Thursday, November 22, 2012

Furies




Furies

     The Furies where three sisters named Tisiphone(The avenger of murder), Megaera(The Grudging), and Alecto(The constant anger). The Furies were female spirits of justice and vengeance. They were also called the Erinyes which means the "Angry Ones". The Furies knew no bounds to their punishments, for they would keep pursuing their victims, often to suicide and even after death until they showed remorse. Even though they were portrayed as evil they weren't always so. They represented justice and were seen as defenders of  moral and legal order. They only punished people who had done wrong so people who were innocent and good had nothing to fear from them.  Their parents were Gaia, the goddess of the Earth, known as the great mother of all and Uranus, the God known as the Father of the Sky. The Furies were created by drops of blood that fells from Uranus's wound, when his son Chronus castrated him to take vengance for the loss of his siblings which fell to the Earth which was Gaia. The first drop of blood created Aphrodite which is why she is sometimes referred to as the oldest of the sisters. They were servants for the God Hades and Persephone in the underworld which they supervised the toture of criminals in the Dungeon of the Damned. Their description was between Medusa (who had snake hair) and a woman, sometimes they were known to look like ghosts. Another description was they had burning breath and poisonous blood that dripped form their eyes.


Saturday, November 17, 2012

Bacchus




Bacchus

       Bacchus was the God of grape harvest and ecstasy. He invented wine and spread the art of growing grapes. His personality portrayed the two different sides that wine could cause, he'd quickly change from bringing joy and laughter to others, to brutal rage. His appearance changed over the years from a mature, bearded,  robbed man into beardless, half naked or naked androgynous youth. a Zeus had many lovers, including Bacchus's mother the Thebian princess Semele. Zeus came to the princess at night and Semele, pleased to be a lover to a god accepted without knowing which god he really was. Hera, Zeus's wife heard of the news and was outraged so she tricked the princess and told her lover who he really was. When Zeus came to her the next night she made him promise to grant her one wish. Zeus madly in love with her agreed, but when she asked him her demand he was unhappy because he knew the results of what she had asked of him, but because he'd promised he had no choice. When he appeared his true form to Semele she burned to crisps for a mortal couldn't look at a god without dying. Zeus managed to save Bacchus by stitching him into his thigh until he was ready to be born, bestowing immortality upon him from being born from Zeus. Hera still jealous arranged for the Titans; known as the elder gods, to kill him. They succeeded and tore him apart but Rhea Zeus's mother brought him back to life which afterwards Zeus arranged for Bacchus's protection and gave him to the mountains nymphs to be raised. When he grew older, even though he never knew Semele, he was concerned for her so he went to the underworld and successfully brought her to Mount Olympus.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Boreas



Boreas

    Boreas was the Greek god of the north wind, him and his four brothers were the only gods who had wings. His brothers were the east, south and west winds. He is shown as having a violent temper and being very strong, which is why he was considered the King of all winds. He was also the god of the winter, and bringer of cold winter airs. He would go down the mountains of Thrake, and chill the air with his breath. Boreas was well known for kidnapping Oreithyia, the daughter of the King and Queen of Athens. He had loved the princess for a long time and had repeatedly asked her parents for her hand in marriage. He began to loose his patience with their words, "telling him to wait" and putting him off, so he decided to go with a new tactic of taking her. While she was playing near a riverside he swooped down and kidnapped her unseen by anyone, then wrapped her in a cloud and ravished her. Oreithyia became his wife and she bore him two twin sons, who were born normal but grew golden wings once they were adults. These two boys were famous for their Quest for the Golden Fleece where they accompanied Jason as part of the Argonauts but during their Quest they were killed by Hercules. Boreas and Oreithyia later had two more children, daughters, Cleopatra and Chione.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Circe



Circe

       Circe was the daughter of the sun god Helios and the ocean nymph Perse. She was both a goddess and a sorceress, and was referred to as "The Dread Goddess." She is portrayed as a woman with bright red hair brewing potions, and offering them to visitors with a wand in her hand. She was skilled at using magic, her specialties were metamorphosis, the power of illusion, and the dark art of necromancy. Often, for fun she would transform both men and woman into beasts, changing only their physical appearance and keeping them in charge of their mental sense. She lived on an enchanted island off the coast of Italy called Aeaea where she lured sailors to her shore with her songs. The island was supposedly magical and once a sailor landed on shore he was lost forever. In translation Circe means falcon and in many myths associated with her she is like a bird of prey circling her victim as she enchanted them with her potions of hallucinations. When she didn't want to be bothered she would use her magic to make tree's dance and the earth shake which would distort and confuse the sailors into leaving. There's a story of Circe marrying a prince to gain ruler-ship over his kingdom then poisoning him so she could rule alone. But once her subjects found out she fled to the island and lived in exile. That's where she lured many lovers into desiring her and turned some into animals.