Legends of ancient Rome and Greece. Mythology of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome

Olympian Gods (Olympians) ancient Greek mythology- the gods of the third generation (after the original gods and titans - the gods of the first and second generations), the highest beings who lived on Mount Olympus.

Traditionally, twelve gods were included in the number of Olympians. The lists of Olympians do not always coincide.

The Olympians included the children of Kronos and Rhea:

• Zeus - supreme god, the god of lightning and thunder.
• Hera is the patroness of marriage.
• Demeter is the goddess of fertility and agriculture.
• Hestia - goddess of the hearth
• Poseidon is the god of the sea.
• Hades - god, lord of the kingdom of the dead.

And also their descendants:

• Hephaestus is the god of fire and blacksmithing.
• Hermes is the god of trade, cunning, speed and theft.
• Ares is the god of war.
• Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty and love.
• Athena is the goddess of just war.
• Apollo is the guardian of the herds, light, sciences and arts. Also, God is a healer and patron of oracles.
• Artemis is the goddess of hunting, fertility, the patroness of all life on Earth.
• Dionysus is the god of winemaking, the productive forces of nature.

Roman variants

The Olympians included the children of Saturn and Cybele:

• Jupiter,
• Juno,
• Ceres,
• Vesta,
• Neptune,
• Pluto

as well as their descendants:

• Volcano,
• Mercury,
• Mars,
• Venus,
• Minerva,
• Diana,
• Bacchus

Sources

The oldest state of Greek mythology is known from the tablets of the Aegean culture, recorded in Linear B. This period is characterized by a small number of gods, many of them are named allegorically, a number of names have female counterparts (for example, di-wi-o-jo - Diwijos, Zeus and female analogue of di-wi-o-ja). Already in the Crete-Mycenaean period Zeus, Athena, Dionysus and a number of others are known, although their hierarchy could differ from the later one.

The mythology of the "Dark Ages" (between the decline of the Crete-Mycenaean civilization and the emergence of the ancient Greek civilization) is known only from later sources.

Various plots of ancient Greek myths constantly appear in the works of ancient Greek writers; on the eve of the Hellenistic era, a tradition arose to create their own allegorical myths on their basis. In Greek drama, many mythological plots are played out and developed. The biggest sources are:

• The Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer
• Theogony of Hesiod
• "Library" of Pseudo-Apollodorus
• "Myths" by Guy Yuliy Gigina
• "Metamorphoses" by Ovid
• "Acts of Dionysus" - Nonna

Some ancient Greek authors tried to explain myths from rationalistic positions. Euhemerus wrote about the gods as people whose deeds were deified. Palefat in his essay “On the Incredible”, analyzing the events described in the myths, assumed them to be the results of misunderstanding or adding details.

Origin

The most ancient gods of the Greek pantheon are closely connected with the common Indo-European system of religious beliefs, there are parallels in the names - for example, the Indian Varuna corresponds to the Greek Uranus, etc.

Further development of mythology went in several directions:

• joining the Greek pantheon of some deities of neighboring or conquered peoples
• deification of some heroes; heroic myths begin to merge closely with mythology

The famous Romanian-American researcher of the history of religion Mircea Eliade gives the following periodization of the ancient Greek religion:

• 30th - 15th centuries BC e. - Cretan-Minoan religion.
• 15th - 11th centuries BC e. - archaic ancient Greek religion.
• 11th - 6th centuries BC e. - Olympian religion.
• 6th - 4th centuries BC e. - philosophical-Orphic religion (Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato).
• 3 - 1 centuries. BC e. - the religion of the Hellenistic era.

Zeus, according to legend, was born in Crete, and Minos, after whom the Cretan-Minoan civilization is named, was considered his son. However, the mythology that we know, and which the Romans later adopted, is organically connected with the Greek people. We can talk about the emergence of this nation with the arrival of the first wave of Achaean tribes at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In 1850 B.C. e. Athens was already built, named after the goddess Athena. If we accept these considerations, then the religion of the ancient Greeks arose somewhere around 2000 BC. e.

Religious beliefs of the ancient Greeks

Religious ideas and the religious life of the ancient Greeks were in close connection with their entire historical life. Already in the most ancient monuments of Greek creativity, the anthropomorphic nature of Greek polytheism is clearly reflected, which is explained by the national characteristics of the entire cultural development in this area; concrete representations, generally speaking, predominate over abstract ones, just as, quantitatively, human-like gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, predominate over deities of abstract significance (who, in turn, receive anthropomorphic features). In this or that cult, various writers or artists associate various general or mythological (and mythographic) ideas with this or that deity.

We know different combinations, hierarchies of the genealogy of divine beings - "Olympus", various systems of "twelve gods" (for example, in Athens - Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes). Such combinations are explained not only from the creative moment, but also from the conditions of the historical life of the Hellenes; in Greek polytheism, later layers can be traced (oriental elements; deification - even during life). In the general religious consciousness of the Hellenes, apparently, there was no definite generally recognized dogmatics. The diversity of religious ideas found expression in the diversity of cults, the external situation of which is now more and more clear thanks to archaeological excavations and finds. We find out which gods or heroes were revered where, and where which one was revered predominantly (for example, Zeus - in Dodona and Olympia, Apollo - in Delphi and Delos, Athena - in Athens, Hera in Samos, Asclepius - in Epidaurus); we know shrines revered by all (or many) Hellenes, such as the Delphic or Dodonian oracle or the Delian shrine; we know large and small amfiktyony (cult communities).

One can distinguish between public and private cults. The all-absorbing significance of the state also affected the religious sphere. The ancient world, generally speaking, did not know either the internal church as a kingdom not of this world, nor the church as a state within a state: “church” and “state” were concepts in it that absorb or condition each other, and, for example, the priest was that the state magistrate.

This rule is not everywhere, however, could be carried out with an unconditional sequence; practice caused partial deviations, created certain combinations. If a certain deity was considered the main deity of a certain state, then the state sometimes recognized (as in Athens) at the same time some other cults; Along with these nationwide cults, there were separate cults of state divisions (for example, the Athenian demes), and cults of private legal significance (for example, domestic or family), as well as cults of private societies or individuals.

Since the state principle prevailed (which did not triumph everywhere simultaneously and evenly), every citizen was obliged, in addition to his private law deities, to honor the gods of his “civil community” (the changes were brought by the Hellenistic era, which generally contributed to the leveling process). This veneration was expressed in a purely external way - by feasible participation in well-known rituals and festivities performed on behalf of the state (or state division), - participation, to which the non-civilian population of the community was invited in other cases; both citizens and non-citizens were given, as they could, wanted and knew how, to seek satisfaction of their religious needs. One must think that in general the veneration of the gods was external; internal religious consciousness it was naive, and among the mass of the people superstition did not decrease, but grew (especially at a later time, when it found food that came from the East); on the other hand, in an educated society, an enlightenment movement began early, at first timid, then more and more energetic, with one end of its (negative) touching the masses; religiosity weakened little in general (and sometimes even - albeit painfully - rose), but religion, that is, old ideas and cults, gradually - especially as Christianity spread - lost both its meaning and its content. Approximately such, in general, is the internal and external history of the Greek religion during the time available for deeper study.

In the vague area of ​​the original, primordial Greek religion, scientific work has outlined only some general points, although they are usually put with excessive harshness and extremes. Already ancient philosophy bequeathed a threefold allegorical explanation of myths: psychological (or ethical), historical-political (not quite rightly called euhemeric), and physical; it explained the emergence of religion from the individual moment. A narrow theological point of view also joined here, and in essence, Kreuzer’s “Symbolism” (“Symbolik und Mythologie der alt. Volker, bes. der Griechen”, German Kreuzer, 1836) was built on the same basis, as well as many other systems and theories. , ignoring the moment of evolution.

Gradually, however, they came to realize that the ancient Greek religion had its own complex historical origin, that the meaning of the myths should not be sought behind them, but in themselves. Initially, the ancient Greek religion was considered only in itself, being afraid to go beyond Homer and, in general, beyond the boundaries of a purely Hellenic culture (this principle is still held by the "Königsberg" school): hence the localist interpretation of myths - with a physical one (for example, Forkhammer, Peter Wilhelm Forchhammer) or only from a historical point of view (for example, Karl Muller, German K. O. Muller).

Some focused their main attention on the ideal content of Greek mythology, reducing it to the phenomena of local nature, others on the real, seeing traces of local (tribal, etc.) features in the complexity of ancient Greek polytheism. Over time, one way or another, I had to admit and original meaning Eastern elements in Greek religion. Comparative linguistics gave rise to "comparative Indo-European mythology". This direction, hitherto prevailing in science, was already fruitful in the sense that it clearly showed the need for a comparative study of the ancient Greek religion and compared extensive material for this study; but - not to mention the extreme straightforwardness of methodological methods and extreme haste of judgments - it was not so much the study of Greek religion using the comparative method, but rather the search for its main points, dating back to the time of general Aryan unity (moreover, the linguistic concept of the Indo-European peoples was too sharply identified with the ethnic ). As for the main content of myths (“diseases of the language”, according to K. Muller), it was too exclusively reduced to natural phenomena - mainly to the sun, or moon, or thunderstorms.

The younger school of comparative mythology considers the heavenly deities to be the result of further, artificial development of the original "folk" mythology, which knew only demons (folklorism, animism).

In Greek mythology, it is impossible not to recognize later layers, especially in the entire external form of myths (as they have come down to us), although they cannot always be determined historically, just as it is not always possible to single out the purely religious part of myths. General Aryan elements are also hidden under this shell, but it is often as difficult to distinguish them from specifically Greek ones as it is to determine the beginning of a purely Greek culture in general. It is no less difficult to find out with any accuracy the main content of various Hellenic myths, which is undoubtedly extremely complex. Nature, with its properties and phenomena, played a big role here, but perhaps mainly an auxiliary one; along with these natural-historical moments, historical-ethical moments should also be recognized (since the gods in general lived no differently and no better than people).

Not without influence remained the local and cultural division of the Hellenic world; there is also no doubt the presence of oriental elements in Greek religion. It would be too complicated and too difficult a task to explain historically, even in the most general terms, how all these moments gradually got along with each other; but some knowledge in this area can also be achieved, proceeding especially from the experiences that have been preserved both in the internal content and in the external environment of the cults, and, moreover, if possible, taking into account the entire ancient historical life of the Hellenes (the path in this direction was especially pointed out by Curtins in his "Studien z. Gesch. d. griech. Olymps", in Sitzb. d. Berl. Akad., German E. Curtins, 1890). It is significant, for example, the relation in the Greek religion of the great gods to the deities of the small, folk, and the aboveground world of the gods to the underworld; characteristic is the veneration of the dead, expressed in the cult of heroes; curious about the mystical content of Greek religion.

When writing this article, material from the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (1890-1907) was used.

Lists of gods, mythological creatures and heroes

Lists of gods and genealogy differ from different ancient authors. The lists below are compilations.

First Generation of Gods

First there was Chaos. The gods that emerged from Chaos - Gaia (Earth), Nikta / Nyukta (Night), Tartarus (Abyss), Erebus (Darkness), Eros (Love); the gods that appeared from Gaia are Uranus (Sky) and Pontus (inner Sea).

Second Generation of Gods

Children of Gaia (fathers - Uranus, Pontus and Tartarus) - Keto (mistress of sea monsters), Nereus (calm sea), Thavmant (sea miracles), Phorky (guardian of the sea), Eurybia (sea power), titans and titanides. Children of Nikta and Erebus - Hemera (Day), Hypnos (Sleep), Kera (Misfortune), Moira (Fate), Mom (Slander and Stupidity), Nemesis (Retribution), Thanatos (Death), Eris (Strife), Erinyes (Vengeance ), Ether (Air); Ata (deceit).

Titans

Titans: Oceanus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Kay, Krios, Kronos.
Titanides: Tefis, Mnemosyne, Rhea, Teia, Phoebe, Themis.

The younger generation of titans(children of the titans)

• Asteria
• Astray
• Pallant
• Helios (personification of the sun)
• Selena (personification of the moon)
• Eos (personification of the dawn)
• Atlant
• Menetius
• Prometheus
• Epimetheus

The composition of the pantheon has changed over the centuries, so there are more than 12 gods.

• Hades is the main god. Brother of Zeus, Rom. Pluto, Hades, Orc, Dit. Lord of the underworld of the dead. Attributes: three-headed dog Cerberus (Cerberus), pitchfork (bident). Wife - Persephone (Proserpina).
• Apollo - Greek Phoebus. The god of the sun, light and truth, the patron of the arts, sciences and healing, the god is a soothsayer. Attributes: laurel wreath, bow with arrows.
• Ares - Roman. Mars. God of a bloodthirsty, unjust war. Attributes: helmet, sword, shield. Lover or husband of Aphrodite.
• Artemis - Roman. Diana. Goddess of the moon and hunting, patroness of women in childbirth. Virgin goddess. Attributes: quiver with arrows, doe.
• Athena - Greek Pallas; Rome. Minerva. Goddess of wisdom, just war, patroness of the cities of Athens, crafts, sciences. Attributes: owl, snake. Dressed like a warrior. On the chest is an emblem in the form of the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Born from the head of Zeus. Virgin goddess.
• Aphrodite - Rome. Cyprida; Rome. Venus. Goddess of love and beauty. Attributes: belt, apple, mirror, dove, rose.
• Hera - Roman. Juno. The patroness of family and marriage, the wife of Zeus. Attributes: fabric cloth, diadem, ball.
• Hermes - Rome. Mercury. the god of trade, eloquence, the guide of the souls of the dead to the kingdom of the dead, the messenger of Zeus, the patron of merchants, artisans, shepherds, travelers and thieves. Attributes: winged sandals, invisibility helmet with wings, caduceus (staff in the form of two intertwined snakes).
• Hestia - Roman. Vesta. goddess of the home. Attributes: torch. The goddess is a virgin.
• Hephaestus - Rome. Volcano. god of blacksmithing, patron of all artisans and fire. Chromium. Wife - Aphrodite. Attributes: pincers, bellows, pilos (craftsman's cap).
• Demeter - Roman. Ceres. goddess of agriculture and fertility. Attributes: staff in the form of a stem.
• Dionysus - Greek Bacchus; Rome. Bacchus. god of viticulture and winemaking, agriculture. Theater patron. Attributes: a wreath of vines, a bowl of wine.
• Zeus is the main god. Rome. Jupiter. god of the sky and thunder, head of the ancient Greek Pantheon. Attributes: single prong, eagle, lightning.
• Poseidon is the main god. Rome. Neptune. lord of the seas. Attributes: trident, dolphin, chariot, wife - Amphitrite.

Gods and deities of the water element

• Amphitrite - goddess of the sea, wife of Poseidon
• Poseidon - god of the sea
• Tritons - retinue of Poseidon and Amphitrite
• Triton - water god, messenger of the depths, eldest son and commander of Poseidon
• Proteus - water god, messenger of the depths, son of Poseidon
• Rhoda - goddess of water, daughter of Poseidon
• Limnadas - nymphs of lakes and swamps
• Naiads - nymphs of springs, springs and rivers
• Nereids - sea nymphs, sisters of Amphitriata
• The ocean is the personification of the mythological world river washing the Oikumene
• River gods - gods of rivers, sons of Ocean and Tethys
• Tethys - Titanide, wife of the Ocean, mother of the oceanids and rivers
• Oceanids - daughters of the Ocean
• Pontus - the god of the inland sea and water (the son of Earth and Sky, or the son of the Earth without a father)
• Eurybia - the embodiment of the sea element
• Tavmant - underwater giant, god of sea miracles
• Nereus - deity of the peaceful sea
• Phorkis - guardian of the stormy sea
• Keto - the goddess of the deep sea and sea monsters that live in the depths of the seas

Gods and deities of the air element

• Uranus is the personification of Heaven
• Ether is the embodiment of the atmosphere; god personification of air and light
• Zeus - god-ruler of heaven, god of thunder

Winds in Greek mythology

• Eol - demigod, lord of the winds
• Boreas - the personification of the northern stormy wind
• Zephyr - a strong western wind, was also considered a messenger of the gods, (among the Romans, it began to personify a caressing, light wind)
• Note - south wind
• Eurus - east wind
• Aura - personification of light wind, air
• Nebula - cloud nymph

Gods of death and the underworld

• Hades - god of the underworld of the dead
• Persephone - wife of Hades, goddess of fertility and the kingdom of the dead, daughter of Demeter
• Minos - judge of the realm of the dead
• Rhadamanth - judge of the realm of the dead
• Hecate - goddess of darkness, night visions, sorcery, all monsters and ghosts
• Kera - female demons of death
• Thanatos - the embodiment of Death
• Hypnos - god of oblivion and sleep, twin brother of Thanatos
• Onir - the deity of prophetic and false dreams
• Erinyes - goddesses of vengeance
• Melinoe - the goddess of expiatory donations for dead people, the goddess of transformation and reincarnation; mistress of darkness and ghosts, who, at death, being in a state of terrible anger or horror, could not get into the kingdom of Hades, and are doomed to wander forever around the world, among mortals (daughter of Hades and Persephone)

Muses

• Calliope - muse of epic poetry
• Clio - the muse of history in ancient Greek mythology
• Erato - muse of love poetry
• Euterpe - muse of lyric poetry and music
• Melpomene - muse of tragedy
• Polyhymnia - muse of solemn hymns
• Terpsichore - the muse of dance
• Thalia is the muse of comedy and light poetry
• Urania - the muse of astronomy

Cyclopes

(often "cyclops" - in Latin transcription)

• Arg - "lightning"
• Bront - "thunder"
• Sterop - "shine"

Hecatoncheires

• Briareus - strength
• Gies - arable land
• Kott - anger

Giants

(some of about 150)

• Agrius
• Alcyoneus
• Gration
• clitius
• Mimant
• Pallant
• Polybotes
• Porphyrion
• Hebrew
• Enkelad
• Ephialtes

Other gods

• Nike - goddess of victory
• Selena - goddess of the moon
• Eros - god of love
• Hymen - god of marriage
• Irida - goddess of the rainbow
• Ata - goddess of delusion, obscuration of the mind
• Apata - goddess of deceit
• Adrastea - goddess of justice
• Phobos - god of fear, son of Ares
• Deimos - God of Terror, brother of Phobos
• Enyo - goddess of furious and violent war
• Asclepius - god of healing
• Morpheus - god of dreams (poetic deity, son of Hypnos)
• Gimeroth - the god of carnal love and love pleasure
• Ananke - the deity-embodiment of inevitability, necessity
• Aloe - the ancient deity of the threshed grain

Non-personalized gods

Non-personalized gods - gods-"sets" according to M. Gasparov.

• satires
• nymphs
• Ores - three goddesses of the seasons and natural order

Birth. The father of Zeus Kron, who overthrew his father grandfather Zeus Uranus (see "") was not sure that power would remain in his hands. Then Cron ordered his wife Rhea to bring him their children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon, whom he ate. Rhea did not want to lose her sixth child, Zeus, and hid him on the island of Crete.

Fight against the Titans. When Zeus grew up and matured, he decided to return his brothers and sisters, forcing Cronus to regurgitate them from his womb. Kron returned the children and they began a long and hard fight with the Titans. In the end, the Titans were defeated and cast down to Tartarus.

Fight against Typhon. After everyone thought that the battle was over, it turned out that everything was not so simple. The mother of the Titans, Gaia-Earth, became angry with Zeus and gave birth to a terrible hundred-headed monster Typhon from Tartarus, and Zeus sent him to Tartarus.

Olympus. As you know, Zeus is on, surrounded by a host of gods. Here is his wife Hera, golden-haired Apollo with his sister Artemis, Aphrodite and Athena. Zeus with the gods decide the fate of people and the whole world.

Wives of Zeus. Zeus's wife was Hera - the patroness of marriage, the birth of children. After Cronus regurgitated his children, Rhea took Hera to the gray Ocean, where she was raised by Thetis, but Zeus fell in love with her and kidnapped her. Hera is very powerful and constantly argues at the meetings of the gods, which infuriates Zeus.

Another wife of Zeus was Io, whom Zeus turned into a cow, protecting her from the jealous Hera, however, this did not help either, Hera sent a huge gadfly to her, which she got rid of according to the prediction of Prometheus, in Egypt she gave birth to a son Epaphus.

Apollo

Birth. Apollo, the god of light, was born on the island of Delos. His mother Latona found shelter on this island, as Hera pursued her on the heels and sent the terrible snake Python. The birth of Apollo was marked by streams of bright light.

Fight with Python. The young Apollo threatened everything evil and gloomy, he went to the dwelling of Python, challenged him to a duel and won. Apollo buried it in the ground of the sacred city of Delphi, where he created his sanctuary and oracle.

Apollo at Admet. Atoning for his sin, Apollo grazed the flocks of King Admet, he made them magnificent and helped to get the hand of Queen Alcesta. In addition, he rules. It was composed of Calliope - the muse of epic poetry, Euterpe - the muse of lyrics, Erato - the muse of love songs, Melpomene - the muse of tragedy, Thalia - the muse of comedy, Terpsichore - the muse of dance, Clio - the muse of history, Urania - the muse of astronomy and Polyhymnia - the muse of sacred hymns. Apollo can also punish. It was he who punished the sons of Aloe - Ott and Ephialtes, they threatened to climb into the sky and kidnap Hera and Artemis. The Phrygian satyr Marsyas also suffered from the hand of Apollo, he dared to compete with him in playing the harp, which Athena threw, cursing the instrument, as it disfigured her face. Apollo won the competition and ordered Marsyas to be hanged by skinning him.

Myths about Artemis

Artemis, like Apollo, was born on the island of Delos at the same time as Apollo. She watches over everything that grows on the earth and blesses weddings, marriages and the birth of children. When hunting, the goddess is always accompanied by nymphs.

Artemis can also punish, which she did with Actaeon, the son of Autonoia, the daughter of Cadmus, who disturbed his peace, turning him into a deer, which was torn to pieces by his own dogs.

Pallas Athena

Pallas Athena was born from the head of Zeus, since Moira told him that the son of the goddess Metis would take power from him, then before his daughter was born, he swallowed his own wife. Soon Zeus began to have headaches and he ordered Hephaestus to split his head, so Athena appeared from his head.

Athena gives wise advice, keeps cities, teaches girls to weave, but also knows how to punish. So Arachne was punished by her, she challenged Athena to a duel that lasted a long time, but in the end Arachne could not stand it and hanged herself, but Athena took her out of the loop and turned into a spider.

Hermes

Hermes was born in the grotto of Mount Kyllene in Arcadia. Hermes guards the roads, accompanies travelers during his lifetime and sends them to Hades. At the same time, Hermes is the deity of thieves and rogues. He then stole the cows of Apollo.

Aphrodite

Aphrodite was born near the island of Cythera. She is the epitome of beauty and eternal youth. She is constantly on Olympus among the gods. To those who serve her, she gives happiness. This happened to the Cypriot artist Pygmalion, he blinded beautiful girl and constantly talked with her, then he asked Aphrodite to give him a wife the same as his statue. Arriving home, he saw that his statue had come to life.

In addition, Aphrodite can punish, and this happened to the proud son of the river god Cephis, the cold Narcissus. When he got lost in the forest, the nymph Echo saw him, she wanted to touch him, but he pushed her away and disappeared into the forest, causing the nymph to suffer. Aphrodite sent a terrible punishment on Narcissus - having come to the stream to get drunk, he fell in love with his own reflection in the water, she turned him into a white flower of death - Narcissus.

Hephaestus

Hephaestus - the son of Hera and Zeus, the god of fire and a blacksmith, was born weak and lame, Hera threw him from Olympus, who fell and was raised by the goddesses of the ocean. Hephaestus grew up lame and ugly, but he knew how to forge beautiful things. Remembering his mother’s act, he forged a beautiful chair and sent it to her as a gift, but as soon as Hera got into it, she was trapped, no one except Hephaestus could free her, and he didn’t want to do this, then Hermes sent the god of winemaking Dionysus, he drugged Hephaestus and he freed his mother, because he no longer remembered the offense. He built beautiful palaces for the gods on Olympus. However, Hephaestus can be formidable, it was he who struck the giants with his weapons.

Phaeton

Phaethon is the son of the sun god Helios and Klymene, the daughter of the sea goddess Thetis. When Phaeton's relative, the son of Zeus Epaphus, began to insult him, saying that he was the son of a mere mortal, Phaeton ran to his mother in tears and she sent him to Helios, who confirmed that he was his father. Phaeton asked his father to ride on his chariot, Helios allowed him with fear and Phaeton, unable to resist, fell and crashed on the banks of Eridan.

Dionysus

Dionysus was born to Zeus from the beautiful Semele, the daughter of King Cadmus. Zeus promised her to fulfill any of her requests, and the jealous Hera made Semele ask Zeus to appear to her in full glory. Zeus appeared to her and Semele fell in horror and Dionysus was born to her - weak and unable to live, but Zeus saved him by sewing him into his rib. Dionysus got stronger and was born a second time, and then Zeus carried him to his sister Ino and her husband Atamant, the king of Orchomenes.

Hera was angry and sent madness on Atamant, in a fit of which he killed his son Learchus and rushed after Ino, but so she fled and threw herself into the sea.

Hermes saved Dionysus from the insane Atamant and gave him to be raised by the nymphs, who were turned by Zeus into the constellation Hyades.

Dionysus always walks around the world accompanied by intoxicated satyrs. However, not everyone recognizes the power of Dionysus and then he punishes, this just happened to Lycurgus attacked Dionysus, together with his daughters who did not go to the feast of Dionysus, he turned him into bats. He also punished the pirates who tried to sell him into slavery by wrapping the ship with vines, and he turned the pirates into dolphins, he also punished King Midas by giving him donkey ears.

The myth of the generation of people

The myth refers to the generations of people that Zeus gave birth to. First, he made the first generation, which lived in a golden age, knowing neither sorrow nor anxiety. The second kind was intelligent and had a short life. Cron, angry with them, drove them to underworld Well, that was the Silver Age.

The people of the third century did not know the world and loved to fight.

The people of the fourth century were the heroes who fought for Troy and King Oedipus.

The fifth kind of people was born in the age of iron - an age of debilitating sorrows, which continues to this day.

Perseus

The king of Argos, Acrisius, had a daughter, Danae. Acrisius was predicted that he would die at the hands of the son of Danae. And then Acrisius built an underground palace and imprisoned his daughter there. But Zeus fell in love with Danae and entered the palace in the form of golden rain, after which Danae's son Perseus was born. Hearing the laughter of Perseus, Acrisius was frightened and went down to the palace, imprisoned his daughter in a box and threw it into the sea. After long wanderings, Perseus found refuge with King Polydectes.

When Perseus grew up, Polydectes sent him after the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Athena and Hermes came to the aid of Perseus. After a long journey, Perseus came to the country where the Gorgon lived and killed her, and put his head in a bag.

After a long journey, the tired Perseus took refuge with Atlas, but he drove him away and then Perseus showed him the head of Medusa and Atlas turned to stone. Returning to Polydectes, he showed him a jellyfish, since he did not believe him. In Argos, he killed his grandfather Acrisius.

Labors of Hercules

1. Nemean lion. In the first feat, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to kill the Nemean lion, spawned by Typhon and Echidna, who devastated everything. Hercules found the lion's lair and waited, then he shot arrows at the lion and killed him, stunning him with a club, and then strangled him. Having put the lion on his shoulders, he carried him to Mycenae.

2. Lernaean hydra. This is the second feat of Hercules. He went to the lair of the hydra with Iolaus. He began to beat her with a club, but she still remained alive. Then, on the orders of Hercules, Iolaus burned the heads of the hydra. Hercules buried the immortal head, and cut the body and plunged the arrows into bile, the wounds from which are now incurable.

3. Stymphalian birds. After defeating the hydra, Eurytheus orders Hercules to kill the Stymphalian birds. Pallas Athena gave him tympanums, with which he made a noise and the birds began to circle over him, which he shot with arrows from a bow. Some of them flew away from Stymphal in fear.

4. Kerinean fallow deer. Then Eurystheus sent Hercules for the Kerinean doe. For a whole year he pursued the doe and finally killed her, Artemis wanted to punish him, but he said he killed the doe not of his own free will, but on the orders of Eurytheus, and the goddess forgave him.

5. Erymanth bull. After the doe, Eurystheus sent Hercules for the Erymanthian bull. Before the battle, Hercules fought with the centaurs, during which his best friend Charon was wounded. This circumstance greatly saddened Hercules. He killed the bull and showed it to the king, after which he hid in a jug.

6. Animal farm of king Avgiy. Then Eurystheus ordered Hercules to clean the barnyard of King Augeus, which had been dirty for years, Hercules agreed, but demanded a tenth of the herd as payment. He cleaned the barnyard with the waters of the river in one day.

7. Cretan bull. To catch the Cretan bull, Hercules went to Crete. This bull devastated everything around. Hercules caught him and tamed him. But then he let him go back, where Theseus killed him.

8. Horses of Diomedes. After taming the bull, Hercules went to Thrace, where King Diomedes had horses. Hercules captured the horses and killed Diomedes. He let go of the horses and they were torn to pieces by wild animals.

9. Belt of Hippolyta. Eurystheus then sent Hercules to get Hippolyta's belt to the land of the Amazons. Hercules wanted to get the belt in peace, but the jealous Hera did everything to start a war, in which, at the cost of captivity, the belt of the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta, was obtained.

10. Cows of Gerion. After going to the Amazons, Eurystheus tells Hercules to bring him the cows of the giant Geryon. On the way, Hercules killed the dog Orff and the giant Eurytion, and then Gerion himself. Bringing cows cost him a lot of work.

11. Kerber. After receiving the cows, Eurystheus orders to go to Hades for the dog Kerber. Hercules tamed the dog and brought him to Mycenae, but the cowardly Eurystheus asked to send the dog back to Hades.

12. Apples of the Hesperides. The last feat for Hercules was the most difficult - to get the apples of the Hesperides. On his way, he killed Antey, the king of Busiris, held the vault of heaven for Atlanta while he went for apples. But the apples were given back to the garden by Eurystheus.

Daedalus and Icarus

Being the greatest artist, Daedalus killed his nephew Tal out of envy. Fleeing from death, he fled to Crete, where he lived for many years. Together with his son, he wanted to fly away on wax wings, but Icarus died, and Daedalus reached Sicily, where Minos later died.

The myth of Tisei

Birth and upbringing. Aegeus ruled carelessly in Athens, but one circumstance saddened him - he had no children. The oracle gave him a prophecy that he would have a son and become the greatest hero of Greece. Leaving for Athens, Aegeus put his sword and sandals under the rock, told Efre that when Theseus himself was able to move the rock, let him take them. Theseus himself grew strong and handsome.

Theseus in Athens. After Theseus, at the request of his mother, took the sword and sandals of his father, he went to Athens to his father. On the way, he defeated the greatest robbers: the giant Periphetus, Sinid and Procrustes, as well as the offspring of Typhon and Echidna - a pig. In Athens, Theseus also defeated the bull tamed by Hercules (see 7 feat of Hercules).

Travel to Crete. When Theseus came to Crete, Attica was in sorrow, since the townspeople had to give 7 boys and girls every 9 years to be devoured by the Minotaur. With the help of Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, he killed the Minotaur and left the labyrinth, but forgot to replace the sails with white, which killed his father, Aegeus threw himself into the sea, thinking that his son was dead.

Theseus and the Amazons. Theseus ruled wisely in Athens, often absenting himself for various wars. So he brought Queen Antiope from Themyscira, the city of the Amazons, and married her. The Amazons wanted to free their queen and invaded Athens. A war began, in which Antiope was killed, fighting on the side of Theseus.

Theseus and Peirifoy. The leader of the Lapiths, Peyrifoy, who lived in Thessaly, wanted to measure his strength with Theseus, thereby challenging him to a duel. But both were so majestic that they immediately stopped the battle. After that, Theseus went to the wedding of Peyrifoy, where the battle with the Centaurs took place.

The Abduction of Persephone. Death of Theseus. When Peyrifoy's wife Hippodamia died, Peyrifoy decided to marry again. Then they kidnapped Helen, and then wanted to kidnap the wife of Hades himself Persephone, but they were punished, power passed to Menestheus, and Theseus was overtaken by death.

Orpheus and Eurydice

The great singer Orpheus had a beautiful wife, the nymph Eurydice, but his happiness did not last long, since Eurydice died from a snake bite. Orpheus went to Hades and asked to return her, Hades returned Eurydice, but asked Orpheus not to turn back when they returned, but he did not obey and lost Eurydice forever. After Orpheus began to hate women and was torn to pieces by the Bacchantes.

Argonauts

Frix and Gella. Athamas had children Frix and Hell, but he cheated on his wife Nephele and married the daughter of Cadmus Ino, but she did not love his children. Ino bribed the ambassadors and they brought false news that the famine would end if Frixus was sacrificed. But Nephele sent a golden-fleece ram to save the children. Hella died when the ram flew over the sea, and the ram brought Frix to Colchis to the son of the sun god, the magician Eet. The ram was sacrificed, and the fleece was hung in a grove, which was guarded by a vigilant dragon. The rumor about the rune swept throughout Greece, the well-being of the whole family depended on it.

The birth and upbringing of Janson. In Thessaly, the brother of Athamas Creteus ruled. But after his death, Anson began to rule, but the cruel Pelius took away his power. When Anson had a son, out of fear, he gave him up to be raised by the centaur Charon. When Janson grew up, he came back to Iolk, where he was born to his father. On the way, he met Pelius, and after meeting with Anson, Janson demanded that Pelias return power to him. But the cunning Pelias, having planned to destroy Janson, demanded to get him the Golden Fleece.

Hike to Colchis. After a conversation with Pelius, Janson began preparing for a campaign in Colchis. He gathered many heroes, a ship was built and the gods patronized Janson.

Argonauts on the island of Lemnos. After swimming, the heroes landed on the island of Lemnos. They enjoyed the feasts for a long time, but Gerax persuaded them to go further.

On the Kizik Peninsula. While traveling along Protontis, the Argonauts landed on the island of Cyzicus, where the dolions lived. After defeating the six-armed giants at night, the Argonauts again arrived at the island, but the inhabitants did not recognize them and the war began, only in the morning they realized their mistake.

Argonauts in Mysia. After a short voyage, the Argonauts arrived at Mysia, where Hercules and Hylas had disappeared. The saddened Argonauts returned to the ship, but the sea god Glaucus said that Hercules must return to Greece and perform 12 labors at Eurystheus.

Argonauts at Amik. The next day, the Argonauts landed on the shore of Bethany. King Amik ruled there, who was proud of his strength and forced everyone to fight him. Amik was defeated and killed when Polydeuces fought with him, then the Bebriks attacked the Argonauts, but were put to flight by them.

Argonauts at Phineus. Soon the Argonauts arrived at the coast of Thrace. Having come ashore, they saw the house where Phineus lived, who used to be a king. For the abuse of the gift of divination, Phineas became blind and the gods sent harpies to him, who spoiled his food. The sons of Boreas chased them, but the messenger of the gods Iris forbade the harpy to touch Phineus' food, after a hearty dinner, Phineus predicted the future fate of the Argonauts.

Symplegades. Phineus predicted to the Argonauts that on their way they would meet the rocks of the Symplegades, which converge and diverge. Then the Argonauts released a dove and it flew between the rocks, and the ship passed behind it, and then the rocks of the Symplegades stopped.

Aretiada Island. Arrival in Colchis. The Argonauts sailed for a long time, but then a bird rose from the island and threw a copper feather flying over the ship, the feather stuck into Oiley's shoulder. Taking the pen out of the wound, the Argonauts saw that it was an arrow. The Argonauts realized that these were Stymphalidae birds that lived on the island of Aretiada. The heroes arrived on the island and began to make noise and scream, while the birds rose into the sky and began to throw arrows, after which they disappeared over the horizon. On the island, the Argonauts met the sons of Phrixus, who were shipwrecked on their way back to Orchomenus. The next morning, the heroes arrived in Colchis.

Hera and Aphrodite. When the Argonauts arrived in Colchis, the gods began to consult how to help Janson. The goddesses Hera and Athena decided to go to Aphrodite, so that she would order her son Eros to pierce the heart of Medea, the daughter of Eeta, with arrows.

Janson at Eet. In the morning, the Argonauts decided to go to Eet to ask him to give the fleece. When they came to the palace of Eeta, Medea saw them and cried out in amazement. At the palace, Argos informed Eet that Janson had come for the Golden Fleece. Enraged, Eet decided to destroy Janson by ordering him to plow the field of Ares and sow it with the teeth of the dragon, and then fight the warriors from the teeth of the dragon.

Argonauts turn to Medea. Returning to the ship, Janson told about the assignment of Eet. Then Argos said that Medea, the great sorceress, lives in the palace of Eeta. When the Argonauts asked for help, she took out the ointment that she gave to Janson, explaining how to use it.

Janson's move. Late at night, Janson sacrificed to Hekate. In the morning he went to Eet and he gave him dragon's teeth. Janson rubbed his shield and spear with magic ointment, and then he smeared himself and his body gained inhuman strength. Then he harnessed the bulls and plowed the field, sowed it with the teeth of a dragon, and when warriors grew out of the teeth, he fought with them, killing every single one. Seeing this, Eet planned to destroy Janson.

Theft of the Golden Fleece. Eet guessed that Janson accomplished the feat with the help of Medea. Great danger threatened both of them, then Medea decided to help Janson steal the fleece. She put the dragon to sleep, and Janson removed the fleece and quickly untying Argo, he rushed away from Colchis. Eet sent a chase after him.

Return of the Argonauts. When the Argonauts saw that the coast of Istra was occupied by Colchis, they decided to destroy them by cunning. Janson sent expensive gifts to Absirite, the leader of the Colchian army, as if these were gifts from Medea and persuaded him to come to the temple, where he killed him, the Argonauts then set off, but a storm began and a voice from the bark told them to go to Circe for purification. Circe cleared the Argonauts of the murder and they happily rode on and soon arrived at Iolk.

Death of Pelias. Pelius did not keep his word to give power to Janson. Then Janson decided to take revenge on Pelias and asked Medea to rejuvenate Anson and she fulfilled his desires, the daughters of Pelias found out about this and asked to rejuvenate Pelias. Medea made a slightly different potion and, having lulled Pelias, killed him, but Janson did not manage to get power. The son of Pelias expelled Janson from Iolk, Janson retired with Medea to Corinth.

Janson's death. After the exile, Janson and Medea began to live in Corinth with King Creon, but Janson betrayed Medea and when their children were born, he fell in love with the daughter of King Glaucus. Medea was angry and planned to destroy both. She sent a poisoned dress and crown to Glauca, which killed her, then Medea killed her children, and Janson also died under the rubble of Argo.

The myth of Aeneas. In the myth we are talking about the journey of Aeneas to Italy in order to found a city there. He overcame many wanderings, participated in the war with Turn, in which he won. After the war, he founded a new city and was taken to heaven.

Legends of Rome. In the city of Alba Longo, a descendant of Aeneas, Numitor, reigned, his brother Apulius envied him and overthrew him from the throne, then killed his son Numitor, and made his daughter a priestess of the goddess Vesta.

When Rhea gave birth to Numitor's daughter from her marriage to Mirs, Amulius ordered that the twins be thrown into the Tiber. The children were thrown into the Tiber, but the she-wolf found them and took them to her lair, where they were later found by the shepherd Faustulus, the boys were named Romulus and Remus. The brothers were brave, it was Romulus who killed Amulius and freed his brother. Romulus founded a city called Rome after the death of Remus.

The mythology and religion of the Romans were greatly influenced by neighboring peoples - the Etruscans and Greeks. But at the same time, the legends and myths of ancient Rome have their own identity.

The origin of Roman mythology

It is difficult to determine the date of the emergence of the religion of ancient Rome. It is known that at the end of the II - the beginning of the I millennium BC. e. there was a migration of Italics (the so-called peoples who inhabited it before the formation of the Roman state on it), who for several centuries settled in Italy and then assimilated with the Romans. They had their own culture and religion.

In 753 BC, according to legend, Rome was founded. From the 8th to the 6th centuries BC e. the tsarist period lasted, when the foundations of the public-state and religious life of the empire were laid. The official pantheon of gods and the myths of ancient Rome developed around this period. Although it should be noted right away that with the conquest of new territories by the Romans, they willingly included foreign gods and heroes in their mythology and religion, so the list of deities and legends was constantly updated.

Distinctive features of the religion of ancient Rome

As in Greece, there was no strict organization of doctrine. The gods and myths of ancient Rome were partially borrowed from neighboring countries. The difference between the Roman religion and the same Greek was significant.

If for the Greeks a deity is, first of all, a person with his own, quite human, character traits, then the Romans never represented the gods in the form of anthropomorphic creatures. At the very beginning of the formation of their religion, they could not even name their gender. The Greeks represented their pantheon of divine powers as a large family in which scandals and disagreements constantly occur between relatives. For the Greeks, the gods are individuals endowed with supernatural powers and possessing ideal qualities. Therefore, a halo of myths was created around them.

The attitude of the Romans towards the deities was different. The world in their view was inhabited by entities hostile or favorable to the world of people. They are everywhere and constantly accompany a person. The myths of ancient Rome say that before growing up, a young man or girl was under the auspices of a large number of divine beings. It was the god of the cradle, the first steps, hope, sanity and others. As they grew older, some deities left the person, while others, on the contrary, took him under their care - these are the six gods of marriage, good luck and health, wealth. The dying man was accompanied on his last journey by as many higher beings as at birth: depriving of light, taking away the soul, bringing death.

Another distinguishing feature of Roman religion is its close connection with the state. Initially, all religious rites associated with the life of the family were performed by its head - the father. Later, many family and tribal festivities acquired state significance and turned into official events.

The position of the priests was also different. If in ancient Greece they stood out as a separate group of the population, then among the Romans they were civil servants. There were several priestly colleges: vestals, pontiffs and augurs.

The religion and ancient myths of Rome were mixed. The basis is the original Roman deities. The pantheon of gods included borrowed characters from the Greek and Etruscan religions and personified concepts that appeared much later. These include, for example, Fortuna - happiness.

pantheon of roman gods

The Romans originally had a special relationship with the gods. They weren't connected family relationships, like Greek deities, they were not myths. for a long time they refused to give their gods character traits and appearance. Some of the stories about them were eventually borrowed from the Greeks.

The ancient myths of Rome say that the list of Roman gods was very extensive. This included Chaos, Tempus, Cupid, Saturn, Uranus, Oceanus and other deities, as well as their children - the titans.

The third and fourth generations became the main ones in the pantheon and were represented by 12 gods. They are brought into line with the Olympians by the Greeks. Jupiter (Zeus) - the personification of thunder and lightning, Juno (Hera) - his wife and patroness of family and marriage, Ceres (Demeter) - the goddess of fertility. Minerva and Juno were borrowed from the Etruscan religion.

The Roman pantheon also included personified beings who became gods:

Victoria - Victory;

Fatum - Fate;

Libertas - Freedom;

Psyche - Soul;

Mania - Madness;

Fortune - Luck;

Juventa - Youth.

The most important for the Romans were agricultural and tribal deities.

Influence of Greek mythology

The myths of ancient Greece and Rome are very similar, since the Romans learned a lot about the gods from their close neighbor. The process of borrowing begins at the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th centuries. The opinion that the 12 main deities of Olympus were taken by Rome and received new names is completely erroneous. Jupiter, Vulcan, Vesta, Mars, Saturn are primordially Roman deities, later correlated with Greek ones. The first gods borrowed from the Greeks were Apollo and Dionysus. In addition, the Romans included in their pantheon Hercules and Hermes, as well as the Greek gods and titans of the first and second generations.

The Romans had many deities, which they themselves divided into old and new. Later, they created their own pantheon of the main gods, taking as a basis a host of Greek higher powers.

Myths of ancient Rome: a summary. gods and heroes

Since the mythological fantasy of the Romans was poor, they adopted many legends from the Greeks. But there were also primordially Roman myths, later superseded by Greek ones. These include the story of the creation of the world by the god Janus.

He was an ancient Latin deity, the gatekeeper of Heaven, the personification of the sun and the beginning. He was considered the god of gates and doors and was depicted as two-faced, since it was believed that one face of Janus turned to the future, and the other to the past.

The servants took pity on the little ones and put them in a trough, which they set afloat on the river. The water that stood high in it sank and the trough landed on the shore under the fig tree. The cries of the children were heard by a she-wolf who lived nearby with her brood and began to feed the babies. The shepherd Faustul once saw this sight and took the children to his home.

As they matured, the foster parents told the brothers about their background. Romulus and Remus went to Numitor, who immediately recognized them. Having gathered a small detachment with his help, the brothers killed Amulius and declared their grandfather king. As a reward, they asked for land along the banks of the Tiber, where they found their salvation. There it was decided to lay the capital of the future kingdom. During a dispute over whose name she would bear, Remus was killed by Romulus.

Heroes of Roman myths

Most of the legends, except those borrowed from the Greeks, tell of characters who performed feats or sacrificed themselves in the name of the prosperity of Rome. These are Romulus and Remus, the Horace brothers, Lucius Junius, Mucius Scaevola and many others. The Roman religion was subordinated to the state and civic duty. Many myths were epic and glorified heroes-emperors.

Aeneas

Aeneas is the founder of the Roman state. The son of the goddess Aphrodite, a friend of Hector, the hero - the young prince fled with his little son and father after the fall of Troy and ended up in an unknown country where the Latins lived. He married Lavinia, the daughter of the local king Latinus, and together with him began to rule the Italian lands. The descendants of Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, became the founders of Rome.

Myths of ancient Rome for children - the best books for young readers

Despite the abundance of books, it is difficult to find decent literature on the study of the myths of ancient peoples. Standing apart here is a work that was created exactly 100 years ago and is still a standard. N. A. Kun "Myths of Ancient Rome and Greece" - this book is known to a huge number of readers. It was written in 1914 specifically for schoolchildren and all connoisseurs of the mythology of ancient peoples. The collection of myths is written in a very simple and at the same time lively language, and is perfect for a children's audience.

A. A. Neihardt compiled an interesting collection of Legends and Tales of Ancient Rome, which provides concise information on Roman gods and heroes.

Conclusion

Thanks to the fact that the Romans borrowed Greek gods and myths, these legends have survived to this day. Creating works of art on their basis, the ancient Roman authors preserved for posterity all the beauty and epicness of Greek and Roman mythology. Virgil created the epic "Aeneid", Ovid wrote "Metamorphoses" and "Fast". Thanks to their work, modern man now has the opportunity to learn about the religious ideas and gods of the two great ancient states - Greece and Rome.

© ACT Publishing LLC, 2016

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Nikolai Albertovich Kun (1877–1940) -

Russian historian, writer, teacher, famous researcher of antiquity, author of numerous scientific and popular science works, the most famous of which is the book Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece (1922), which went through many editions in the languages ​​of the peoples former USSR and major European languages.

It was N.A. Kun made the world of gods and heroes familiar and close to us. He was the first to try to simplify, to express in his own language Greek myths and has made great efforts to ensure that as many of the most different people got to know this important aspect Greek culture.

Foreword

For each generation of reading people, there are certain “significant books”, symbols of normal childhood and natural entry into the world of spiritual culture. I think that I will not be mistaken if I name for Russia the 20th century. one of these publications is the book by N.A. Kuhn, Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece. Some incredible charm emanated for everyone who began to read it, from the stories about the deeds of the ancient Greeks, from the fabulous world of the Olympic gods and Greek heroes. Children and adolescents who were lucky enough to discover and love this book in a timely manner did not think that through myths they penetrate into the world of one of the brightest pages of the "childhood of mankind", at least the European one.

The remarkable insight of Professor N.A. Kuna was that his retelling of ancient Greek mythology allowed and allows children to join the origins of the unfading ancient culture through fantastic images of myths and tales about heroes, perceived by the children's consciousness as a fairy tale.

It so happened that the Southern Mediterranean and, first of all, the island of Crete, Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea became the place of a very early flowering of civilization that originated at the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. e., that is, about four thousand years ago, and reached at the zenith of what can be safely called perfection.

The well-known Swiss cultural historian A. Bonnard gave, for example, the following assessment of the “golden age of Greek culture” (5th century BC): “Greek civilization in its midday time is precisely a cry of joy to the light of ingenious creations. Having achieved a lot in various areas of life - navigation and trade, medicine and philosophy, mathematics and architecture - the ancient Greeks were absolutely inimitable and unsurpassed in the field of literary and visual creativity, which grew precisely on the cultural soil of mythology.

Among many generations of people who have been reading N.A. Kuna, very few people know anything about its author. Personally, I remember only the mysterious-sounding word "Kun" as a child.

Behind it unusual name in my mind, as well as in the minds of the vast majority of readers, the real image of Nikolai Albertovich Kuhn, an excellent scientist, an excellent connoisseur of antiquity with a “pre-revolutionary education” and a difficult fate in the turbulent 20th century, did not arise at all.

Readers of the book, which is preceded by this introduction, have the opportunity to imagine the appearance of the author of "Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece." Brief story about his name, which I offer to readers, is based on materials from several prefaces written by different authors to previous editions of the book by N.A. Kuhn, as well as on documents kindly provided to me by his family.

ON THE. Kuhn was born on May 21, 1877 into a noble family. His father, Albert Frantsevich Kun, was not limited to the affairs and concerns of his own estate. Among his descendants, a rumor remained that he organized a kind of partnership that promoted the introduction of the use of electricity in Russian theaters. The mother of Nikolai Albertovich, Antonina Nikolaevna, nee Ignatieva, came from a count's family and was a pianist who studied with A.G. Rubinstein and P.I. Tchaikovsky. She did not perform concert activities due to health reasons.

In 1903, Nikolai Albertovich Kun graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow State University. Already in his student years, Nikolai Albertovich showed an inclination to study antiquity and outstanding knowledge in the history of Ancient Greece. As a student, in 1901 he gave a report on the oligarchy of four hundred in Athens in 411 BC. e. Judging by the surviving newspaper clippings, this speech was associated with a rather important event for the university - the opening of the Historical and Philological Student Society. As the newspapers reported, the meeting took place "in a large auditorium of the new building of Moscow University." Professor V.O. Klyuchevsky, “the post of section chairman will be considered vacant until Professor P.G. Vinogradov, who will be invited to take this position at the unanimous desire of the members of the society.

As we can see, the students of Moscow University, carried away by history, firmly connected their scientific activity with the names of the luminaries of the then Russian historical science. These were Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky and Pavel Gavrilovich Vinogradov. It is indicative that the activity of the Student Scientific Society in the history section was opened by the report of the 4th year student N.A. Kuna. The theses of this scientific work were preserved in the family of Nikolai Albertovich. Written in the exemplary handwriting of an intelligent person of the early 20th century, they begin with a description of the sources. The author writes about Thucydides and Aristotle, reproducing the title of Aristotle's work "Athenian polity" in ancient Greek. This is followed by eleven theses, which analyze the event - the oligarchic coup in Athens in 411 BC. e. The content of the theses testifies to the excellent knowledge of ancient history by student N.A. Kuhn.

The family of Professor Kuhn preserved a detailed questionnaire compiled and signed by him with a detailed description of his scientific activities. In the first paragraph of this most interesting document, Nikolai Albertovich said that he received for this student scientific work prize to them. Sadikova, "usually issued to privatdocents." Among university teachers N.A. Kuna were such prominent historians as V.O. Klyuchevsky and V.I. Guerrier, better known as a specialist in the history of modern times, he also studied ancient history. With a brilliant linguist academician F.E. Korshem Nikolai Albertovich maintained good relations even after Korsh's departure in 1900 from the Department of Classical Philology of Moscow University.

It seemed that by the time he graduated from the university in 1903, a direct road to great science was open to the talented young man. However, his path to his beloved antiquity turned out to be quite long and ornate.

Graduate of Moscow University N.A. Kuhn was introduced by the faculty to leave at the university, which provided excellent opportunities for an academic career. However, this proposal was not approved by the trustee of the Moscow educational district, apparently due to some kind of participation of N.A. Kuhn in student unrest at the turn of the century. The path to academic science turned out to be closed for him virtually forever. Nikolai Albertovich had to prove himself a lot in other areas: in the field of teaching, education, organization of educational institutions and, most importantly, the popularization of scientific knowledge, primarily in the field of ancient culture.

In 1903–1905 ON THE. Kun taught in Tver at the women's teacher's school Maksimovich. An old postcard from the early 20th century has been preserved. with a photograph of the building of this Tver school and an inscription on the back, made by N.A. Kuhn: “In this school, I began teaching in 1903. In it, I also read the first lecture on the history of Ancient Greece for teachers in 1904.” Again Ancient Greece, the image of which, as we see, has not left the consciousness of its connoisseur and admirer.

Meanwhile, in modern young N.A. The kun of Russia was approaching a terrible revolutionary storm long overdue. ON THE. Kuhn did not stand aside from the coming historical events. In 1904, he began lecturing in working classrooms, was one of the organizers of the Sunday school for workers, which in the same 1904 was closed by order of the Tver governor. The “unreliability” that the Moscow authorities saw in Kun was fully confirmed by the behavior of this enlightener-intellectual, and in early December 1905 (in the most terrible revolutionary time) he was expelled from Tver by order of the governor. Considering how close this city was to Moscow, the center of events of the first Russian revolution, the authorities “offered” N.A. Kun to go abroad.

Until the end of 1906, he was in Germany, where he had the opportunity to replenish his knowledge of ancient history. At that time, the famous German philologist and historian of ancient culture, Professor Ulrich Wilamowitz-Möllendorff, lectured at the University of Berlin. I quite firmly assume the consonance of the main idea of ​​this major antiquity scholar about the creation of a universal science of antiquity, connecting philology with history, with the mood of the soul of the Russian antiquity scholar N.A. Kuna. U. Wilamowitz-Möllendorff considered the issues of religion, philosophy and literature of the ancient Greeks as a kind of unity, not subject to fragmentation for study within individual disciplines. Approximately ten years will pass, and N.A. Kuhn will publish his famous book of transcriptions of Greek mythology for the first time, where he will do just that - he will prove the inseparability of the philological, philosophical, religious studies and literary analysis of the mighty layer of human culture - the myths of Ancient Greece.

In the meantime, in 1906, he returned to Russia, which had not cooled down from the revolutionary storm, and ... published a translation of a humanistic pamphlet of the 16th century. "Letters from Dark People". This creation of a group of German humanists, among whom the most famous was Ulrich von Hutten, denounced darkness, dullness, obscurantism as such, for all time. As the newspaper Tovarishch wrote on June 15, 1907, "this magnificent monument of liberation literature still has not lost its significance - not only historical, but also practical." The author of a newspaper article about the published translation paid tribute to the work of the translator, the young N.A. Kuna: "The translator did a lot to cope with the difficulties of the monstrous bookish language of the book, which its best connoisseurs called untranslatable."

Nikolai Albertovich continued teaching, participated in the organization of public lectures, in 1907 he was one of the organizers, and then the chairman of the Council of the Tver People's University, which was closed by order of the governor in 1908. In the same 1908, he was elected professor of world history Moscow Higher Women's Pedagogical Courses. At the same time he taught at secondary schools in Moscow and Tver and gave public lectures on the history of religion and culture.

In 1914, two very important events in the life of N.A. Kuna: he was elected a professor at the Moscow City University. Shanyavsky in the department ancient history, the first part of his famous book “What the Greeks and Romans told about their gods and heroes” was published in the publishing house of Kushnerev (the second part was published in 1922 in the publishing house “Mif”).

This book made its author widely known. However, even before her, he had already worked as a popularizer of ancient culture, wrote and edited study guides. He owns a number of essays in the "Book for reading on ancient history" edited by A.M. Vasyutinskii (part I, 1912; part II, 1915; 2nd ed., 1916). Some of them are devoted to the spiritual culture of antiquity (“In the Theater of Dionysus”, “At the Delphic Oracle”, “Roman in the face of the gods”), others deal with archaeological issues (“What do we know about Italian antiquity”), an essay on Alexander the Great ( "Alexander the Great in Persia"), which reveals the breadth of the scientist's interests. In 1916, in the publishing house "Cosmos" (Moscow), edited by N.A. Kuna published a Russian translation of E. Zybart's book "The Cultural Life of Ancient Greek Cities" (translated by A.I. Pevzner).

In the preface of 1914 to his main book, Nikolai Albertovich expressed an idea that, it seems to me, explains its subsequent success and the interest of readers that has not faded to this day. The author wrote that he refused to translate the sources, instead he "stated them, trying to preserve their very spirit as much as possible, which, of course, was often very difficult, since it was impossible to preserve all the beauty of ancient poetry in prose." What magic helped the author to convey what he himself calls the intangible word "spirit" is hard to say. It remains only to assume that a long-standing, strong interest in ancient culture, indissoluble attention to the history and literature of the ancient Greeks, many years of studies in the history of religion. All this was organically concentrated in the knowledge of mythology, in the author's perception of it as something of his own, personal and at the same time belonging to all mankind.

Only six years after the publication of his brilliant work on mythology, N.A. Kuhn finally received a teaching chair at Moscow State University. He became professor in the department of the history of religion, where he lectured until 1926, when the department was closed.

It is not difficult to imagine how difficult it was to remain a scholar of antiquity in the first years of Soviet power. Nikolai Albertovich worked very hard, taught in schools, in teacher courses, lectured to the general public in many cities of Russia. In his questionnaire, he names at least fifteen cities in which he had a chance to teach. One can only guess how the pre-revolutionary humanitarian lived in a revolutionary situation. But here in front of me is a document of 1918 called “Security certificate”, issued by N.A. Kunu on behalf of the Higher Pedagogical Institute named after P.G. Shelaputin. On a piece of paper with text printed on an old typewriter, eight signatures - directors and members of the Council and the Board. The text reads: "This is given to the teacher secondary school, consisting at the Higher Pedagogical Institute named after P.G. Shelaputin to Comrade Kun Nikolai Albertovich that the premises occupied by him, located on Devichy Pole Bozheninovsky Lane, house No. 27, sq. No. 6 and belonging to both him and his family, any property (home furnishings, books, clothes, and other things) are not subject to requisition without the knowledge of the People's Commissariat of Education in view of his condition in the service of the Soviet government, which is certified by proper signatures with a seal attached .

This certificate has been issued for presentation both during the search and during inspections during the upcoming Week of the Poor.

No comments are needed here. One thing is clear - in these most difficult conditions of life, Nikolai Albertovich worked a lot in the field of education and, eventually, academic science, taught, edited, published articles and books. From 1920 to 1926 he taught at Moscow University, from 1935 - at the Moscow State Institute of History, Philology and Literature (MIFLI), also engaged in research activities.

The subject of scientific interests of N.A. Kun still had questions about the history of ancient religion. In 1922, he published the monograph "The Forerunners of Christianity (Oriental Cults in the Roman Empire)". The problems of ancient religion and mythology occupied the scientist in subsequent years. He not only edited the materials of the department of ancient history of the TSB, he wrote more than three hundred articles and notes written specifically for this publication, including the articles "Aeschylus", "Cicero", "Inscriptions" (together with N.A. Mashkin), "Myths and Mythology". The scientist continued this work until his death in 1940.

An obituary published in the 1940 double issue (3–4) of the Herald of Ancient History gives some details last days and hours of Kuhn's life: “... a few days before the death of N.A. signed an advance copy of the fourth edition, for which he not only revised the text, but also selected beautiful illustrations ‹…› In recent years, N.A. suffered a number of serious illnesses, but nevertheless did not want to leave either pedagogical or literary work, and death caught him at his post: on February 28, N.A. Kuhn came to MIFLI to read his report "The Rise of the Cult of Serapis and the Religious Policy of the First Ptolemies." Neither the deceased himself, nor his friends could have thought that at the hour of the opening of the meeting he would not be ... "

Book N.A. Kuna continued and continues to live after the death of the author. The undying interest in the "childhood of mankind" provides this book with readers who, with the help of N.A. Kuna are imbued with the spirit of the beautiful world of Hellenic ideas about life, nature and space.

N.I. Basovskaya

ON THE. kun
What did the Greeks and Romans say about their gods and heroes?
Part I

From the author

His book "What the Greeks and Romans told about their gods and heroes" 1
The first part of this book is a reprint of Kuhn's 1914 work, while the second part reproduces the original 1937 edition. The spelling of names and titles has been kept in its original form, so it may differ in the two parts. This affected, first of all, the following names and names: Hyades (Hyades), Euboea (Evbea), Euphries (Eufrystheus), Ionian Sea (Ionian Sea), Piriflegont (Pyriflegeton), Eumolp (Evmolp), Hades (Hades). - Note. ed.

I intended mainly for female and high school students, but also for all those who are interested in the mythology of the Greeks and Romans. In presenting the myths of ancient antiquity, I did not seek to exhaust all the material available to us and even deliberately avoided giving different versions of the same myth. When choosing versions, I usually settled on the one that is of more ancient origin. I did not give the sources that I used in translation, but expounded them, trying to preserve their very spirit as much as possible, which, of course, was often very difficult, since it was impossible to preserve all the beauties of ancient poetry in prose. As for the transcription of names, I tried to adhere to more common forms, for example, Theseus, and not Fesey, Helios, and not Helium, Radamanth, and not Radamanthus, etc. The book is illustrated exclusively with antique sculpture and vase painting.

I consider it my duty to express my deepest gratitude to Academician F. E. Korsh for the instructions and advice that he so kindly gave me; I express my sincere gratitude to G. K. Veber, S. Ya. Ginzburg, M. S. Sergeev, and A. A. Fortunatov for their advice and assistance.

Nikolai Kun

Moscow, 1914

Introduction

In a brief introduction it is impossible to give a complete picture of the development of the religion and mythology of Greece and Rome. But in order to understand the basic character of the mythology of the Greeks, in order to explain why, along with the depth of thought and a highly developed idea of ​​morality, rudeness, cruelty and naivety are found in the myths of the Greeks, we need, at least in brief outlines, to dwell on the most important moments in the development of the religion of the Greeks. It is also necessary to find out how it changed under the influence of Greece ancient religion Rome, as this gave me the right to title my book: "What the Greeks and Romans told about their gods and heroes."

We will have to go back to ancient times, to that primitive era of human life, when the first ideas about the gods were just beginning to arise in him, since only this era will explain to us why both naivety, and rudeness, and cruelty were preserved in the myths of Greece.

Science does not know a single people, no matter how low it may be in its development, which would not have an idea about a deity, which did not have at least naive and crude beliefs. Together with these beliefs, there are also stories about gods, heroes and how the world and man were created. These stories are called myths. If a religious beliefs, and with them myths, arise in a person at the lowest stage of his development, it is clear that the time of their occurrence should refer to immemorial antiquity, to that ancient era in the life of mankind, which is little accessible for study, and therefore we cannot restore myths in in their original form, in which they were created by man. This primarily concerns the myths of those peoples who, such as the Egyptians, Assyro-Babylonians, Greeks, already in ancient times, millennia before Christ, reached a high level of cultural development. Among the peoples of antiquity, the Greeks especially amaze us with the extraordinary richness and beauty of their mythology. Despite the fact that much in the mythology of the Greeks has been lost to us, nevertheless, the material that has survived to our time is very rich, and in order to use it all with all the details, with all the variants of various myths, several voluminous volumes would have to be written. After all, both the religion of the Greeks and their mythology had a local character. Each locality had gods who were especially honored in it and about which special myths were created that were not found in other places. So, for example, the myths about Zeus, created in Attica, do not coincide with the myths about him in Boeotia and Thessaly. Hercules was told differently in Argos than in Thebes and the colonies of the Greeks in Asia Minor. In addition, there were local gods and local heroes, whose worship was not widespread throughout Greece and was limited only to one or another locality. This local character, expanding the material, makes it difficult to study the myths of Greece. Finally, when studying the mythology of the Greeks, one must first of all remember that the myths in the form in which they have come down to us date back to the time when Greece had long since left its primitive state, when it was a cultural country, and this gave all myths a different a form, a different color than that which the myths had in their original form.

The ancient Greeks were the greatest myth-makers in Europe. It was they who came up with the word "myth" (translated from Greek "tradition", "tale"), which we today call amazing stories about gods, people and fantastic creatures.

The Romans, the heirs of the cultural traditions of the Aegean world, equated many Italic deities with the gods of the Greek pantheon. Roman mythological heroes look more dull compared to Greek ones.

If Ancient Greece has the honor of creating most of the myths and legends, then we should be more grateful to Ancient Rome for the preservation of the legends of the ancient world.

The Greeks created their gods in the image and likeness of people, endowed them with beauty and immortality. ancient greek deities were so humanized that they possessed the same qualities and emotions as the people whose destinies they controlled, being at the same time generous and vengeful, kind and cruel, loving and jealous; their fate was as dependent on the lot of the Moira (Greek goddesses of fate) as the life of people depended on the gods.

The mythology of the Greeks is striking in its colorfulness and diversity, in contrast to the religion of the Romans, which is not rich in legends, surprising in the dryness and facelessness of its deities. The Italian gods never showed their will in direct contact with mere mortals: a Roman asking the gods for mercy stood with a part of his cloak covering his head so as not to accidentally see the invoked god. The Greeks, unlike the Romans, admired the beautiful images of their deities.

Ancient Greek society has come a long way of development from the darkest, archaic period to a developed civilization. The myths in which his worldview was expressed changed along with the development of society.

The pre-Olympic stage in the development of myths fell on the historical era of a person who feels defenseless before the forces of nature. The surrounding world seemed to him in the form of primitive chaos, in which incomprehensible, uncontrollable, terrible elements acted. The earth was thought to be the main active force of nature, generating everything and giving rise to everything. The earth gave birth to monsters, personifying its dark chthonic (ancient) power. Such are the titans, cyclops and "hecatoncheirs" - hundred-armed monsters that frightened the imagination of man. Such is the many-headed serpent Typhon. Such are the terrible goddesses of Erinia - old women with dog heads and snakes in loose hair. In the same period, the bloodthirsty dog ​​Kerberos (Cerberus), and the Lernean hydra, and a chimera with three heads appeared. The surrounding world frightened a person, seemed hostile to him, forced him to hide and seek salvation.

The deities of the pre-Olympic period were far from those ideal forms that appear to us at the word "Greek mythology". The idea of ​​a deity was not yet separated from the object, which was thought of as its personification. For example, in the city of Sikyon (Peloponnese), Zeus was originally revered in the form of a stone pyramid. In the city of Thespia (Boeotia), Hera was represented as a stump of a tree trunk, and on the island of Samos - in the form of a board. The goddess Leto was represented by an unprocessed log.

However, the development of ancient Greek society did not stand still. The rise of economic activity strengthened a person's faith in himself, allowed him to take a bolder look at the world around him. The period leading to patriarchy gave rise to a new kind of mythological character - the famous ancient Greek hero, monster slayer and founder of states. One of the most significant myths of this period is the victory of the solar god Apollo over the serpent Typhon. The hero Cadmus slays the dragon and founds the city of Thebes on the site of victory. Perseus defeats Medusa, whose one look turned people into stones. Bellerophon delivers people from the Chimera, and Meleager from the Calydonian boar. And, finally, the brightest period of the struggle of man over the world, which previously seemed hostile, but now more and more habitable, is coming. Hercules, the son of Zeus, performs his twelve labors and finally grants people this world.

The heroic period of ancient Greek mythology is represented by two outstanding epic works - the Iliad and the Odyssey. They vividly describe the exploits of the heroes committed during the long-term war between the Greek Achaeans and the inhabitants of the city of Troy, which stood on the Asian coast of the Hellespont Strait.

According to modern researchers, the Trojan War took place in the XIII century BC. Shortly thereafter, the northern tribes of the Dorians invaded the Balkan Peninsula, destroying the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization. A few centuries later, Greek civilization revived, and by the 5th century BC, it had reached its peak. It is this period of development of ancient Greek society that is considered classical, it is from this period that works of art have come down to us, depicting gods and goddesses as outwardly perfect, flawless beings.

Ancient Roman mythology differed from Greek in greater abstractness. The Romans deified various concepts - loyalty, valor, courage. At first, the original, Roman mythology, already in the early stages of its formation, fell under the influence of the Greeks who inhabited Italy. So, for example, Mars was originally a god nourishing the roots of plants, and Venus was the goddess of gardens. Only later were they identified with the Greek deities of war and love.

But the most interesting phenomenon of the consciousness of the ancient Romans can be called the so-called "Roman myth" - not just a story from the life of the gods and deified ancestors, it is a whole complex of views that have developed into the popular worldview and into the ideology of the Roman state. Its essence was that Rome, by the gods themselves, from ancient times was destined to become the first city in the world and rule the peoples. This myth was born simultaneously with the victories of the Romans in numerous wars, in which they first subjugated the surrounding tribes, and then the distant countries of Europe, Asia, and, finally, Africa. The ancient Romans were sure that such an order of things was absolutely natural, and believed in the divine election of the destiny of their state.

This myth was most fully developed in the era of Emperor Caesar Augustus, who in his policy sought to rely on the authority of antiquity honored by the Romans. One of the most prominent poets of his time, Publius Virgil Maron, undertook to write a literary work that would express the ideas put forward. The poem he wrote - "Aeneid" - became such an outstanding work that it survived the centuries.

Already in the most ancient monuments of Greek creativity, the anthropomorphic (endowing with human qualities to animals, objects, phenomena, mythological creatures.) Character of Greek polytheism (a set of beliefs based on belief in several gods who have their own passions, character, enter into relationships with other gods and have a specific sphere of influence), which is explained by the national characteristics of the entire cultural development in this area; concrete representations prevail over abstract ones, just as in quantitative terms humanoid gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines prevail over deities of abstract meaning (who, in turn, receive anthropomorphic features).

The Greek worldview is characterized not only by polytheism, but also by the idea of ​​the universal animation of nature. Every natural phenomenon, every river, mountain, grove had its own deity. From the point of view of the Greek, there was no insurmountable line between the world of people and the world of gods, heroes acted as an intermediate link between them. Heroes such as Hercules, for their exploits, joined the world of the gods. The gods of the Greeks themselves were anthropomorphic, they experienced human passions and could suffer like people.

AT Everyday life Romans religion played a very important role. The Romans, like all the peoples of antiquity, deified phenomena of nature and social life that they did not understand. The Roman religion originated in the depths of the tribal system and by the end of the republican period had gone through a long path of development. In Roman religion, for a long time, the remains of primitive religious ideas were preserved: totemism, fetishism, animism. Animism, belief in impersonal and abstract spirits living in all material objects surrounding a person, inherent in natural phenomena, abstract concepts, and even individual human actions, was preserved for a particularly long time in the Roman religion.

The long-term preservation of animistic ideas hindered the development of an anthropomorphic view of the gods, i.e. representation of the deity in the form of a human image.

In the general religious consciousness of the Hellenes, apparently, there was no definite generally recognized dogmatics. The variety of religious ideas found expression in the variety of cults, the external situation of which is now more and more clear thanks to excavations and finds. We will find out which gods or heroes were revered where and where which one was revered predominantly (for example, Zeus - in Dodona and Olympia, Apollo - in Delphi and Delos, Athena - in Athens, Hera on Samos, Asclepius - in Epidaurus) ; we know shrines revered by all (or many) Hellenes, such as the Delphic or Dodonian oracle or the Delian shrine; we know large and small amfiktyony (cult communities). If a certain deity was considered the main deity of a certain state, then the state sometimes recognized (as in Athens) at the same time some other cults; Along with these nationwide cults, there were separate cults of state divisions (for example, the Athenian demes), and cults of household or family, as well as cults of private societies or individuals.

It is difficult to establish exactly when the first Greek myths and legends appeared. , in which humanoid gods were revealed to the world, and whether they are a legacy of ancient Cretan culture (3000-1200 BC) or Mycenaean (before 1550 BC), when the names of Zeus and Hera, Athena and Artemis are already found on the tablets. Legends, traditions and tales were passed down from generation to generation by Aed singers and were not recorded in writing. The first recorded works that conveyed to us unique images and events were the brilliant poems of Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey". Their record dates back to the 6th century BC. e. According to the historian Herodotus, Homer could have lived three centuries earlier, that is, around the 9th-8th centuries BC. But, being an aed, he used the work of his predecessors, even more ancient singers, the earliest of which, Orpheus, according to a number of testimonies, lived approximately in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC.

The inaccessible example, which until now is the Homeric epic, not only conveyed to the descendants extensive knowledge about Hellenic life, but also made it possible to form an idea of ​​the views of the Greeks on the universe. Everything that exists was formed from Chaos, which was the struggle of the elements. The first to appear were Gaia - earth, Tartarus - hell and Eros - love. Uranus was born from Gaia, and then from Uranus and Gaia - Kronos, the Cyclopes and the Titans. Having defeated the titans, Zeus reigns on Olympus and becomes the ruler of the world and the guarantor of the universal order, which finally comes to the world after long upheavals. The ancient Greeks were the greatest myth-makers of Europe. It was they who came up with the word "myth" (translated from Greek "tradition", "tale"), which we today call amazing stories about gods, people and fantastic creatures. Myths were the basis of all the literary monuments of ancient Greece, including the poems of Homer, so loved by the people. For example, the Athenians from childhood were familiar with the main characters of "Oresteia", a trilogy of the poet Aeschylus. None of the events in his plays were unexpected for the audience: neither the murder of Agamemnon, nor the revenge of his son Orestes, nor the persecution of Orestes by furies for the death of his mother. They were most interested in the playwright's approach to the confusing situation, his interpretation of the motives of guilt and atonement for sin. It is difficult to appreciate the significance of those theatrical productions, but, fortunately, people still have the sources of many of the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides - the myths themselves, which retain great attraction even in a short summary. And in our century, people are worried about the world-old story of Oedipus, the murderer of his father; the adventures of Jason, who crossed the Black Sea in search of the magic golden fleece; the fate of Helen, the most beautiful of women, who caused the Trojan War; the wanderings of the cunning Odysseus, one of the bravest Greek warriors; the amazing exploits of the mighty Hercules, the only hero who deserved immortality, as well as the stories of a great many other characters. mythology deity pre-Olympic worldview

Roman mythology in its initial development was reduced to animism, that is, the belief in the animation of nature. The ancient Italians worshiped the souls of the dead, and the main motive for worship was the fear of their supernatural power. For the Romans, as for the Semites, the gods seemed to be terrible forces that had to be reckoned with, propitiating them with strict observance of all rituals. Every minute of his life the Roman was afraid of angering the gods and, in order to enlist their favor, did not undertake or perform a single deed without prayer and established formalities. In contrast to the artistically gifted and mobile Hellenes, the Romans did not have folk epic poetry; their religious ideas were expressed in a few, monotonous and meager in content myths. In the gods, the Romans saw only the will, which intervened in human life.

The Roman gods did not have their own Olympus or genealogy, and were depicted as symbols: Mana (gods afterlife) - under the guise of snakes, Jupiter - under the guise of a stone, Mars - under the guise of a spear, Vesta - under the guise of fire. The original system of Roman mythology was reduced to a list of symbolic, impersonal, deified concepts, under the auspices of which a person's life consisted from his conception to death; no less abstract and impersonal were the deities of souls, whose cult formed the most ancient basis of family religion. At the second stage of mythological representations were the deities of nature, mainly rivers, springs and the earth, as the producer of all living things. Next come the deities of heavenly space, the deities of death and the underworld, deities - the personification of the spiritual and moral aspects of man, as well as various relationships public life, and, finally, foreign gods and heroes. The deities personifying the souls of the dead included Manes, Lemures, Larvae, as well as Genii and Junones (representatives of the productive and vital principle in a man and a woman). At birth, genii inhabit a person; at death, they are separated from the body and become manes (good souls). In honor of Juno and Genius, sacrifices were made on their birthdays. Later, for protection, their Geniuses were given to each family, city, state. Related to Geniuses are Laras, patrons of fields, vineyards, roads, groves and houses; each family had its own lar familiaris, which guarded the hearth and house (later there were two of them). In addition, there were special gods of the hearth (patrons of the pantry) - Penates, which included Janus, Jupiter, Vesta. The deities, under whose patronage all human life was in all its manifestations, were called dei indigetes (gods acting or living inside). There were as many of them as there were various activities, that is, an infinite multitude; every step of a person, every movement and action at different ages were guarded by special gods. There were gods who protected a person from the time of conception to birth (Janus Consivius, Saturnus, Fluonia, etc.), helped at birth (Juno Lucina, Carmentis, Prorsa, Postversa, etc.), guarded the mother and child, for protection after childbirth (Intercidona, Deus Vagitanus, Cunina, etc.) who took care of children in the first years of childhood (Potina, Educa, Cuba, Levana, Earinus, Fabulinus), the gods of growth (Iterduca, Mens, Consus, Sentia, Voleta, Jnventas, and others), patron gods of marriage (Juno juga, Afferenda, Domiducus, Virginensis, etc.). In addition, there were deities of activities (especially agriculture and cattle breeding) - for example Proserpina, Flora, Pomona (Proserpina, Flora, Pomona), and places - for example Nemestrinus, Cardea, Limentinus, Rusina. With the further evolution of mythological ideas, some of these deities became more individualized, others joined their main attributes, and the mythological image became more prominent, approaching the human, and some deities were combined into marriage pairs. At this stage in the development of religious ideas, the deities of nature act - the gods and goddesses of the water element, fields, forests, as well as some phenomena of human life. The deities of the springs (usually goddesses) were revered in the groves and also possessed the gift of foreshadowing and song, and were also helpers in childbirth. Among these deities were, for example, Camenae and Egeria - the prophetic wife of Numa. Of the river gods in Rome, pater Tiberinus was worshiped, who was propitiated by the sacrifice of the Argei (they made 27 dolls from reeds that were thrown into the water), Numicius (in Lavinia), Clitumnus (in Umbria), Volturnus (in Campania). The representative of the water element was Neptune, later, through identification with Poseidon, became the god of the sea (from 399 BC).

The gods whose activity manifested itself in nature and life and who had a brighter individuality include Janus, Vesta, Vulcan, Mars, Saturn and other gods of fertility and activity in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Janus from the patron of the door (janua) became the representative of any entrance in general, and then the god of the beginning, as a result of which the beginning of the day and month was dedicated to him, as well as the month of January named after him, as coinciding with the beginning of the arrival of days. Vesta personified the fire that burned in the hearth, both public and private. The cult of the goddess was in charge of six virgins, named after her by the Vestals. In contrast to Vesta, who personified the beneficent power of fire, Vulcan or Volcanus (Volcanus) was a representative of the destructive fire element. As the god of the elements, dangerous for city buildings, he had a temple on the Field of Mars. He was called in prayers and together with the goddess of fertility, Maya, and was considered the deity of the sun and lightning. Later, he was identified with Hephaestus and began to be revered as the god of blacksmithing and volcanoes. The main deities who patronized agriculture were Saturn (the god of sowing), Kons (the god of harvest) and Ops, the wife of Kons. Later, Saturn was identified with the Greek Cronus, Ops with Rhea, and many features of the Greek cult were introduced into the Roman cult of these deities. Agriculture and cattle breeding were also patronized by other gods of forests and fields, who symbolized the forces of nature and were revered in groves and at springs. Their attributes and divine attributes were as simple as the very life and environment of their worshipers. For everything that was dear and pleasant to the farmer and cattle breeder, they considered themselves indebted to the deities who sent their blessing. These included Faun, with his wife Faun (Bona Dea), a beneficent god, identified later with King Evander; the run of the priests of the Faun, the Luperks, was intended to bring down the blessing of God on people, animals and fields. Silvan (forest god, goblin), who frightened lonely travelers with prophetic voices, was the patron of borders and property; Liber and Libera - a couple who personified the fertility of fields and vineyards - were later identified with the Greek couple of Dionysus and Persephone; Vertumnus and Pomona guarded orchards and fruit trees; Feronia was considered the giver of a plentiful harvest; Flora was the goddess of prosperity and fertility; Pales guarded pastures and livestock. Diana patronized fertility, which may be indicated by the compatibility of her holiday (August 13) with a sacrifice in honor of Vertumnus. In addition, Diana guarded slaves, especially those who sought refuge in her grove (near Tusculum, near Aricia), helped women in childbirth, sent fertility to families; later she became identified with Artemis, becoming the goddess of the hunt and the moon. The deities who sent fertility also included Mars - one of the most revered by the Italians national gods, perhaps an ancient deity of the sun. Prayers were addressed to him for sending fertility to the fields and vineyards; the so-called sacred spring (ver sacrum) was established in his honor. He was also the god of war (Mars Gradivus); its military attributes (sacred spears and shield) indicate the antiquity of the cult. The totem of Mars, picus (woodpecker), over time became the god of forests and meadows, the patron of agriculture, and was revered, under the name Picumnus, together with Pilumn, the god of threshing. Close to Mars is the Sabine god Quirinus; in later traditions, Mars was made the father of Romulus, and Quirinus was identified with Romulus. More powerful than all the mentioned deities were the gods of heaven and air space, Jupiter and Juno: Jupiter - as the god of daylight, Juno - as the goddess of the moon. The thunderstorm was attributed to Jupiter, as among the Greeks - to Zeus; therefore Jupiter was considered the most powerful of the gods. His weapon is lightning; in ancient time in special cults it was even called lightning. He also sent fertilizing rains (Elicius) and was revered as the god-giver of fertility and abundance (Liber). In honor of him, holidays associated with the harvest of grapes were established; he was the patron of agriculture, cattle breeding and the younger generation.

On the contrary, atmospheric phenomena, bringing danger and death to people, were attributed to Veiovis (Veiovis, Vediovis) - the evil Jupiter; related to Jupiter Summanus (sub mane - in the morning) was the god of night storms. As an assistant in battles, Jupiter was called Stator, as a giver of victory - Victor; in his honor, a board of fetials was established, who demanded satisfaction from the enemies, declared war and concluded agreements with the observance of certain rites. As a result, Jupiter was called to confirm the correctness of the word, as Deus Fidius - the god of oaths. In this regard, Jupiter was also the patron of borders and property (Juppiter Terminus or simply Terminus). Jupiter's chief priest was the flamen Dialis; Flamin's wife, flaminica, was a priestess of Juno. The cult of Juno was widespread throughout Italy, especially among the Latins, Oscans, Umbrians; the month of Junius or Junonius was named after her. As a moon goddess, all kalends were dedicated to her; hence she was called Lucina or Lucetia. Like Juno Juga or Jugalis or Pronuba, she consecrated marriages, like Sospita she guarded the inhabitants. The deities of the underworld did not have that bright individuality that strikes us in the corresponding department of Greek mythology; the Romans did not even have a king of this underworld. The god of death was Orcus; along with him, the goddess is mentioned - the patroness of the dead - Tellus, Terra mater - who took the shadows into her bosom. As the mother of lars and mans, she was called Lara, Larunda and Mania; like avia Larvarum, she personified the horror of death. The same religious ideas that created a series of dei indigetes - deities representing individual human actions and activities - called forth a series of deities who personified moral and spiritual abstract concepts and human relations. These include Fortuna (Fate), Fides (Loyalty), Concordia (Consent), Honos and Virtus (Honor and Courage), Spes (Hope), Pudicitia (Shame), Salus (Salvation), Pietas (Kindred Love), Libertas (Freedom ), Clementia (Meekness), Pax (Peace), etc.

In the imperial era, almost every abstract concept was personified in the image of a woman, with a corresponding attribute. Finally, there were gods adopted by the Romans from other peoples, mainly from the Etruscans and Greeks. Greek influence was expressed especially strongly after the Sibylline books were brought to Rome from Cum - a collection of Greek sayings of the oracle, which became the book of revelation of the Roman religion. Greek religious concepts and the peculiarities of the Greek cult merged with the kindred Roman ones, or supplanted the pale Roman ideas. The struggle of the relief images of the Greek religion with the vague outlines of the Roman ended in the fact that the Roman mythological ideas almost completely lost their national character, and only thanks to the conservative cult did the Roman religion retain its individuality and influence.

Among the foreign deities are the Etruscan Minerva (Menrva, Minerva), the goddess of thinking and reason, the patroness of crafts and arts. Through comparison with Pallas, Minerva entered the Capitoline triad and had her cella in the Capitoline temple. The difference between Minerva and Pallas was only that the first had nothing to do with the war. Venus was probably the ancient Italic goddess of charm and prosperity, but in cult she merged with the Greek Aphrodite. Mercury was originally known as the deus indiges - the patron of trade (merx, mercatura), but later, through comparison with Hermes, took on the attributes Greek god. Hercules (lat. alteration of the Greek No. sbklut) became known in Rome with the establishment of lectisternia; stories about him are entirely borrowed from Greek mythology. Under the name of Ceres (Ceres) from 496 BC. e. the Greek Demeter was known, whose cult in Rome remained completely Greek, so that even the priestesses at her temple were Greek women. Apollo and Dis pater are also purely Greek deities, of which the latter corresponded to Pluto, as indicated by the comparison of the Latin name with the Greek (Dis = dives -- rich = Rlpefshn). In 204, the sacred stone of the Great Mother of Ideas from Pessinunt was brought to Rome; in 186 there was already a Greek holiday in honor of Dionysus-Liber - Bacchanalia; then from Alexandria the cults of Isis and Serapis passed to Rome, and from Persia the mysteries of the solar god Mithra. The Romans did not have heroes, in the Greek sense, because there was no epic; only some individual gods of nature, in different localities, were revered as the founders of the most ancient institutions, unions and cities. This includes the most ancient kings (Faun, Peak, Latin, Aeneas, Iul, Romulus, Numa, etc.), portrayed not so much as heroes of wars and battles, but as organizers of states and legislators. And in this respect, the Latin legends did not take shape without the influence of the Greek epic form, in which a significant part of the Roman religious material was clothed in general.

A special characteristic feature of these heroes was that, although they were presented as prehistoric figures, they ended their lives not with death, but with disappearance, no one knows where. Such was, according to legend, the fate of Aeneas, Latinus, Romulus, Saturn, and others. The heroes of Italy do not leave offspring, as we see in Greek legends; although some Roman surnames originated from heroes (Fabia - from Hercules, Julia - from Ascanius), no genealogical legends were created from these traditions; with their echo, only a few liturgical hymns and drinking songs have survived.

Only with the penetration of Greek forms and ideas into the Roman spiritual life did Roman genealogical legends develop, compiled and distributed, for the sake of the Roman aristocracy, by Greek rhetoricians and grammarians who found shelter in Rome as guests, friends and slaves: teachers and educators. The Roman gods were more moral than the Greek ones. The Romans were able to discipline all the forces of man and turn them to one goal - the exaltation of the state; in accordance with this, the Roman gods, guarding human life, were the defenders of justice, property rights, and other human rights. That is why the moral influence of Roman religion was great, especially during the heyday of Roman citizenship. We find praise of the piety of the ancient Romans in most Roman and Greek writers, especially in Livy and Cicero; the Greeks themselves found the Romans to be the most pious people in the whole world. Although their piety was external, however, it proved respect for customs, and on this respect rested the main virtue of the Romans - patriotism.