Prikazani su postovi s oznakom greek gods. Prikaži sve postove
Prikazani su postovi s oznakom greek gods. Prikaži sve postove
utorak, 5. travnja 2011.
Pan - Greek God
Pan is distinctive among the Greek gods because of his hybrid human-animal form (theriomorphism).
The earliest images of Pan, in bronze sculpture and in a Boiotian vase painting of the early fifth century, show a goat-headed god with a human torso atop a goat’s hind legs.
Originally a guardian of the goats whose character he shares, he achieved Panhellenic status only in the fifth century, when his cult was introduced from Arkadia to Athens and rapidly diffused to the rest of the Greek world.
Many etymologies have been put forward for his name, which is also known in the compound form Aigipan (Goat-Pan). The most convincing makes it a cognate of Latin pastor, so that Pan is “one who grazes the flocks.”In Arkadia itself, Pan’s myth and cult were not standardized.
There were conflicting views of his genealogy, the most common being that he was the son of Zeus and twin of the national hero Arkas, or that he was the son of Hermes and Penelope. His connection with Zeus sprang from their association on Mt. Lykaion, the sacred mountain of the Arkadians.
Pan possessed a sanctuary on the south slopes of Lykaion, where in keeping with his identity as both goat and goatherd, he offered asylum to any animal being pursued by a wolf (lukos). A votive dump excavated here revealed many late Archaic and early Classical bronze figures, cut-out plaques, and terracottas with subjects reminiscent of those at Kato Symi: hunters, men carrying animals for sacrifice, and Hermes. Both youthful and mature males are depicted, and the bronzes include dead foxes, a standard courtship gift presented by adult males to their favorite youths. Inscribed pots show that the sanctuary was sacred to Pan, whose role as a god of the hunt and Master of Animals made him well suited, like Hermes, to sponsor maturation rituals.
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petak, 25. ožujka 2011.
Athena
Athena’s name probably comes from the city of Athens and not the other way
around. In a Linear B tablet from Knossos, we hear of the Potnia (Mistress) of
At(h)ana, and there is a consensus that Athena was in origin a Minoan or
Mycenaean deity, perhaps identical with the shield goddess who appears on
a painted tablet at Mycenae itself.
As a warrior goddess who protected the king and citadel, this Mistress had parallels in the Near East (Ishtar,Anat) and Egypt (Neith). Still, the exact relationship between the Bronze Age goddess and the Athena of the Classical Greeks is unclear, for gaps and inconsistencies in the archaeological evidence mean that we cannot demonstrate continuity of worship. Athena’s sanctuaries and temples are very often to be found at the city center, particularly on fortified heights like the Athenian Akropolis. In Greek towns of the early Iron Age, her dwelling place was often juxtaposed to that of the local chieftain or king; later she championed the polis with its varied forms of government. She presided over the arts of war, such as the taming of horses, the training of warriors, and the building of ships. As a goddess of crafts, particularly weaving and metalworking, she evokes the palace economies of the Bronze Age.
