Greek Mythology Archives - TravelsFinders.Com ®

Ithaca in Odysseus’ Absence

editor — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 16:42:00 +0000

The Trojan War finally over, the Greeks’ homecoming – particularly that of Odysseus – was plagued by storms and sabotage. After many years, when he did not return, most thought that Odysseus was dead. Only Penelope still hoped, but her resolve was tested when a plague of bachelors descended upon Ithaca demanding her hand in marriage. These suitors behaved abominably, eating voraciously, drinking copiously and cavorting with the maidservants. Penelope refused them all, until, pestered to distraction, she agreed to reach a decision, but only after she had woven a winding-sheet for Odysseus’ father Laertes, who now lived on his

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The Kings of Ithaca

editor — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Odysseus belonged to a dynasty of island kings, all only sons. Most were of doubtful parentage. His (supposed) grandfather, Arcesius, was said to be the son of either Zeus or the hero Cephalus. The Athenian Cephalus had been the reluctant and temporary paramour of Eos, goddess of the dawn. Then, in a hunting accident, he tragically killed his true love, Procris (who had returned to him after an affair with King Minos of Knossos). As Cephalus mourned her fate, an oracle advised him to mate with the first thing he came across. This turned out to be a she-bear, but

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The Judgment & Triumph of Paris

editor — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 17:12:00 +0000

Paris had two passions: the mountain nymph Oenone, a skilful healer; and battles between bulls. His prize beast could beat any rivals, until a wild bull thundered into the ring. After a vicious duel it won, and Paris ungrudgingly placed the victor’s garland on its head. At once it changed its form, revealing its true identity: it was the war-god Ares. He had been searching for an honest judge to arbitrate a vexed dispute. He had found the perfect man. So, carrying the golden apple inscribed with the words for the most beautiful’, with which Eris had once disrupted Peleus

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Mycenae Map

editor — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 17:30:00 +0000

Approaching Mycenae, foundations of a Bronze Age bridge lie in the valley (right). Soon shaft graves can be seen cut into the rock (left). Before the main car park, is a parking area (left) for the so-called Treasury of Atreus , a magnificent tholos tomb, unusually containing a small side chamber. From the main site entrance, the path leads to the Lion Gate. Next, right of the well-paved road, is Grave Circle A (no access), where Schliemann discovered many gold masks and grave-goods. A path leads upwards to the palace with its megaron (no access), approached through a series of

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Agamemnon, Clytemnestra & Aegisthus

editor — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 17:36:00 +0000

Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had four children: a son, Orestes, and three daughters, Iphigenia (sometimes called Iphianassa), Electra and Chrysothemis. Mycenae flourished, becoming the most powerful city in all Greece. But once again the shedding of family blood brought disaster. In fulfilment of an oath, war was declared when Paris took Helen to Troy. As Menelaus’ elder brother and the most powerful of all kings, Agamemnon was appointed to lead the expedition to retrieve her, so he ordered the Greek army to assemble at the Bay of Aulis, opposite Euboea in the east of Greece. While there, Agamemnon asked his prophet

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Meleager in the Iliad

editor — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 18:21:00 +0000

In the Iliad, to try to turn aside Achilles’ wrath over the loss of his slave girl and persuade him to return to the fighting, a Greek delegation reminds him of the battle at Calydon. In this version, Meleager, angry with Altheia, withdraws from the conflict outside the city, and stays at home with his wife Cleopatra, nursing his heart-aching wrath, in fury at his mother’s curses which, mourning her brothers’ death, she called upon him from the gods. Repeatedly she beat her fists on the rich earth, as she stretched out on the ground, her bosom wet with tears,

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Ephyra Map

editor — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 18:39:00 +0000

The Necromanteion sits on a low hill above the agricultural village of Mesopotamos, beside the main highway between Preveza and Igoumenitsa. The Church of St John the Baptist dominates the site, now precariously supported above the excavations on girders. Facing the entrance and ticket office, a central courtyard lies west of the eighteenth-century two-storey house. An arch (left) leads to the north corridor with foundations of rooms confidently labelled ritual dormitories’ and purification room’. From its furthest point, another corridor leads off (right) before turning sharply (right) into the labyrinth’. This accesses the main sanctuary’, beneath which a vaulted chamber,

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The Reluctant Hero

editor — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 19:00:00 +0000

Odysseus was renowned for his intellect – his Homeric epithet is very cunning’ (polymetis). Thanks to his advice, King Tyndareus of Sparta made his daughter Helen’s suitors swear an oath to aid her future husband, should she ever stray – which led to the Trojan War and Odysseus’ own prolonged absence from home. As a reward, Tyndareus helped Odysseus marry his niece, Penelope, whose childhood was not without adventure. Some say that her father Icarius tried to drown her at birth by throwing her out to sea. But when she was rescued by a flock of ducks, Icarius relented and

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The Heavenly Twins

editor — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 19:03:00 +0000

Known as the Dioscuri (sons of Zeus), Castor and Polydeuces grew up to be great horsemen and bold adventurers, taking part in the boar hunt at Calydon and sailing with Jason from Iolcus to find the Golden Fleece. But they were best known for the aftermath of their destructive desire for two sisters, Phoebe and Hilaeira (great-grand-daughters of Perseus), who had been promised to the Dioscuri’s cousins, the Thebans Lynceus and Idas. When they discovered that their betrothed had been abducted to Sparta, where each had borne a son, Lynceus and Idas retaliated: to redeem their honour they would take

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Foundations of Troy & Divine Interventions

editor — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 19:06:00 +0000

There are several contradictory myths about Troy’s foundation. One tells that Cretans escaping famine first occupied the land. When mice overran their camp, they recalled an oracle advising them to settle where earth-born adversaries’ attacked them. So they built a temple to Apollo Smintheus (‘Mouse-God’), subdued the Troad (as the region is called), named the local mountain Ida (like the one in Crete), and thrived under their king, Teucer. Others maintained that Teucer was an Athenian, who founded a colony in the Troad and passed the crown to an Arcadian called Dardanus – but the Romans claimed that Dardanus was

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The Elysian Fields

editor — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 19:18:00 +0000

As Tartarus became more democratic’, so Elysium (or more properly the Elysian Fields), once the exclusive domain of heroes, increasingly admitted the souls of the mundanely virtuous. Its location too shifted over time. Hesiod sited it near Ocean’s shores on the Islands of the Blessed, where: happy heroes live. Wheat-bearing earth produces for them fruit as sweet as honey, which ripens three times every year, far from the immortal gods. Cronus rules them – Zeus, the father of gods and men, released him from his chains – and they enjoy equal honour and glory. To Homer, the Elysian Fields were

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Odysseus on Ithaca

editor — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 19:24:00 +0000

Still disguised, Odysseus entered the palace. Only his dog Argos – now old and frail – knew him. Laying back his ears and wagging his tail joyfully he died, content to have seen his master one last time. Inside, Odysseus asked the suitors for alms, but received only abuse and blows. But Penelope was curious about the newcomer and granted him an audience in her private quarters. Despite his longing, Odysseus did not reveal his true identity. Instead, as Penelope wept for her husband, who was sitting beside her’, he claimed to be a Cretan prince, who knew Odysseus before

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Meleager, Atalanta & the Boar Hunt

editor — Sun, 04 Feb 2018 19:30:00 +0000

When Meleager, son of Calydon’s king Oineus (and brother of Tydeus), was born, the three Fates appeared miraculously in his mother Altheia’s bedroom. One promised that Meleager would be strong, another that he would be noble, but the third foretold that he would die when a log already smouldering on the hearth turned into ashes. Hastily Altheia doused the log and hid it in a chest; and Meleager grew to heroic manhood. Years later, as the elderly Oineus was making offerings to all the gods in turn, he forgot to sacrifice to Artemis – so she sent a boar of

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Charon

editor — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 19:42:00 +0000

In the fifth century bc one of the most memorable of all Hades’ inhabitants is first mentioned: Charon, the ferryman who punts dead souls across the Acheron. Again, local geography may mirror that of Hades: east of Ephyra in antiquity was the Acherousian Lake, into which flowed the Acheron and Cocytus. It has since been drained, but some argue that pilgrims visiting the Necromanteion were rowed across the lake as if they were approaching Hades. The first surviving work to name Charon (‘Keen-Sighted’) is Euripides’ Alcestis. Anticipating death, Alcestis herself exclaims: I can see him sitting at the oars in

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Odysseus in Limbo

editor — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 19:48:00 +0000

The daughter of Atlas, Calypso (‘Concealer’) spent her days weaving at her loom, singing in her cave surrounded by: alders and poplars and sweet-scented cypress, the nesting-place of long-winged birds – owls and hawks and chattering sea-crows, which work the ocean’s face. Around the hollow cave there trailed a garden vine, fecund and thick with grapes; and four springs bubbled with sparkling water, each beside the other, but flowing in different directions. And all around lush meadows blossomed, a riot of violets and parsley. In this island paradise Calypso kept Odysseus for seven years, offering immortal youth in exchange for

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Calydon in History & Today

editor — Sun, 28 Jan 2018 19:51:00 +0000

Despite being the setting of a well-known myth, little is known of Calydon until the time of its abandonment. Signs of occupation from the eleventh century bc suggest that it grew up round the archaic sanctuary of Artemis Laphria, an important religious centre. Briefly fought over in the early fourth century bc, in the Classical and Hellenistic periods its two temples – one of Artemis (housing a gold-and-ivory statue), the other of Apollo – were augmented by treasuries and stoas. In the third century bc, Calydon and its newly fortified acropolis were enclosed by walls, 4 km (2^ miles) in

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Sparta in History & Today

editor — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 20:09:00 +0000

Mythological Sparta is unlike the Sparta of Classical history. Early Sparta enjoyed a flourishing cultural and artistic life, but in the late seventh century bc this changed. Fearing defeat by either external enemies or their own slaves, the dominant classes adopted a regime of extraordinary austerity. Loyalty to the state was paramount. Boys housed in barracks from the age of seven were trained exclusively as warriors, while girls honed their bodies to bear strong children. An eccentric constitution melded monarchy, oligarchy and democracy, underpinned by an almost fanatical observation of religious festivals. Predictably many Spartans were sociopaths. Despite establishing some

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Homeric Hades

editor — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 20:30:00 +0000

In the Iliad, none of the action takes place in Hades, but we do learn about it. Sited beside the River Styx’s icy waterfall and protected by a grim dog, Hades lies just below the surface of the earth. When Poseidon causes an earthquake, Haides ‘ruler of the dead, sprang up in terror from his throne and bellowed loud in fear lest – up above – Poseidon, who encircles the dry land, might crack open the earth and expose to men and gods the houses of the dead, so hideous and mouldering that even the gods shudder as they see

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Final Conditions Fulfilled

editor — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 20:39:00 +0000

Four last conditions controlled Troy’s fate. The first was that Achilles son, Neoptolemus, a brave but brutal warrior, be summoned from Scyros. Neoptolemus helped in the fulfilment of the next precondition, too. Only with Heracles bow and arrows could Troy be taken. These were owned by Philoctetes, a Greek hero, who, before reaching the Troad, was bitten by a snake. The stench from his wound was so obnoxious that he was abandoned on Lemnos. Now when Odysseus arrived, demanding his presence at Troy, Philoctetes gave him short shrift. Only Neoptolemus pleas – and those of Heracles ghost – persuaded Philoctetes

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Ithaca in History & Today

editor — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 20:51:00 +0000

There are two Ithacas – one the modern island of Ithaki, the other the Ithaca of the Odyssey. Many have tried to reconcile them, for, if Mycenae and Troy really existed, why not Odysseus palace at Ithaca? Archaeological and topographical surveys show some similarities between Homer’s descriptions and Ithaki. Thus in the south of the island, the bay where the Phaeacians put Odysseus ashore corresponds to Dexia Bay, while Eumaeus hut may be located on the Marathia Plateau above Raven’s Crag. Two sites in the north of Ithaki claim to be Odysseus palace – Alalkomenai and Platrithias. Both have Mycenaean

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