The Nature of the Olympian Gods
Originally 12 Olympian Gods – Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Artemis, Apollo,
Aphrodite, Demeter, Hermes, Hephaestus, Ares and EITHER Hestia or Dionysus
The significance of Homer and Hesiod for Greek ideas about the Gods
o Major influence on Greek attitudes to the Olympians
o Homer – 8th or 7th Century BC – Iliad and Odyssey
o Hesiod – 700BC – Theogony and Works and Days
o Herodotus says that Homer and Hesiod are the poets that composed
theogonies – he was a researcher and historian and his focus on H&H
demonstrate their significance on teaching future generations
Homeric Hymns
o Inform us what the Greeks thought of the Gods around 700BC – like Hesiod’s
Theogony, the Homeric Hymns, frequently discuss the birth of the gods – not
composed by Homer but in the same style – explain the cause of God’s cults
or their aetiology (reason or cause for something from mythical explanation)
o Athena
Homeric Hymn 11 – she is described as the protectress of cities, that is
fearsome and cares for war
Homeric Hymn 28 – birth of Athena – also described in Theogony and
the East Pediment of the Parthenon and 540BC amphora – depictions
attributed to these archaic texts
Comparing this with the iconography on the Panathenaic amphorae –
shows little has changed – active goddess, protects, punishes,
oversized, armed and striding
Solon Fragment 4 and Aristophanes’ Wasps
Hesiod
o Works and Days
When to perform agricultural tasks
How to lead a morally good life – both require the support of the Gods
Power of Zeus – influence of his daughter Right (personification of
Justice)
Advice on how to worship e.g. never make a libation with unwashed
hands
Origins, why the Gods deserve worship and how mortals should treat
them
Homer
o Iliad and Odyssey – focus on mortals but deities play an important role
o Gods are governed by impulse e.g. Thetis soothing Achilles, have favourites
who they support and influence, cause harm to enemies e.g. Athena supports
Achilles by disguising herself as Deiphobus in the Iliad
o Light Relief – Achilles and Agamemnon in Iliad 1 which contrasts Zeus and
Hera’s quarrel interrupting by Hephaestus serving drinks saying fighting will
spoil the feast
Jasper Griffin – Gods are impressive so deserve worship
William Allen – Gods are not amoral, but offer divine justice
Anthropomorphism and the scope of their power
, o Depicted as anthropomorphic but having non-human powers – e.g.
Panathenaic Amphora
o Have emotions – jealousy, love, desire, hatred, hunger – anthropomorphic in
appearance and character
o E.g. Foundation Myth of the Eleusinian Mysteries – Hades taking Persephone,
Demeter = not happy so abandons her duties, Zeus intervenes
o But Zeus also falls victim to his emotions – Leda, sleeps with her in the form
of a swan – has 4 children including Helen of Troy
o Preferences – e.g. Zeus allowing Heracles to Olympus as a demi-god,
Poseidon’s anger for Odysseus in the Odyssey compared to Athena wanting to
protect him – their human instincts are amplified by their divine power
o Hesiod in W&D describes Zeus’ power as more than anything of a mortal –
shows the influence of Zeus on man, power over the elements (thunder),
immortality
o Morality – Euripides’ Hippolytus – Artemis cannot be around death –
Sophocles’ Ajax is the only one to die on stage
Reciprocal relationship between Gods and Mortals – do ut des
o Zeus is mournful that Hector is about to die because he had made so many
sacrifices – Iliad
o Hesiod in W&D teaches this relationship
o Greeks honoured Gods through: sacrifice, libations, prayers, votive offerings
in return they hoped for marriage, health for example
o Euripides’ Bacchae shows punishment for no worship to Dionysus, Euripides’
Hippolytus too regarding Aphrodite – Jon Mikalson says it is honour not love
the Gods required – both sides deserve it
Different roles, contexts, functions through epithets
o Zeus Agoraios – of the agora – those buying or selling goods, oaths
o Zeus Horkios - oaths
o Zeus Phratrios – brotherhood – sons at birth and at 16
o Zeus Philios – individual and household, property, marriage, children
o Zeus Herkeios – protector of families, important for magisterial positions,
public too
o It is a confusing people – many questions at Dodona ask about which God
o Religion was complex – 56/75 tablets were strictly religious matters at Delphi
E.g. Xenephon Anabasis
Role and Nature of Hero Cults
o Hero and deity boundary seems blurred – Ekroth says that a hero must live and
die – for the Greeks it could be mythical or a known person – Poseidon says
mortals are like leaves by flourishing but eventually dying
o Good Hero – Heracles with his 12 Labours
o Bad Hero – Cleomedes (according to Pausanias) ripped down a school roof
killing over 60 children – Pythia said he was a hero
o Heracles – worshipped at Olympia - the Temple of Zeus – worshipped all over
– fluidity and wide range of interpretation – Asclepius similarly
o Most restricted to a certain area – Pausanias tells us of Theogenes at Thasos
and Dionysus worshipped for being the founding father
Panhellenic, localised, or personal
o Zeus – could be all three – as a family God, Athenian phratry, Olympia
, o Apollo Agyeios, Pythian Apollo
o Athena Chalkioikos – Athena of the Bronze House (Sparta)
o Athena Pronoia – Forethought – Delphi
o Athena Lindia – Lindos
o Athena Alea – local divinity
o Heracles statues would be used to ward off evil but also panhellenic,
especially for sportsmen
o BUT there are heroes that are only local – according to the Erchia calendar –
Epops, Leucaspis and Menedeius
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