The
Myths and Legends of ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME
By E. M. BERENS.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME. PART I.—MYTHS.
INTRODUCTION. Before entering upon the many strange beliefs of
the ancient Greeks, and the extraordinary number of gods they worshipped, we must first consider
what kind of beings these divinities were. In appearance, the gods were supposed to
resemble mortals, whom, however, they far surpassed in beauty, grandeur, and strength;
they were also more commanding in stature, height being considered by the Greeks an attribute
of beauty in man or woman. They resembled human beings in their feelings and habits,
intermarrying and having children, and requiring daily nourishment to recruit their strength,
and refreshing sleep to restore their energies. Their blood, a bright ethereal fluid called Ichor,
never engendered disease, and, when shed, had the power of producing new life.
The Greeks believed that the mental qualifications of their gods were of a much higher order than
those of men, but nevertheless, as we shall see, they were not considered to be exempt from human
passions, and we frequently behold them actuated by revenge, deceit, and jealousy. They, however,
always punish the evil-doer, and visit with dire calamities any impious mortal who dares to neglect
their worship or despise their rites. We often hear of them visiting mankind and partaking of
their hospitality, and not unfrequently both gods and goddesses become attached to mortals,
with whom they unite themselves, the offspring of these unions being called heroes or demi-gods,
who were usually renowned for their great strength and courage. But although there were so many
points of resemblance between gods and men, there remained the one great characteristic distinction,
viz., that the gods enjoyed immortality. Still, they were not invulnerable,
and we often hear of them being wounded, and suffering in consequence such exquisite
torture that they have earnestly prayed to be deprived of their privilege of immortality.
The gods knew no limitation of time or space, being able to transport themselves to incredible
distances with the speed of thought. They possessed the power of rendering themselves
invisible at will, and could assume the forms of men or animals as it suited their convenience.
They could also transform human beings into trees, stones, animals, &c.,
either as a punishment for their misdeeds, or as a means of protecting the individual,
thus transformed, from impending danger. Their robes were like those worn by mortals, but were
perfect in form and much finer in texture. Their weapons also resembled those used by mankind;
we hear of spears, shields, helmets, bows and arrows, &c., being employed by the gods.
Each deity possessed a beautiful chariot, which, drawn by horses or other animals of
celestial breed, conveyed them rapidly over land and sea according to their pleasure.
Most of these divinities lived on the summit of Mount Olympus, each possessing his or her
individual habitation, and all meeting together on festive occasions in the council-chamber of
the gods, where their banquets were enlivened by the sweet strains of Apollo's lyre, whilst the
beautiful voices of the Muses poured forth their rich melodies to his harmonious accompaniment.
Magnificent temples were erected to their honour, where they were worshipped with the
greatest solemnity; rich gifts were presented to them, and animals, and indeed sometimes
human beings, were sacrificed on their altars. In the study of Grecian mythology we meet with
some curious, and what may at first sight appear unaccountable notions. Thus we hear of terrible
giants hurling rocks, upheaving mountains, and raising earthquakes which engulf whole armies;
these ideas, however, may be accounted for by the awful convulsions of nature, which were in
operation in pre-historic times. Again, the daily recurring phenomena, which to us, who know them
to be the result of certain well-ascertained laws of nature, are so familiar as to excite no remark,
were, to the early Greeks, matter of grave speculation, and not unfrequently of alarm.
For instance, when they heard the awful roar of thunder, and saw vivid flashes of lightning,
accompanied by black clouds and torrents of rain, they believed that the great god of heaven was
angry, and they trembled at his wrath. If the calm and tranquil sea became suddenly agitated, and the
crested billows rose mountains high, dashing furiously against the rocks, and threatening
destruction to all within their reach, the sea-god was supposed to be in a furious rage. When they
beheld the sky glowing with the hues of coming day they thought that the goddess of the dawn,
with rosy fingers, was drawing aside the dark veil of night, to allow her brother, the sun-god, to
enter upon his brilliant career. Thus personifying all the powers of nature, this very imaginative
and highly poetical nation beheld a divinity in every tree that grew, in every stream that flowed,
in the bright beams of the glorious sun, and the clear, cold rays of the silvery moon; for them
the whole universe lived and breathed, peopled by a thousand forms of grace and beauty.
The most important of these divinities may have been something more than the mere creations of
an active and poetical imagination. They were possibly human beings who had so distinguished
themselves in life by their preeminence over their fellow-mortals that after death they were deified
by the people among whom they lived, and the poets touched with their magic wand the details
of lives, which, in more prosaic times, would simply have been recorded as illustrious.
It is highly probable that the reputed actions of these deified beings were commemorated by
bards, who, travelling from one state to another, celebrated their praise in song;
it therefore becomes exceedingly difficult, nay almost impossible,
to separate bare facts from the exaggerations which never fail to accompany oral traditions.
In order to exemplify this, let us suppose that Orpheus, the son of Apollo,
so renowned for his extraordinary musical powers, had existed at the present day.
We should no doubt have ranked him among the greatest of our musicians, and honoured him as
such; but the Greeks, with their vivid imagination and poetic license, exaggerated his remarkable
gifts, and attributed to his music supernatural influence over animate and inanimate nature.
Thus we hear of wild beasts tamed, of mighty rivers arrested in their course,
and of mountains being moved by the sweet tones of his voice. The theory here advanced
may possibly prove useful in the future, in suggesting to the reader the probable basis
of many of the extraordinary accounts we meet with in the study of classical mythology.
And now a few words will be necessary concerning the religious beliefs of the Romans.
When the Greeks first settled in Italy they found in the country they colonized
a mythology belonging to the Celtic inhabitants, which, according to the Greek custom of paying
reverence to all gods, known or unknown, they readily adopted, selecting and appropriating those
divinities which had the greatest affinity to their own, and thus they formed a religious belief
which naturally bore the impress of its ancient Greek source. As the primitive Celts, however,
were a less civilized people than the Greeks, their mythology was of a more barbarous character,
and this circumstance, combined with the fact that the Romans were not gifted with the vivid
imagination of their Greek neighbours, leaves its mark on the Roman mythology,
which is far less fertile in fanciful conceits, and deficient in all those fairy-like stories and
wonderfully poetic ideas which so strongly characterize that of the Greeks.
ORIGIN OF THE WORLD.—FIRST DYNASTY. URANUS AND GÆA. (Cœlus and Terra.)
The ancient Greeks had several different theories with regard to the origin of the world,
but the generally accepted notion was that before this world came into existence,
there was in its place a confused mass of shapeless elements called Chaos.
These elements becoming at length consolidated (by what means does not appear), resolved themselves
into two widely different substances, the lighter portion of which, soaring on high,
formed the sky or firmament, and constituted itself into a vast,
overarching vault, which protected the firm and solid mass beneath.
Thus came into being the two first great primeval deities of the Greeks, Uranus and Ge or Gæa.
Uranus, the more refined deity, represented the light and air of heaven, possessing the
distinguishing qualities of light, heat, purity, and omnipresence, whilst Gæa, the firm, flat,
life-sustaining earth, was worshipped as the great all-nourishing mother. Her many titles
refer to her more or less in this character, and she appears to have been universally revered among
the Greeks, there being scarcely a city in Greece which did not contain a temple erected
in her honour; indeed Gæa was held in such veneration that her name was always invoked
whenever the gods took a solemn oath, made an emphatic declaration, or implored assistance.
Uranus, the heaven, was believed to have united himself in marriage with Gæa, the earth;
and a moment's reflection will show what a truly poetical, and also what a logical idea this was;
for, taken in a figurative sense, this union actually does exist. The smiles of heaven produce
the flowers of earth, whereas his long-continued frowns exercise so depressing an influence upon
his loving partner, that she no longer decks herself in bright and festive robes, but responds
with ready sympathy to his melancholy mood. The first-born child of Uranus and Gæa was
Oceanus, the ocean stream, that vast expanse of ever-flowing water which encircled the earth.
Here we meet with another logical though fanciful conclusion,
which a very slight knowledge of the workings of nature proves to have been just and true.
The ocean is formed from the rains which descend from heaven and the streams which flow from earth.
By making Oceanus therefore the offspring of Uranus and Gæa, the ancients, if we take this
notion in its literal sense, merely assert that the ocean is produced by the combined influence
of heaven and earth, whilst at the same time their fervid and poetical imagination led them to see in
this, as in all manifestations of the powers of nature, an actual, tangible divinity.
But Uranus, the heaven, the embodiment of light, heat, and the breath of life, produced offspring
who were of a much less material nature than his son Oceanus. These other children of his
were supposed to occupy the intermediate space which divided him from Gæa. Nearest to Uranus,
and just beneath him, came Aether (Ether), a bright creation representing that highly
rarified atmosphere which immortals alone could breathe. Then followed Aër (Air), which was
in close proximity to Gæa, and represented, as its name implies, the grosser atmosphere
surrounding the earth which mortals could freely breathe, and without which they would perish.
Aether and Aër were separated from each other by divinities called Nephelae. These were their
restless and wandering sisters, who existed in the form of clouds, ever floating between Aether and
Aër. Gæa also produced the mountains, and Pontus (the sea). She united herself with the latter,
and their offspring were the sea-deities Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia.
Co-existent with Uranus and Gæa were two mighty powers who were also the offspring of Chaos.
These were Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night),
who formed a striking contrast to the cheerful light of heaven and the bright smiles of earth.
Erebus reigned in that mysterious world below where no ray of sunshine, no gleam of daylight,
nor vestige of health-giving terrestrial life ever appeared. Nyx, the sister of Erebus,
represented Night, and was worshipped by the ancients with the greatest solemnity.
Uranus was also supposed to have been united to Nyx, but only in his capacity as god of light,
he being considered the source and fountain of all light, and their children were Eos (Aurora),
the Dawn, and Hemera, the Daylight. Nyx again, on her side was also doubly united, having been
married at some indefinite period to Erebus. In addition to those children of heaven and
earth already enumerated, Uranus and Gæa produced two distinctly different races of beings called
Giants and Titans. The Giants personified brute strength alone, but the Titans united to their
great physical power intellectual qualifications variously developed. There were three Giants,
Briareus, Cottus, and Gyges, who each possessed a hundred hands and fifty heads,
and were known collectively by the name of the Hecatoncheires, which signified hundred-handed.
These mighty Giants could shake the universe and produce earthquakes;
it is therefore evident that they represented those active subterranean forces to which allusion
has been made in the opening chapter. The Titans were twelve in number; their names were: Oceanus,
Ceos, Crios, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phœbe, and Tethys.
Now Uranus, the chaste light of heaven, the essence of all that is bright and pleasing,
held in abhorrence his crude, rough, and turbulent offspring, the Giants,
and moreover feared that their great power might eventually prove hurtful to himself.
He therefore hurled them into Tartarus, that portion of the lower world which served as the
subterranean dungeon of the gods. In order to avenge the oppression of her children,
the Giants, Gæa instigated a conspiracy on the part of the Titans against Uranus,
which was carried to a successful issue by her son Cronus. He wounded his father, and from the blood
of the wound which fell upon the earth sprang a race of monstrous beings also called Giants.
Assisted by his brother-Titans, Cronus succeeded in dethroning his father, who,
enraged at his defeat, cursed his rebellious son, and foretold to him a similar fate.
Cronus now became invested with supreme power, and assigned to his brothers offices of distinction,
subordinate only to himself. Subsequently, however, when, secure of his position,
he no longer needed their assistance, he basely repaid their former services with treachery, made
war upon his brothers and faithful allies, and, assisted by the Giants, completely defeated them,
sending such as resisted his all-conquering arm down into the lowest depths of Tartarus.