Ixoin

In class last Tuesday we heard a quick story of Ixion who was deemed to be punished on a wheel for ever. Ixion was the son of Antion and Perimela. He was a king in Thessaly and a thoroughly bad hombre. His sins began when he married Dia the daughter of Eioneus but, failed to bring the agreed bride price. Eioneus held his mares as security on the dept. Ixion then lured Eioneus to his kingdom with the promise of payment. Once there he murdered Eioneus by throwing him into a flaming pit.

The Greeks considered the murder of kin to be a particularly horrendous act. No man or god would purify him of it. Zeus finally decided to purify him, possibly because Zeus had taken an interest in Dia. Ixion went to Olympus for the ritual.

Once in Olympus Ixion attempted to seduce Hera . She informed Zeus, who decided to test Ixion by shaping a cloud to look like Hera and placed it in Ixion's bed. Ixion took the bait and was caught in the act with the cloud. For this Zeus chain him to a fiery wheel, either in the sky or the underworld, for eternity.

In this picture it also looks like there is a snake around him, I don't know that that mean so if anyone has any input let me know.

Helen and Alcinous

On page 359, of the marriage of Cladmus and Harmony it opens up talking about a plan that Zeus planing to exterminate the heroes of the world. Most of them just accepted it. But there were two people living among them that dared to posit the motives behind the plan. Those to people being Alcinous and Helen. 

Alcinous, king of an intermediate realm, of a race of ferrymen. He was also in the book of Odysseus he places Odysseus on one of his magicL ships that finally returns him to Ithaca. Alcinous's wife, Queen Arete, is likewise impressed with the godly stranger, and Alcinous is so impressed that he offers Odysseus the hand of his daughter, Nausicaa, in marriage. Odysseus turns him down, of course, because his only desire is to return to Ithaca and his wife, Penelope. Alcinous is a kind host who makes the stranger feel at home, and when he discovers Odysseus's true identity, he is overwhelmed at the honor of hosting such a hero on his island. Alcinous throws a feast for Odysseus, in which the guest reveals his many stories. Alcinous promises even for gifts for Odysseus if he will continue his storytelling, and the ship that will take Odysseus home is laden with treasures. Alcinous makes good his promise, and while Odysseus sleeps, the magical ship arrives in Ithaca by morning. (http://www.enotes.com)He catches odysseus trying to hide his tears on hearing the story of troy and says "this is the work of the gods they brought about the ruin of men so that others might has song in the future". What I think this means is that what the corruption to be out of the world so that men can still have strive and hope in the future. 

This is a picture of Odysseus presenting himself to Alcinous

Well hector calls Helen, a slut in this page that seems about right. Helen concludes that "Zeus has prepared a woeful destiny for us so that in the future we might be sung of by the bards".

THOR

Over the weekend, I was watching tv and the movie Thor can on. This got me thinking about him and more of the history of him on the nordic side. I wanted to see what he was really repesented as in the nordic mythology. Thor was th ehammer weilding god of thunder and son of Oden. Thor is one of the most well known gods of nordic mytholgy.Thor is offen picture as a big man with a big red bread. Thor had a famous weapon, his hammer, named Mjolnir, and a belt of strength, named Megingjardir. He had a goat-driven chariot that created the noise of the thunder, according to Davidson, when rolling across the sky. The lightning bolts were caused by the hurling of Mjolnir. Thunderbolts are called Thorsviggar, according to Montelius. 

Thor's appetites are gigantic. He once drank from a horn that was emptying the water from the ocean. He is described as huge, red-bearded, with burning eyes who could defeat giant or troll in a test of strength. Yet, he was so much smaller than a giant that once he slept in a giant's glove. Epithets for Thor indicate his giant-defeating prowess. He is similar to the Greek hero Heracles (Hercules) in his feats of strength and giant-killing.

Theogony Of Hesiod

In class on tuesday we finished up on are creation myth storys. Lattter in that class the word theogony was mentioned and i wanted to look into it a little more. The word theogony, means the creation of the gods. In reacearching this I found the Theogony of Hesiod, the creation of Zeus. 

The story goes that, Rhea mother of Zeus was subject in love to Cronos and bare splendid children, Hestia (18), Demeter, and gold-shod Hera and strong Hades, pitiless in heart, who dwells under the earth, and the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker, and wise Zeus, father of gods and men, by whose thunder the wide earth is shaken. These great Cronos swallowed as each came forth from the womb to his mother's knees with this intent, that no other of the proud sons of Heaven should hold the kingly office amongst the deathless gods. For he learned from Earth and starry Heaven that he was destined to be overcome by his own son, strong though he was, through the contriving of great Zeus (19). Therefore he kept no blind outlook, but watched and swallowed down his children: and unceasing grief seized Rhea. But when she was about to bear Zeus, the father of gods and men, then she besought her own dear parents, Earth and starry Heaven, to devise some plan with her that the birth of her dear child might be concealed, and that retribution might overtake great, crafty Cronos for his own father and also for the children whom he had swallowed down. And they readily heard and obeyed their dear daughter, and told her all that was destined to happen touching Cronos the king and his stout-hearted son. So they sent her to Lyetus, to the rich land of Crete, when she was ready to bear great Zeus, the youngest of her children. Him did vast Earth receive from Rhea in wide Crete to nourish and to bring up. Thither came Earth carrying him swiftly through the black night to Lyctus first, and took him in her arms and hid him in a remote cave beneath the secret places of the holy earth on thick-wooded Mount Aegeum; but to the mightily ruling son of Heaven, the earlier king of the gods, she gave a great stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. Then he took it in his hands and thrust it down into his belly: wretch! he knew not in his heart that in place of the stone his son was left behind, unconquered and untroubled, and that he was soon to overcome him by force and might and drive him from his honours, himself to reign over the deathless gods. (http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm) pg. (ll. 453-491) from The Theogony of Hesiod.

Zues then grew after this and became increasingly strong until he was able to defeat his father Cronos. This was awesome to figure out i thought Zeus was the start of everything i had no idea that he had a mother and was born from a titan. 

Raven Creation Myth Pictures 

The raven story really interested me. I know the story well now but it sounded like it had some crazy stuff going on in it. I wanted to see what kind of pictures were created for this story. So here are some of the pictures I found and what I think about them.

This picture is of raven and the frist man. 

In this picture you can see the pregnaut woman on one left side. On the right side you can see the raven child and the grandfather. The raven child is reaching for the box of light.

This is the image of raven holding the light in a jug form.

Whole Creation Myth Story

The Norse (Nordic) Creation Myth 

In the begining there was a cold land to the north witch slowly thawed out reviling a giant, Ymir who became the father of all giants. On the night of his creation, he fell asleep near the lands of the South and became completely bathed in sweat: from under his left arm were born man and woman, both giants like him. At the same time, the block of ice from which he was born gave forth the great cow Audumla, the wet-nurse of the giants. Ymir refreshed himself from her udders at the beginning of every day, which flowed with life-giving milk. Audumla began to lick the salt from the ice to nourish herself, and the heat of her tongue and breath yielded first the hair, then the head, and finally the entire body of a being whose name was Buri. Buri had a son whose name was Bor, who went on to marry Ymir's daughter, Bestla. With her, he fathered the three gods Odin, Vili and Ve.
The three sons of the Giants' race at once began to rebel against their creators, which ended in the annihilation of the Giants. They first killed the aged Ymir. So much blood flowed from his shattered body that the abyss was filled with it. All of the other Giants drowned in the blood, save Beregelmir and his wife, who managed to launch a small boat and escape; it is from them that a new race of giants issued.
After the death of Ymir, the sons of Bor raised his body from the depths of the sea of blood and created earth with it, which became known as Midgard or the 'Middle Abode', for it was situated halfway between Niflheim and Muspellsheim. The flesh of Ymir became the land on which we live, and his blood became the boundless ocean. From his bones, the gods created the mountains; from his hair, they created the trees. They took the skull of Ymir and raised it up on four pillars of bone and made it into the Vault of the Heavens, in which they kept the sparks of fire that escaped from Muspellsheim. These sparks became the sun, moon and the countless stars in the night sky, their course throughout the sky was regulated and kept constant, creating night and day; summer and winter. With the sun in the sky, it threw its golden rays across the barren earth, and the first blades of green grass appeared.
Soon other gods came to join Odin, Vili and Ve. They seemed to appear out of the abyss, having no father or mother. Together the gods created their dwelling place, which became known as Asgard 'The Dwelling of the Aesir' , in which each of them have a grand mansion. This land was created above Midgard, so that the gods could keep watch over the world that they were creating. To get back and forth between Midgard and Asgard they created the great Rainbow Bridge known as Bifröst, which was guarded by Heimdall, the god of Bifröst.
As the gods gathered, they deliberated on the manner in which the earth might best be peopled. In the rotting corpse of Ymir, grubs were beginning to form. The gods changed all of the grubs into the dwarves, giving them human form and imbuing them with reason. Because the dwarves were born from the flesh of Ymir, the gods decided that they shall continue to live as they had since their birth, hidden from the light of the sun in the flesh of their creator. Soon the light of the sun became deadly to them, turning them into stone at the slightest exposure. There were no women among the dwarves; hence they were not able to have children. Therefore, the gods gave the dwarves two princes, who had the ability to mould new dwarves out of the stones of the earth. Thus the race of dwarves endlessly continued.
Men were created from the vegetable world by the gods Odin, Hoenir and Lodur. One day the three gods were travelling across the barren earth and came across two trees with life-less twisted trunks. Odin shaped each of the trees into a man and a woman, and gave each of them breath. Hoenir gave them a soul and the ability to reason. Lodur gave them warmth and the fresh colours of life. The man was called Ask and his wife was Embla, and they proceeded to create the race of man.
The land of Niflheim (or Niflhel) became the land where the dead would go after their time on earth had elapsed. It was known as a land of eternal sleet and frost. The goddess Hel became the ruler of this domain, and her faithful hound, Garm, guarded the entrance to prevent the dead from ever leaving and the living from entering.
Out of the chaos of the abyss rose the three Norns, goddesses of Fate. Their names were Urd (Past), Verdandi (Present), and Skuld (Future). Urd appeared in the form of a shrivelled old hag, while Verdandi was a women in her prime. Skuld was a beautiful young maiden. Together the three Norns cared for the Life-Tree, Yggdrasil until the day of Ragnarok when it is destined to die.
After the creation of the different level, or planes of existence, the great ash tree Yggdrasil began to grow and connect all of the levels. Its first root form in the land of Niflheim, from this root bubbled the spring of Hvergelmir, the source of the primitive rivers. The second root of the great tree extended into the land of the giants, covered with frost and ice. This is where the fountain Mimir flowed. This spring was a source of great wisdom from which Odin desired to drink, however the price demanded for a few draughts was the loss of one of his eyes. The third root extended all the way up into the heavens, and issued the spring Urd. This is where the Norns resided, drawing water from this well at the beginning of each day and sprinkling it on the roots of Yggdrasil so that it would not wither away.
In the highest branches of the tree sat a golden cock, which kept a constant vigilance of the horizon to warn the gods whenever their ancient enemies, the Giants, were preparing to attack them. Under Yggdrasil, the horn of the god Heimdall was hidden, whose sound would announce the final battle of the Aesir against all whom wished to cause their downfall. Near the trunk of the tree was a place of eternal peace, where the god would meet daily to render justice. In its branches the goat Heidrun browsed; she gave Odin's warriors the milk with which they were nourished.
There existed demons that would constantly strive to destroy Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life. A cunning monster, the serpent Nidhögg, sat at the base of the third root and gnawed at it ceaselessly. Four stags wandered at the base of the tree and would nibble off all of the young green shoots, preventing further growth of the tree. Thankfully, due to the careful attention given by the Norns, the tree was able to flourish.
At the time of the creation of the world, it was foretold that it would not be eternal. In the Day of the End, Ragnarok, the earth would be torn asunder in a mighty battle between the gods of the Aesir and the Giants. Great battles of might and magic would be fought, reducing all life to ashes. Yggdrasil would fall, sending the layers of the world crashing down. The hound Garm, guarding the entrance to Niflheim would flee in terror, and the dead will escape, rising again to the earth as plagues and disease to fight along side the gods. In the end of the battle, everything would be destroyed; the gods, giants, men and animals would cease to exist. (http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/IsisShrine/Norsemyth.html)

This quite an interesting story.

Helen Of Troy and the Trojan War

The story of Helen of Troy, Really caught my attention in class. learning were she came from and that she was a daughter of Zeus and Leda. The story of Zeus and Leda, was one of rape. Were Zeus was in the form of a goose and seduced Leda, then raped her she had four children all came out of eggs. As the story goes this is hard to believe but that is how it was told. (The picture below describes the scene).  

But what really interest me is the trojan war. I read up on the History of the war and found many things i did not know about the war. Finding Troy proved difficult, however, and the Greek fleet at first landed in Mysia. According to Herodotus, the Greeks were under the impression that Helen had been taken by the Teuthranians (Teucrians), and though the Teuthranians denied such allegations, the Greeks layed siege to the city (Herodotus, Bk. II.118). The Greeks ultimately prevailed, but suffered heavy casualties at the hands of Telephus, king of the Teuthranians, and, at the end, were still without Helen. Telephus, in the course of the war, was wounded by Achilles. With no where else to turn, the Greeks returned home.

The Trojan War might not have happened had not Telephus gone to Greece in the hopes of having his wound cured. Telephus had been told by an oracle that only the person who wounded him (in this case, Achilles) could cure him. Achilles assented and Telephus told the Greeks how to get to Troy.

The war went for nine years i had no idea that the was lasted nine years. That was very interesting. 

Axis Mundi

In class are assessment was to hug a tree. The point of this was so that we can learn to better connect to trees. The axis Mundi the world tree the connection between heaven and earth. I now have a different view on how I look at trees I see there importance in the old myths. I remember the first time I climbed a tree and I went all the way to the top. I could see everything but there was only one thing that went wrong. I couldn't get down and I had to sit there for four hours before i got the courage to climb down. When i did i ended up falling anyways but i learned a lot form that day. 

Melponene (Muse of Tragady)

Mnemosyne goddess of memory had nine children with Zeus, the muses is what they are know as. Melponene the muse of tragedy was one that caught my quick attention. She was initally the muse of singing then became the muse of tragedy, for witch she is best known now.She is offen repersented with a tragic mask and wearing the cothurnus (a calf lenght boot made of leather and laces). She often has a tragic mask in one hand and a knife or club in the other hand (as seen below). How she went from the god of sinding to the god of tragedy I do not know but if I do find out something I will post on it.

9/1/13

How did it all Begin?

Missing the first day of class I missed the little lecture on this, but how I think it all begin was in a blink of an eye. There is many religions in the world and may of them have there different gods and the way the world was started how I think it begin was with the start of a single god. This god created life so he has something to watch over and be proud of and someone to love and praise him. But its never this simple its not always peace and good, there evil, greed and corruption as well.

We learned about Io a priestess of Hera in Argos. Who was seduced by Zeus, in the form of a bull (see figure below) to ride across the see to create a new land. This is how the Greeks believed that it has begin from what I understood in class. How it all begin i couldn't tell you its up to you to believe in what you want.