PART II.—THE GODS.

I.—THE GODS OF OLYMPUS.

A.—SUPERIOR DEITIES.

=1. Zeus (Jupiter).=—Chief of the celestial deities is Zeus, called by the Romans Jupiter, the controller and ruler of the universe. As being the god of heaven _par excellence_, the “Skyfather,” he is to both nations the source of all life in nature, and from his gracious hand are shed blessing and abundance. All the phenomena of the air were supposed to proceed from him. He gathers and disperses the clouds, casts forth his lightning, stirs up his thunder, sends down rain, hail, snow, and fertilising dew on the earth. With his ægis—an impenetrable shield hung with a hundred golden tassels, in the midst of which the fearful head of the Gorgon is fastened—he produces storm and tempest. The ægis, though often meaning shield, is properly a goat-skin fastened to and supporting the true shield; later it appears as a short cloak, and even as a breastplate, covered with scales, and fringed with serpents. It is not often found in representations of Zeus; though a statue of him at Leyden shows it, and in a cameo he is seen with it wrapped around his left arm: similarly it was common to wrap the chlamys or scarf round the left arm, for purposes of defence. The ægis usually belongs to Athene, who borrows it from her father in the _Iliad_. She is seen wearing it in Fig. 9. In this word we probably see a confusion of two ideas, different, though of similar origin; from the same root that gives us the “springing” goat we have the storm-cloud “tossed” over the sky.

The ancients, however, were not content to regard Zeus merely as a personification of Nature; they regarded him also from an ethical standpoint, from which side he appears far more important and awful. They saw in him a personification, so to speak, of that principle of undeviating order and harmony which pervades both the physical and moral world. The strict unalterable laws by which he rules the community of the gods form a strong contrast to the capricious commands of his father Cronus. Hence Zeus is regarded as the protector and defender of all political order. From him the kings of the earth receive their sovereignty and rights; to him they are responsible for a conscientious fulfilment of their duties. Those among them who unjustly exceed their powers and pervert justice he never fails to punish. Zeus, moreover, also presides over councils and assemblies, keeps watch over their orderly course, and suggests to them wise counsels. One of the most important props of political society is the oath; and accordingly, as Zeus Horkios (ὅρκιος, _deus fidius_ of the Romans), he watches over oaths, and punishes perjury. He also watches over boundaries, and accompanies the youths of the land as they march to the defence of their country’s borders, giving them the victory over the invaders. All civil and political communities enjoy his protection; but he particularly watches over that association which is the basis of the political fabric—the family. The head of every household was therefore, in a certain sense, the priest of Zeus. It was he who presented the offerings to the god in the name of the family. At his altar, which generally stood in the middle of the court (in small households this was represented by the hearth), all strangers, fugitives, and suppliants found shelter. As Zeus Xenius (_hospitalis_) he protects the wanderer, and punishes those who violate the ancient laws of hospitality by mercilessly turning the helpless stranger from their door.

The superstition of early times saw in all the phenomena of the heavens manifestations of the divine will. Thus the chief deity of heaven was naturally regarded as the highest source of inspiration, and was believed to reveal his will to men in the thunder, the lightning, the flight of birds, or dreams. As the supreme oracular deity, Zeus not only had an oracle of his own at Dodona in Epirus, which was the most ancient in Greece, but also revealed the future by the mouth of his favourite son Apollo. Though he possessed no proper oracle among the Romans, yet the latter looked with all the more care and anxiety on the phenomena of the air and sky, the right interpretation of which formed a special and difficult branch of knowledge.

Zeus was the earliest national god of the Greeks. His worship extended throughout the whole of Greece, though some of his shrines had a special importance. The most ancient of them was that at Dodona, where the Pelasgian Zeus was worshipped at a time prior to the existence of any temples in Greece. He was here represented in the celebrated form of the sacred oak, in the rustling of whose branches the deity revealed himself to the faithful. He was also worshipped on the summit of Mount Tomarus, at the foot of which lay Dodona—mountain-tops being naturally the earliest seats of his worship. But all the earlier shrines were overshadowed by the great national seat of the worship of Hellenic Zeus at Olympia, on the northern banks of the river Alpheus, in Elis, where the renowned Olympian games were celebrated. The magnificent statue of Zeus, by Phidias, was an additional inducement to devotees, who flocked thither from every quarter.

Neither was the worship of Jupiter any less extensive in Italy. The most renowned of all his shrines was undoubtedly the temple erected by Tarquin on the Capitol at Rome. This, after being nearly destroyed by fire in the time of Sulla, was restored to more than its pristine splendour. The original earthen image was replaced by a statue of gold and ivory, the work of the Greek artist Apollonius, after the model of the Olympian Zeus.

Before proceeding to discuss the god as he appears in art, we must take a glance at his numerous family. The mythology of the Greeks stands in notorious contrast to that of the Romans, in attributing to Zeus a great number of mortal as well as immortal spouses, and an unusually numerous posterity. Here we must remark that, in spite of the occasional jokes of the comic poets on the numerous amours of the god, and the consequent jealousy of Hera, there was nothing farther from the intention of the Greeks than to represent the supreme deity of heaven as a sensual and lascivious being. The explanation lies partly in the great number of contemporaneous local forms of worship that existed independently of each other, and partly in the fact that the lively fancy of the Greek pictured every new production under the guise of procreation. In that part of mythology which teaches the genealogy of the gods, the earliest wife of Zeus was Metis (prudence), the daughter of Oceanus. Zeus devoured her, fearing lest she should bear a son, who would deprive him of the empire it had cost him so much to attain. It was soon after this that he produced Pallas Athene from his own head. His second goddess-wife was Themis, one of the Titans, by whom he became the father of the Horæ and the Mœræ (Fates). Dione appears as the wife of Zeus of Dodona, and the mother of Aphrodite; whilst Arcadian Zeus was wedded to Maia, by whom he had Hermes. By Demeter (Ceres) he became the father of Persephone (Proserpine, goddess of vegetation); by Eurynome, a daughter of Oceanus, of the Charites (Graces); by Mnemosyne, of the Muses; by Leto (Latona), of Apollo and Artemis. The youngest of all his divine wives, who was recognised by later mythology as his only legitimate queen, was his sister Hera. By her he became the father of Ares (Mars), Hephæstus (Vulcan), and Hebe.

Among his mortal mistresses the most celebrated is Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, king of Thebes, and mother of Dionysus. The others—Leda, Danaë, Alcmene, Europa, and Io—will be mentioned hereafter.

The mythology of the Romans, as we have already remarked, first depicted Jupiter as devoid of all family ties. It was only after their religion had been Hellenised that men termed him the son of Saturn and Ops, made Juno his wife and Minerva his daughter.

Statues of Zeus were necessarily very numerous, both from the great extent of his worship and the great number of his temples that existed in Greece. Of all these the most renowned was the magnificent statue of Zeus at Olympia, the work of the Athenian sculptor Phidias (500–432 B.C.). The figure was seated on a lofty throne, and was more than 40 feet high. It was made of gold and ivory, or more probably a statue of wood was overlaid with plates of ivory and gold. The uncovered parts—the face, throat, breast, and hands—were of ivory. In his right hand was a figure of Victory, also of gold and ivory; in his left was a royal sceptre, on the top of which perched an eagle. The numerous lengthy descriptions that exist can give us but a faint idea of the lofty majesty that the sculptor diffused over the countenance of the god. The object of Phidias was to represent him to mankind, not only as the omnipotent ruler of Olympus, far superior to all gods and men, both in power and wisdom; but also as the gracious father of all, and the kindly dispenser of all good gifts. The hair, which rose straight from the brow, and then fell in equal divisions on either side, imparted to the face a lion-like expression of conscious power. This was rendered still more effective by the high forehead and strongly-formed nose. At the same time, the expression of the slightly-opened lips lent an idea of kindly benevolence. The story goes that Phidias, after completing the statue, prayed of the god a sign that he was well pleased with his work. Zeus thereupon caused a flash of lightning to descend through the open roof of the temple, and thus acknowledged his own image.

[Illustration: Fig. 3.—Zeus of Otricoli. Vatican Museum.]

[Illustration: Fig. 4.—Jupiter Verospi. Vatican Museum.]

This sublime masterpiece of Phidias, which was reckoned among the seven wonders of the world, continued in existence, though not without injury, for upwards of 800 years. It appears to have been destroyed by fire in the time of Theodosius III.

[Illustration: Fig. 5.—Coins of Elis with Phidias’ Zeus. (After Overbeck.)]

The following are the most important of the existing statues of Zeus by Greek and Roman sculptors. The first in point of artistic worth is a bust of Zeus, in Carrara marble—now in the Vatican Museum at Rome—which was discovered in the last century at Otricoli (Fig. 3). The union of serene majesty and benevolence is the chief feature in the sublime countenance. Next comes a colossal statue in marble, known as the Jupiter of Verospi, also in the Vatican Museum (Fig. 4). Lastly, there is a bust of Zeus, discovered at Pompeii, and now in the Museum at Naples, besides an equally beautiful bronze statue in the British Museum, found at Paramythia in Epirus. On comparing all the extant art monuments of Zeus, we may gather that the object of ancient art was to present him especially as the benign ruler of the universe, sitting enthroned in conscious majesty and blissful ease on the heights of Olympus. His characteristic features are the clustering hair, falling like a mane on either side of his fine arched brow, and the rich wavy beard. His attributes consist of the sceptre, as a symbol of his sovereignty; the thunderbolt; the eagle; the votive bowl, as a symbol of his worship; the ball beneath or near his seat, as a symbol of the universe he rules; and, lastly, a figure of Victory. His head is sometimes adorned with a garland of oak-leaves, the oak being sacred to him; and sometimes with an olive-branch or plain band, the latter being a mark of sovereignty. In Fig. 5 we give an engraving of two coins of Elis, one of which is in the Florentine and the other in the Paris Museum.

=2. Hera (Juno).=—Hera, according to Homer, was the eldest of the daughters of Cronus and Rhea. She is the feminine counterpart of Zeus, her brother and husband. She represents the air or atmosphere; for which reason she, like Zeus, was supposed to control the phenomena of the air and sky, and, as queen of heaven, shared with him all the honours of his position. Her conjugal relations to Zeus, which form the substance of all the myths that refer to her, afforded the poets a rich and productive material for serious and sportive poetry. They sang of the solemn marriage of Zeus and Hera, the remembrance of which was celebrated at springtide with festive offerings and marriage rites before the shrine of the goddess. Neither did they fail to tell of the conjugal strife of the royal pair, and of the cruel fate which overtook the mortal women who enjoyed the favours of Zeus. It was thus that jealousy and contention became the leading features in the character of the goddess; whereas, both in her worship and in the representations of artists, she appears as a gracious and kindly deity, the especial protectress of her own sex.

The natural signification of Hera appears to have quickly disappeared among the Greeks, and she seems to have been chiefly honoured as the guardian of the marriage tie. The nobleness of the woman who preserves inviolate the sanctity of this bond finds in her its most sublime expression. As the special patroness of marriage, she was supposed to watch over its sanctity, to vouchsafe the blessing of children, and to protect women in childbirth.

[Illustration: Fig. 6.—Barberini Juno. Vatican Museum.]

The worship of Hera was originally not very extensive. The cradle of her worship was Argos, on which account she is often termed Argive. Argos, Mycenæ, and Sparta are pointed out in the time of Homer as her favourite towns. Her worship naturally extended as her new character of goddess of marriage became more prominent. In Bœotia and Eubœa her worship was very ancient, but her chief shrine was the Heræum, between Argos and Mycenæ. Here was a most magnificent statue of the goddess, made of ivory and gold, the work of the Sicyonian artist, Polycletus.[2]

Footnote 2:

Polycletus, a native of Sicyon, was a sculptor, architect, and caster in bronze. He was a contemporary of Phidias, and, next to him, the most celebrated artist of antiquity.

Juno (properly Jovino) takes the same place as goddess of childbirth and patroness of marriage among the Romans as Hera did among the Greeks. In addition to this she was venerated, under the name of Juno Regina, as the tutelary deity of the city and empire of Rome. Her chief shrine was on the Capitol, where she had a separate chapel in the temple of Jupiter. The Matronalia, the chief festival of the goddess, was celebrated on the first day of March, when all the matrons of the city marched in procession to her temple on the Esquiline, and there offered her flowers and libations. The victims usually sacrificed to Juno were young heifers: her sacred birds were the goose and the crow, to which the peacock of the Greek Hera was afterwards added.

[Illustration: Fig. 7.—Head of Hera, perhaps after Polycletus. Naples.]

The most celebrated of the art monuments that relate to Juno is the Juno Ludovisi, a colossal marble bust of remarkable beauty, which, thanks to casts and photographs, is tolerably well known. Her lofty and commanding countenance is the ideal of perfect womanly beauty, combining in a rare degree woman’s chief ornaments—dignity and grace.

After this comes the Juno Barberini of the Vatican Museum, an entire and upright figure of great size (Fig. 6), distinguished by the admirable draping of the garments. The Farnese Juno, now in the Naples Museum, also deserves mention. In the same museum there is a singularly beautiful head of Hera (Fig. 7), which perhaps lays claim to reflect the conception of Polycletus.

The characteristic features of Juno are a somewhat prominent chin, expressing unbending determination of will; somewhat curling lips, well-defined nostrils, large full eyes, and a high and noble forehead. The attributes of the goddess consist of the sceptre and diadem, significant of her power; the veil (often omitted in the statues of later artists), as a symbol of the married woman; the votive bowl in the hand, the pomegranate as a symbol of love, and the peacock or goose at her feet, also at times the cuckoo, as herald of spring.

=3. Pallas Athene (Minerva).=—The accounts which the Greeks gave of the birth of Pallas vary considerably. The most common is that which has been already mentioned. According to this, Zeus produced her from his head, which he had ordered Hephæstus to cleave open. The great goddess of war, in full armour, with poised spear, then sprang forth from her father’s head, chanting a war-song, whilst a mighty commotion both on sea and land announced the great event to the world. In her physical character Pallas appears as the goddess of the dawn. The birth of the dawn from the forehead of the sky is not only a natural idea, but one which can be traced in the legends of other nations. Several of the other stories of her birth are connected with the name Tritogenia, the daughter of Tritos, a god, whose name, though not actually found in Greek mythology, may be traced in Amphitrite, Triton, and the Lake Tritonis. This name, which originally expressed the birth of the dawn from the water, was afterwards explained in various ways, and the first part was even derived from a provincial Greek word meaning head. Looked at from her ethical side, she appears as the goddess of wisdom, a reflection and personification of that profound wisdom and sagacity with which Father Zeus controls the destinies of the world. Hence we may easily gather the other features of her character. She is, in the first place, the protectress of states; and all that their welfare requires in peace or war proceeds from her. Thus she appears as goddess of peace as well as war. In the latter capacity she accompanies the army on its march, inspires the soldiers with ardour for the fray, and rewards them with victory and rich spoils; she also affords her mighty protection to towns and cities at home. In Homer she figures, besides, as the kindly guide and protectress of individual heroes, such as Odysseus, Achilles, Diomedes. It was she who first taught mankind to manage the horse, and to build ships and chariots; she also invented the war-trumpet and flute. As goddess of war she usually wears, besides helmet, shield, and spear, the dreadful ægis. The latter, in art monuments, is represented as a breastplate covered with dragon’s scales, and surrounded with serpents, in the midst of which is the dreadful head of Medusa, which has the effect of turning every one that looks on it into stone.

As goddess of peace, Athene is equally lavish in blessing. Everything necessary either to the physical or intellectual welfare of mankind was believed to proceed from her, and to be subject to her influence. Accordingly, useful inventions of all kinds are ascribed to her. It was she who first gave men the rake and the plough; it was she who invented the distaff and loom, as well as the art of dyeing woven stuffs, and many other feminine accomplishments.

By later writers this skill in art is extended to other things, and she is represented as the patroness of every branch of science, art, and manufacture.

She is also called Athene Hygiea, because she was believed to send pure atmosphere, to ward off pestilence, and to promote the growth and health of the youth of the land.

We cannot wonder, therefore, that the worship of a goddess so benevolent, and exercising such an important influence on human life, was very extensive in Greece. Nowhere did she receive a higher degree of veneration than at Athens, of which city she was really the tutelary deity. Her most important shrine was the Parthenon (temple of the virgin goddess), which was erected by Pericles on the Acropolis, and the remains of which, even in the present day, excite the wonder and admiration of the world. The whole land of Attica was, indeed, in a certain measure, the peculiar property of the goddess, which she won after her well-known contest with Poseidon. Zeus had decreed the sovereignty over Attica to that deity who should bestow on the land the most useful present. Poseidon thereupon created the horse; but Athene caused the olive-tree to grow, and was thus held to have won the victory. The sacred olive-tree, which was thus called into existence, was shown in the Temple of Erechtheus on the Acropolis, and possessed such a wonderful vitality that, when the Persians burnt it after capturing the town, it immediately put forth a fresh shoot. Argos and Corinth were also renowned seats of the worship of Pallas Athene; and she also enjoyed the highest veneration in Sparta, Bœotia, Thessaly, Arcadia, and Rhodes.

The Roman Minerva, whose name was derived from a root meaning “to think,” was Hellenised at a very early period, and identified with the Greek Pallas. In Rome, however, the warlike character of the goddess was completely merged in that of the peaceful inventress and patroness of the art and sciences, and of all handiwork of women. She was here worshipped, in company with Jupiter and Juno, as the tutelary deity of the city and empire, and had, in consequence, her own shrine in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. She also had temples on the Aventine and Cœlian hills, to which a third was added by Pompey, in 61 B.C., in the Campus Martius.

_Festivals of the goddess._—The Panathenæa, the chief festival of the Greek Pallas, were celebrated with great pomp every four years. A solemn procession passed through the streets of Athens up to the Acropolis; and an offering was made to the goddess in the shape of a costly garment (peplus), artistically embroidered by the Athenian maidens. Horse races, athletic and musical contests, took place at the same time. Another festival of less importance, called the Lesser Panathenæa, was celebrated every year at Athens in honour of the goddess.

At Rome the chief festival of Minerva, the Quinquatrus Majores, was held on the 19th of March, and was, in later times, extended to five days. It was especially observed by all engaged in intellectual pursuits, and by artists and artisans. As Minerva was also patroness of schools, the schoolboys also took part in the celebration, and enjoyed a welcome holiday.

[Illustration: Fig. 8.—Pallas Giustiniani. Vatican.]

The virgin goddess was at all times a favourite subject with ancient art. Even in the earliest times, before casting in bronze or marble sculpture was known, while the images of the gods were as yet rudely carved in wood, Pallas was a frequent subject of delineation. These wooden images usually represented the goddess as standing upright with poised spear in front of the battle, and were then called Palladia. Men delighted to believe them to have fallen from heaven, and to be a sure means of protection against hostile attack. When Greek art was in its prime, the first masters vied with each other in the representation of the goddess. Phidias outdid them all in his renowned statue of Athene Parthenos, which stood in the temple on the Acropolis. The figure was 39 feet high, and was constructed of ivory and gold. Its majestic beauty naturally formed one of the chief attractions of the magnificent temple. It disappeared, without leaving any clue behind it, during the stormy period of the invasion of the nomadic tribes. In proceeding to give an account of the most important existing statues of the goddess, we must first mention a magnificent marble bust which King Ludwig I. of Bavaria procured for the Munich collection, and which was formerly in the Villa Albani, at Rome. The goddess here wears a tight-fitting helmet, the top of which is decorated with a serpent, the emblem of wisdom. Her breastplate, which is bordered with serpents, falls like a cape over her shoulders, and is fastened in the middle by the Gorgon’s head, a terrible but striking contrast to the pure and noble countenance of the goddess. A fine bust, with a delicate and youthful expression of countenance, is preserved in the Vatican Museum at Rome.

Another, not less beautiful, but with grave and almost masculine features, was discovered in the excavations of Pompeii, and is now in the Naples Museum.

Among existing (full-length) statues, the Pallas Giustiniani, of the Vatican Museum at Rome, is held to be the finest (Fig. 8). This probably once stood in a Roman temple, having been found in a place where there was formerly a temple of Minerva. This statue, in accordance with the Roman conception, bears a more peaceable character, although neither the spear nor helmet are wanting. Next come two statues found near Velletri, one of which is in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, whilst the other forms a chief ornament of the Louvre collection in Paris. Both represent the goddess in the character of a benign deity fostering all peaceful works, with a gentle but earnest expression of countenance.

[Illustration: Fig. 9.—Athene Polias. Villa Albani.]

[Illustration: Fig. 10.—Pallas Athene. Naples.]

The Farnese Minerva of the Naples Museum and the “Hope” copy in London betray similar characteristics. On the other hand, in a statue discovered at Herculaneum (now at Naples), Minerva appears as a warlike goddess, in an evidently hostile attitude (Fig. 10). This is also the case with the celebrated statue at the Louvre, which, on account of the necklace worn by the goddess, is generally called _Minerve au Collier_; and again in a statue of the Villa Albani, in which a lion’s skin thrown over the head takes the place of the helmet (Fig. 9).

On combining the characteristic features of Minerva, we may gather that her most prominent trait is a lofty seriousness, well befitting the chaste, grave character of the virgin goddess. The closed lips and the prominent chin betray a determined and resolute disposition, whilst her mien and bearing give token of strength and dignity.

Among the favourite animals of Minerva we may mention the serpent, the owl, and the cock. The first is a symbol of wisdom, the second of profound meditation, and the last of eager desire for the fray. The attributes of Minerva consist of the ægis, which serves as a shield, the spear, and the helmet. The helmet is sometimes adorned with the figures of griffins, significant of the overpowering might of the wearer. The statues are all fully clothed, in accordance with the chaste character of the goddess.

=4. Apollo.=—As Athene is the favourite daughter of Zeus, so Apollo ranks as the most glorious and beautiful of his sons. Like other sons of Zeus, he is a god of light, and, indeed, the purest and highest representative of this mighty power in nature. His mother, Leto (Latona), is a representative of the darkness of the night. According to the sacred legend, she was compelled when pregnant to wander about, because mankind, dreading the appearance of the mighty god, refused to receive her. This myth was afterwards altered by later writers, who assign the jealousy of Hera as the cause of her wanderings. Leto at length found a refuge on Delos, which was once a floating island, and had to be fastened to the bottom of the sea by means of lofty columns. As the bright god of heaven, to whom everything impure and unholy is hateful, we find Apollo, soon after his birth, preparing to do battle with the evil powers of darkness. With his arrows he slew both the giant Tityus and the serpent Python, the latter a monster that inhabited the valley of the Plistus, near Delphi, and destroyed both men and cattle. These and similar myths are merely a panegyric on the conquering power exercised by the genial warmth of Spring over the dark gloom of Winter.

But though Apollo thus appears as the foe of all that is evil and impure, ancient myths, nevertheless, represent him also as a terrible god of death, sending virulent pestilences and dealing out destruction to men and animals by means of his unerring arrows. This may be easily explained, however, by glancing at the natural signification of the god. The rays of the sun do indeed put to flight the cold of winter, but as their heat increases they themselves ultimately become the cause of disease and death. This is beautifully portrayed in the fable of the death of Hyacinthus.

To proceed further in the analysis of his character as god of light, Apollo next appears as the protector of streets and houses. A conical pillar was usually erected at the side of the doors of houses as a symbol of him, and a defence against all sorceries. Connected with this is his repute as a god of health; one who is indeed able to send disease and death, but who, on the other hand, is all-powerful to protect against physical maladies. This feature in his character, however, is more extensively developed in the person of his son, Asclepius (Æsculapius). But it is not only outward ills that this wonder-working deity can cure: as the true redeemer from sin and crime, he alone can afford consolation to guilty souls. Even those pursued by the Furies he sometimes receives in tenderness and pity, a fine instance of which is found in the story of Orestes. It is here that we must seek the explanation of his character as god of music; in the fact that it exercises so soothing and tranquillising an influence on the soul of man. His favourite instrument was the lyre, which he was wont to play with masterly skill at the banquets of the gods, whilst the Muses accompanied him with their wondrous strains. Apollo was therefore regarded as the leader of the Muses (Musagetes); and all the great singers of antiquity, such as Orpheus and Linus, are mythically represented as his sons.

But Apollo attained his greatest importance among the Greeks as god of prophecy. His oracles continued to exercise an important influence on social and political life, even down to the latest times. The inspiration of Apollo was distinguished by the fact that the god revealed the future less by means of outward signs than by inducing an ecstatic condition of mind bordering on madness in those persons through whom he wished to proclaim his oracles. These were generally women and maidens, who, either at oracular shrines proper, or dwelling alone as Sibyls, gave forth the responses of the god. In early times they were somewhat numerous. There was an oracle at Clarus, near Colophon; an oracle at Didyma, near Miletus; and an oracle on the Ismenus, near Thebes. These were eventually all thrown into the shade by that of Delphi. The responses of this oracle exercised, during a long period of Grecian history, an all-powerful influence, especially on the Dorian tribes. The convulsions of the Pythia, or priestess of Apollo, were brought about partly by the chewing of laurel leaves, and partly by the gaseous vapours that issued from a cleft in the earth beneath the sacred tripod. The ecstatic condition in which she gave the responses, which were comprehensible only to the initiated priests, manifested itself in a foaming at the mouth and in convulsions of the body.

Delphi naturally became the chief seat of the worship of Apollo. The gorgeous temple was rebuilt in the time of the Pisistratidæ, after the destruction of the old one by fire. Its wealth from offerings became so great that their value was computed at 10,000 talents (more than £2,000,000). In the neighbourhood of Delphi the Pythian games were celebrated in the third year of every Olympiad.

The shrine of the god at Delos, his birthplace, was little less renowned. The sanctuary itself was situated at the foot of Mount Cynthus; but the whole island was sacred to the god, for which reason no one was buried there. Here, too, games, said to have been instituted by Theseus, were celebrated every four years in honour of the god. Apollo had, besides, a great number of less celebrated shrines and temples, not only in Greece, but also in Asia Minor, and wherever the Greek colonies extended.

The Apollo of the Romans, as his name indicates, was transferred to Rome from Greece. At a comparatively early period men began to feel the want of a prophetic deity, as the Roman gods, although they vouchsafed hints as to the future, confined their responses to a mere Yea or Nay. Moreover, in the character of god of healing, he was early admitted into the Roman system, as we gather from the fact that the first temple really dedicated to Apollo was erected in 429 B.C., under the pressure of a grievous pestilence. The worship of Apollo was especially exalted by the Emperor Augustus, who ascribed his victory at Actium chiefly to the assistance of the god. He accordingly erected a magnificent temple to Apollo on the Palatine, which was embellished with the celebrated statue of Apollo Citharœdus, by Scopas.

[Illustration: Fig. 11.—Apollo Belvedere. Vatican.]

[Illustration: Fig. 12.—Head of Apollo Belvedere.]

This remark leads us to contemplate the different statues of the god. Apollo constantly bears a very youthful appearance, and is always beardless. His figure is strong and handsome, his head covered with fair clustering locks, and his face expressive of majesty, but marked withal by a cheerful serenity. Such is the original and fundamental type, which was usually followed in the representation of the god. It was principally developed by Scopas and Praxiteles, who belonged to the later Attic school, which flourished from the end of the Peloponnesian war to the reign of Alexander the Great. The principal creation of Scopas was a marble statue, representing the god as a Pythian Citharœdus with the lyre in his hand, clothed in a long robe reaching to the feet.

This invaluable work was procured by Augustus for the temple he erected to Apollo on the Palatine. Praxiteles, a younger contemporary of Scopas, acquired considerable renown by his bronze figure of a youthful Apollo pursuing a lizard (Apollo Sauroctonus).

In existing art monuments sometimes the conception of a warlike, vengeful deity obtains, in which case the god is represented as nude, or nearly so, and armed with quiver and bow. At other times he wears a mild and benevolent aspect; he is then distinguished by his lute, and completely enveloped in a chlamys. Of the former kind is the most beautiful and celebrated of all his existing statues, the Apollo Belvedere, which was discovered in 1503, near Nettuno, the ancient Antium, and is now in the Vatican. The proud self-consciousness of a conquering deity is inimitably expressed in his whole attitude. He stands with his right hand and leg against the trunk of a tree, his left arm outstretched, with the ægis, probably as a symbol of fear and terror, in his hand. The serpent creeping up the tree is a symbol of the powers of darkness vanquished by the god (Fig. 11). It may also be taken as the symbol of life and healing, like the serpent of Asclepius (see p. 96). We have also given a larger engraving of the head of the Belvedere Apollo, in order to afford a clearer idea of its wondrous beauty (Fig. 12).

The so-called Apollino, of the Florence gallery, a youthful figure resting after battle, is a work of scarcely less beauty. The shape of the body, which is entirely nude, is wonderfully soft and delicate. With his left arm the god leans upon a tree; in his left hand he negligently holds the bow, whilst his right hand is raised to his head in a meditative fashion. The Farnese Apollo of the Naples Museum possesses an equally graceful form. The god is here represented as a musician; in his left hand he holds the lyre, whilst his right glides over the strings. The animated expression of his face, indicating his entire devotion to his art, is exquisitely beautiful. The goose at his feet, which was regarded even by the ancients as a music-loving bird, appears to drink in with rapture the heavenly tones.

In those works which represent the god as a Pythian lute-player in a long Ionian garment, we perceive an almost feminine figure and a visionary expression of face. The most important works of this kind are the Apollo Citharœdus of the Munich collection (Fig. 13), formerly called the Muse of Barberini, which is marked by a somewhat quieter attitude; and the so-called Apollo Musagetes of the Vatican collection, which is characterised by a lively dancing movement of the figure, and is generally regarded as an imitation of the masterpiece of Scopas already mentioned. A pure and heavenly inspiration seems to pervade the features of the laurel-crowned god; his mighty lyre, to the tones of which he appears to be singing, is suspended from a band across the chest, and is aptly adorned with the portrait of Marsyas, his vanquished rival.

[Illustration: Fig. 13.—Apollo Citharœdus. Munich.]

Lastly, the graceful statue of Apollo Sauroctonus (Lizard-slayer) deserves mention. Many copies of it still exist, the chief of which is a marble statue in the Vatican collection. The delicate figure of the god, midway between youth and boyhood, leans carelessly against the trunk of a tree, up which a lizard is creeping. The god is eagerly watching its movements, in order to seize a favourable moment to nail it to the tree with his arrow.

The principle attributes of Apollo are the bow, arrows, quiver, laurel crown, and lyre. To these may be added, as symbols of his prophetic power, the tripod and the omphalos (navel), the latter being a representation of the earth’s centre in the temple at Delphi, on which he is often depicted as sitting. The god also appears standing on the omphalos; as in the case of a marble statue lately found in the theatre of Dionysus. His sacred animals were the wolf, the hind, the bat, the swan, the goose, and the dolphin; the three last being music-loving creatures.

=5. Artemis (Diana).=—Artemis is the feminine counterpart of her twin brother Apollo, with whom she entirely harmonises when regarded from her physical aspect. Like him, she is a beautiful and propitious deity; but like him, too, she can deal out, at times, death and destruction among mankind. Like Apollo, she promotes the growth of the young plant, and is equally the foe of all that is evil and impure. Like him, she is skilled in the use of the bow, of which she avails herself, however, not only for the destruction of monsters, but also at times to chastise the insolence of man—witness the death of the children of Niobe. Her favourite amusement is the chase; armed with quiver and bow she ranges mountain and valley, accompanied by a band of nymphs. The chase ended, she delights to bathe in some fresh spring, or to lead off some favourite dance on the flowery meadows, surrounded by her nymphs, all of whom she overtops by a head. Then the heart of her mother, Leto, rejoices as she gazes on the innocent sports of her lovely daughter.

As a virgin goddess she was especially venerated by young maidens, whose patroness she remained till their marriage, and to whom she afforded an example of chastity. The story of Actæon, who was changed into a stag and then torn to pieces by his own dogs, shows that she did not suffer any injury to her virgin modesty to go unpunished. (For this story see the Theban legends.)

Originally, Artemis appears to have been the goddess of the moon, just as her brother Apollo is unmistakably identical with the sun. This conception, however, continued to grow fainter and fainter, until, in the later days of confusion of religions, it was again revived. Artemis was frequently confounded with Selene or Phœbe (Luna).

The national Artemis of the Greeks was originally quite distinct from the Artemis Orthia, a dark and cruel deity, to whom human sacrifices were offered in Laconia. Lycurgus abolished this barbarous custom, but caused instead a number of boys to be cruelly whipped before the image of the goddess on the occasion of her annual festival. This is the same Artemis to whom Agamemnon was about to offer, in Aulis, his daughter Iphigenia, previous to the departure of the Greeks for Troy. The Scythians in Tauris likewise had a goddess whom they propitiated with human sacrifices. This caused her to be confounded with Artemis Orthia, and the story arose that Iphigenia was conveyed by the goddess to Tauris, from which place she subsequently, assisted by her brother Orestes, brought the image of the goddess to Greece.

The Ephesian Artemis, known to us as “Diana of the Ephesians,” was distinct from all that have been mentioned. She was, in fact, an Asiatic, not a Hellenic deity.

The Roman Diana, who was early identified with the Greek Artemis, was likewise originally a goddess of the moon. As such, she possessed a very ancient shrine on Mount Algidus, near Tusculum. Like the Greek Artemis, she was also regarded as the tutelary goddess of women, and was invoked by women in childbirth. This was also the case with Artemis, although the matrons of Greece looked for more protection in this respect at the hands of Hera. She gained, however, a certain political importance in Rome after having been made by Servius Tullius the tutelary deity of the Latin League. As such, she possessed a sacred grove and temple on the Aventine.

[Illustration: Fig. 14.—Diana of Versailles.]

Artemis is a favourite subject with the masters of the later Attic school. She is always represented as youthful, slender and light of foot, and without womanly fulness. Her devotion to the chase is clearly betokened by the quiver and bow which she generally bears, and by the high girt robe and Cretan shoes, which allow her to pass unencumbered through the thickets of the forest.

Among existing statues, the most celebrated is the so-called Diana of Versailles, which came from the Villa of Hadrian, at Tibur (Fig. 14). It is now a chief ornament of the Louvre collection, and is a worthy companion to the Belvedere Apollo, although it does not quite equal this in beauty. In this statue the goddess does not appear as a huntress, but rather as the protectress of wild animals. She is conceived as having just come to the rescue of a hunted deer, and is in the act of turning with angry mien on the pursuers. With her right hand she grasps an arrow from the quiver that hangs at her back, and in her left she holds the bow.

A really beautiful statue of the Vatican collection depicts the goddess in a most striking attitude. She has just sent forth her deadly arrow, and is eagerly watching its effect. The hound at her side is just about to start in eager pursuit of the mark, which was evidently therefore a wild animal. In her left hand is the bow, still strung, from which her right hand has just directed the arrow. Her foot is likewise upraised in triumph, and her whole deportment expresses the proud joy of victory. The chief attributes of Diana are bow, quiver, and spear, and also a torch, as an emblem of her power to dispense light and life. The hind, the dog, the bear, and the wild boar were esteemed sacred to her.

=6. Ares (Mars).=—Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, represents war from its fatal and destructive side, by which he is clearly distinguished from Athene, the wise disposer of battles. He was, it is probable, originally a personification of the angry clouded sky. His home, according to Homer, was in Thrace, the land of boisterous, wintry storms, among whose warlike inhabitants he was held in high esteem, although his worship was not so extensive in Greece. Homer, in the _Iliad_, paints in particularly lively colours the picture of the rude “manslaying” god of war. He here appears as a deity who delights only in the wild din of battle, and is never weary of strife and slaughter. Clad in brazen armour from head to foot, with waving plume, helmet, and high-poised spear, his bull’s hide shield on his left arm, he ranges the battlefield, casting down all before him in his impetuous fury. With strength he combines great agility, and is, according to Homer, the fleetest of the gods. Strong though he be, however, he is overmatched in battle by Athene; a palpable indication that prudent courage often accomplishes more than impetuous violence.

The usual attendants and servants of Ares are Fear and Terror. By some writers they are described as his sons, yet in Homer they fight against him. There is little to be said of the principal seats of his worship in Greece. In Thebes he was regarded as the god of pestilence; and Aphrodite, who elsewhere appears as the wife of Hephæstus, was given him to wife. By her he became the father of Harmonia, who married Cadmus, and thus became the ancestress of the Cadmean race in Thebes. According to an Athenian local legend, his having slain a son of Poseidon gave rise to the institution of the Areopagus. He was here regarded as the god of vengeance. A celebrated statue by Alcamenes adorned his temple at Athens. Among the warlike people of Sparta the worship of Ares was also extensive.

This deity was regarded with a far greater degree of veneration in Rome, under the appellation of Mars, or Mavors. He seems to have occupied an important position even among the earliest Italian tribes. It was not as god of war, however—for which, amid the peaceful pursuits of cattle-rearing and husbandry, they cared little—but as the god of the spring triumphing over the powers of winter that he was worshipped. It was from his bounty that the primitive people looked for the prosperous growth of their flocks and the fruits of their fields; it was Mars on whom they called for protection against bad weather and destructive pestilence.

In warlike Rome, however, this deity soon laid aside his peaceful character, and donned the bright armour of the god of war. He was even regarded as being, after Jupiter, the most important god of the state and people of Rome. Numa himself gave him a flamen of his own, and created or restored in his honour the priesthood of the Salii. The occasion, according to the sacred legend, was on this wise. As King Numa one morning, from the ancient palace at the foot of the Palatine, raised his hands in prayer to Jove, beseeching his protection and favour for the infant state of Rome, the god let fall from heaven, as a mark of his favour, an oblong brazen shield (ancile). At the same time a voice was heard declaring that Rome should endure as long as this shield was preserved. Numa then caused the sacred shield, which was recognised as that of Mars, to be carefully preserved. The better to prevent its abstraction, he ordered an artist to make eleven others exactly similar, and instituted for their protection the college of the Salii, twelve in number, like the shields, who were selected from the noblest families in Rome. Every year in the month of March, which was sacred to Mars, they bore the sacred shields in solemn procession through the streets of Rome, executing warlike dances and chanting ancient war-songs. From the days of Numa the worship of “Father Mars” continued to acquire an ever-increasing popularity. Before the departure of a Roman army on any expedition, the imperator retired to the sanctuary of the god in the old palace, and there touched the sacred shields and the spear of the statue of Mars, crying aloud at the same time, “Mars, watch over us!” According to popular belief, the god himself went unseen before the host as it marched to battle, whence he was called “Gradivus.” In the war with the Lucanians and Bruttians (282 B.C.), when the consuls were hesitating whether to begin the attack, an unknown youth of extraordinary stature and beauty encouraged the troops to begin the assault on the enemy’s camp, and was himself the first to scale the wall. When he was afterwards sought for, in order that he might receive his richly merited reward, he had disappeared, leaving no trace behind him. As it could have been none other than Father Mars, the consul, Fabricius, decreed him a thanksgiving of three days’ duration.

Mars naturally received a due share of all booty taken in war. Defeat was ascribed to his wrath, which men strove to avert by extraordinary sin-offerings.

Popular belief made Mars the father, by a vestal virgin, of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of the city. His wife appears to have been Nerio; but she enjoyed no honours at Rome.

In attendance on Mars we find Metus and Pallor, who answer to the Greek deities already mentioned; and also his sister Bellona, corresponding to the Enyo, who was worshipped in Pontus and Cappadocia, though not in Greece proper. Bellona had a temple in the Campus Martius.

[Illustration: Fig. 15—Mars Ludovisi.]

The Campus Martius (Field of Mars), the celebrated place of exercise of the Roman youth, stretched from the Quirinal westwards to the Tiber, and was dedicated to the god of war. Augustus, after the overthrow of the murderers of Cæsar, his adoptive father, erected a temple to Mars, which was built in Greek style, and far surpassed in grandeur and splendour all the other temples of the god. Three columns of it are still standing, mute witnesses of vanished splendour. A large number of religious festivities were celebrated in the month of March in honour of Mars. The procession of the Salii formed the chief feature of the festival; but there were also races and games. On the Ides of October also a chariot race took place in honour of Mars, at which the singular custom prevailed of offering the near horse of the victorious team to the god. The inhabitants of the two oldest quarters of the city contended for the head of the slaughtered animal, and whoever got it was supposed to reap great blessings from its possession.

Ancient artists represented Mars as a tall and powerful young man, whose activity, however, is as apparent as his strength. His characteristic features are short curly hair, small eyes, and broad nostrils, significant of the violence and passionateness of his nature. The most celebrated of existing statues is the Mars Ludovisi of the Villa Ludovisi, at Rome. It has often been conjectured that this is an imitation of the renowned work of Scopas. The deity is depicted as resting after battle; and, in spite of the usual turbulence of his disposition, he here appears to have surrendered himself to a more gentle frame of mind. The little god of love crouching at his feet gazes into his face with a roguish, triumphant smile, as though rejoiced to see that even the wildest and most untameable must submit to his sway, and thus shows us what has called forth this gentle mood. (Fig. 15.) The Mars Ludovisi is an original work, Greek in its origin, though belonging to a somewhat late period. The Borghese Mars of the Louvre, on the other hand, is undoubtedly of Roman origin. It is supposed to represent Ares bound by the craft of Hephæstus.

[Illustration:

Fig. 16.—Bust of Ares. Sculpture Gallery at Munich.]

Besides these two principal statues, the bust of Mars of the Munich collection deserves mention. It is distinguished by a peculiarly expressive head, of which we give an engraving (Fig. 16).

The attributes of Mars are the helmet (decorated with the figures of wolf-hounds and griffins), shield, and spear. The animals sacred to him were the wolf, the horse, and the woodpecker.

=7. Aphrodite (Venus).=—In the _Iliad_, Aphrodite is represented as the daughter of Zeus and Dione, the goddess of moisture, who, as the wife of the god of heaven, was held in high esteem among the old Pelasgians. The same notion of the goddess being produced from moisture is seen in the legend, which relates that Aphrodite was born of the foam of the sea, and first touched land on the island of Cyprus, which was henceforth held sacred to her. She was probably a personification of the creative and generative forces of nature, and figured among the Greeks as goddess of beauty and sexual love. We must not forget that this conception does not cover the whole character of the goddess. She not only appears as Aphrodite Pandemus (the earthly Aphrodite), a goddess of the spring, by whose wondrous power all germs in the natural and vegetable world are quickened, but we also hear of Aphrodite Urania, a celestial deity, who was venerated as the dispenser of prosperity and fertility; and also an Aphrodite Pontia (of the sea), the tutelary deity of ships and mariners, who controlled the winds and the waves, and granted to ships a fair and prosperous passage. As the worship of Aphrodite was extremely popular among the numerous islands and ports of the Grecian seas, we can well imagine that it was in this latter character that she received her greatest share of honour.

The poets paint Aphrodite as the most beautiful of all the goddesses, whose magic power not even the wisest could withstand. Even wild animals were conscious of her influence, and pressed round her like lambs. She was endowed with the celebrated love-begetting magic girdle, which she could lay aside at will and lend to others. And as she thus gave rise to passion in others, she herself was not free from its influence. This is evidenced by the numerous stories of her amours with the gods or favoured mortals, which it is so difficult to bring into harmony with each other. Sometimes Ares, sometimes Hephæstus, is said to be her husband. The latter account, which originated in Lemnos, was the more popular; doubtless because its very strangeness in mating the sweetest and most lovely of the goddesses with the lame and ugly god of fire had a certain charm. No children are mentioned as springing from the union of Aphrodite with Hephæstus; but Eros and Anteros, as well as Demus and Phobus, are said to be her children by Ares. Other legends, generally of a local character, unite her to Dionysus, or to Hermes.

The story of her love for the beautiful Adonis clearly represents the decay of nature in autumn, and its resuscitation in spring. Adonis, whom Aphrodite tenderly loved, was killed, when hunting, by a wild boar. Inconsolable at her loss, Aphrodite piteously entreated Father Zeus to restore his life. Zeus at length consented that Adonis should spend one part of the year in the world of shadows, and the other in the upper world. Clearly the monster that deprived Adonis of life is only a symbol of the frosty winter, before whose freezing blast all life in nature decays.

In the story of Troy, Aphrodite plays an important part. She was the original cause of the war, having assisted Paris in his elopement with Helen. This was his reward for his celebrated judgment, in which he awarded the prize of beauty to Aphrodite in preference to Hera or Athene. Besides the Trojan prince Anchises enjoyed her favours, and she became by him the mother of the pious hero Æneas.

The goddess appears ever ready to assist unfortunate lovers; thus she aided the hero Peleus to obtain the beautiful sea-nymph Thetis. On the other hand, she punishes with the utmost severity those who from pride or disdain resist her power. This appears in the legend of Hippolytus, son of Theseus, King of Athens, whom she ruined through the love of his step-mother Phædra; also in the story of the beautiful youth Narcissus, whom she punished by an ungratified self-love, because he had despised the love of the nymph Echo.

The Seasons and the Graces appear in attendance on Aphrodite. Their office is to dress and adorn her. She is also accompanied by Eros, Pothus, and Himerus (Love, Longing, and Desire), besides Hymen, or Hymenæus, the god of marriage.

The Roman Venus (the Lovely One) was regarded by the earlier Italian tribes as the goddess of spring, for which reason April, the month of buds, was held sacred to her. She early acquired a certain social importance, by having ascribed to her a beneficent influence in promoting civil harmony and sociability among men.

After her identification with the Aphrodite of the Greeks, she became more and more a goddess merely of sensual love and desire. She had three principal shrines—those of Venus Murcia, Venus Cloacina, and Libitina. The first of these surnames points to Venus as the myrtle goddess (the myrtle being an emblem of chaste love); her temple was situated on the brow of the Aventine, and was supposed to have been erected by the Latins, who were planted there by Ancus Marcius.

The temple of Venus Cloacina (the Purifier) was said to have been erected in memory of the reconciliation of the Romans and Sabines, after the rape of the Sabine women. The surname of Libitina points to her as goddess of corpses. All the apparatus of funerals were kept in this temple, and her attendants were at the same time the public undertakers of the city.

To these ancient shrines was added another in the time of Julius Cæsar, who erected a temple to Venus Genetrix, the goddess of wedlock, in fulfilment of a vow made at the battle of Pharsalus.

[Illustration: Fig. 17.—Venus of Milo. Louvre.]

Aphrodite, or Venus, is notoriously an especially common subject of representation among the artists of antiquity. The task of giving expression to the most perfect female beauty, arrayed in all the charms of love, by means of chisel or brush, continually spurs the artist to fresh endeavours. It was especially among the masters of the later Attic school, who devoted themselves to the representation of the youthful and beautiful among the gods in whom the nude appeared least offensive, that statues of Venus were attempted. The Venus of Cnidus, by Praxiteles, was the most important work of that master; and the people of Cnidus were so proud of it that they engraved her image on their coins. The fact that they ventured to portray the goddess as entirely nude may be regarded as a sign both of the falling away of the popular faith and of the decay of art. Henceforth, except in the case of statues for the temples, it became an established custom to represent Venus and other kindred deities as nude. Venus is further distinguished by a fulness of form, which is, nevertheless, combined with slenderness and grace. The countenance is oval; the eyes are not large, and have a languishing expression; the mouth is small, and the cheeks and chin full and round.

Of the numerous existing statues we can here mention only the most important. First among them in artistic worth is a marble statue larger than life, which was found in 1820 on the island of Melos (Milo), and is now in the Louvre at Paris (Fig. 17). In this statue only the upper part of the body is nude, the lower portions, from the hips downward, being covered with a light garment. One scarcely knows which to admire most in this splendid statue—the singularly dignified expression of the head, or the charming fulness and magnificent proportions of the limbs. The arms are quite broken off, so that we cannot determine the conception of the artist with any certainty. It is supposed that the goddess held in her hand either an apple, which was a symbol of the Isle of Melos, or the bronze shield of Ares. Her looks express proud and joyous self-consciousness.

In the Venus of Capua (so called because found among the ruins of the Amphitheatre) she again appears as a victorious goddess (Venus Victrix). This statue is now in the Museum at Naples. The shape of the nude body is not so vigorous or fresh as that of the Venus of Milo, but somewhat soft and ill-defined.

[Illustration: Fig. 18.—Venus Genetrix. Villa Borghese.]

The Medicean Venus, formerly in the Villa Medici at Rome, is better known. It is a work of the later Attic school, in which, at the end of the second century B.C., Greek art once more blooms for a while. It is the work of the Athenian artist Cleomenes, though probably chiselled in Rome. As Venus Anadyomene (rising from the sea) the goddess appears entirely nude. This is the most youthful in appearance of all her statues, and is distinguished by the perfect regularity and beauty of its form, though there is no trace of the lofty dignity of the goddess. “What a descent,” says Kraus in his _Christian Art_, “is there from the Venus of Milo to this coquette, whose apparently bashful posture is only meant to challenge the notice of the beholder.”

The “Venus crouching in the bath” of the Vatican collection, and the “Venus loosing her sandal” of the Munich Gallery, are creations similar in style. In some imitations of the Cnidian Venus, the most important of which are in Rome and Munich, the goddess wears a more dignified demeanour; and also in the wonderfully graceful Venus Genetrix of the Villa Borghese, at Rome (Fig. 18).

The attributes of Venus vary much according to the prevailing conception of the goddess. The dove, the sparrow, and the dolphin, and among plants the myrtle, the rose, the apple, the poppy, and the lime-tree, were sacred to her.

=8. Hermes (Mercurius).=—Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia, a daughter of Atlas. He was born in a grotto of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, whence he is called Cyllenius. We know the stories of his youth chiefly from the so-called Homeric Hymn.

From this we learn how Hermes, soon after his birth, sprang from his mother’s lap to seek the oxen of Apollo. Finding outside the cave a tortoise, he stretched strings across its shell, and thus made a lyre, to which he sung the loves of Zeus and Maia. Then hiding the lyre in his cradle, he went out to seek for food. Coming to Pieria in the evening, he stole thence fifty cows from the herds of Apollo, and drove them to the river Alpheüs. Here he slew two of them, and roasted the flesh, but could not swallow it. Then returning home in the early morning, he passed through the key-hole like the morning breeze, and lay down in his cradle. Apollo, however, soon remarked the theft, and hurried after the impudent robber. Hermes now played the innocent, and obstinately denied the charge; but Apollo was not to be deceived, and forced the young thief to accompany him to the throne of Zeus to have their quarrel decided. Zeus ordered Hermes to restore the cattle, but Apollo gladly made them over to Hermes on receiving the newly-invented lyre. Thus Hermes became the god of shepherds and pastures, whilst Apollo henceforth zealously devoted himself to the art of music.

As a token of their thorough reconciliation, Apollo gave his brother god the golden Caduceus, or magic wand, by means of which he could bestow happiness on whomsoever he would; and henceforth both dwelt together in the utmost harmony and love, the favourite sons of their father Zeus.

Various interpretations have been given of the nature of Hermes. Some have seen in him the thunderstorm, some the dawn, and some the morning breeze. The name Hermes, compared with the corresponding Indian words, seems to make his connection with the morning certain. Several points in the legend just related guide us to the breeze rather than the dawn; the invention of music, the kine carried off—which, nevertheless, he cannot eat (the wind cannot consume as fire does what it breaks down and carries off)—and the passing through the key-hole “like the morning breeze.” So also his function of guide and conductor of the soul, which we shall speak of presently.

The following are the most important features in the character of Hermes:—Not only does he promote the fruitfulness of flocks and herds, but he also bestows prosperity and success on all undertakings, especially those of trade and commerce. As the guardian of the streets and roads, and the friendly guide of those travelling on business, Hermes must have appeared especially worthy of honour among the Greeks, who were at all times sharp and greedy men of business. Accordingly, men erected in his honour, on the roads, what were called Hermæ—mere blocks of stone, or posts, with one or more heads: these latter were at cross-roads, and also served as finger-posts. Hermæ[3] were also often to be seen in the streets of towns and in public squares. Not only did Hermes protect and guide merchants whilst travelling, but he also endowed them with shrewdness and cunning to outwit others. And as a god who had himself commenced his career by a dexterous theft, he was fain to allow thieves and rogues to invoke his protection before entering on their operations; just as in the present day robbers and bandits in Italy or Greece see nothing strange in asking their patron saint to bestow on them a rich prey. Every chance gain—in gambling, for instance—and every fortunate discovery were attributed to Hermes.

Footnote 3:

In this meaning, however, some have derived the word from a different root, and supposed it to mean originally only “pillars.”

Though playing such an important part in human life, Hermes also appears as the fleet messenger and dexterous agent of Zeus. It is in this guise that the epic poets love to depict him. With his golden-winged shoes he passes more swiftly than the wind over land and sea, executing the commissions of his father Zeus or the other inhabitants of Olympus. Thus he is sent by Zeus to command the nymph Calypso to release Odysseus, and to warn Ægisthus against the murder of Agamemnon. At times, difficult tasks are allotted to him; for instance, the destruction of the hundred-eyed guardian of Io, on which account Homer calls him the Argus-slayer. Doubtless in this myth the hundred-eyed Argus represents the starry heavens; Argus is slain by Hermes, that is, in the morning the stars cease to be visible. As messenger and herald of the gods, he is a model for all earthly heralds, who, in ancient times, were the indispensable agents of kings in every difficult business. Hence he bears the herald’s staff, or _caduceus_. This is the same wand once given him by Apollo, consisting of three branches, one of which forms the handle, whilst the other two branch off like a fork, and are joined in a knot. The origin of this herald’s staff appears to have been the olive branch wreathed with fillets of wool. It was only at a later period that the two last were converted into serpents. By means of this wand Hermes can either induce deep sleep or rouse a slumberer, but he uses it chiefly in guiding souls to the infernal regions. This leads us to speak of the important office of Hermes as Psychopompus, or conductor of the soul. Every soul, after death, commenced its journey to the region of shadows under the guidance of the god. On extraordinary occasions, where, for instance, the spirits were summoned in the oracles of the dead, Hermes had to reconduct the souls of the departed to the upper world, thus becoming a mediator between these two regions, in other respects so far divided.

As dreams come from the lower world, Hermes was naturally regarded as the deity from whom they proceeded; on which account people were wont to ask him for good dreams before going to sleep.

The highest conception of Hermes, however, is that of the god who presides over the bringing up of children; and, indeed, what god was more fitted to be presented as an example to Grecian youth than the messenger of the gods, equally dexterous in mind and body? He is the fleetest of runners and the most skilful of disc-throwers and boxers; and though he does not, like Apollo, represent any of the higher forms of intellectual life, still he possesses in the highest degree that practical common sense which was so greatly valued among the Greeks. The wrestling school and the gymnasium were consequently regarded as his institutions, and adorned with his statues. In further development of his relation to the education of the young, later poets even made him the inventor of speech, of the alphabet, and of the art of interpreting languages. The custom which prevailed among the Greeks of offering him the tongues of the slaughtered animals, shows clearly that they also considered him as the patron of eloquence.

There is little to be said of the Roman Mercury. As his name (from _mercari_, to trade) signifies, he was considered by the Romans solely as god of trade. His worship was introduced at the same time as that of Ceres—some years after the expulsion of the Tarquins, at a season of great scarcity—but appears to have become confined to the plebeians. The guild of merchants regarded him as their tutelary deity, and offered sacrifices to him and his mother Maia on the Ides of May.

The plastic representation of Hermes made equal progress with his ideal development. The first statues of the god, founded on the ancient Hermæ already mentioned, represented him as a shepherd, sometimes as the herald and messenger of the gods, always as a powerful, bearded man. Later, he assumed a more youthful appearance, and was represented as a beardless youth in the very prime of strength, with broad chest, lithe but powerful limbs, curly hair, and small ears, mouth, and eyes; altogether a wonderful combination of grace and vigour. If we add to this the expression of kindly benevolence which plays around his finely-cut lips, and the inquiring look of his face as he bends forward thoughtfully, we have the principal characteristic features of the god.

[Illustration: Fig. 19.—Resting Hermes. Bronze Statue at Naples.]

Among existing statues, a full-sized “Hermes at rest,” in bronze, which was found at Herculaneum, and is now in the Naples Museum, is perhaps most worthy of mention. He here appears as the messenger of the gods, and has just sat down on a rock to rest. The winged sandals form his only clothing, and these are, strictly speaking, not really sandals, but simply straps covering the foot, to which wings are fastened close to the ankles (Fig. 19).

[Illustration: Fig. 20.—Statue of Hermes. Capitoline Collection.]

A splendid marble statue of the Vatican collection, which, was once taken for Antinous, portrays the god as the patron of wrestling; the Caduceus which he holds in his left hand is, however, a modern addition. In the Hermes Ludovisi of Rome we have a graceful representation of Hermes Logius, the patron of the art of rhetoric. The wings are here not placed on the feet, or even directly on the head, as is often the case, but are fastened to a low round travelling-hat.

A pretty bronze statuette in the British Museum depicts Hermes as the god of trade and commerce, with a well-filled purse in his hand. Such is also the conception of a fine statue of the Capitoline collection at Rome (Fig. 20). The principal attributes of the god have already been incidentally mentioned: they are wings on the feet, head, or cap; the herald’s staff, the votive bowl, and the purse.

=9. Hephæstus (Vulcan).=—Hephæstus, the god of fire and the forge, was commonly regarded as a son of Zeus and Hera. He was so lame and ugly that his mother in shame cast him from heaven into the sea. But Eurynome and Thetis, the Oceanids, took pity on him, and tended him for nine years in a deep grotto of the sea, in return for which he made them many ornaments. After being reconciled to his mother, he returned to Olympus under the guidance of Dionysus. According to another not less popular account, it was not his mother who treated him so cruelly, but Zeus. Hephæstus, on the occasion of a quarrel between Zeus and Hera, came to the help of his mother, whereupon the angry god of heaven seized him by the foot and hurled him from Olympus. The unfortunate Hephæstus fell for a whole day, but alighted at sundown on the isle of Lemnos with but little breath in his body. Here the Sintians, who inhabited the island, tended him till his recovery. Later writers say that it was from this fall that he became lame. The same fundamental idea lies at the root of these various legends, viz., that fire first came down from heaven in the form of lightning. Hephæstus originally represented the element of fire, and all the effects of fire are accordingly referred to him. The fires of the earth break forth from the open craters of volcanoes; it must therefore be Hephæstus who is working in the midst of the fiery mountain, where he has his forges and his smithies. So says the legend of Mount Mosychlus, in Lemnos, the chief seat of his worship. Scarcely less celebrated, from its connection with him, was Mount Ætna, in Sicily. After it was observed that the wine was particularly good in the neighbourhood of volcanic mountains, the story of the intimate friendship between Hephæstus and Dionysus was concocted.

The most beneficial action of fire is manifested in its power to melt metals and render them useful to man in the shape of implements and tools of all kinds. Hence the conception of the character of Hephæstus tended ever more and more to represent him as the master of all ingenious working in metals, and as the patron of artificers and craftsmen using fire. In this character he was brought into close connection with the art-loving goddess Athene, and hence we see why both these divinities enjoyed so many kindred honours and had so many festivals in common at Athens, the chief seat of Greek science and art. It was also chiefly in the character of artificer that Hephæstus was treated of by the poets, who delight to describe the gorgeous brazen palace which he built himself on Olympus, in which was a huge workshop with twenty cunningly-devised pairs of bellows. He also constructed there the imperishable dwellings of the gods. Many also were the ingenious implements which he constructed, such as the walking tables, or tripods, which moved of their own accord into the banqueting-chamber of the gods, and then returned to their places after the meal was over. He also made himself two golden statues of maidens, to assist him in walking, and bestowed on them speech and motion. Among the other works of his mentioned by the poets are the ægis and sceptre of Zeus, the trident of Poseidon, the shield of Heracles, and the armour of Achilles, among which, also, was a shield of extraordinary beauty.

[Illustration:

Fig. 21.—Hephæstus. Bronze Figure in the British Museum.]

The worship of Hephæstus was not very extensive in Greece. The most important seat of his worship was the isle of Lemnos, where he was supposed to dwell on Mount Mosychlus with his workmen, the Cabiri, who answer to the Cyclopes of Ætna. He was held in great esteem at Athens, where, at different festivals, torch races were held in his honour. Young men ran with burning torches, and whoever first reached the goal with his torch alight received the prize. He was, moreover, highly venerated by the Greeks in Campania and Sicily, a fact which may be easily explained by the fiery mountains of these places.

The Romans called this god Vulcanus, or, according to its more ancient spelling, Volcanus. They honoured in him the blessings and beneficial action of fire. They also sought his protection against conflagrations. Under the influence of the Greek writers, the original and more common conception of the god gave place to the popular image of the smith-god, or Mulciber, who had his forges in Ætna, or on the Lipari Isles, and who vied with his comrades in wielding the hammer. In correspondence with the Greek myths, Venus was given him to wife; by this men doubtless sought to convey the idea that truly artistic works can only be created in harmony with beauty.

The chief shrine of the god in Rome was the Volcanal, in the Comitium, which was not really a temple, but merely a covered fire-place. In the Campus Martius, however, was a real temple close to the Flaminian Circus, where the festival of the Volcanalia was celebrated with every kind of game on the 23rd day of August.

Greek and Roman artists generally represented this god as a powerful, bearded man of full age. He is distinguished by the shortness of his left leg, by the sharp, shrewd glance of his cunning eye, and his firm mouth. His attributes are the smith’s tools, the pointed oval workman’s cap, and the short upper garment of the craftsman or humble citizen.

With the exception of some small bronzes in London and Berlin, and a newly discovered marble bust of the Vatican collection, we possess no antique statues of the god worth mentioning. The engraving (Fig. 21) is from a bronze in the British Museum.

=10. Hestia (Vesta).=—It must have been at a comparatively late period that Hestia, the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, attained a general veneration, as her name is not mentioned either in the _Iliad_ or _Odyssey_. Hestia is the guardian angel of mankind, who guards the security of the dwelling, and is, in consequence, regarded as the goddess of the family hearth, the centre of domestic life. The hearth possessed among the ancients a far higher significance than it does in modern life. It not only served for the preparation of meals, but was also esteemed the sacred altar of the house; there the images of the household gods were placed, and thither, after the old patriarchal fashion, the father and priest of the family offered sacrifice on all the important occasions of domestic life. No offering was made in which Hestia, the very centre of all domestic life, had not her share.

And as the state is composed of families, the goddess of the domestic circle naturally becomes the protectress of every political community. On this account, in Greek states the Prytaneum, or seat of the governing body, was dedicated to Hestia; there she had an altar, on which a fire was ever kept burning. From this altar colonists, who were about to leave their native land in search of new homes, always took some fire—a pleasing figurative indication of the moral ties between the colony and the mother country.

As the hearth-fire of the Prytaneum was an outward and visible sign to the members of a state that they were one great family, so the Hestia of the temple at Delphi signified to the Greeks their national connection and the unity of their worship. Her altar in this temple was placed in the hall before the cave of the oracle; on it was placed the celebrated omphalus (navel of the earth, likewise an emblem of the goddess), Delphi being regarded by the Greeks as the centre of the whole earth. Here, too, a fire was kept ever burning in honour of Hestia. The character of the goddess was as pure and untarnished as flame itself. Not only did she herself remain a virgin, though wooed by both Poseidon and Apollo, but her service could be performed only by chaste virgins. She does not appear to have had a separate temple of her own in Greece, since she had a place in every temple.

The service of Vesta occupied a far more important place in the public life of the Romans. Her most ancient temple, which was supposed to have been built by Numa Pompilius, was situated on the slope of the Palatine opposite the Forum. It was built in a circle, and was of moderate dimensions, being, indeed, little more than a covered fire-place. In it the eternal fire, a symbol of the life of the state, was kept burning. Here, too, the service was performed by virgins, whose number was at first four, but was afterwards increased to six. Their chief occupation was to maintain the sacred fire, and to offer up daily prayers at the altar of the goddess for the welfare of the Roman people. The extinction of the sacred flame was esteemed an omen of coming misfortune, and brought severe punishment on the negligent priestess. The choice of vestals lay with the Pontifex Maximus. They were chosen between the ages of six and ten years, always out of the best Roman families. For thirty years they remained bound to their sacred office, during which time they had to preserve the strictest chastity. After the lapse of thirty years they returned to civil life, and were permitted to marry if they liked.

Another sanctuary of Vesta existed in Lavinium, the metropolis of the Latins, where the Roman consuls, after entering on their office, had to perform a solemn sacrifice. The festival of Vesta was celebrated on the 9th of June, on which occasion the Roman women were wont to make a pilgrimage barefooted to the temple of the goddess, and place before her offerings of food.

In the domestic life of the Romans the hearth and the hearth-goddess Vesta occupied as important a position as among the Greeks. The worship of Vesta is closely connected with that of the Penates, the kindly, protecting, household gods, who provided for the daily wants of life, and about whom we shall have more to say before concluding the subject of the gods.

[Illustration:

Fig. 22.—Vesta Giustiniani. Torlonia Collection.]

Agreeably to the chaste, pure character of the goddess, she could only be represented in art with an expression of the strictest moral purity; she generally appears either sitting or standing, her countenance characterised by a thoughtful gravity of expression. Her principal attributes consist of the votive bowl, the torch, the simpulum, or small cup, which was used in making libations, and the sceptre. In consequence of the dignity and sanctity of her character, she was always represented as fully clothed, which may account for the fact that the ancients had so few statues of the goddess. We may, therefore, consider it fortunate that such a splendid example as the Vesta Giustiniani, which belongs to the private collection of Prince Torlonia, at Rome, has come down to us. It is supposed to be an original work of the best period of Greek art. The goddess is represented as standing in a calm posture, her right hand pressed against her side, whilst with the left she points significantly towards heaven, as though wishing to impress on mankind where to direct their prayers and thoughts (Fig. 22).

=11. Janus.=—Among the most important gods of the Romans was the celebrated Janus, a deity quite unknown to the Greeks. In his original character he was probably a god of the light and sun—the male counterpart, in fact, of Jana, or Diana, and thus very similar to the Greek Apollo. As long as he maintained this original character, derived from nature, he was regarded as the god of all germs and first beginnings, and possessed, in consequence, an important influence both on the public and private life of the Romans. We must confine ourselves to mentioning some of the most important traits resulting from this view of his character. First, Janus is the god of all beginnings of time. He begins the new year, whose first month was called January after him, and was dedicated to him. Thus, New Year’s Day (_Kalendæ Januariæ_) was the most important festival of the god; on this occasion the houses and doors were adorned with garlands and laurel boughs, the laurel being supposed to exercise a potent influence against all magic and diseases. Relatives and friends exchanged small presents (principally sweets; for example, dates and figs wrapped in laurel leaves) and good wishes for the coming year. The god himself received offerings of cake, wine, and incense, and his statue was adorned with fresh laurel boughs. This offering was repeated on the first day of every month, for Janus opened up every month; and as the Kalends were sacred to Juno, he was therefore called Junonius. In the same way Janus was supposed to begin every new day, and called _Matutinus Pater_. He also appears as the doorkeeper of heaven, whose gates he opened in the morning and closed in the evening.

From being the god of all temporal beginnings, he soon became the patron and protector of all the beginnings of human activity. The Romans had a most superstitious belief in the importance of a good commencement for everything, concluding that this had a magical influence on the good or evil result of every undertaking. Thus, neither in public nor private life did they ever undertake anything of importance without first confiding the beginning to the protection of Janus. Among the most important events of political life was the departure of the youth of the country to war. An offering was therefore made to the god by the departing general, and the temple, or covered passage sacred to the god, was left open during the continuance of the war, as a sign that the god had departed with the troops and had them under his protection. The consul never neglected, when he entered on his office, to ask the blessing of Janus, and the assemblies never began their consultations without invoking Janus. In the same way the private citizen, in all important occurrences and undertakings, sought by prayers and vows to acquire the favour of Janus. The husbandman, before he commenced either to sow or to reap, brought to Janus Consivius an offering of cake and wine. The merchant, when he entered on a journey of business, and the sailor, when he weighed anchor and started on a long and dangerous voyage, never omitted to invoke the blessing of the god. This view of the god also explains the custom of calling on Janus first in every prayer and at every sacrifice, since, as keeper of the gates of heaven, he also appeared to give admittance to the prayers of men.

As the god of all first beginnings, Janus is also the source of all springs, rivers, and streams of the earth. On this account the fountain nymphs were generally looked on as his wives, and Fontus and Tiberinus as his sons.

The power of Janus in causing springs to rise suddenly from the earth was experienced, to their cost, by the Sabines. The latter, in consequence of the rape of their women, had overrun the infant state of Rome, and were about to introduce themselves into the town on the Palatine through an open gate, when they suddenly found themselves drenched by a hot sulphur spring that gushed violently from the earth, and were obliged to retire.

In the legend alluded to, Janus appears as the protector of the gates of the city. As the god who presided over the fortunate entrance to and exit from all houses, streets, and towns, Janus was held in high honour among the people. His character as guardian of gates and doors brought him into close connection with the Penates and other household gods; hence the custom of erecting over the doors an image of the deity with the well-known two faces, one of which looked out and the other in.

Janus had no temple, in the proper sense of the word, at Rome. His shrines consisted of gateways in common places of resort and at cross-roads, or of arched passages, in which the image of the god was erected. The Temple of Janus in the Forum at Rome, which has been already alluded to, was a sanctuary of this kind closed with doors, and was probably the most ancient in the city. Its doors stood open only in time of war.

Roman art never succeeded in executing a plastic representation peculiar to Janus, the double head being only an imitation of the Greek double Hermæ. In course of time entire figures of Janus appeared, but these always had a double face. They were generally bearded, but in later times one face was bearded, the other youthful. Not one specimen of these works of art has been preserved, so that we only know these forms from coins. The usual attributes of Janus were keys and staff.

=12. Quirinus.=—Quirinus was also a purely Roman divinity, but having been reckoned among the great deities of heaven, he must therefore be mentioned here. In his symbolic meaning he bore a great resemblance to Mars; and as Mars was the national god of the Latin population of Rome, so Quirinus was the national god of the Sabines who came to Rome with Titus Tatius. Together with Jupiter and Mars, he formed the tutelary Trinity of the Roman empire. His shrine was on the Quirinal, which was originally inhabited by the Sabines, and which was named after him. Numa gave Quirinus a priest of his own. He had a special feast on the 17th of February, but his worship appears to have assimilated itself more and more to that of Mars. He was subsequently identified with Romulus.

B.—SECONDARY DEITIES.

_1. Attendant and Ministering Deities._

[Illustration: Fig. 23.—Head of Eros. Vatican.]

=1. Eros (Amor).=—Of the deities who appear in the train of Aphrodite, Eros alone seems to have enjoyed divine honours; Longing and Desire being no more than allegorical figures typifying some of the influences that emanate from the goddess of love. Eros was commonly reputed the son of Aphrodite and Ares, and was generally depicted as a boy of wondrous beauty, on the verge of youth. His characteristic weapon is a golden bow, with which he shoots forth his arrows from secret lurking-places, with an unfailing effect that represents the sweet but consuming pangs of love. Zeus himself is represented as unable to withstand his influence—an intimation that love is one of the most terrible and mighty forces of nature.

As unrequited love is aimless, Anteros was conceived by the imagination of the poets as the brother and companion of Eros, and consequently a son of Aphrodite. As the little Eros, says the myth, would neither grow nor thrive, his mother, by the advice of Themis, gave him this brother as a playfellow; after which the boy was glad so long as his brother was with him, but sad in his absence.

Eros was not only venerated as the god who kindles love between the sexes, but was also regarded as the author of love and friendship between youths and men. On this account his statue was generally placed in the gymnasia between those of Hermes and Heracles; and the Spartans sacrificed to him before battle, binding themselves to hold together faithfully in battle, and to stand by one another in the hour of need.

[Illustration:

Fig. 24.—Eros trying his Bow. Capitoline Museum.]

This deity was termed by the Romans Amor, or Cupido, but this was solely in imitation of the Greek Eros, since he never enjoyed among them any public veneration.

The significant fable of the love of Cupid for Psyche, a personification of the human soul, is of comparatively late origin, though it was a very favourite subject in art.

Artists followed the poets in the delineation of Eros, in so far as they generally depicted him as a boy on the confines of youth. An Eros by the renowned artist Praxiteles was esteemed one of the best works of antiquity. It was brought to Rome by Nero, but was destroyed by fire in the reign of Titus. In later times the god of love was represented as much younger, because the mischievous pranks attributed to him by the poets were more adapted to the age of childhood.

[Illustration: Fig. 25.—Polyhymnia. Berlin Museum.]

A considerable number of statues or statuettes of Eros have come down to us from antiquity. Among the most celebrated is the Torso (mutilated statue) of the Vatican, of the glorious head of which we give an engraving (Fig. 23). There is also an “Eros trying his bow” (Fig. 24) in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, and an “Eros playing with dice” in the Berlin Museum. Lastly, there is the celebrated group of the Capitoline Museum, which represents the embraces of Cupid and Psyche.

Eros generally appears with wings in the art monuments of antiquity. His insignia are bow and arrows, in addition to a burning torch. The rose was held especially sacred to him, for which reason he often appears crowned with roses.

In connection with Venus and in company with Amor we find Hymenæus, a personification of the joys of marriage, who was, however, only recognised by later writers and by later art. He is portrayed as a beautiful youth, winged like Eros, but taller, and of a more serious aspect. His indispensable attribute is the marriage torch.

[Illustration: Fig. 26—Melpomene. Vatican.]

=2. The Muses.=—Pindar gives the following account of the origin of the Muses. After the defeat of the Titans, the celestials besought Zeus to create some beings who might perpetuate in song the mighty deeds of the gods. In answer to this prayer, Zeus begot with Mnemosyne (Memory) the nine Muses. They sing of the present, the past, and the future, while Apollo’s lute accompanies their sweet strains, which gladden the hearts of the gods as they sit assembled in the lofty palace of Father Zeus, in Olympus. Looked at in connection with nature, there is little doubt but that the Muses were originally nymphs of the fountains. The veneration of the Muses first arose in Pieria, a district on the eastern declivity of Mount Olympus in Thessaly, from whose steep and rocky heights a number of sweet rippling brooks descend to the plains. The perception of this natural music led at once to a belief in the existence of such song-loving goddesses. Their seat was subsequently transferred from the declivities of Olympus to Mount Helicon in Bœotia, or to Mount Parnassus, at the foot of which the Castalian fountain, which was sacred to them, had its source. Originally the Muses were only goddesses of song, though they are sometimes represented with instruments on vases. In early times, too, they only appear as a chorus or company, but at a later period separate functions were assigned to each, as presiding over this or that branch of art. Their names were Clio, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Polyhymnia, Thalia, Urania, Euterpe, Erato, and Calliope.

[Illustration: Fig. 27.—Euterpe. Vatican.]

According to the art-distribution made, probably, at the time of the Alexandrine school, Calliope represents epic poetry and science generally, her attributes being a roll of parchment and a pen. Clio is the muse of history, and is likewise characterised by a roll and pen, so that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish her from Calliope. Euterpe represents lyric poetry, and is distinguished by her double flute. Melpomene, the muse of tragedy, generally appears with a tragic mask, a club or sword, and a garland of vine leaves. Terpsichore is the muse of dancing, and has a lyre and plectrum. To Erato is assigned erotic poetry, together with geometry and the mimic art; she generally bears a large stringed instrument. Thalia, the muse of comedy, is distinguished by a comic mask, an ivy garland, and a crook. Polyhymnia presides over the graver chant of religious service; she may be recognised by her dress, wrapped closely round her, and her grave, thoughtful countenance, but is without attribute of any kind. Lastly, Urania, the muse of astronomy, holds in one hand a celestial globe, and in the other a small wand.

Several European museums possess ancient groups of the Muses, among which, perhaps, the finest is that preserved in the Vatican. From this group are copied our engravings of Melpomene and Euterpe (Figs. 26 and 27). The original of Polyhymnia (Fig. 25) is in the Berlin Museum.

The Romans venerated a number of fountain-nymphs of song and prophecy under the name of Camenæ, among whom the Egeria of the history of Numa is well known. The Roman writers seem to have identified these goddesses with the Muses at pleasure.

=3. The Charites (Gratiæ).=—The Charites generally appear in the train of the goddess of love, whom it was their duty to clothe and adorn. They are often found, however, in attendance on other gods, since all that is charming and graceful, either to the senses or the intellect, was supposed to proceed from them.

Their names are Aglaïa, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. They were commonly represented as the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, the Oceanid. Later writers, however, make them the daughters of Dionysus and Aphrodite. They were venerated as the source of all that makes human life more beautiful and pleasant, without whom there could be no real enjoyment of life. Thus, even the gods would not sit down to banquets without the Charites; and whenever men came together to feast, they first called on them and offered them the first bowl. Music, eloquence, art, and poetry received the higher consecration only at their hands; whence Pindar terms his songs a gift from them. Wisdom, bravery, kindly benevolence, and gratitude—in fine, all those qualities which become men most, and make them agreeable in the eyes of their fellow-men, were supposed to proceed from the Charites.

The Graces of the Romans were simply transferred from the mythology of the Greeks, and have, therefore, the same meaning as the Charites.

Art represented the Charites or Graces as blooming maidens, of slender, comely form, characterised by an expression of joyous innocence. In their hands they often hold flowers, either roses or myrtles. They are less often distinguished by definite attributes than by a mutual intertwining of arms. In earlier Greek art they always appear fully clothed; but gradually their clothing became less and less, until at length, in the age of Scopas and Praxiteles, when nude figures had become common, it entirely disappeared. There are, however, few ancient statues of the Charites in existence.

=4. Themis and the Horæ (Seasons).=—In intimate connection with the Charites we find the Horæ, the daughters of Zeus and Themis. They were generally represented as three in number—Eunomia, Dice, and Irene. They represent the regular march of nature in the changes of the seasons, and Themis, who personifies the eternal laws of nature, and as the daughter of Uranus and Gæa ranks among the most ancient deities, is consequently their mother. Themis is the representative of the reign of law among gods and men; at Zeus’ command she calls together the assemblies of the gods. She also occupies a similar position on earth, as presiding over national assemblies and the laws of hospitality. Her daughters, the Horæ, appear in a similar though in a subordinate and attendant character. In Homer they figure as the servants of Zeus, who watch the gates of heaven, now closing them with thick clouds, now clearing the clouds away. They also appear as the servants and attendants of other divinities, such as Hera, Aphrodite, Apollo, and the Muses. Like their mother, they preside over all law and order in human affairs; and under their protection thrives all that is noble and beautiful and good.

We know but little concerning the worship of the Horæ among the Greeks. The Athenians celebrated a special festival in their honour, but they recognised only two—Thallo, the season of blossom, and Carpo, the season of the ripened fruit. The adoption of four Horæ, corresponding to the four seasons of the year, appears to have arisen at a later period.

[Illustration: Fig. 28.—The Horæ. Relief from the Villa Albani.]

In plastic art Themis is generally represented with a balance in one hand and a palm branch in the other. The Horæ generally appear as lovely girls dancing with their garments tucked up, and adorned with flowers, fruit, and garlands. Subsequently they were distinguished by various attributes, typical of the different seasons. Such is the case in the engraving (Fig. 28), after a relief in the Villa Albani.

=5. Nice (Victoria).=—Nice is nothing but a personification of the irresistible and invincible power exercised by the god of heaven by means of his lightning. She also appears in the company of Pallas Athene, who was herself honoured by the Athenians as the goddess of victory. Victory does not seem to have had many separate temples or festivals, since she generally appears only in attendance on her superior deities.

[Illustration: Fig. 29.—Victoria. United Collections in Munich.]

Far more extensive was the veneration of Victoria at Rome, a fact for which the warlike character of the people easily accounts. Her chief shrine was on the Capitol, where successful generals were wont to erect statues of the goddess in remembrance of their exploits. The most magnificent statue of this kind was one erected by Augustus in fulfilment of a vow after his victory at Actium. The proper festival of the goddess took place on the 12th of April.

In both Greek and Roman art Victory was represented as a winged goddess. She is distinguished by a palm branch and laurel garland, which were the customary rewards of bravery among the ancients. Large statues of the goddess are seldom met with, though she is often depicted on vases, coins, and small bronzes. The museum of Cassel has a small bronze statue of the goddess, whilst a fine _alto-relievo_ in terra-cotta exists in the Royal Collection at Munich (Fig. 29).

=6. Iris.=—Iris was originally a personification of the rainbow, but she was afterwards converted into the swift messenger of the gods, the rainbow being, as it were, a bridge between earth and heaven. In this character she makes her appearance in Homer, but, later still, she was again transformed into a special attendant of Hera. Her swiftness was astounding; “Like hail or snow,” says Homer, “that falls from the clouds,” she darts from one end of the world to the other—nay, dives to the hidden depths of the ocean and into the recesses of the lower world, executing the commands of the gods.

In art Iris was represented with wings, like Nice, to whom she, in many respects, bears a strong resemblance. She may be distinguished from the latter, however, by her herald’s staff (Caduceus). A very much injured specimen, from the east pediment of the Parthenon at Athens, is now preserved in the British Museum.

=7. Hebe (Juventas).=—Hebe was the daughter of Zeus and Hera, and, according to her natural interpretation, represented the youthful bloom of Nature. In the fully developed mythology of the Greeks she appears as the cupbearer of the gods, to whom, at meals, she presents the sweet nectar. It may at first seem strange that the daughter of the greatest of the divinities of Greece should be relegated to so inferior a position. This, however, is easily explained by the old patriarchal custom of the Greeks, by which the young unmarried daughters, even in royal palaces, waited at table on the men of the family and the guests.

In post-Homeric poetry and legend Hebe no longer appears as cupbearer of the gods, the office having been assigned to Ganymedes. This was either in consequence of the promotion of the son of the King of Troy, or on account of Hebe’s marriage with the deified Heracles.

Hebe occupies no important place in the religious system of the Greeks; she seems to have been chiefly honoured in connection with her mother Hera, or now and then with Heracles.

[Illustration: Fig. 30.—Hebe. From Antonio Canova.]

Juventas, or Juventus, is the corresponding deity of the Romans; but, as was the case with so many others, they contrived to bring her into a more intimate connection with their political life by honouring in her the undying and unfading vigour of the state. She had a separate chapel in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.

With regard to the artistic representation of Hebe, statues of this goddess appear to have been very rare in ancient times; at least, among all the numerous statues that have been discovered, none can be safely identified with Hebe. She is the more often met with on ornamental vases and reliefs, on which the marriage of Heracles and Hebe is a favourite subject. She is usually depicted as a highly-graceful, modest maiden, pouring out nectar from an upraised vessel. She appears thus in the world-renowned masterpiece of the Italian sculptor Canova, so well known from casts. In default of an ancient statue, we give an engraving of this work (Fig. 30).

=8. Ganymedes.=—A similar office in Olympus was filled by the son of Tros, the King of Troy, Ganymedes, who was made immortal by Zeus, and installed as cupbearer of the gods. Neither Homer nor Pindar, however, relate the episode of Zeus sending his eagle to carry off Ganymedes. This feature of the story, which is a favourite subject of artistic representation, is first found in Apollodorus. The Roman poet, Ovid, then went a step farther, and made the ruler of Olympus transform himself into an eagle, in order to carry off his favourite.

[Illustration: Fig. 31.—Ganymedes and the Eagle. From Thorwaldsen.]

The rape of the beautiful boy is often portrayed in ancient art. The most famous monument is a bronze group of Leochares, an artist who flourished in the fourth century B.C. A copy of it still exists in the celebrated statue of Ganymedes in the Vatican collection. In modern art the story has been treated with still greater frequency. There is an extremely beautiful group of this kind by Thorwaldsen, in which Ganymedes is represented as giving the eagle drink out of a bowl (Fig. 31).

_2. The Phenomena of the Heavens._

=1. Helios (Sol).=—Helios (Latin _Sol_), the sun-god, belongs to that small class of deities who have preserved their physical meaning intact. His worship was confined to a few places, the most important of which was the island of Rhodes. An annual festival, attended with musical and athletic contests, was here celebrated with great pomp in honour of the sun-god. He is portrayed by the poets as a handsome youth with flashing eyes and shining hair covered with a golden helmet. His daily office was to bring the light of day to gods and men, which he performed by rising from Oceanus in the east, where the Ethiopians live, and completing his course along the firmament. For this purpose the post-Homeric poets endow him with a sun-chariot drawn by four fiery horses; and though Homer and Hesiod do not attempt to explain how he passed from the west where he sets, to the east where he rises, later poets obviate the difficulty by making him sail round half the world in a golden boat (according to others a golden bed); and thus he was supposed again to arrive at the east. In the far west Helios had a splendid palace, and also a celebrated garden, which was under the charge of the Hesperides. He is described as the son of the Titans Hyperion and Thea, whence he himself is called a Titan. By his wife Perse, a daughter of Oceanus, he became the father of Æëtes, King of Colchis, celebrated in the legend of the Argonauts, and of the still more celebrated sorceress Circe. Another son of Helios was Phaëthon, who, in attempting to drive his father’s horses, came to an untimely end.

Helios sees and hears every thing; whence he was believed to bring hidden crimes to light, and was invoked as a witness at all solemn declarations and oaths.

All the stories relating to Helios were gradually transferred to the Roman Sol, who was originally a Sabine deity, chiefly by means of the Metamorphoses of Ovid. The untiring charioteer of the heavens was also honoured as the patron of the race-course; but he never attained a prominent position in religious worship.

Helios, or Sol, is depicted as a handsome youth, his head encircled by a crown, which gives forth twelve bright rays corresponding to the number of the months, his mantle flying about his shoulders as he stands in his chariot. It was chiefly in Rhodes, however, that Helios was made the subject of the sculptor’s art. Here, in 280 B.C., was erected in his honour the celebrated colossal statue which has acquired a world-wide celebrity under the name of the Colossus of Rhodes, and which was reckoned as one of the seven “wonders of the world.” It was the work of Chares of Lindus, and was 105 feet in height.

=2. Selene (Luna).=—As Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo, so is Selene the twin sister of Helios; he representing the sun, she the moon. Selene, however, never really enjoyed divine honours in Greece. The poets depict her as a white-armed goddess, whose beautiful tresses are crowned with a brilliant diadem. In the evening she rises from the sacred river of Oceanus, and pursues her course along the firmament of heaven in her chariot drawn by two white horses. She is gentle and timid, and it is only in secret that she loves beautiful youths and kisses them in sleep. Poets delight to sing of the secret love she cherished for the beautiful Endymion, the son of the King of Elis. She caused him to fall into an eternal sleep, and he now reposes in a rocky grotto on Mount Latmus, where Selene nightly visits him, and gazes with rapture on his countenance.

In later times she was often confounded with Artemis, Hecate, and Persephone. The same remarks apply to the Roman Luna. The latter, however, had a temple of her own on the Aventine, which was supposed to have been dedicated to her by Servius Tullius. Like her brother Sol, she was honoured in Rome in connection with the circus, and was held to preside over the public games.

In sculpture, Selene, or Luna, may be recognised by the half moon on her forehead, and by the veil over the back of her head; she also bears in her hand a torch. The sleeping Endymion was a frequent subject of representation on sarcophagi and monuments.

=3. Eos (Aurora).=—Eos, the goddess of the dawn, was also a daughter of Hyperion and Thea, and a sister of Selene and Helios. She was first married to the Titan Astræus, by whom she became the mother of the winds—Boreas, Zephyrus, Eurus, and Notus (north, west, east, and south winds). This is a mythological mode of intimating the fact that the wind generally rises at dawn. After Astræus, who, like most of the Titans, had rebelled against the sovereignty of Zeus, and had been cast into Tartarus, Eos chose the handsome hunter Orion for her husband. The gods, however, would not consent to their union, and Orion was slain by the arrows of Artemis, after which Eos married Tithonus, the son of the King of Troy. She begged Zeus to bestow on him immortality, but, having forgotten to ask for eternal youth, the gift was of doubtful value, since Tithonus at last became a shrivelled-up, decrepid old man, in whom the goddess took no pleasure.

Memnon, King of Æthiopia, celebrated in the story of the Trojan war, was a son of Eos and Tithonus. He came to the assistance of Troy, and was slain by Achilles. Since then, Eos has wept without ceasing for her darling son, and her tears fall to the earth in the shape of dew.

Eos is represented by the poets as a glorious goddess, with beautiful hair, rosy arms and fingers—a true picture of the invigorating freshness of the early morning. Cheerful and active, she rises early from her couch, and, enveloped in a saffron-coloured mantle, she harnesses her horses Lampus and Phaëthon (Brightness and Lustre), in order that she may hasten on in front of the sun-god and announce the day.

The views and fables connected with Eos were transferred by the Roman writers to the person of their goddess Aurora[4] without undergoing any alteration.

Footnote 4:

The Mater Matuta of the Romans was a deity very similar to the Eos of the Greeks. She was the goddess of the early dawn, and was held in high estimation among the Roman women as a deity who assisted them in childbirth. Like the Greek Leucothea, she was also regarded as a goddess of the sea and harbours, who assisted those in peril.

Representations of this goddess are found now and then on vases and gems. She either appears driving a chariot and four horses, as harnessing the steeds of Helios, or as gliding through the air on wings and sprinkling the earth with her dew.

=4. The Stars.=—Only a few of the stars are of any importance in mythology. Phosphorus and Hesperus, the morning star and the evening star, which were formerly regarded as two distinct beings, were represented in art in the guise of beautiful boys with torches in their hands. There were also several legends relating to Orion, whom we have already alluded to as the husband of Eos. He himself was made a constellation after having been slain by the arrows of Artemis, while his dog was Sirius, whose rising announces the hottest season of the year. All kinds of myths were invented about other constellations; among others, the Hyades, whose rising betokened the advent of the stormy, rainy season, during which the sailor avoids going to sea. The story went that they were placed among the constellations by the gods out of pity, because they were inconsolable at the death of their brother Hyas, who was killed by a lion whilst hunting. Connected with them are the Pleiades, _i.e._, the stars of mariners, so called because on their rising in May the favourable season for voyages begins. They were seven in number, and were likewise set in the heavens by the gods. Finally, we must not forget to mention Arctus, the Bear. Tradition asserted that this was none other than the Arcadian nymph Callisto, who had been placed among the constellations by Zeus when slain in the form of a she-bear by Artemis. She had broken her vows of chastity, and borne a son, Arcas, to Zeus.

=5. The Winds.=—The four chief winds have been already alluded to as the sons of Eos. They were especially venerated by those about to make voyages, who then solicited their favour with prayers and offerings. Otherwise, they maintained their character of pure natural forces, and were, consequently, of little importance in mythology. The rude north wind, Boreas, or Aquilo, was especially dreaded on account of his stormy violence, and was hence regarded as a bold ravisher of maidens. Thus an Attic legend asserts that he carried off Orithyia, the daughter of Erechtheus, as she was playing on the banks of the Ilissus. She bore him Calaïs and Zetes, well known in the story of the Argonauts. Boreas, however, stood in high favour among the Athenians, who erected an altar and chapel to him, because, during the Persian war, he had partially destroyed the fleet of Xerxes off Cape Sepias.

As Boreas is the god of the winter storm, so Zephyrus appears as the welcome messenger of Spring; on which account one of the Horæ was given him to wife. Zephyrus was called Favonius by the Romans, to intimate the favourable influence he exercised on the prosperous growth of the vegetable world.

These, together with the other chief winds, Notus (south wind) and Eurus (east wind) were sometimes said to reside in separate places; at other times they were said to dwell together in the Wind-mountain, on the fabulous island of Æolia, where they were ruled over by King Æolus.

_3. Gods of Birth and Healing._

[Illustration: Fig. 32.—Asclepius. Berlin.]

=1. Asclepius (Æsculapius).=—It was only in later times that the necessity of having special gods of birth and healing made itself felt; at all events, Asclepius, or Æsculapius, as he is called by the Romans, does not appear as a god in Homer. The worship of this deity, who was said to be the son of Apollo, appears to have originated in Epidaurus, the seat of his principal shrine, and thence to have become generally diffused. In Epidaurus his priests erected a large hospital, which enjoyed a great reputation. The common method of cure consisted in allowing those who were sick to sleep in the temple, on which occasion, if they had been zealous in their prayers and offerings, the god appeared to them in a dream and discovered the necessary remedy.

The worship of this deity was introduced into Rome in the year 291 B.C., in consequence of a severe pestilence which for years had depopulated town and country. The Sibylline books were consulted, and they recommended that Asclepius of Epidaurus should be brought to Rome. The story goes that the sacred serpent of the god followed the Roman ambassadors of its own accord, and chose for its abode the Insula Tiberina at Rome, where a temple was at once erected to Æsculapius. A gilded statue was added to the temple in the year 13 B.C. The method already mentioned of sleeping in the temple was also adopted here.

[Illustration:

Fig. 33.—Head of Asclepius. British Museum.]

In art, Asclepius is represented as a bearded man of ripe years, with singularly noble features, from which the kindly benevolence of a benefactor of mankind looks forth. He is generally accompanied by a serpent, as a symbol of self-renovating vital power, which he is feeding and caressing, or which is more commonly represented as creeping up his staff. Such is the conception in the engraving (Fig. 32), which is after a statue preserved at Berlin. As the god of healing, he has also other attributes—a bowl containing the healing draught, a bunch of herbs, a pine-apple, or a dog; the latter being a symbol of the vigilance with which the physician watches disease.

There are numerous extant statues of the god, although the great statue in gold and ivory of the temple at Epidaurus has been entirely lost. A fine head of colossal proportions was discovered on the Isle of Melos, and is now an ornament of the British Museum (Fig. 33). There is, on the other hand, a very fine statue without a head in existence at Athens, near the temple of Zeus. There are, moreover, celebrated statues in Florence, Paris, and Rome (Vatican); in the last case, of a beardless Æsculapius.

=2. Inferior Deities of Birth and Healing.=—The Greeks also honoured Ilithyia as a goddess of birth. This appears to have been originally a surname of Hera, as a deity who succoured women in childbirth. Hygiea was looked on as a goddess of health, and was described as a daughter of Asclepius.

The Romans had no need of a special goddess presiding over birth, although they honoured a deity often identified with Hygiea, whom they called Strenia, or Salus. As guardian of the chamber of birth, they honoured Carna, or Cardea, who was supposed to drive away the evil Striges (screech owls) that came at night to suck the blood of the new-born child. Carna was further regarded as the protectress of physical health. Another of these inferior deities, of whom men sought long life and continued health, bore the name of Anna Perenna (the circling year).

[Illustration: Fig. 34.—Night and the Fates. From Carstens.]

_4. Deities of Fate._

=1. Mœræ (Parcæ).=—The Mœræ, better known by the Latin name of Parcæ, really denote that portion of a man’s life and fortune which is determined from his birth; so that, in this sense, there are as many Mœræ as individuals. The Greeks, however, who were wont to revere all such indefinite numbers under the sacred number three, generally recognised three. These they regarded as the dark and inexplicable powers of fate, daughters of the night. Their names were Clotho (spinner), Lachesis (allotter), and Atropos (inevitable).

Only two Parcæ were originally known to the Romans, but a third was afterwards added to make their own mythology harmonise with that of the Greeks.

The popular conception of the Parcæ as grave hoary women was not followed in art, where they always appear as young. In the first instance, their attributes were all alike, separate functions not yet having been allotted to them. But at a subsequent period it was Clotho who spun, Lachesis who held, and Atropos who cut the thread of life. This arrangement was first adopted by later artists, who generally give Clotho a spindle, Lachesis a roll of parchment, and Atropos a balance, or let the last point to the hour of death on a dial. Such is the case in a talented creation of Carstens, in which the conception of modern times is brought into harmony with the ideal of antiquity (Fig. 34).

=2. Nemesis, Tyche (Fortuna), and Agathodæmon (Bonus Eventus).=—Nemesis really denotes the apportionment of that fate which is justly deserved, and a consequent repugnance to that which is not. Homer does not acknowledge Nemesis as a goddess, and so it is probable that her claim to public veneration dates from a later period. She was regarded as a goddess of equality, who watches over the equilibrium of the moral universe, and sees that happiness and misfortune are allotted to man according to merit. Hence arose, subsequently, the idea of an avenging deity, who visits with condign punishment the crimes and wickedness of mankind. In this character she resembles the Furies. The Romans likewise introduced Nemesis into their system; at least her statue stood on the Capitol, though popular superstition never regarded her with a friendly eye.

The various conceptions of Nemesis are again displayed in works of art. The kindly, gentle goddess, who dispenses what is just, is depicted as a young woman of grave and thoughtful aspect, holding in her hand the instruments of measurement and control (cubit, bridle, and rudder). As the stern avenger of human crimes, she appears with wings in a chariot drawn by griffins, with a sword or whip in her hand.

Tyche, the goddess of good fortune, was, according to common accounts, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She was usually honoured as the tutelary deity of towns, and as such had temples and statues in many populous cities of Greece and Asia. In course of time, however, the idea gained ground that Tyche was the author of evil as well as of good fortune. She resembled, in this respect, the Fortuna of the Romans, who was regarded as the source of all that is unexpected in human life. Servius Tullius was said to have introduced into Rome the worship of Fortuna, whose favourite he had certainly every reason to regard himself. He erected a temple to her under the name of Fors Fortuna, and made the 24th of June the common festival of the goddess. Later, her worship became still more extensive. Under the most different surnames, some of which referred to the state (_Fortuna populi Romani_), and others to every description of private affairs, she had a great number of temples and chapels erected in her honour. She had also celebrated temples in Antium and Præneste.

Ancient artists endowed this goddess with various attributes, the most important of which was the rudder, which she held in her hand in token of her power to control the fortunes of mankind. She is also endowed with a sceptre for the same purpose, and with a horn of plenty as the giver of good fortune; sometimes she is also represented with the youthful Plutus in her arms. The later conception of an impartial goddess of fate is apparent in those art-monuments which depict her standing on a ball or wheel. Among the larger existing works, we may mention a copy preserved in the Vatican of a Tyche by Eutychides of Sicyon, which was formerly exhibited in Antioch. The goddess here wears a mural crown on her head as the tutelary deity of towns, and has a sheaf of corn in her right hand.

Besides Fortuna, the Romans honoured a deity called Felicitas as the goddess of positive good fortune. Lucullus is said to have erected a temple to her in Rome, which was adorned with the works of art brought by Mummius from the spoils of Corinth. Even this did not suffice for the religious needs of the people, and we find that the belief in personal protecting deities grew rapidly among both Greeks and Romans. These deities were termed by the Greeks “dæmones,” and by the Romans “genii.” They were believed to be the invisible counsellors of every individual, accompanying him from birth to death, through all the stages of life, with advice and comfort. Offerings of wine, cake, incense, and garlands were made to them, particularly on birthdays.

II.—THE GODS OF THE SEA AND WATERS.

=1. Poseidon (Neptunus).=—Poseidon, or Neptunus, as he was called by the Romans, was the son of Cronus and Rhea. Homer calls him the younger brother of Zeus, in which case his subjection to the latter is only natural. According to the common account, however, Zeus was the youngest of the sons of Cronus, but acquired the sovereignty over his brothers by having overthrown their cruel father. Poseidon was accordingly indebted to his brother for his dominion over the sea and its deities, and was therefore subject to him. He usually dwelt, not in Olympus, but at the bottom of the sea. Here he was supposed to inhabit, with Amphitrite his wife, a magnificent golden palace in the neighbourhood of Ægæ. Originally, like Oceanus and Pontus, he was a mere symbol of the watery element, but he afterwards attained an entirely independent personality. Even in Homer he no longer appears as the sea itself, but as its mighty ruler, who with his powerful arms upholds and circumscribes the earth. He is violent and impetuous, like the element he represents. When he strikes the sea with his trident, the symbol of his sovereignty, the waves rise with violence, dash in pieces the ships, and inundate the land far and wide. Poseidon likewise possesses the power of producing earthquakes, cleaving rocks, and raising islands in the midst of the sea. On the other hand, a word or look from him suffices to allay the wildest tempest. Virgil, in the first book of the _Æneid_, has given a beautiful description of the taming of the fierce elements by the god.

Poseidon was naturally regarded as the chief god of all the seafaring classes, such as fishermen, boatmen, and sailors, who esteemed him as their patron and tutelary deity. To him they addressed their prayers before entering on a voyage, to him they brought their offerings in gratitude for their safe return from the perils of the deep.

Poseidon, therefore, enjoyed the highest reputation among the seafaring Ionians. His temples, altars, and statues were most numerous in the harbours and seaport towns, and on islands and promontories. Among the numerous shrines of this deity we may mention that of Corinth, in the neighbourhood of which were celebrated in his honour the Isthmian games, which subsequently became a national festival in Greece, Pylus, Athens, and the islands of Rhodes, Cos, and Tenos.

It was only natural that many legends, local and provincial, should exist about a god who played such an important part in the lives of seafaring folk. In the Trojan epos he figures as a violent enemy of Troy, his indignation having been provoked by the injustice of the Trojan king, Laomedon. Poseidon had built the walls of Troy at the king’s request with the aid of Apollo, but Laomedon having cheated him in the matter of the stipulated reward, Poseidon thereupon sent a terrible sea-monster, which laid waste the crops and slew the inhabitants. They had recourse to the oracle, which counselled the sacrifice of the king’s daughter Hesione. The unhappy maiden was exposed to the monster, but was rescued by Heracles. The fable of this monster, which is manifestly a symbol of the inundation of the sea, is repeated in many succeeding stories (_e.g._, in the story of Perseus, who rescued in a similar way Andromeda, the daughter of the king of Æthiopia). There are numberless stories, in which Poseidon appears as the father of the different national heroes. The most important is, perhaps, the legend of Theseus, of which we shall speak later on. There was scarcely a Grecian town or district which did not lay claim to divine origin for the person of its founder or ancestral hero. Again, the conception of the wild stormy nature of the sea caused Poseidon to be represented as the father of various giants and monsters. By the nymph Thoösa he became the father of the savage Polyphemus, slain by Odysseus, who thus provoked the implacable enmity of Poseidon. The giant Antæus, who fought with Heracles, was also said to be a son of Poseidon; besides many other monsters, such as Procrustes, Cercyon, and the Aloïdæ.

The favourite animal of Poseidon was the horse, which he was supposed to have created. This may, perhaps, be due to the fact that the imagination of the Greeks pictured to itself the horses of Poseidon in the rolling and bounding waves. In Athens the origin of the horse was referred to the contest between Athene and Poseidon, as to who should make the land the most useful present. In Corinthian legend Poseidon appears as the father of the winged horse Pegasus by Medusa. This story is connected with the taming of the horse, which was ascribed to Poseidon. On account of his intimate connection with the horse, Poseidon was especially regarded as the patron of the games, and had, in consequence, an altar of his own on all race-courses. The competitors, before the races, solicited his favour with prayers and sacrifices.

[Illustration: Fig. 35.—Poseidon. Dolce Gem.]

The dolphin and the pine-tree were held sacred to Poseidon, the latter probably because it was so extensively used in shipbuilding. Black steers, horses, rams, and wild boars were sacrificed to him.

The Romans not being a seafaring people, Neptune never stood in such high estimation among them as among the Greeks. In Rome his prominent characteristic was his connection with the horse and the race-course. These were placed under his special protection, for which reason the only temple he had in Rome stood in the Circus Flaminius.

The representation of Poseidon, or Neptune, in art harmonises tolerably well with the descriptions of the poets. He is accordingly represented as similar to his brother Zeus in size and figure, with broad deep chest, dark wavy hair, and piercing eyes.

Artists intimated the greater violence of his nature by giving him more angularity of face, and a more bristling and disordered head of hair than Zeus. The expression of his countenance is more grave and severe, and the kindly smile that plays around the mouth of Zeus is altogether wanting.

Ancient statues of Poseidon are comparatively rare. The Vatican Museum possesses a fine bust, and also a marble statue of the god. He is generally distinguished by the trident in his right hand; sometimes in its place we find a tiller. A band similar to a diadem denotes his dominion over the sea. Our engraving of the god is after a beautiful gem of the Dolce collection (Fig. 35).

=2. Amphitrite.=—After Poseidon had attained an almost exclusive veneration as god of the sea, Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, was given him to wife. According to the usual account, he carried her away from Naxos. Others say that she fled to Atlas to avoid the rude wooing of the god, but Poseidon’s dolphin found her and fetched her back. She had three children by Poseidon—Triton, Rhode, and Benthesicyme.

In plastic art, Amphitrite is generally depicted as a slim and beautiful young woman, either nude or half clothed, riding in the chariot of Poseidon at his side, or by herself. On gems she also appears enthroned on the back of a mighty Triton, or riding a seahorse or dolphin. Her hair generally falls loosely about her shoulders. She is distinguished by the royal insignia of the diadem and sceptre, at times she also wields the trident of her husband.

The worship of Amphitrite was entirely unknown to the Romans, who recognised the sea-goddess Salacia as the wife of Neptune.

=3. Triton and the Tritons.=—Triton was the only son of Poseidon and Amphitrite; he never appears, however, to have enjoyed divine honours. This perhaps explains how it came to pass that he was subsequently degraded to the level of a fabulous sea-monster. The poet Apollonius Rhodius describes him as having a body, the upper parts of which were those of a man, while the lower parts were those of a dolphin. Such too is his appearance in works of art. Poets and artists soon revelled in the conception of a whole race of similar Tritons, who were regarded as a wanton, mischievous tribe, like the Satyrs on land.

The Tritons, as sea-deities of fantastic form, are of little importance in higher art, though they were all the more frequently employed in fountains and water-works. The fore-legs of a horse were sometimes added to the human body and dolphin’s tail, thus giving rise to the figure termed the Ichthyocentaur.

=4. Pontus and his Descendants.=—We have already spoken of Pontus and his race in our account of the Theogony. Here we can only mention those of his children who either enjoyed divine honours, or are of importance in art. The eldest among them was Nereus.

_1. Nereus and his Daughters._—Nereus presents to us the calm and pleasant side of the sea. He appears as a kindly, benevolent old man, the good spirit of the Ægean sea, where he dwells with his fifty lovely daughters, the Nereids, ever ready to assist the storm-beaten sailor in the hour of need. Like all water-spirits, Nereus possessed the gift of prophecy, though he did not always choose to make use of it. Heracles sought him on his way to the garden of the Hesperides, in order to learn how he might get possession of the golden apples. In spite of his urgent entreaties, Nereus endeavoured to elude him by assuming every kind of shape, though he was at length vanquished by the persistence of the hero, who would not let him go until he had obtained the necessary information.

By his wife Doris, the daughter of Oceanus, he became the father of fifty, or, according to some, of a hundred daughters, who were all venerated as kindly, beneficent sea-nymphs. They are a charming, lovely tribe, who win the hearts of the sailors—now by their merry sports and dances, now by their timely assistance in the hour of danger. This joyous band generally forms the train of Poseidon and Amphitrite. Besides Amphitrite, the chosen bride of Poseidon, we find among them Thetis, the beautiful mother of Achilles, so celebrated in ancient poetry, who usually figures as their leader. Her beauty and grace were so great that Zeus himself became her lover. He surrendered her, however, to Peleus, son of Æacus, because an oracle had declared that the son of Thetis should become greater than his father.

In art Nereus generally appears as an old man with thin grey locks. He is commonly distinguished by a sceptre, or even a trident. The Nereids were depicted as graceful maidens, in earlier times slightly clothed, but later entirely nude, riding on dolphins, Tritons, or other fabulous monsters of the deep.

_2. Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto._—Whilst Nereus and his daughters represent the sea in its peaceful aspect, Thaumas, the second son of Pontus, represents it as the world of wonders. By Electra, a daughter of Oceanus, he became the father of Iris, the messenger of the gods, and also of the Harpies. The latter personify the storm-winds. Originally fair maidens, they were afterwards represented as winged creatures, half man and half bird; they had the faces of maidens, but their bodies were covered with vultures’ feathers; they were pale and emaciated in appearance, and were continually tormented with an insatiable hunger. They are best known from the story of the Argonauts, where they appear as the tormentor of the blind king Phineus, whose table they continually robbed of its viands, which they either devoured or spoiled. They were regarded by the ancients as the ministers of sudden death, and were said to be either two or three in number. Phorcys and Ceto, the brother and sister of Thaumas, present to us the sea under its terrible aspect. This pair, from whose union sprang the Gorgons, the Grææ, and the dragon of the Hesperides, typify all the terrors and dangers of the deep. We shall have more to say concerning the Gorgons and Grææ in the story of Perseus.

=5. Proteus.=—Proteus is a deity of inferior rank. He is represented as an old man (the servant of Poseidon) endowed with the gift of prophecy. He plays the same part in the story of Troy as Nereus does in that of Heracles. His usual abode was the island of Pharos. It was thither that Menelaus turned after he had been driven to the coast of Egypt, on his return from Troy, to seek the advice of the “unerring old man of the sea.” But Proteus, being in no amiable mood, sought to elude the importunity of the hero by converting himself into a lion, a dragon, a panther, a wild boar, and many other forms. At length, however, he was vanquished by the persistence of Menelaus, and vouchsafed an answer. He was supposed to be the keeper of the fish who inhabit the depths of the sea, and of the other marine animals.

In works of art he generally appears like a Triton, i.e., with body ending in a fish’s tail. He is usually distinguished by a crook.

=6. Glaucus.=—Among the inferior sea-deities, Glaucus deserves mention as playing a part in the story of the Argonauts. He was really only a local god of the Anthedonians in Bœotia, and his worship was not extended to other places in Greece. But though he had no splendid temples, he stood in very high estimation among the lower classes of sailors and fishermen; indeed we find universally that the common people, in all their cares, turned rather to the inferior deities, whom they supposed to stand closer to them, than to the higher and more important gods. According to the story, Glaucus was originally a fisherman of Anthedon, who attained in a wonderful manner the rank of a god. One day, after having caught some fish, he laid them half dead on the turf close by. He was astonished to see, however, that on coming in contact with a certain herb, which was unknown to him, they were restored to life and sprang back into the sea. He himself now ate of this wonderful herb, and immediately felt himself penetrated by so wondrous a sensation of bliss and animation that, in his excitement, he too sprang into the sea. Oceanus and Thetis hereupon cleansed him from all his human impurities, and gave him a place among the sea-gods. He was venerated on many of the islands and coasts of Greece as a friendly deity, ever ready to assist the shipwrecked sailor or the castaway.

In art he is represented as a Triton, rough and shaggy in appearance, his body covered with mussels or sea-weed. His hair and beard show that luxuriance which characterises sea-gods.

=7. Ino Leucothea, and Melicertes.=—Like Glaucus, Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, attained at once immortality and divine rank by a leap into the sea. She was a sister of Semele, the mother of Dionysus, and the wife of Athamas, king of Orchomenus. It was she who, after the unhappy death of Semele, took charge of the infant Dionysus. Hera, however, avenged herself by driving Athamas mad, whereupon he dashed Learchus, his eldest son by Ino, against a rock. He was about to inflict the same fate on Melicertes, his second son, when in frantic haste the unhappy mother sought to save her child by flight. Athamas, however, pursued her as far as the Isthmus, when Ino, seeing no hope of escape, cast herself from the rock Moluris into the sea. Here she was kindly received by the Nereids, who converted both her and her son into sea-deities. She henceforth bore the name of Leucothea, and her son that of Palæmon. They were both regarded as benevolent deities of the stormy sea, who came to the assistance of those who were shipwrecked or in other peril. They appear in this guise in the _Odyssey_, where Odysseus, who saw only certain death before him, is represented as having been saved by a scarf thrown to him by Leucothea.

=8. The Sirens.=—The Sirens must also be reckoned among the sea-deities. They are best known from the story how Odysseus succeeded in passing them with his companions without being seduced by their song. He had the prudence to stop the ears of his companions with wax, and to have himself bound to the mast. The Sirens were regarded as the daughters either of the river-god Achelous by one of the nymphs, or of Phorcys and Ceto. Only two Sirens are mentioned in Homer, but three or four were recognised in later times and introduced into various legends, such as that of the Argonauts, or the Sicilian story of the rape of Persephone. Demeter is said to have changed their bodies into those of birds, because they refused to go to the help of their companion, Persephone, when she was carried off by the god of the lower world.

In art they are represented, like the Harpies, as young women with the wings and feet of birds. Sometimes they appear altogether like birds, only with human faces; at other times with the arms and bodies of women, in which case they generally hold instruments of music in their hands. As their songs were death to those who were seduced by them, they are often depicted on tombs as spirits of death.

=9. The Race of Oceanus.=—Lastly, we must enumerate among the water-deities the numerous descendants of Oceanus, viz., the Oceanids, and also the rivers that are spread over the earth. The latter were believed to have their common source in the ocean encircling the earth, and thence to flow beneath the ground until they reached the surface in springs.

Oceanus himself appears in the myths which treat of the genealogy of the gods as the eldest son of Uranus and Gæa, and therefore, like his wife Tethys, a Titan. As he did not take part in the rebellion of the other Titans against the dominion of Zeus, he did not share their dreadful fate, but was allowed to remain in undisturbed enjoyment of his ancient domain. He was supposed to dwell on the most western shores of the earth, which he never left even to attend the assemblies of the gods.

On account of their great importance to the fertility of the soil, the river-gods enjoyed a great reputation among the Greeks, although their worship was entirely of a local nature. Only Achelous, the greatest of all the Greek rivers, appears to have enjoyed general veneration. The river-gods were believed to dwell either in the depths of the rivers themselves, or in rocky grottoes near their sources. They were depicted either as delicate youths, or as men in their prime, or as old men, according to the magnitude of the river. They all possess a conformity with the nature of their element, viz., that power of transformation which we discover in the other sea-deities. They also appear, like other water-spirits, to possess the gift of prophecy.

Among the Romans all flowing waters were held sacred. Fontus, the son of Janus, was especially esteemed as the god of springs and fountains in general; but, as among the Greeks, each river had its special deity. The most important of these was Tiberinus. The springs were popularly supposed to be inhabited by nymphs gifted with the powers of prophecy and magic, who sometimes honoured mortals with their favours, as Egeria did King Numa.

In art the river-gods were commonly represented in the guise of those animals whose forms they were most in the habit of assuming. They thus appear as serpents, bulls, or even as men with bulls’ heads. They were also portrayed, however, in purely human guise, with the exception of having small horns on either side of the head. Their attributes consist of urns and horns of plenty, symbols of the blessings that proceed from them.

III.—THE GODS OF THE EARTH AND LOWER WORLD.

We now come to a class of deities who stand in the most decided contrast to the gods of the heaven and the sea, whom we have previously described. It consists of those deities whose power is incessantly exerted either on the surface or in the depths of the earth, and who are accordingly brought into the closest connection with the life of man. The worship of these deities assumed among the Greeks a passionate and excited character, at first entirely strange to the Romans, though it gradually crept in here also.

Though the ancients saw in the earth, on the one hand, the fruitful source of all life in nature, they did not seek to disguise the fact that it is, on the other hand, also the open sepulchre into which all earthly existence sinks when its time is over. The worship of these deities was therefore celebrated with festivals of joy and mirth at the season of the revival of nature, and with mournful solemnities at the season of its decay. The devotees manifested both their mirth and mourning in a loud, noisy, passionate manner, usually designated orgiastic. An element of mystery never failed to introduce itself into the worship of these deities, who, in virtue of their dwellings, were able to inspire a greater feeling of awe than the bright forms of the gods of heaven. Their wrath also, which manifested itself in the sterility of the soil, was the subject of especial fear. Mysteries proper, or secret rites, existed only among the Greeks, but never found their way into the religious systems of Italy. We shall enumerate first the deities of the upper world, who preside over the growth of flocks and the fruits of the earth, and then those who inhabit the lower world.

=1. Gæa (Tellus).=—First among them is Gæa, or Mother Earth herself. This deity appears in the Cosmogony (or myths relating to the formation of the universe) as one of the primeval creative forces, having herself proceeded immediately from Chaos. In later times she acquired a more personal and plastic character, although she never attained any real importance in the religious system of the Greeks, owing to the existence of more definite and substantial deities, such as Rhea, Hestia, Demeter, and Themis. The worship of Tellus in Rome was more important, although here, too, it was somewhat thrown into the shade by the worship of Ceres and kindred deities.

The chief significance of Gæa lies in the fact that she is the source of all life and increase in nature. She is hence regarded as a mother who tends with loving care all her children. Under this aspect her praises are sung by Hesiod, and also in an ancient Dodonaic hymn. Like Demeter and other deities who dispense prosperity and abundance, she appears as tending and nourishing the young, and is often represented thus on ancient monuments.

At the same time Gæa is the common grave of mankind, and draws all things, with inexorable severity, down into her dark womb. She thus becomes a goddess of death and the lower world, and was on this account invoked, together with the Manes, as a witness of all solemn compacts and oaths.

A very ancient shrine of this goddess existed at Delphi, and the oracle there had once, said the Delphians, belonged to her.

In Rome, where she was also venerated as a goddess of marriage, her temple stood on the site of the house of Spurius Cassius. Festive offerings were made to her before and after seed-time. On the occasion of the Paganalia, she and Ceres were propitiated by the sacrifice of a pregnant sow, which was supposed to promote the prosperity of the coming year.

=2. Rhea Cybele (Magna Mater Idæa).=—Rhea is well known as the daughter of Uranus and Gæa, and the wife of Cronus, by whom she became the mother of Zeus and the other Cronidæ. She seems to have enjoyed only a limited measure of divine honours, until she was identified with the Phrygian goddess Cybele, who, like the Egyptian Isis, was an Asiatic symbol of fertility. She was worshipped throughout Lydia and Phrygia under the appellation of the “Mighty Mother.” Thence her worship, which was of a peculiarly noisy character, made its way through the Greek colonies into Greece itself, and towards the end of the second Punic war was, at the instance of the Sibylline books, introduced into Rome. Attalus, king of Pergamus, was on this occasion good enough to present the Romans with a sacred stone, which was regarded by the inhabitants of Pessinus as the great mother herself. After its arrival at Ostia, this stone was carried to Rome amid a solemn procession of Roman matrons. The day of its arrival (10th April) was ever afterwards kept as a festival, at which games were celebrated under the superintendence of the prætor. The worship of Cybele, however, never seems to have become naturalised in Rome, perhaps because Romans were not allowed to officiate as her priests.

The true home of the worship of Cybele was the district of Pessinus, a rough and rocky mountain land. It was here that she made her noisy processions, seated in a chariot drawn by lions or panthers, amid the boisterous music of her weird attendants, the Corybantes and Curetes. The myths that relate to the goddess bear a wild, fantastic character, similar to that of her rites. The best known among them is the story of her favourite, Attis, or Atys. He was a Phrygian youth of a beauty so exceptional that the great mother of the gods chose him for her husband. At first he returned her affection, but afterwards he proved faithless, and was about to marry a daughter of the king of Pessinus. But the vengeance of the angry goddess overtook him, for when the wedding guests were assembled at the festive banquet the goddess appeared in their midst, and filled those present with panic fear, and troubled their minds. Atys fled to the mountains, where he slew himself in a fit of frenzy. Afterwards, the goddess instituted a great mourning in memory of him, which took place about the time of the vernal equinox. The priests of the goddess marched, amid the loud noise of kettle-drums and fifes, to the mountains, in order to search for the lost youth; and when at length he, or an image representing him, was found, the priests, in an ecstasy of joy, danced about in wild excitement, gashing themselves with knives.

Representations of Rhea Cybele are rare. A statue representing her seated on a throne is shown in the Vatican. Her usual attribute is a kettle-drum.

=3. Dionysus, or Bacchus (Liber).=—Dionysus, or Bacchus, was regarded by Greeks and Romans alike as the god of wine and vineyards. In his more extended meaning he represents the blessings of the autumn. It is he who causes the fruits to ripen for the use of man; it is likewise he who dispenses to mankind all the advantages of civilisation and refinement, and of well-ordered political affairs.

Thebes was described as the birthplace of the god. His mother was Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, whom Zeus, the great god of heaven, honoured with his love. This very love, however, proved fatal to Semele, for the ever-jealous Hera came to her in the guise of her nurse, Beroë, and succeeded in exciting her suspicions as to the truth of her lover’s divinity. She insidiously persuaded Semele to make her lover swear to do what she desired, and then to put him to the test. Semele did so, and then besought Zeus to appear to her in the full majesty of his divine form. In vain did Zeus adjure her to take back her foolish request; she insisted on its fulfilment, and perished miserably, being burnt to ashes by the flame of Zeus, who approached her in a flash of lightning. Her unborn child was preserved by Zeus, who ordered Hermes to carry it to the nymphs of Nysa to be brought up. A later legend makes Ino, the sister of Semele, the foster-mother of Dionysus. The locality of this Nysa is somewhat uncertain, but it is generally supposed to be a district of Mount Pangæus in Thrace.

Dionysus, after growing up amid the solitude of the forest and strengthening himself by his contests with its wild beasts, at length planted the vine. Both the god and his attendants soon became intoxicated with its juice; after which, crowned with wreaths of laurel and ivy, and accompanied by a crowd of nymphs, satyrs, and fauns, he ranged the woods, which resounded with the loud and joyful cries of his inspired worshippers. The legend says that his education was then completed by Silenus, the son of Pan. In company with his preceptor and the rest of his train, he then set forth to spread his worship and the cultivation of the vine among the nations of the earth. He did not confine himself to mere vine-planting, however, but proved a real benefactor of mankind by founding cities, and by introducing more civilised manners and a more pleasant and sociable mode of life among men. On such as refused his favours his wrath fell with dreadful effect. Agave, the mother of the Theban king Pentheus, who had refused to receive him, and the rest of the Theban women, were driven mad by him; and in their frenzy they mistook the king for a wild boar and tore him to pieces.

[Illustration: Fig. 36.—Dionysus and Lion. From the Monument of Lysicrates.]

The most celebrated among the myths which testify to the wondrous power of Dionysus is the story of the punishment of the Tyrrhenian pirates. On the occasion of his passage from Icaria to Naxos, these pirates put Dionysus in chains, purposing to take him to Italy, and there sell him as a slave. At a nod from the youthful god the chains fell from his limbs; he appeared as a lion, while a bear was seen at the other end of the ship. Vines and ivy tendrils wound themselves round the mast and sails of the ship, which stood still, whilst the strains of the nymphs burst forth. The sailors, terrified by the transformation of the god, leaped overboard, and were changed into dolphins. A fine representation, in relief, of this scene still exists on the monument of Lysicrates, at Athens. The most beautiful feature in it is the figure of the god playing with his lion in the most joyous unconsciousness (Fig. 36). With the name of Naxos, which was a chief seat of his worship, is connected the celebrated story of his marriage with Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, king of Crete. The Attic hero, Theseus, after escaping the dangers of the Labyrinth by her means, had taken her away with him from Crete in order to marry her. He deserted her, however, whilst asleep on the island of Naxos, either of his own accord or because warned of the god in a dream. The indescribable anguish and consternation of Ariadne, on awaking to find herself alone and deserted on a foreign strand, was only equalled by her joyous surprise when Bacchus, returning from his travels in India, found her and made her his bride. The poets, indeed, do not relate that Zeus then bestowed on her that immortality which he had already given his son on account of his glorious achievements and extraordinary merit toward mankind; but such appears to have been the popular tradition. At Athens a sort of harvest thanksgiving was celebrated in honour of both Dionysus and his bride, at which vines with the grapes on them were borne in solemn procession through the streets of the city.

The worship of Dionysus extended not only over the whole of Greece, but also to Italy, Asia Minor, Thrace, and Macedonia, and to every place where the vine was cultivated by the Greeks. The god was extolled as Lyæus, the deliverer from care, and great festivals were instituted in his honour, which were of a disorderly character, but very popular among the common people. At the time of the winter solstice there was mourning, because at this season the vine seemed to die away, and the god was believed to be suffering persecution at the hands of the evil spirits of winter, and obliged to flee in consequence to the sea or lower world. It was, therefore, thought right to suffer with him, and people manifested their grief at his disappearance by every kind of wild gesture. At the winter festivals of Dionysus, which were celebrated every other year, only women and girls took part. The festivals of the god at the beginning of spring, when the new wine was tasted for the first time, were purely festivals of gladness, like the greater Dionysia at Athens. On these occasions the reawakening of nature was celebrated with boundless joy and boisterous mirth. All kinds of jokes and mischievous pranks were indulged in, and festive processions and theatrical performances followed each other in quick succession.

The following festivals were celebrated at Athens in honour of Dionysus:—

1. The _Lesser_ or _Rural Dionysia_. This was the vintage festival proper, which did not take place in Attica till the end of November or beginning of December, because they liked to let the grapes hang as long as possible. A he-goat was first solemnly sacrificed to the god; this was followed by a festive procession bearing the sacred things, and the festival concluded with all kinds of country amusements, dancing, masquerading, and revelling. The chief amusement of the young men was dancing on the leather bag. Out of the skin of the slaughtered goat was made a leather bag, which was inflated and smeared with oil: the young men then attempted to dance on it.

2. The _Lenæa_, or feast of the wine-press, was celebrated in the month of January at Athens, in the place where, according to an old tradition, the first wine-press had stood. Here stood the Lenæon, one of the two chief temples of the god. The chief feature of the festival was a magnificent procession with the sacred symbols of the god. This was followed by a great banquet, the viands for which were furnished by the city of Athens. The new wine which was drunk on these occasions did not tend to diminish the hilarity of the worshippers, so that all kinds of mischievous jokes were perpetrated.

[Illustration:

Fig. 37.—The so-called Sardanapalus in the Vatican.]

3. The _Anthesteria_ were celebrated in February, on the 11th, 12th, and 13th days of the month Anthesterion. They were supposed to commemorate the return of Dionysus from the lower world, or, in other words, the reawakening of nature from the sleep of winter. The first day was called πιθοιγία (cask-opening), because on this day the new wine was first broached. The second and chief day of the festival was called χόες (cups). A procession and a great banquet took place, at which the guests were crowned with flowers. Many liberties were permitted to the slaves on this occasion, as at the Roman Saturnalia. The third day was called χύτροι (pots), because vessels were displayed filled with all kinds of boiled vegetables. These were regarded in the light of offerings for the souls of the dead, who were popularly supposed to revisit the upper world on this occasion.

[Illustration:

Fig. 38.—Youthful Dionysus. From the Chateau Richelieu, now in the Louvre.]

4. The _Greater_ or _City Dionysia_ formed the chief festival of the god, and the proper spring-feast of the Athenians. It was celebrated with extraordinary splendour in the month of March, and lasted several days, bringing together a vast concourse of strangers from all parts. The city, renowned alike for the refined artistic taste and the keen wit of its inhabitants, then donned its holiday garb, and innumerable merry antics were played by the crowds assembled in the streets and squares. The chief feature of the festival was a solemn procession, in which an old wooden statue of the god was borne through the streets. There were likewise banquets and comic processions in masks, and grand representations of new comedies and tragedies. The proceedings concluded with the presentation of prizes to the successful competitors.

The Italian nationalities likewise celebrated a festival on the 17th of March, called the Liberalia, in honour of Liber, or Liber Pater, the Italian god of the vine. It was distinguished throughout by the simple countrified character of the proceedings, and resembled the Lesser Dionysia of the inhabitants of Attica. People amused themselves with all kinds of jokes and antics, and with masquerades, the masks for which were cut from the bark of trees. The chief object of the festival was to pray for the fertility of the vines. These innocent festivals had nothing to do with the voluptuous Bacchanalia which were afterwards introduced into Rome in imitation of the Greek mysteries, and which the most rigorous interference of the authorities was unable to suppress.

If we try to conceive briefly the significance of the worship of Dionysus in the religion of the ancients, we shall find that in his primitive character the god was a personification of the active, productive power of nature. As Demeter was supposed to give corn and the other fruits of the field, so Dionysus was supposed to give the fruits of trees, and especially of the vine. He was likewise regarded as the author of the blessings of civilisation, so that, on this point, he supplements the idea of the great culture-goddess Demeter, with whom, both among the Greeks and Romans, he had many temples and festivals in common. Looking at his character from another side, we find him coming into contact with Apollo, since he was supposed not only to endow men with a kindly, cheerful disposition, but also to inspire them with a love of music, on which account he was honoured with Apollo as the friend and leader of the Muses.

[Illustration:

Fig. 39.—Marble Head of Youthful Dionysus at Leyden.]

Artistic representations of Dionysus have come down to us on numerous monuments. In earlier art he was generally depicted as majestic and grave, and on that account represented with a beard. We have given an instance of this earlier conception in the so-called Sardanapalus of the Vatican (Fig. 37). In later art he became more youthful, and was characterised by a delicate roundness of form. The statues of this period are distinguished by the almost feminine expression of face with which they endow the god, as well as by the rounded limbs and the graceful ease of every attitude. The statue of a youthful Dionysus in the Louvre at Paris is an instance of this later mode of conception (Fig. 38). So likewise is the head of Dionysus at Leyden, which is distinguished by a sweet expression of reverie. His soft hair, which falls about his shoulders in delicate ringlets, is generally intertwined with a garland of vine leaves or ivy (Fig. 39). The other attributes of the god are the thyrsus, or Bacchic wand, the diadem, the skin of a wild beast falling across his chest, which often forms his sole clothing, and the drinking-cup in his hand. He is generally accompanied by lions, tigers, or panthers; and the bull and ram, as the symbols of fertility, were held sacred to him, while the latter was also his usual sacrifice. Among plants, besides the vine and the ivy, the laurel was held sacred to him on account of its powers of inspiration.

[Illustration: Fig. 40.—Sleeping Ariadne. Vatican.]

[Illustration: Fig. 41.—Dannecker’s Ariadne. Frankfort-on-the-Main.]

Of all the prominent personages in the stories of Dionysus, Ariadne has received most attention at the hands of the sculptor. The most celebrated of such ancient monuments is a marble figure of great beauty, larger than life, representing the sleeping Ariadne. It is now preserved in the Vatican Museum at Rome (Fig. 40). Among the productions of modern sculptors, the Ariadne of Dannecker, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, which represents her as the bride of Theseus, riding on a panther, justly enjoys a very high reputation (Fig. 41).

=4. The Nymphs.=—We now come to a class of inferior terrestrial divinities who are often found in the train of Bacchus. The most numerous and important of these are the Nymphs. They personify the restless activity and energy of nature, over the whole of which their power extends. They manifest their presence in the murmuring, rippling streams and brooks, as well as in the sprouting vegetation of wood and meadow. They are tender, graceful maidens, who, though kindly disposed towards men, yet avoid human habitations, and prefer the peaceful solitude of the woods and mountains, where they lead a merry, joyous life among the clefts and grottoes.

Sometimes they devote themselves to useful pursuits, and spin and weave; sometimes they engage in graceful dances, and sing merry songs, or bathe their delicate limbs in the white spray of lonely brooks. They gladly join the train of those superior deities supposed to preside in the realms of nature. Thus we see them joining in the Bacchic revelry with Dionysus, or figuring in the train of Aphrodite, or ranging field and wood as they hunt in the company of Artemis.

According to the divisions of nature, over which the Nymphs were supposed to preside, we may distinguish the following classes:—

1. The _Water-Nymphs_, to whom, in their wider signification, the Oceanids and Nereids also belong. Here, however, we have only to deal with the water-nymphs of the brooks and fountains of the land, who are distinguished by the name of _Naiads_. As the kindly nourishers of plants, and as thereby ministering indirectly to the sustenance of both man and beast, they enjoyed a large measure of veneration among the ancients, although, being inferior deities, they could claim no temples of their own. Like the sea-nymphs, they possessed the gift of prophecy, and appear as the patrons of poetry and song.

_2. Nymphs of the Mountains_, or _Oreads_, to whom belong the nymphs of the valleys and glens (Napææ). These were very numerous, and received special names from the particular mountains or districts they inhabited. The most celebrated among them was the Bœotian nymph Echo. She was consumed by love for the beautiful youth Narcissus, a son of the river-god Cephisus, and finding that he did not reciprocate her affection, she pined away in ever-increasing grief, until at length her emaciated frame was changed into rock, and nothing but her voice remained. But Aphrodite avenged this injury to her sex on Narcissus, who had in his vain self-love thus contemned the beautiful nymph. As he was hunting one day on Mount Helicon, he bent down to quench his thirst from a spring clear as crystal, and the goddess caused him to fall in love with his own shadow, which was reflected in the water. The object of his desires being unattainable, he too pined away from grief, and the flower named after him has ever since continued an emblem of heartless beauty.

3. The _Dryads_, or _Hamadryads_ (wood-nymphs). These appear to have been a conception of later times. It was supposed that their existence depended on that of the trees they inhabited, so that when the latter were destroyed the nymphs also perished. Not sharing immortality, therefore, they cannot properly be reckoned among the gods.

The veneration of nymphs was very ancient in Greece, and was thence transferred to Rome. Goats, lambs, milk, and oil were offered to them.

In art they are depicted as lovely maidens, generally only slightly clad, and adorned with flowers and garlands. The Naiads are also represented as drawing water, or with attributes relating to their element.

=5. The Satyrs.=—In contrast to the Nymphs, or female personifications of the life of Nature, we find a number of inferior wood and water-deities of the male sex, called Satyrs, Sileni, and Panes, between whom it is difficult to distinguish clearly. Generally by Satyrs (Fauni) we understand the wood and mountain-spirits proper, who are inseparably connected with Dionysus, whose attendant train they form. Coarse sensuality and a wanton spirit of mischief are the leading features of their character. On account of their animal propensities they were fabled to be only half human in appearance, with blunt noses and otherwise ignoble features, bristling hair, goat-like ears, and a goat’s tail. Like the Muses, they love music and dancing, their instruments being the Syrinx and the flute, together with cymbals and castanets. Like their master, they were passionately addicted to excessive indulgence in wine; but whereas in the former this produced only a rapturous enthusiasm and an exalted frame of mind, with them its effects were purely sensual, and excited them to insane and unseemly pranks of all kinds.

[Illustration:

Fig. 42.—Head of Satyr. Munich Sculpture Gallery.]

The Satyrs were not an uncommon subject of representation among ancient artists. The conception was based on the original hideous half-man, half-animal type; and in art, as well as in poetry, the blunt nose, the pointed ears, and the goat’s tail form their characteristic features. The Bacchic insignia of a band round the brow and an ivy garland also belong to them. There are some particularly fine antique statues of satyrs in the art-collections of Munich and Rome.

The engraving (Fig. 42) shows the highly-expressive face of a satyr in the Munich collection.

=6. Silenus.=—Silenus, according to the common tradition, was an old satyr who tended and brought up Dionysus, and afterwards became the faithful companion of his wanderings. He is depicted by the poets as a somewhat elderly man, with blunt nose and bald head, hairy chest and thighs, and a stomach so large that he can scarcely walk. He generally appears riding on an ass in front of the Bacchic company, with a satyr on either side supporting his half-drunken form.

The artists of antiquity seem to have devoted themselves frequently to the subject of Silenus. They either represented him as the nurse and preceptor of the youthful Bacchus, holding the child in his arms and regarding him with a look of affection, in which the comic element is entirely lacking, or they present him to us as the insatiable but good-natured wine-bibber. His standing attribute is the wine-skin, besides which, like other members of the Bacchic train, he bears a thyrsus and ivy garland.

Besides Silenus, who was celebrated as the preceptor of Dionysus, there was a whole tribe of Sileni. Whether this is due to the fact that the older satyrs were called Sileni, or whether they form a special class of deities presiding over the flowing, gushing water, cannot be determined with any certainty.

Among the Sileni were two personages who play a part in the story of Dionysus. These were Marsyas and Midas. The former, like all satyrs, was an accomplished master of the flute, and challenged Apollo to a trial of skill which proved fatal to him. The conditions of the contest were that he who was vanquished should put himself entirely in the power of his adversary. Apollo won, and made a cruel use of his victory by hanging Marsyas on a pine tree and flaying him alive.

Midas was the mythic founder of the kingdom of Phrygia, in Asia Minor, whither he had emigrated from Macedonia. Tradition makes him a son of Cybele, and, as her favourite, endowed with fabulous wealth. But, like many of the sons of men in the present day, the richer he grew the greater was his thirst for gold, until it betrayed him at length into an act of great folly. One day, the drunken Silenus strayed from the company of Bacchus into the garden of Midas. The latter received him with great hospitality, and after entertaining him sumptuously for ten days brought him to Bacchus. Pleased with his kindness, the god rewarded him with the gratification of any wish he might make. Midas now wished that everything he touched might turn to gold. Naturally the gratification of this wish well-nigh proved his ruin; and he only escaped by washing, at the command of the god, in the river Pactolus, which has ever since washed down gold in its sands. A later fable makes Midas the judge in the rivalry of Apollo and Pan, on which occasion he decided in favour of the latter, for which the god changed his ears into those of an ass. Modern criticism has seen in the rich Midas one of the many personifications of the sun, who, as he rises over the earth, turns all things to gold.

=7. Greek and Roman Wood-Spirits.=—_1. Pan._—Pan was a very ancient god of the woods and meadows. He was at first honoured only by the inhabitants of the mountain-land of Arcadia and by other pastoral tribes. Subsequently his divinity was more generally acknowledged and more highly esteemed. Common accounts make him the son of Hermes by the nymph Penelope, a daughter of Dryops. His mother was not a little terrified at his birth, since he was hairy all over, and had horns and goat’s feet. His father wrapped him in a hare-skin, and bore him to Olympus, where the assembled gods showed no small pleasure at the sight of the strange little wood-demon. From time immemorial Pan was regarded by the shepherds of Greece as their most doughty protector; for which reason the mountain caves in which they gathered their herds together at night, or in threatening weather, were held sacred to him. There were many such caves of Pan in the mountains of Arcadia, and also one at the foot of the Acropolis at Athens, besides others on Mount Parnassus in Bœotia, and elsewhere. Pan was esteemed a god of great cheerfulness and activity of character, who loved to range the woods as a huntsman, and was on this account regarded with little less veneration by huntsmen than by shepherds. He was also looked on as the patron of fishing and bee-keeping.

As the god of shepherds, Pan was also a lover of music, and on returning in the evening from the chase, says the Homeric story, he was wont to play sweet tunes on his pan-pipe (Syrinx), whilst the Oreads, or mountain-nymphs, sang the praises of the gods and led off their spirited dances. The poets have founded a story on his discovery of the Syrinx. They invented a fabulous nymph called Syrinx, with whom Pan was supposed to have fallen violently in love. The nymph, however, did not return his affection, and fled from his embraces. Pan pursued her, and in her extremity she sought the aid of Gæa, who transformed her into a reed. Out of this reed Pan, by joining seven pieces together, made an instrument which he called the Syrinx, after the nymph.

Pan was as passionately fond of dancing as of music. According to Pindar, he was the most accomplished dancer among the gods. His favourite amusement was to dance in company with the mountain-nymphs, on which occasions he regaled them with every kind of droll leap, in the performance of which his goat’s feet stood him in good stead.

As a wood-deity, Pan also possessed the gift of prophecy; indeed, according to some, it was he who first imparted this gift to Apollo. He certainly had a very ancient oracle at Acacesium in Arcadia.

Wild mountainous country and the thick untrodden forest are both alike apt to impress the lonely traveller with feelings of awe. All such sensations of sudden and unaccountable fear were ascribed to Pan (Panic). He was also said to delight in terrifying travellers with all kinds of strange noises. Hence, at a later period, arose the story that in the contest with the Titans he rendered good service to Zeus by blowing on a shell trumpet which he had invented, whereupon the Titans were seized with a sudden terror. This, however, is only another version of Triton’s services at the battle with the giants. It is well known that the Athenians introduced the worship of Pan, to which they had been hitherto strangers, into their city after the battle of Marathon, in consequence of the assistance which they believed they had received from the god.

Such are the more ancient and simple features of the character of Pan. He assumed a higher significance when men began to regard him as the companion of the “Mighty Mother,” and assigned him a place in the Bacchic circle. Men now saw in him a productive force of nature like the Phrygian Attis; indeed, in consequence of a misinterpretation of his name, he was made the creator and god of the universe. He seems to have originally signified the “purifying” breeze, which at one time whistled through the reeds, or at another moaned dismally in the forest, frightening the belated traveller.

After he had once been introduced into the company of Dionysus, poets and artists alike set themselves to work to invent a number of Panes and little Pans (Panisci), who were easily confounded with the Satyrs and Sileni.

The chief shrine of Pan was at Acacesium in Arcadia. Cows, goats, and sheep were sacrificed to him, besides offerings of milk, honey, and new wine.

[Illustration: Fig. 43.—Pan. From a Mural Painting at Herculaneum.]

In art we must distinguish the earlier and later types of the god. In the former, which dates from the best days of Greek art, he is conceived as entirely human in appearance, with the exception of two sprouting horns on either side of the forehead. Later, he was depicted with larger horns, a long goat’s beard, and goat’s feet. We give an engraving of this later conception (Fig. 43), which is taken from a mural painting at Naples. The usual attributes of Pan are a Syrinx and shepherd’s crook, sometimes also a pine garland.

_2. Silvanus._—Among the Roman wood-deities, Silvanus occupies a position most akin to that of Pan, although they are not exactly identical. His name, derived from _silva_ (wood), points him out as the god of the forest, where he was supposed to dwell, a deity kindly disposed towards mankind, and propitious to the welfare of trees, plants, and cattle. At times, however, he appears, like Pan, as a mischievous sprite, who delights to trick and terrify the lonely traveller. His sphere of activity was not confined to the woods, since he was also regarded as the author of fruitfulness in gardens and orchards. In this character Silvanus bears a close resemblance to Terminus, the god of boundaries and landed property, inasmuch as he preserves fields, gardens, and houses from harm. The first of the fruits of the field were offered to him. He had two shrines in Rome, one on the Viminal and another on the Aventine.

Artists and poets agree in representing Silvanus as an old man with a rustic head-gear, scattering blooming lilies and other flowers. He is usually distinguished by a pruning-knife.

_3. Faunus and Fauna._—Closely resembling Silvanus is another deity called Faunus, one of the most ancient national gods of Italy. He appears as the good spirit of the mountains, pastures, and plains. He was regarded by the shepherds as their best protector, since he made their cattle fruitful and drove off noxious beasts of prey. In the former character he was also called Inuus (the fertiliser); in the latter Lupercus (the warder-off of wolves).

Like Pan, he appears to have his seat in the woods, whence he sometimes terrifies and annoys travellers. At night, too, he creeps into men’s houses, and torments them with evil dreams and horrible apparitions (Incubus).

Like Pan, too, Faunus possessed the gift of prophecy, and answered both by direct revelations and by dreams. In this character he was called Fatuus, and had a celebrated oracle in the grove at Tibur, on the spring Albunea.

Having once invented a number of Fauns, the poets soon began to identify them with the Satyrs of the Greeks.

In honour of this decidedly national deity, different festivals were celebrated, at which rams were sacrificed and libations of wine and milk made. The Faunalia were celebrated on the Nones of December, on which occasion the guests at the festive board surrendered themselves to the most unrestrained mirth, and granted many liberties also to their slaves. The Lupercalia, however, formed the proper expiatory festival of Faunus. This festival was celebrated on the 15th of February, and was remarkable for the number of ancient customs which were observed. The chief of these was the course of the Luperci, or priests of Faunus, who, after making their offering, ran from the shrine of the god (Lupercal), on the Palatine, through the streets of Rome, their only clothing being an apron cut from the skin of the slaughtered animal. They struck all whom they met with thongs, also cut from the same blood-stained skin. Barren women placed themselves in the way of the Luperci, believing that by means of the strokes the reproach of barrenness would be taken away from them. As a day of atonement, this day was termed _dies februatus_ (from _februare_, to purify), whence the name of the month.

The feminine counterpart of Faunus, though not his wife, was Fauna, a propitious, kindly goddess of the plains. She is also called Maia, or Bona Dea. The women made an offering to her every year at night, on which occasion males were strictly excluded.

In art Faunus bears exactly the same appearance as Pan, with whom, indeed, he was often identified.

=8. Priapus.=—The worship of Priapus, the god of fields and gardens, appears to have been long of a purely local character, confined principally to the districts on the Hellespont, since he is not even mentioned by earlier writers. He was the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, and presided over the exuberant fertility of nature. He was supposed to exercise influence over the fruitfulness of flocks and herds, whilst fishing and the rearing of bees were also placed under his protection. His special sphere, however, was the protection of gardens and vineyards. Asses were sacrificed to him, a fact which gave rise to all sorts of comical stories relating to the hostility of Priapus to this animal. Besides this, he received the first fruits of the garden and field and drink-offerings of milk and honey. The worship of Priapus was introduced into Italy at the same time as that of Aphrodite, and he was identified with the native Mutunus.

This deity was scarcely noticed in higher art. In the gardens of Italy, however, rough-hewn pillars of wood, similar to those of Hermes, were erected in his honour. He is usually distinguished by a pruning-knife and club.

=9. Saturnus and Ops.=—Before passing to Demeter, or Ceres, the great goddess of civilisation, to whom by Greeks and Romans alike the blessings of the harvest were ascribed, and who forms the best link between the gods of the upper and lower worlds, we must pause to consider some gods of agriculture and cattle-rearing peculiar to the Romans. Among them are Saturn and Ops, who belong to the most ancient national deities of Italy. To Saturn was ascribed the introduction of agriculture, together with the cultivation of the vine and other fruits. He was, therefore, venerated as the great benefactor of mankind, who not only promoted the physical welfare of men, but who also introduced a higher standard of civilisation. After the Romans had become acquainted with the mythology of the Greeks, they identified him with Cronus. In consequence of this, the story arose that, after his dethronement by Jupiter, Saturn fled to Italy, where he was hospitably received by Janus. There he is said to have brought together the inhabitants, who had hitherto wandered about without any fixed homes, and to have united them in regular political communities, over which he himself ruled. This was the golden age. In remembrance of the happy age when men were not yet troubled by sorrow or need, the Saturnalia were celebrated during three days, beginning from the 17th of December. This festival, which with changed meaning still continues in the Carnival of the present day, was celebrated in Rome with particularly great splendour. Unbounded festivity reigned throughout the whole town, and vented itself in every description of joke and prank. The distinctions of class were suspended, the courts and schools kept holiday, and the shops were closed. The chief day was the 19th of December, which was especially a festive day for the slaves, for on this day there were practically no slaves in Rome. No services were required of them, and they were allowed to don the clothes of their masters and to eat and drink as much as they liked, whilst their masters waited on them at table. And this custom allowed a class, otherwise subject to so many afflictions, to forget their sorrows for at least one day in a year. Wealthy Romans generally kept open house on this day, and vied with each other in the splendour of their hospitalities; and of course a solemn sacrifice was made to Saturn. The woollen bandages which, during the greater part of the year, enveloped the feet of his statue in order that he might not depart without vouchsafing a blessing, were on this day unloosed, and throughout the night the temple was illuminated with wax tapers. This festival, which was extremely popular among the Romans, was also celebrated with games in the circus.

The chief temple of Saturn, which was begun by Tarquinius Superbus and finished in the first years of the Republic, was situated on the ascent to the Capitol from the Forum. Beneath it was a vault containing the state treasury, or _ærarium_, the guardianship of the state treasures being committed to this god as the dispenser of every blessing.

Regarded as the wife of Saturn, and therefore identified with Rhea, Ops was the goddess of the seed-time and harvest. On this account her worship was closely connected with that of Saturn, and she had a place in his temple on the Capitoline. A festival was celebrated in honour of her on the 25th of August, when the newly-gathered corn was threshed.

When taken together, Saturn and Ops were regarded as deities who presided over marriage and the education of children, it being an easy step from the deity of the sprouting, ripening seed, to that of the budding, thriving season of human life.

Saturn is always represented as an old man, and is generally distinguished by a pruning-knife or sickle.

=10. Vertumnus and Pomona.=—Vertumnus and Pomona much resemble Saturn and Ops, the only difference being that the former exert their influence solely on the growth and welfare of the fruits of the garden and orchard. Vertumnus properly signifies the self-changing one; referring, probably, to the manifold changes which the fruit undergoes from the time of its first appearance in blossom to that of its maturity. For the same reason the god was said to possess the faculty of assuming any shape he liked. The first of the flowers and fruits were offered to him. Pomona, as her name signifies, was the goddess of the fruit harvest, and called by the poets the wife of Vertumnus. Each deity had a special priest (flamen), though the latter naturally held only an inferior position.

In art Vertumnus generally appears as a beautiful youth, his head crowned with a garland of ears of corn or laurel, with a horn of plenty, as a symbol of the blessings he bestows, in his right hand. He is sometimes distinguished by a dish filled with fruit, or a pruning-knife. Pomona is generally represented as the season of Autumn, a beautiful maiden with boughs of fruit-trees in her hand.

=11. Flora.=—Among the inferior deities of the plain was Flora, the goddess of blossoms and flowers, who was held in great honour by the Sabines, and everywhere in the interior of Italy. Her worship is said to have been introduced into Rome by Numa, who assigned the goddess a priest of her own. She attained a higher significance by becoming a goddess of maternity, whom women invoked before their confinement. Her festival was celebrated with great rejoicings from the 28th of April to the 1st of May (Floralia). The doors of the houses were adorned with flowers, and wreaths were worn in the hair. After the first Punic war, the festival, which was remarkable throughout for its merry and tumultuous character, was also celebrated with games, hares and deer being hunted in the circus.

Artists appear to have represented Flora as the season of Spring, in the guise of a beautiful girl crowned with flowers. There is a fine marble statue of this kind, larger than life, in the museum at Naples, called the Farnese Flora.

=12. Pales.=—Pales was the ancient pastoral goddess of the Italian tribes, from whom the name Palatine, which originally meant nothing but a pastoral colony, was derived. She was especially venerated by the shepherds, who besought her to send fruitfulness and health to their flocks. A festival in her honour was celebrated on the 21st of April, the anniversary of the foundation of the city (Palilia), at which very ancient rustic customs were observed. The most remarkable of these was the kindling of a large straw fire, through which the shepherds rushed with their flocks, thinking thus to purify themselves from their sins. Milk and baked millet-cakes were offered to the goddess. There is no statue of her now in existence.

=13. Terminus.=—Terminus, although he had nothing to do either with the welfare of the crops or the fruitfulness of the flocks, may yet be reckoned among the field deities, as the god who specially presided over boundaries. All landmarks were held sacred to him, and their erection was attended with religious ceremonies. In order that his people might fully appreciate the sanctity of boundaries, King Numa instituted a special festival in honour of the god, called the Terminalia, and annually celebrated on the 23rd of February. The proprietors of lands bordering on each other were wont on this occasion to crown the boundary stone with garlands, and to make an offering of a flat cake to the god.

In his wider signification Terminus was regarded as the god under whose protection the boundaries of the state reposed, and in this character he had a chapel in the temple of Minerva on the Capitol. A statue of the god also stood in the midst of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which is explained by the following story:—After Tarquinius had conceived the plan of building the great temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, the limited space necessitated the removal of several existing shrines, which could only occur with the consent of the deities themselves. They all expressed by means of auguries their readiness to make way for the highest god of heaven, except Terminus, who refused, and whose shrine had therefore to be included in the temple of Jupiter.

Statues of Terminus are exactly like the Hermæ of the Greeks, and have no importance in art.

=14. Demeter (Ceres).=—Demeter was a daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Her name signifies Mother Earth, and she is, therefore, an expression of the ancient conception of the earth-goddess, with a special reference to nature and human civilisation. She was also named Deo, and by comparison of these two words, her name has been interpreted as Dawn-Mother, from the same root as Zeus, the sky. The thriving of the crops was ascribed to her influence; she was further regarded as the patroness of all those arts which are more or less intimately connected with agriculture, and which men first learned from her. Demeter thus rises to the rank of a goddess of civilisation. She rescued men by means of agriculture from the lower grades of hunters and shepherds, and brought their former rude and barbarous manners into subjection to law and morality. She thus becomes that “bountiful daughter of Heaven,” who, as Schiller sings in his _Lay of the Bell_,

“of old Called the wild man from waste and wold, And, in his hut thy presence stealing, Roused each familiar household feeling; And, best of all the happy ties, The centre of the social band,— The instinct of the Fatherland.”

Regarded in this light, she comes into contact with Dionysus, whose beneficial influence on human civilisation and manners we have already described. This accounts for the intimate connection of these two deities in the Eleusinian mysteries, where Dionysus-Iacchus even appears as the son of Demeter and the husband of Cora-Persephone. Owing to the important part she played in the institution of law and order among mankind, she was venerated as the goddess of marriage, marriage being the necessary foundation of civil society. She was also regarded as the tutelary goddess of national assemblies.

Of the numerous legends which are linked with the name of this goddess, none perhaps is more celebrated, or more pregnant with meaning in regard to her worship, than the rape of her daughter Persephone, or Cora. The latter was once playing with the daughters of Oceanus in a flowery meadow, where they were picking flowers and making garlands. Persephone happened to quit her companions for a moment to pluck a narcissus she had perceived, when suddenly the ground opened at her feet, and Pluto, or Hades, the god of the infernal regions, appeared in a chariot drawn by snorting horses. Swift as the wind he seized and carried off the terrified maiden in spite of her struggles, and vanished again into the regions of darkness before her companions were aware of the catastrophe. All this occurred, however, with the knowledge of Zeus, who had, unknown to Demeter, promised her daughter to Pluto. When Demeter missed her darling child, and none could tell her where she had gone, she kindled torches, and during many days and nights wandered in anxiety through all the countries of the earth, not even resting for food or sleep. At length Helios, who sees and hears everything, told Demeter what had happened, not disguising, however, that it had occurred with the consent of Zeus. Full of wrath and grief, the goddess now withdrew from the society of the other gods into the deepest solitude. Meanwhile all the fruits of the earth ceased, and a general famine threatened to extinguish the human race. In vain Zeus sent one messenger after another, beseeching the angry goddess to return to Olympus. Demeter swore that she would neither return nor allow the fruits of the earth to grow until her daughter was restored to her. At length Zeus was fain to consent, and despatched Hermes to the lower world to bring Persephone back. Persephone joyfully prepared to obey this command, but as she was about to depart Hades gave her a pomegranate-seed to eat, whereupon she found herself bound to him and unable to return. By means of Zeus, however, a compact was made by which Persephone was to spend two-thirds of the year in the upper world with her mother, and the remaining portion with her husband. And thus every year at springtide she ascends from her subterraneous kingdom to enjoy herself in her mother’s company, but returns again late in autumn to the regions of darkness and death.

It is not difficult to discover the meaning of this myth. It is simply an allegorical representation of the spectacle that is annually renewed before our eyes—the dying away and coming to life again of the vegetable world. Whilst Cora is dwelling during the winter months in the realms of Hades, Nature appears to wear a garb of mourning for her lost daughter. In the Eleusinian mysteries this inevitable decease and resurrection of the vegetable world was conceived as a symbol of higher meaning, setting forth the immortality of the soul. Every living being shares the fate of Cora; every life becomes the prey of cold, inexorable death, only to arise from the darkness of the grave more beautiful and glorious than before.

Closely connected with this beautiful and expressive myth is another which refers to the institution of the Eleusinian mysteries. When Demeter, after the loss of her daughter, was wandering over the earth in the guise of a poor old woman, she came to Eleusis. The daughters of Celeüs, the king of the city, found her sitting on a stone by the Maidens’ Well as they came thither to draw water, and offered the old woman service in their father’s house as nurse to their youngest brother Demophon. The goddess consented, and was kindly received in the house of Celeüs, where she was at once installed as nurse to the young prince. She became so fond of the child that she resolved to make him immortal by anointing him with ambrosia, and then laying him at night in the glow of the fire. She was discovered at her work, however, by the mother of the child, whose cries disturbed her, and thus prevented her from fulfilling her benevolent intention. She now revealed herself to Celeüs, and commanded him to build her a temple in Eleusis. When it had been hastily completed, with the help of the goddess, she initiated Celeüs and some other princes of Eleusis—Triptolemus, Eumolpus, and Diocles—in the solemn rites of her service. On Triptolemus, who is called the son of Celeüs, she imposed the task of disseminating a knowledge of agriculture and of her own worship throughout the earth, and for this purpose lent him her own chariot and dragons. On this he travelled through the countries of the earth, making known everywhere the blessings of agriculture, and uniting men in regular political communities. He was not well received in all places, and the goddess had sometimes to step in and punish those who contemned her benefits. Such was the case with the Scythian king Lynceus and the Thessalian prince Erysichthon; but at length her cause triumphed, and the worship of the bountiful goddess spread itself over the whole world.

The chief seat of her worship was the city of Eleusis, which was beautifully situated on the bay of Salamis. It retained this honour even after it had lost its independence and come into the possession of the Athenians. The Eleusinian mysteries were celebrated both here and at Athens, in honour of Demeter and the deities associated with her. They probably contained a symbolical history of Cora.

There was a distinction between the greater and lesser mysteries. The latter were celebrated at Athens in the month of Anthesterion (February), and were a kind of preparation for the greater mysteries, which took place in September, and were celebrated during nine days, partly at Athens and partly at Eleusis. In these secret rites only those could take part who had been initiated. The chief feature of the festival was a great and solemn procession on the sixth day from Athens to Eleusis, a distance of about twelve miles. All those who took part in it—often as many as 30,000—were crowned with myrtle, and bore torches in their hands, as the procession started from Athens at the earliest dawn.

The festival of the Thesmophoria, which was celebrated at the beginning of November, in honour of Demeter in her character of lawgiver and goddess of marriage, was less important than the Eleusinia. It lasted for five days, and only married women were allowed to take part in it.

[Illustration: Fig. 44.—Demeter Enthroned. Painting from Pompeii. Naples.]

The Ceres of the Romans, though undoubtedly an ancient Italian goddess, was the very counterpart of the Greek Demeter, with whom, after the successful introduction of her worship during the first years of the Republic, she was entirely identified.

The chief festival of Ceres and her associate deities, Liber and Libera, fell on the 19th of April, which, as the proper spring month, was especially dedicated by the inhabitants of Italy to deities presiding over agriculture. The Cerealia were opened by a grand procession, in which every one was clothed in white. It was further celebrated with solemn sacrifices and games in the circus, the management of which lay with the plebeian ædiles.

The usual sacrifice, both among Greeks and Romans, was the sow (the symbol of fruitfulness), but, besides this, cows and the first fruits of the trees and hives were offered to her.

In the representations of the goddess an expression of lofty dignity is blended with condescending benevolence and gentleness. Her principal attributes are a torch, a sheaf of corn, a garland of ears of corn interwoven in her hair, and a basket filled with flowers at her side. Among the few antique statues, a large marble figure in the Capitoline Museum at Rome deserves especial mention. The engraving (Fig. 44), which is after a Pompeian painting, depicts Demeter as the bountiful goddess of agriculture. She is seated on a throne, and holds a torch consisting of two calices in her right hand, and a bunch of corn in her left.

=15. Persephone (Proserpina).=—In Persephone, the goddess of the lower world, whom the Athenians preferred to call by her mystic name of Cora, two distinct conceptions are embodied. On the one hand she appears as the wife of the dark god of the lower world—like him, a gloomy, awe-inspiring deity, who pitilessly drags down all that lives into the hidden depths of the earth; whence the grave is called the chamber of Persephone. Such is the view of her taken by Homer and later epic poets. These represent her as sitting enthroned at the side of her grim lord, the joyless queen of the infernal regions, to dwell in which were worse than to be a slave on earth. On the other hand she appears as Cora, the lovely daughter of the all-bountiful Mother Earth; a personification, in fact, of that never-dying force of nature which, year by year, causes the most luxuriant vegetation to spring up before our eyes, only, however, to die away again in the autumn. In a somewhat narrower sense Persephone may be regarded as a type of the grain, which long remains in the ground where it has been sown as though dead, but afterwards breaks forth into new life. It was only natural to associate with this last conception ideas of the immortality of the soul, of which, in the secret doctrines of the mysteries, Persephone was a symbol. Though we know but little concerning the details of the mysteries, we are yet aware that their chief object was to disseminate better and purer ideas of a future life than the popular faith of the Greeks afforded. It was commonly believed that the souls of men after death led a dull, miserable existence in the world of shadows. Those initiated in the mysteries, however, were taught that death was only a resurrection of the soul to a brighter and better life, on the condition, of course, that a man had fully pleased the gods and rendered himself worthy of such a happy lot.

Persephone, or Proserpina, as she is called in Latin, was a deity originally entirely strange to the Romans, who borrowed all their ideas of the lower world from the Greeks. Nevertheless, they identified her with Libera, an ancient rustic goddess of fertility, the feminine counterpart of Liber, under which name she signifies the same as the Greek Cora. Black, barren cows were sacrificed to Persephone as an infernal goddess, but she does not appear to have had any temples of her own.

[Illustration: Fig. 45.—Persephone Enthroned. Painting from Pompeii. Naples.]

Persephone is of no great importance in art, and statues of her are rare. She is represented either as the fair daughter of Demeter, or as the grave, severe queen of the world of shadows. In the latter character she may generally be recognised by her sceptre and diadem. Her other attributes are ears of corn, a poppy, and a torch, as a symbol of her connection with the Eleusinian mysteries, besides the pomegranate and narcissus. The engraving (Fig. 45), after a painting in the Naples Museum, represents her as the Stygian queen.

=16. Hades (Pluto).=—The same twofold nature which we meet with in Persephone may be observed also in her husband, Hades, or Aïdoneus (the invisible), as he is called by the epic poets, on account of the mysterious gloom in which his kingdom as well as his person was enveloped. He first appears as the unrelenting, inexorable foe of human life, on whom one cannot even think without fear and trembling. For this reason, says Homer, “he is of all the gods the most detested among mortals.” This conception, however, was subsequently supplanted by one of a less dismal nature, in which the other side of his character is brought into prominence. From this point of view he is represented not only as sending nourishment to plants from the deep bosom of the earth, but also as offering unbounded riches to mankind in the shape of the precious metals which lie in his subterraneous passages and chambers. In this sense he was also called Pluto, or Pluteus—that is, the god of riches.

Hades belonged to the earliest deities of Greece, being, like Poseidon, a brother of Zeus. When the three brothers partitioned the universe among themselves, Hades received the dark regions of the earth as his exclusive kingdom, the portals of which he was said to keep closed, in order that no soul might return to the upper world without his consent. He was also termed Polydectes (the receiver of many), from the fact of his seizing on all men, without distinction, at their appointed time, and conveying them to his dismal realms. The ideas which men first entertained, as to the mode in which Hades exercised his power over mortals, exactly corresponded with their grim conception of the god. He was looked on as a powerful and dreaded robber, who, as in the case of Persephone, seizes on his prey and carries it off with his swift horses. Later, a milder conception of the god was introduced. The task of carrying the souls of the dead to the lower world was delegated to Hermes, who thus became a servant of Pluto, the Zeus of the infernal regions, just as he was otherwise a servant of the Zeus of heaven. But though the original dismal conception of this deity as the inexorable god of death was much diminished in course of time, yet Hades, nevertheless, always conveyed an idea of something grim and mysterious to the Greek mind; which is perhaps the reason why so few myths, beyond that of the rape of Proserpina, were circulated concerning him. He can, in fact, scarcely be said to have had a place in the public worship of the Greeks.

[Illustration:

Fig. 46.—Head of Hades. Palazzo Chigi. Rome.]

The Roman conception of this deity differed little from that of the Greeks, having been, in fact, borrowed entirely from a Greek source. By them he was called Pluto, or Pater Dis. He had no temple in Rome, but had, in common with Proserpina, a subterranean altar in the Campus Martius, which was uncovered and used once a-year. Only black animals were sacrificed to him.

Artists naturally hesitated to portray a being whose very name they feared to pronounce, and consequently antique statues of Hades are very rare. His characteristic features—a grim expression of countenance, tightly-closed lips, and long tangled hair—are embodied in a marble head, in the possession of Prince Chigi at Rome, of which we give an engraving (Fig. 46). His principal attributes are a sceptre, a votive bowl, and sometimes a two-pronged fork, or a key.

=17. The Lower World.=—To our consideration of Hades we must add some remarks on the ideas which the ancient Greeks and Romans had of the other life and of the abodes of the dead. It may be well to remark, at the outset, that the Romans do not originally appear to have believed in a kingdom of the dead in the interior of the earth, and that all their ideas on this subject were borrowed from the writings of the Greeks. Neither do their ideas on this subject, nor even those of the Greeks, appear to have been invariably the same at all times. Even in the poetry of Homer we come across two very different views as to the situation of the realms of the dead. According to that which we find in the _Iliad_, it was situated beneath the disc-shaped earth, only a thin layer separating it from the upper world. This is made evident on the occasion of the great battle of the gods in the 20th book, where we read—

“Pluto, the infernal monarch, heard alarmed, And, springing from his throne, cried out in fear, Lest Neptune, breaking through the solid earth, To mortals and immortals should lay bare His dark and drear abode of gods abhorred.”

According to another view which prevails in the _Odyssey_, the world of shadows was not situated beneath the earth, but lay far to the westward, on the other side of Oceanus, or on an island in the same; so indefinite and vague were men’s ideas as to the locality of the kingdom of death in the time of Homer, and so undeveloped were their conceptions as to the lives of departed souls. The lower world appears as a desolate, dismal region, where departed spirits lead a shadowy, dreamy existence, to reach which is no happiness. There is no difference in their lots; for we as yet hear nothing of the judgment of the dead. The Elysian fields, to which the special favourites of the gods were transferred, form no part of the lower world in Homer, but were supposed to lie in an entirely distinct region in the far West (the isles of the blest). Later on, the outlines of the lower world become more clearly defined. It was now supposed to be a region in the centre of the earth, with several passages to and from the upper world. Through it flowed several rivers—Cocytus, Pyriphlegethon, Acheron, and Styx. The last of these encompassed the lower world several times, and could only be crossed by the aid of Charon, the ferryman, who was depicted as a sullen old man with a bristling beard. The Greeks therefore used to place an obolus (small copper coin) in the mouths of their dead, in order that the soul might not be turned back by Charon for lack of money. On the farther side of the river the portals were watched by the dreadful hell-hound Cerberus, a three-headed monster, who refused no one entrance, but allowed none to leave the house of Pluto. All souls, on reaching the lower world, had to appear before the tribunal of Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Æacus. Those whose lives had been upright were then permitted to enter Elysium, where they led a life of uninterrupted bliss; whilst those who on earth had been criminal and wicked were consigned to Tartarus, where they were tormented by the Furies and other evil spirits. Those whose lives had not been distinctly good or bad remained in the asphodel meadow, where as dim shadows they passed a dull, joyless existence.

The punishments of great criminals in the infernal regions were a fruitful theme for the imagination of the poets. The most celebrated criminals were Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus, Ixion, and the Danaids. We have said that the idea of the judgment of the dead is not found in the earliest legends. Hence we must expect to find, in some cases, that the crimes supposed to have drawn down the wrath of the gods were either later inventions, or had very little connection with the punishment inflicted. Thus to take the case of Tantalus, the original idea appears to have been the burning sun looking upon sweet fruits and streams of water, and drying them up instead of being able to enjoy them. It is possible that another part of the legend, the offering of his children for the gods of heaven to eat, may have a similar origin. So the story of Sisyphus seems to point to the sun daily toiling up the steep hill of heaven, yet ever obliged to recommence his weary task. So the name Ixion seems to be derived from a word meaning wheel, and to be yet another allusion to the orb of day. As men began to forget the reality underlying these words, and to think that some real person suffered these woes, it was only natural that they should try to find a reason. Generally, perhaps always, some point in the story could be twisted into a crime deserving of punishment (compare the legend of Œdipus). The punishment of Tityus, who had offered violence to Leto, consisted in being chained to the earth, whilst two vultures continually gnawed at his ever-growing liver. Tantalus, the ancestor of the Atridæ, Agamemnon and Menelaus, had been deemed worthy to hold intercourse with the gods, until he thought fit to put their omniscience to the test by setting before them the flesh of his son Pelops. This crime he was condemned to expiate by the torments of continual hunger and thirst. Above his head were suspended the most beautiful fruits; but when he attempted to snatch them, a gust of wind blew them beyond his reach. At his feet flowed a stream of the purest water; but when he tried to quench his thirst, it suddenly vanished into the ground. Sisyphus, formerly king of Corinth, had provoked the wrath of the gods by his numerous crimes, and was condemned, in consequence, to roll a block of stone up a high mountain, which, on reaching the top, always rolled down again to the plain. Ixion, a not less insolent offender, was bound hand and foot to an ever-revolving wheel. Lastly, the Danaids, or daughters of Danaus, who, at their father’s command, had slain their husbands on the wedding night, were condemned to pour water continually into a cask full of holes, which could never be filled.

=18. The Erinyes (Furiæ).=—The Erinyes, or Furies, were denizens of the lower world, who executed the commands of Hades and Persephone. They were ultimately three in number, and their names were Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megæra; and this number, like that of the Graces, the Fates, and others, is due to the fact that the Greeks expressed any undefined number by the sacred numeral three. In their original signification they appear as the avengers of every violation, either on the part of gods or men, of the moral laws of the universe. When, at a later period, the idea of an avenging Nemesis had become more and more developed, the significance of the Erinyes diminished, and their avenging duties were confined to the family.

As the inexorable pursuers of every injury done to the sacred ties of blood—especially the murder of kindred—they received a much greater degree of attention at the hands of the Greek tragic poets, by whom they were frequently brought on the stage. The pictures thus drawn of the relentless activity of the Erinyes are both powerful and striking. Nothing can equal the keen scent with which they trace the crime, or the untiring speed with which they pursue the criminal. As a symbol of this latter quality, the poets have endowed them with brazen feet. Their appearance is wan and Gorgon-like; wild lust for blood is written in their features, and the serpents which twine round their heads in the place of hair deal out destruction and death on their unhappy victims. Flight avails them nought, for there is no region whither the avenging Furies cannot follow, no distance that they cannot compass. With torch swung on high they dog the steps of the unhappy wretch, like swift huntresses following in the track of their hard-pressed game, and never rest until they have driven him to madness and death.

What, then, was the origin of the belief in these dreadful beings? Two explanations have been given, and in each case we shall see in them the powers of nature. Whether we are to look upon them as the storm-clouds darting lightnings upon the criminal, or as the bright dawn rising over the earth and pointing out his hiding-place, we must recognise the idea of the punishment of sin, inflicted by the powers of heaven. If, as seems most probable (_cf._ the genealogy given them by Æschylus and Sophocles), we are to take the latter explanation, we shall have some reason for the names of “kindly” and “venerable,” applied to them by the Greeks, partly, no doubt, owing to the ancient custom of avoiding words of ill-omen. Yet poetical mythology treated this as a transformation of their nature, and associated it with a special event, namely, the institution of the Areopagus at Athens, and the purification of the matricide Orestes effected by this venerable court. The story relates that Orestes, after having slain his mother Clytæmnestra and her infamous paramour Ægisthus, in revenge for the murder of his father Agamemnon, wandered for a long time about the earth in a state bordering on madness, owing to the persecution of the Erinyes. At length, however, he was befriended by Apollo and Athene, the kindly deities of the luminous Æther. Apollo first purified him before his own altar at Delphi, and then defended him before the court of the Areopagus, which had been founded by Athene. Orestes was here acquitted, for Athene, when the votes for and against him were equal, declared that then and in all future time the criminal should have the benefit of the doubt. The Furies, indeed, were at first very wroth, and threatened the land with barrenness both of women and soil; but Athene succeeded in pacifying them, by promising that a shrine should be erected to them on the hill of the Areopagus. After they had taken possession of this sanctuary, they were thenceforth venerated by the Athenians, under the names of Semnæ (venerable), or Eumenides (benevolent), as propitious deities who, though they still continued to punish crimes, were ever ready to grant mercy to the repentant sinner, and to give succour to all good men.

There were different traditions concerning the origin of the Erinyes. According to Hesiod, they owed their existence to the first execrable crime committed since the beginning of the world, for they were the daughters of Earth, and sprang from the drops of blood that fell from the mangled body of Uranus. They here appear, therefore, as an embodiment of the curses which the angry father invoked on the head of his unnatural son. Sophocles, on the other hand, calls them the daughters of Gæa and Scotos (darkness of night). Æschylus simply terms them the daughters of the Night. Besides the shrine in Athens already mentioned, they had another near the city, a sacred grove in Colonus, which was celebrated as the last refuge of the unfortunate Œdipus. In Athens they had an annual festival, at which libations of milk and honey were made to them.

In art the Erinyes are represented as swift huntresses, armed with spear, bow, and quiver. Torches, scourges, or snakes were also put in their hands. They were, moreover, provided with wings on their shoulders or head as a token of their swiftness.

=19. Hecate.=—Among the mystic deities of the lower world we must not omit to mention Hecate. By the Romans, indeed, she was never publicly venerated, though she was not exactly unknown to them. Common tradition made her a daughter of the Titan Perseus and Asteria. She ruled principally over the secret forces of Nature, which perhaps explains the spectral and awe-inspiring form which this goddess assumed. She was supposed to preside over all nocturnal horrors, and not only to haunt the tombs and cross-roads herself in company with the spirits of the dead, but also to send nightly phantoms from the lower world, such as the man-eating spectre Empusa, and other fabulous goblins.

As her name seems to signify, Hecate (far-striking) was originally a moon-goddess, not like either Artemis or Selene, but representing the new moon in its invisible phase. The ancients not being able to account for the different phases of the moon, naturally came to the conclusion that, when invisible, it was tarrying in the lower world. The public worship of the goddess was not very extensive, but her importance in connection with the mysteries was all the greater. Men were wont to affix small pictures of her to houses and city gates, which were supposed to prevent any bad spells from affecting the town or house. On the last day of every month her image on the house doors was crowned with garlands, and viands were set before it in her honour, which were afterwards eaten by the poor, and termed the meals of Hecate. Wooden images of the goddess with three faces were generally set up where three roads met, and here dogs were sacrificed to her as sin-offerings for the dead. This usually took place on the thirtieth day after death. As in the case of other infernal deities, black lambs were sacrificed to her, besides libations of milk and honey.

[Illustration:

Fig. 47.—Three-formed Hecate. Capitoline Museum.]

Hecate was generally represented as three-formed (_triformis_), which probably has some connection with the appearance of the full, half, and new moon. In order to explain more clearly the nature of such a representation, we give an engraving (Fig. 47) after a bronze statuette in the Capitoline Museum at Rome. The figure facing us holds in her hands a key and a rope, which point her out as the portress of the lower world; over her brow is a disc, representing, probably, the dark surface of the new moon. The figure on the right holds in either hand a torch, in virtue of her character as a mystic goddess, whilst on her brow is a half-moon and a lotus-flower. Lastly, the third figure bears, as a symbol of the full moon, a Phrygian cap with a radiant diadem fastened on it, which gives forth seven rays; in her right hand is a knife, in her left the tail of a serpent, of which no satisfactory interpretation has hitherto been discovered.

=20. Sleep and Death.=—Sleep and Death were conceived by the ancients as twin brothers. According to Hesiod, they were children of Night alone. They dwelt in the lower world, whence they visited the earth to steal over mortals; the former a kindly benevolent spirit, the latter grim and cruel. Apart from this conception, which was especially developed by later poets and artists, Death was sometimes depicted as quite distinct from Sleep, and in a still less amiable guise. The different forms of violent death were personified as female deities of formidable aspect, called the Ceres; or Apollo and Artemis among the inhabitants of heaven, and Pluto and Persephone among those of the lower world, were represented, as the deities of death. The Romans had a personal god of death, whom they called Orcus; he was represented as an armed warrior dealing out mortal wounds among mankind. But none of these special gods of death had any great importance, either in religion or art. Artists, indeed, laboured sedulously to diminish the dreadful appearance of Thanatus (death), and to render him more and more like his brother Hypnus (sleep).

Thanatus and Hypnus often appear in company, either sleeping or standing; the former usually bears a reversed torch, the latter a poppy-stalk or a horn, out of which he is pouring some liquid. They are both generally represented in the bloom of youth. In Fig. 34, which is after a drawing of Asmus Carstens, they appear as the children of Night, and are here brought into immediate connection with the other powers, Nemesis and the Parcæ, who control the destinies of man.

Besides Sleep and Death, Hesiod also mentions Dreams as the children of Night. Other writers, however, call them the sons of Sleep, who dwell in the far West, close to the realms of Hades. This house of dreams has, in Homer’s well-known description, two gates—one of ivory, through which pass flattering, deceptive dreams, and one of horn, whence the true dreams proceed. Morpheus was made the special god of dreams by the poets, and termed the son of Hypnus.

IV.—ROMAN DEITIES OF THE HOUSE AND FAMILY.

Before passing to the heroic legends, some remarks are necessary concerning the inferior deities, who played such an important part in the domestic worship of the Romans. We have already incidentally remarked that the people of Italy generally passed by the greater gods of the heaven and earth in anxious awe. Their invocation and adoration was left to public worship, whilst, in their less important domestic concerns, men had recourse to certain inferior deities, whom they thought nearer to them; just as in the present day, in Italy, the common people prefer to communicate their prayers and wishes to their patron saints rather than to the Almighty himself.

=1. The Penates.=—The Penates were the kindly domestic deities of the Romans—the guardians of the household, who especially provided for its daily wants. Of their name, number, and sex nothing is known—not because the facts have been lost to us, but because the Romans themselves were content with this indefinite conception. Similar good spirits, exerting an active influence in the household, were recognised by popular German superstition, without experiencing any necessity of having distinct names for them. The shrine of the Penates consisted of the hearth, the central point of the house, which not only served for the preparation of meals, but was also especially dedicated to religious purposes. It stood in the “atrium,” the only large room in the Roman house, where the family met for meals and received visitors. On the hearth, a fire was continually kept burning in honour of Vesta and the Penates. Around it, after the introduction of images of the gods, were placed the statues of the Penates. These were generally small and puppet-like, and, among the poorer classes, were only roughly cut out of wood. There was no domestic occurrence, either of joy or mourning, in which the Penates did not take part. Like the Lares, of whom we shall speak presently, they participated in the daily meal, portions being set on certain plates for that purpose before the images. There were also State Penates, the ancients regarding the state as nothing but an extended family. The temple of Vesta was to the state what the hearth was to the household. Here was the seat of their worship, and here it was that the Roman Pontifex Maximus brought those offerings which, in private households, were the part of the head of the family. In the innermost sanctuary of the temple of Vesta there were statues of these Penates, of great sanctity, since Æneas was reported to have brought them with him from Troy. We have no trustworthy information as to their number or appearance, for, with the exception of the Pontifex and the Vestal Virgins, none ever entered the holy place. It is scarcely necessary to add that they were believed to exercise an especial influence on the welfare and prosperity of the state and people of Rome.

=2. The Lares.=—The Lares, like the Penates, were the tutelary deities of the house and family, and on that account often confounded with them. They were commonly supposed to be the glorified spirits of ancestors, who, as guardian deities, strove to promote the welfare of the family. The seat of their worship was also the family hearth in the atrium, where their images of wood or wax were generally preserved in a separate shrine of their own (Lararium). The Lares received an especial degree of veneration on the first day of every month; but, like the Penates, they took part in all the domestic occurrences, whether of joy or sorrow. Like the Penates, they also received their share at every meal on particular dishes, and were crowned with garlands on the occasion of every family rejoicing. When a son assumed the _toga virilis_ (came of age), he dedicated his _bulla_[5] to the Lares, amid prayers and libations and burning of incense. When the father of the house started on a journey or returned in safety, the Lares were again addressed, and their statues crowned with wreaths, flowers and garlands being their favourite offerings.

Footnote 5:

A gold or silver ornament, like a medal, which was worn round the neck during childhood.

The same conception which pervades the domestic Lares may be perceived in a more extensive form in the Lares of the Gens, the city, and the state itself. The Lares do not appear, in fact, to have differed in many respects from the heroes worshipped by the Greeks. At all events, Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of the city, were regarded as its Lares, and, in the time of Augustus, the genius of the emperor was associated with them.

=3. Larvæ, Lemures, and Manes.=—Just as the Lares were regarded as the good and happy spirits of ancestors, the souls of others were supposed to wander about in the guise of evil demons and spectres, giving rise to weird terrors, and casting bad spells on the senses of those whom they met. Such was especially believed to be the fate of those who had not received burial, or in whose case the prescribed ceremonies had been neglected, and who being, in consequence, unable to find rest, were doomed to flit about the earth. Such spirits were called Larvæ, or Lemures. The propitiatory festival of the Lemuria, or Lemuralia, which was said to have been instituted in memory of the murdered Remus, was celebrated annually in their honour on the 9th, 11th, and 13th of May. Every paterfamilias was supposed during these days to perform certain midnight ceremonies, and to repeat certain forms, which had the effect of banishing any evil spirits.

In contrast to the Lares and Larvæ, the souls of the dead were also commonly venerated as Manes, or good spirits. These were believed after burial to have been converted into beings of a higher order, who dwelt, indeed, in the interior of the earth, but exercised, notwithstanding, a considerable influence on the affairs of the upper world. It was possible to summon them from the lower world by means of sacrifices. A general festival of the dead took place in February, when the Manes were propitiated with offerings and libations. These offerings were placed on the tombs of the deceased, and, of course, varied extremely, according to the means of the donors.

[Illustration]