaves, her house girls, were at work around the palace. They were nymphs, the daughters of fountains and of groves and holy rivers'
Nymphs were semi-divine, usually immortal, ...
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What is the greek/roman myth with woman proud of her three sons but they die
I remember (and I may be mis-remembering some things) a myth where there was a mother and her three sons doted over her and ran for her every wish. The three sons carried her somewhere and got her ...
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How do readers of Homer's Odyssey tend to react to Odysseus' raid on the Cicones at Ismaros?
Near the beginning of Book 9, the first incident in Odysseus' account to his Phaeacean hosts of his journey home after the Trojan War.
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Could a regular mortal swear on the river styx [duplicate]
Could a regular mortal swear on the river Styx,if so what is the punishment for breaking the vow?
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When did the number of the Erinyes in Greek mythology turn into just 3?
I listened to this audio lesson and other online sources, https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-furies-in-greek-mythology-symbols-names-story.html, and they mentioned older myths had an undetermined ...
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Did the ancient Greeks establish a time when Prometheus gave fire to humans?
According to Wikipedia, the myth of Prometheus was first recorded around 800 B.C.:
The first recorded account of the Prometheus myth appeared in the late 8th-century BC Greek epic poet Hesiod's ...
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Why does Hesiod emphasize the fact that Hecate is the only child of her parents?
In Hesiod's Theogony, he dedicates a part to talking about Hecate's birth and the powers she possesses:
And she conceived and bare Hecate whom Zeus the son of Cronos honoured
above all. He gave her ...
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How to become immortal in Western world in compare to Chinese legends and western mythology? [duplicate]
I saw some Chinese series where were immortal people. Question is if someone knows the path how to be immortal in nowadays. Because the 1000 years Kingdom is closer and closer and it seems there is a ...
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Is there any evidence as to which incidents in the Odyssey were invented by Homer and which were existing legends (apart from the Trojan War)?
Homer's epic the Odyssey is mainly about the Greek hero Odysseus' adventures on his way home from the Trojan War, including raiding the Cicones at Ismaros, the lotus eaters, the Cyclops' cave, the ...
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Where is it said that Pandora opened the box out of curiosity?
The earliest mention of Pandora seems to be Hesiod's Works and Days:
Zeus in the anger of his heart hid it, because Prometheus the crafty deceived him; therefore he planned sorrow and mischief ...
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Is there any ancient source that says the Augean Stables hadn't been cleaned for 30 years?
It is commonly stated in books (including Merriam-Webster's dictionary) that the Augean Stables hadn't been cleaned for 30 years prior to the labor of Heracles, yet none of those books list a source ...
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What's the difference between daimons and gods in Greek mythology?
From my understanding, daimons are a race of beings that are immortal, but they are not gods. Like they are above humans but below gods.
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How long did it take Daedalus to build the Labyrinth
There may be no answer to this, as Greek mythology is full of inconsistent timelines, but is there any known indication of how long it took Daedalus to build the labyrinth?
Presuming Minos orders ...
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Why does Cronus have the power to cast hailstones, in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus?
I was reading the page of Cronus on Theoi.com when I saw this passage, which talks about the fight between Zeus and Cronus:
Broadbeard Kronos fanned the flame of Enyo (War) as he cast icy spears
...
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Mythology of Crete
Are there any mythological beings that are Cretan ,and not Greek .For example the minotaur is set in Crete but a Greek story .Are there any pure Cretan legends or Myths .
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How would the Gates of Ivory and Horn from the Odyssey be said in ancient Greek?
How would one say the name of each individual gate from the Gates of Ivory and Horn? According to the Odyssey, they are located in the underworld near the Asphodel fields. I have found that (ἐλέφας) ...
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Why was phoenician Melqart identified with Heracles?
From the Wikipedia article on Melkart:
To the Greeks and the Romans, who identified Melqart with Hercules, he was often distinguished as the Tyrian Hercules.
What attributes did they share for this ...
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Are there analogues of Chaos in mythologies other than Greek?
By Chaos I mean the primordial, undifferentiated substance from which everything begins in Hesiod's Theogony:
First it was Chaos, and next broad-bosomed Earth, ever secure seat of all the immortals, ...
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What is in the hand of Castor? Can that be a mirror?
My question is about the twin brothers - the mortal Castor and the immortal Pollux. Regarding this statue, which is a Roman copy of a 4th-5th century BC Greek version:
In the descriptions I found it ...
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Did Greek mythology feature any significant Heroes without a divine lineage?
Ancient Greek culture and mythology is famously humanist, and they had a strong tradition of Heroes who undertook epic feats throughout the mythos.
As far as I can tell, all the Heroes had a god or ...
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What species were new centaurs born from?
Centaurs are typically only depicted as male. I remember reading something about centaurs reproducing with human women. There's also a vague memory I have of reading that centaurs can mate with horses....
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What's with this religion of Zeus being one and only omnipotent God?
I recently learned of this theory, or cult, whatever. Basically they claim that many people, in ancient Greek already, believed that Zeus was the one and only God of the entire time and space.
So, ...
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Besides Apollo, no main Roman god shared the name of its Greek version -- why?
Was this deliberate or is it more than we decided upon the correspondence and the Romans did not see them necessarily as the exact same god?
If deliberate, did the Romans want to separate their ...
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Why is syncretism mostly described through an "interpretatio graeca", rather than any other polytheism?
It is well known that ancient Greeks such as Herodotus thought other culture's gods (e.g. Egyptian) are actually same deities as theirs, just having different names.
For example, Plutarch said
Not ...
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Aegeus, king of Naxos?
... does anyone out there have any idea or original source for this 'Aegeus' myth quoted in the link below?
https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/heroes/aegeus/
The Origins of Aegeus
Titan of the sea, ...
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The Boy and the Rattlesnake: What's the origin of this Cherokee fable?
There's a commonly told "Cherokee" fable about a boy and a rattlesnake. What's the origin of this fable? Where do we see it first see it in print and does it indeed go back to Cherokee ...
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What is the ancient Greek name of Herakles' lion skin cloak?
What is the Greek term for lion's pelt that Herakles wore? I've found that the Nemean lion was Neméos léōn (Νεμέος λέων), so I'm trying to figure out what the ancient Greeks would have called the ...
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Specificness of gods
I am by no means an expert or insider on mythology, and maybe I misuse or misunderstand Greek mythology. But there has always been a question that has been on my mind.
Why do the gods have such ...
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Greek gods of day/night, daybreak/nightfall, and Hesperides
Which are considered the Greek god counterparts for day and night? For daybreak and nightfall?
From what I've gathered:
Day/Night: Hemera/Nyx
Daybreak/Nightfall: Eos/Astraeus
But then, where do the ...
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How many Ancient Greek gods are there?
How many Ancient Greek gods are there? I am studying for school, and only know Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Dionysus, Hades, Aphrodite, Hera, Demeter and Athena.
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What is the source of the idea that Medusa was a priestess of Athena?
Medusa is a monster in Greek mythology known for being associated in some way with the gods Poseidon and Athena. By Poseidon she conceived a pair of twin sons, namely the winged horse Pegasus and some ...
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What portals are there in mythologies?
I'd be interested to know about the mentions of portals in mythologies. By portals, I mean accesses/gates towards other locations, worlds, dimensions. I've found this notion several times but in my ...
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Why was Perse a Nymph and not a Titan like both of her parents?
I've been reading "Circe" and it got me thinking: Circe's mother was a water nymph named Perse. Perse's parents were Oceanos and Tethys, who were both Titans. Why then is Perse a Nymph if ...
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Why are the Sirens the "muses of Hades"?
In Pietro Pucci's Song of the Sirens essay collection, he mentions in passing that the Sirens are "the muses of Hades" (chapter 9, page 132). As far as I can tell, there's no further ...
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Is the Greek myth about the early-flowering crocus, hyacinths and daffodils an authentic version of native Indo-European beliefs?
Is the Greek mythology about the early-flowering crocus, hyacinths and daffodils unchanged and authentically / natively Indo-European ?
Like all early bloomers, daffodils are a symbol of rebirth, the ...
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Name of Greek mythology about someone killing their parents
I remember reading a story about someone who killed their parents because they thought their parents was their lover with someone else. The parents visited them and slept in their bed. But they didn't ...
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In Greek mythology, who are the Younger Charites?
I know about the Charites, the goddesses Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. But there is apparently a younger Charites group?
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What was Hermes' reason for siding with the Greeks in the Trojan War?
It seems as if Hermes helped Zeus and other gods who sided with the Trojans in the war. What was his reason?
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Is there any "official" same-sex marriage in the Greek mythology?
While the relationships in the Greek mythology are fluid, there is some notion of the marriage between Greek gods. My question is - is there any official same-sex marriage in the Greek mythology or ...
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How central are arts (τέχναι) to the Greeks' conception of godhead?
In the opening paragraph of The Birth of Tragedy (orig./trans.), Nietzsche names Apollo and Dionysus as “both” of the Greeks’ “art-deities” (ihre beiden Kunstgottheiten)—as if they were the only two.
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In what sense is Pandora the first woman?
Pandora was created by the Greek gods and offered to Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus.
Pandora is referred to as the first woman. It is to me unclear in what sense that was meant.
My original thought ...
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Is there any case in Greek mythology where humans swear on the river Styx?
Mostly in Greek mythology, humans swear on Olympian gods such as Zeus while gods swear on the river Styx(Iliad 14.271).
Then, is there any case where humans swear on the river Styx instead of Olympian ...
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Who is the woman portrayed atop a pillar at UCT's Upper Campus?
On top of a pillar that was about two or three storeys tall, I once saw this sculpture of a woman looking out toward the woods of Devil's Peak on Table Mountain in the City of Cape Town. This being ...
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Is there a deliberate symbolic relationship between the Rockefeller Plaza Atlas statue and St Patrick's Cathedral?
The International Building, part of the Rockefeller Center, stands in Midtown Manhattan. In the building's courtyard, at Number 630 on Fifth Avenue, its entrance is guarded by the dark and imposing 45-...
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Is it the Muses depicted on the façade of 100 Broadway, Manhattan?
The American Surety Building (also known as the Bank of Tokyo Building) is at 100 Broadway in Manhattan, in New York City. The building's façade is designed to look like the front of a Classical Greek ...
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