If you happen to be Hellenist, Hellenic pagan, Hellenic polytheist, or any other abbreviation of Hellenic faith, please pin yourself on the map! Maybe some of us could find real life buddies around them.
Plus this map is obviously dedicated to Hermes.
It’s not on Google map so you won’t risk your identity, and you can right anything you want in the title. Place the pin in the general area not your home address of course.
In Greek mythology, there are various personified spirits called daimones.Eventually this word evolved into what we now know as “demon” (a word with negative connotations), but daimones weren’t necessarily “evil” spirits. Most of these daimones are the children of Nyx, Eris, or Zeus. In general, the daimon children of Zeus are personifications of morally good concepts, while the children of Nyx and Eris represent the malevolent forces which plague humans. Some daimones (like Hebe, the goddess of youth, or even Eris herself) were full fledged gods, while others were mere personifications with no mythology or cult.
Children of Zeus
Moirai:perhaps better known as the Fates, these three goddesses are the daughters of Zeus and Themis. Sometimes the Moirai were instead called children of Nyx.
Horai:goddesses of the seasons, these three goddesses (Dike,Eunomia, and Eirene) also represent the concepts of justice, lawful conduct, and peace respectively. They are the daughters of Zeus and the titan Themis.
Elder Kharites: goddesses of grace and beauty, these three goddesses (Algaia,Euphrosyne, and Thalia) were the daughters of Zeus and the Okeanis Eurynome. They represented glory, merriment, and festivity respectively. I have an in-depth post about the Elder and Younger Kharites here.
Litai: the personified spirits of prayers were the daughters and ministers of Zeus, and their opposite was Ate, the spirit of delusion. Homer calls them kouraior maidens rather than the daughters of Zeus, but it is likely they were thought of as his daughters seeing as he was the honorary father of all the theoi.
Hebe: the daughter of Zeus and Hera, Hebe is the goddess of youth as well as Hera’s cupbearer and the wife of Herakles.
Aletheia: the personification of truth was also, according to some, a daughter of Zeus. According to Aesop’s fables, she was created by Prometheus.
Kairos:the spirit of opportunity, Kairos is the youngest of Zeus’ divine sons. He was often represented with a long lock of hair hanging from his forehead, suggesting opportunity could be grasped only as it approached.
Likely Children of Zeus
Pistis:trust, honesty, and faith. She was one of the good spirits who escaped from Pandora’s box, abandoning humankind.
Eusebeia: piety, wife of Nomos.
Nomos:law, husband of Eusebeia. Dikewas sometimes called their daughter, although Nomos was usually just an aspect of Zeus.
Dikaiosyne:righteousness, closely related to Dike
Kalokagathia:nobility and goodness, associated with Arete
Epidotes:ritual purification, assuages the wrath of Zeus Hikesios (god of suppliants). He was an attendant of Apollon at Delphi, but also appeared as an epithet of Hypnos.
Hormes:effort, impulse, and eagerness, especially in battle. He was worshipped at Athens as the virtue of industrious effort.
Ekekheiria:truce, cessation of hostilities, closely related to Eirene. She was worshipped at Olympia when a general armistice was declared across Greece for the Olympic games.
Agon:contest and struggle, worshipped at Olympia. It is possible he is the same as Zelos (rivalry).
Praxidike:exacting justice, one of the Praxidikai along with her daughters Homonia (unanimity) and Arete (virtue). She is also the mother of Ktesios (spirit-protector of the household), although he is more often an epithet of Zeus.
Peitharkhia:obedience and following commands. She is the mother of Eupraxia (good conduct).
Soter & Sotera: male and female personifications of safety. These titles are more often used as epithets of gods like Zeus and Dionysos.
The Kharites are the goddesses of kharis (grace), personal beauty and adornment, and pleasures such as feasting, relaxation, and joy. They are also the goddesses of charming speech and song as well as festive dance and song. They are the attendants of Aphrodite and Hera.
“They are mostly described as being in the service or attendance of other divinities, as real joy exists only in circles where the individual gives up his own self and makes it his main object to afford pleasure to others. The less beauty is ambitious to rule, the greater is its victory; and the less homage it demands, the more freely is it paid. These seem to be the ideas embodied in the Kharites. They lend their grace and beauty to everything that delights and elevates gods and men.” (theoi.com)
This idea of the Kharites giving their grace to others makes sense when you remember the meaning of kharis: a reciprocal relationship with the gods in which mortals make offerings to the theoi.
The Kharites, especially Algaia as the wife of Hephaistos, also represented artistic beauty. Like the Mousai, they were said to have inspired and favored certain artists, and the gracefulness and charm associated with Hermes (words), Peitho (persuasion), Aphrodite and Eros (love), and even Athena (wisdom) is said to come from them. The Kharites were often depicted as companions of Apollon and the Mousai and were said to live with the Mousai on Olympus. Poetry was thought to be their favorite of the arts.
“Poets are inspired by the Muses, but the application of their songs to the embellishment of life and the festivals of the gods are the work of the Kharites.” (theoi.com)
the more I think about the Aeneid, the more I realise that when we look at it through modern eyes, it becomes a novel about so much more than the founding of a city. We follow characters who are truly traumatised by all that they have suffered, and a reluctant hero who craves his mother’s comfort - with the weight of his ancestors and his descendants on his shoulders. Despite his own personal trauma, Aeneas must carry on through all the suffering and loss, in order to fulfill his purpose. Despite loosing the most important person in her life, Dido must flee her own country and start up a new kingdom entirely alone, and of course be doomed to meet a tragic end, as all she has worked for falls apart. Despite having his future set out before him, Turnus must fight for all that he had previously deemed so certain, and eventually have it all taken from him, including his life. Surely as modern readers, these tales resonate with us in an entirely new and powerful manner - we can all relate to having to plough through trauma and tragedy despite our own emotions, to feeling alone, craving comfort, being thrown into uncertainty, loosing battles we thought we would win. And the beauty of the Aeneid is the sheer complexity of each one of the characters: hero through one eye, villain through another. It is more than a study of what it means to be roman, it is a study of what it means to be human.
Both the mortal and immortal women in the Aeneid are presented as fatally flawed in some regard. What with Dido’s furor, Juno’s pettiness and Camilla’s arrogance, all of Virgil’s women come across as tainted by the constrains and seemingly universal flaws of their sex. Based on this, it follows that Virgil himself was actually a mysoginist intent on ensuring that his audience understood that all women, even and especially those in positions of power, were inferior and incapable of fulfilling their duties and roles successfully. In this essay I will…
