Mythology Ch 14-16

King Minos

judge and arbiter of the dead

Agamemnon

king of Mycenae, who was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra when he returned from Troy.

Hierophant

The "one who displays the sacred things," the officiating priest.

"The Two Goddesses"

Demeter and Persephone (Kore) represent two aspects of the cultivation of grain.

Elpenor

one of his companions who got drunk and fell off a roof and broke his neck.

Sisyphus

punished for chronic deceitfulness by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this action forever.

metempsychosis

reincarnation or transmigration of souls

Ajax the Greater

shuns Odysseus because the arms of the deceased Achilles were awarded to Odysseus and not him.

Taurobolium

tauroboliumIn the Roman Empire of the 2nd to 4th centuries, the tauroboliumreferred to practices involving the sacrifice of a bull, which after mid-2nd century became connected with the worship of the Great Mother of the Gods, the Magna Mater.Under the influence of Sir James George Frazer's The Golden Bough, the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica suggested the taurobolium was probably a sacred drama symbolizing the relations of the Great Mother and Attis. The descent of the priest into the sacrificial trench symbolized the death of Attis, the withering of the vegetation of Mother Earth; his bath of blood and emergence the restoration of Attis, the rebirth of vegetation. The ceremony may be the spiritualized descent of the primitive oriental practice of drinking or being baptized in the blood of an animal, based upon a belief that the strength of brute creation could be acquired by consumption of its substance or contact with its blood.

Orion

the giant

Eleusis

the kingdom of Celeus and Metaneira, where Demeter comes in her wanderings and finds a mortal Doso who was kidnapped from Crete by pirates and asks for work in the house where she takes care of Demophoon; it is the site of the most important of the Greek mystery religions, commemorating Demeter's search and the return of Persephone to the upper realm; the rituals of Eleusis were administered by Athens. Demeter commands the Eleusinians to build her a great temple where she may teach her rites.

Phlegethon

the river of fire. According to Plato, this river leads to the depths of Tartarus.

Lethe

the river of forgetfulness. It is associated with the goddess Lethe, the goddess of forgetfulness and oblivion.

Acheron

the river of pain. It's the one that Charon, also known as the Ferryman, rows the dead across according to many mythological accounts, though sometimes it is the river Styx or both.

Cocytus

the river of wailing.

Isis

through a process of late syncretism she became the singular divinity n the typical form of her myth, the Egyptian goddess Isis (whose name means "throne") was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the Sky. In Apuleius's Metamorphoses (written during the 2nd century AD), the Egyptian goddess Isis is manifested in the form of the ancient Queens of Heaven and Earth (Cybele, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, Hera). The idea of a single divine power has arisen through the process of syncretism.

Lesser Mysteries

took place at Athena, usually one a year in early spring. Its purpose was the preliminary preparation (ritual purification) for advancement to the higher level.

Mithraism

was another mystery cult that developed under the Roman empire.

Triptolemus

Figure who is given the commission to spread Demeter's arts; he becomes a judge in the Underworld; he merges with the figure of Demophoön.

Hecate

Goddess of the occult and the power of vengeance; worshiped at crossroads, she becomes Trivia, a triune goddess (Hecate, Artemis, and Selene); she shares associations with the Furies; in Vergil's Aeneid it is Hecate who has instructed the Sibyl in the secrets of Tartarus, enabling her to describe this realm to Aeneas.

Homeric Hymn to Demeter

Hades snatches away his niece with the full permission of Zeus (and without that of Demeter) while she is gathering flowers (in particular the narcissus, grown by Gaea to abet the theft) in the company of the Oceanides in Sicily. Hecate and Helius alone hear her cries; Helius apparently sees the abduction as well. (Athena, Artemis, and the Oceanides are later in the poem said to have been in her company.) rape of Persephone. the narcissus flower that Persephone reached for, just before her abduction, and the pomegranate seed(s) offered to her by Hades and eaten by her represent the sexual curiosity which ultimately brought about a separation from her mother.

Cerberus

Hades was often portrayed with his three-headed guard dog Cerberus and the two-pronged bident. Cerberus was the three-headed hound of Hades. To get past Cerberus Odysseus and Aeneas would have to give him a drugged sop to put him to sleep.

Demeter

(Ceres) Great mother/ great goddess (goddess of ripe grain) Goddess of the fertility of the earth and grain; she is most often depicted in company with her daughter, Persephone. she comes to Eleusis, where she will establish her rites and spread them to the world. In anger at Zeus' collusion in the abduction, she absents herself from the company of the gods and stops the fertility of the earth; Zeus will eventually relent and allow Persephone to return. This story is the foundation myth for the rites of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis. With Demeter's agreement the Homeric Hymn comes to an end, as the goddess teaches her holy rites (not to be divulged to the uninitiated) to the leaders of Eleusis, including Triptolemus. These rites in some way promise a reward to men after death, although whether in the Underworld or in the present life is not clear, while to those whom they favor the two goddesses send Plutus (offspring of Demeter and Iasion) to bring wealth in this life.

Plato's Myth of Er

(Orphism influenced Plato's Myth of Er, which in turn influenced Vergil's account of Aeneas in the Underworld) The "Myth of Er" is not a traditional tale but a philosophical and intellectual recasting of ancient traditional accounts of life after death and of the underworld to teach that the soul is immortal and that a moral law governs the world. Plato follows Orphic practice in using traditional mythic elements for speculative purposes and in his acceptance of a moral law. Plato's principal contribution was to allow for a purification of the soul before it returned to another human form.Although not a myth, Plato's vision of Er, which owed much to Orphic teaching, influenced other myth makers, especially the Roman poet Virgil in his vivid account of the descent of Aeneas in the 6th book of the Aeneid.According to Virgil's cyclical conception of history and time, when the souls of the good, corrupted by a life in the flesh, descend to the underworld, they are purified so that (as in Plato), after a thousand years, they might return to a new life in a new body.

Hades

(Pluto, Dis) Played a special role in the underworld. was regarded as the oldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although the last son regurgitated by his father. When he and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated their father's generation of gods, the Titans, and claimed rulership over the cosmos, Hades received the underworld. One of Hades' epithets is Polydectes('receiving many'). The Roman gods Dis and Orcus were eventually taken as equivalent to the Greek Hades and merged as Pluto, a Latinization of his euphemistic Greek name Plouton, "the Rich One." Using euphemisms for the names of deities served many purposes throughout ancient religions. Eumenides, meaning "the Kindly Ones," is used euphemistically for the Erinyes).

Hades

(Pluto/Dis) The world of the dead and the god who rules that realm; literally the word means "the unseen one." snatches away his niece with Zeus's permission. The myth of Hades' abduction of Persephone and the compromise whereby Persephone spends 1/3 of the year in the underworld and 2/3 in the world above is etiological. It explains the existence of the seasons and the growth of new vegetation.

Persephone

(Proserpina) was abducted by Hades, sometimes Persephone is simply called Kore ("girl"). the goddess of the new crop of grain, which arises from the ground after the seed grain has been planted in the ground. Kore's return from the underworld is a metaphor for the growth of the new wheat crop. Persephone, however, has eaten of the pomegranate, which will forever root her to two worlds, the upper and the lower realms. While Persephone is below, the earth sleeps and does not produce; when she returns to the upper world, the earth erupts with fertility.

Metaneira

A queen of Eleusis and wife of Celeus. interrupts demeter's plan to make demophoon eternally youthful. Lets Demeter take care of her son as work.

The Realm of Hades and Views of the Afterlife

A recurring theme in Greek myth is descent into and return from the world of the dead (e.g., Demeter and Persephone). The Greeks believed death was caused by a hostile force from the natural world (storm, animal attack), from another human being (enemy soldier), or from the invisible and inexplicable realm of gods, ghosts, magicians, and priests (disease). Greeks believed humans had a soul (psyche, spiritus, anima) which animated the human body and continued on in the afterlife.

Cemaean Sibyl is Aeneas' guide

Aeneas holds a sword, useless against the incorporeal spirits, and the golden bough, which he must present to Persephone before he can enter the Elysian Fields, where the fallen heroes and his father Anchises are found.

Furies (Erinyes, Eumenides)

Alecto, Megaera, Tisiphone The Erinyes, also known as the Furies, were female chthonic deities of vengeance; they were sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses" living in Erebus. According to Hesiod's Theogony, when the Titan Cronus castrated his father Uranus and threw his genitalia into the sea, the Erinyes emerged from the drops of blood that fell on the earth (Gaia). Their number varies, but three appear in the Aeneid: Alecto ("endless"), Megaera ("jealous rage"), and Tisiphone ("vengeful destruction").

Dea Syria

Atargatis was known to Romans as DeaSyria, the Syrian goddess. She was originally an earth-mother goddess similar to Cybele and Demeter Her consort was variously called Tammuz or Dushara. Her sacred marriage to Hadad, Semitic thunder god, led to her association with the Syrian Baal (~ Zeus or Jupiter Dolichenus). She was worshiped in wild rituals with self-flagellation by ecstatic priests. Her worship was not strictly a mystery religion, bound up with secrecy and revelation, but her worship spread throughout the Roman world and was popular with soldiers. At her temples at Ascalon, Hierapolis Bambyce, and Edessa, there were fish ponds containing fish only her priests might touch. These pools survive from the ancient Assyrian town of Edessa. In antiquity, Baalbek was known as Heliopolis. It still possesses some of the best-preserved Roman ruins in Lebanon, including one of the largest temples of the empire. The gods that were worshiped there (Jupiter, Venus, and Bacchus) were equivalents of the Canaanite deities Hadad (Jupiter Dolichenus), Atargatis (Dea Syria), and another young male fertility god, Tammuz or Dushara.

Hermes Psychopompus

Because ghosts were considered stupid and readily confused, they might easily lose their way to the other world and therefore bring misfortune to the living, who wish to be rid of them. Therefore, Hermeswas on hand to lead the dead to the House of Hades.Ghosts were invited to the Athenian spring festival of Anthesteria, "the festival of the sending up [of vegetation]" as another way of appeasing the ghosts. At the end of the festival the souls of the dead were asked to leave.

Charon

Charon receives the obolos ("coin to pay the ferryman") from a ghost who has been led to the river Acheron by Hermes Psychopompos ("soul-guide"). Charon was the ferryman who, after receiving a soul from Hermes, would guide them across the rivers Styx and/or Acheronto the underworld. At funerals, the deceased traditionally had an obol (a coin) placed over their eye or under their tongue, so they could pay Charon to take them across.

Elysium or Elysian Fields

Elysium was a place for the especially distinguished. It was ruled over by Rhadamanthus, and the souls that dwelled there had an easy afterlife and had no labors. Usually, those who had proximity to the gods were granted admission, rather than those who were especially righteous or had ethical merit. Most accepted to Elysium were demigods or heroes. Heroes such as Cadmus, Peleus, and Achilles also were transported here after their deaths. Normal people who lived righteous and virtuous lives could also gain entrance such as Socrates who proved his worth sufficiently through philosophy. A blessed few souls are not subject at death to the standard treatment and may end up in a special afterworld called Elysium or the Elysian Fields.

Aeneas meets Dido, helmsman Palinurus, father Anchises, Deiphobus

In Vergil's Aeneid, Aeneas encounters many of the same souls as had Odysseus; but in addition, he meets his father, Anchises, and former lover, Dido.When Aeneas meets Dido, queen of Carthage, who has recently committed suicide because of her love for Aeneas and his betrayal, he addresses her in sad, piteous, and uncomprehending tones; but she refuses to answer him and turns away to join the shade of her former husband, Sychaeus.

Cybele ("Great Mother of the God's") and Attis

Known among the Greeks as Cybele, or Great Mother of the Gods, mother of mountains in Phrygia, or Kubaba in neo-Hittite), originated in Anatolia, where there was a long-standing tradition of worshiping mother figures. It was imagined that Cybele resided on inaccessible mountain tops where she ruled over wild animals. The goddess is represented wearing a long belted dress, a headdress, and a veil. She is seated on a throne flanked by two lions and holds a tympanon, a circular drum resembling a tambourine, and a libation bowl. Ritual purity was a prerequisite of initiation into the ecstatic cult of the Mother. Her priests, the Corybantes, and followers worshiped her with wild, loud music produced by cymbals and frenzied dancing.

Tauroctony

In all mithraea, a central cult image was displayed at the end opposite the entrance. It represented a ritual bull-killing, a tauroctony: the god Mithras, wearing a cloak and a Phrygian cap, kneels on the back of a bull pulling back its head and stabbing it in the neck with a sword. A scorpion attacks the bull's testicles, while a dog and a snake are stretching up to drink the blood dripping from the wound. A raven flies above, and personifications of the sun to the right and the moon to the left complete the scene. All elements of the tauroctony correspond to constellations of the night sky. The mithraeum is often viewed as an astrological representation of the universe with Mithras as the Sun god himself, with whom he was eventually assimilated: "Deus Sol Invictus Mithras" (the Unconquered Sun God Mithras) It seems likely that Platonic cosmology (in the Timaeus) greatly, if not directly, influenced the ideologies of Mithraism.

Avernus--Aeneas' entrance to the underworld

In the Aeneid, Avernus was represented as the entrance to the Underworld. Avernus is a volcanic crater lake in the Campania region of Italy. The name comes from the Greek word άορνος, meaning "without birds," because according to tradition, all birds flying over the lake were destined to fall dead. This was likely due to the toxic fumes that mouths of the crater gave off into the atmosphere. In later times, the word was simply an alternate name for the underworld.

Homeric Underworld (Book 11 of the Odyssey)

In the Odyssey (Book 11), the entrance to Hades is described as being in the farthest realm of deep-flowing Oceanus, where the country of the Cimmerians lies shrouded in fog and darkness.Taenarum, at the southern cape of the Peloponnese, had caves believed to lead to the underworld.

Osiris

Isis married her brother, Osiris, and she conceived Horus with him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by the evil power Seth (or Set).

Seth

Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by the evil power Seth (or Set). Using her magical skills, she restored his body to life after having gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Seth.

Horus (Harpocrates)

Isis' child Horus was also called Harpocrates.

Serapis

Isis' cult was associated with the god Serapis. Serapis wasa Graeco-Egyptian god. The cult of Serapis was introduced during the 3rd century BC on the orders of Ptolemy I of Egypt as a means to unify the Greeks and Egyptians in his realm. The syncretic god was depicted as Greek in appearance, but with Egyptian trappings, and combined iconography from a great many cults, signifying both abundance and resurrection. A serapeum was any temple or religious precinct devoted to Serapis. The cult of Serapis was spread as a matter of deliberate policy by the Ptolemaic kings, who also built an immense serapeum in Alexandria. However, there is evidence which implies that cult of Serapis existed before the Ptolemies came to power in Alexandria.

Ixion

Ixion was king of the Lapiths in Thessaly. Ixion married Dia a daughter of Deioneus and promised his father-in-law a valuable present. However, he did not pay the bride price, so Deioneus stole some of Ixion's horses in retaliation. Ixion concealed his resentment and invited his father-in-law to a feast. When Deioneus arrived, Ixion pushed him into a bed of burning coals and wood. Ixion went mad, defiled by his act; the neighboring princes were so offended by this act of treachery and violation of xenia that they refused to perform the rituals that would cleanse Ixion of his guilt. Thereafter, Ixion lived as an outlaw and was shunned. By killing his father-in-law, Ixion was reckoned the first man guilty of kin-slaying in Greek mythology. That alone would warrant him a terrible punishment. However, Zeus had pity on Ixion and brought him to Olympus and introduced him at the table of the gods. Instead of being grateful, Ixion grew lustful for Zeus's wife Hera, a further violation of guest-host relations. Zeus found out about his intentions and made a cloud in the shape of Hera, which became known as Nephele (nephos "cloud") and tricked Ixion into coupling with it. From the union of Ixion and the false-Hera cloud came Centaurus, the father of the Centaurs. Ixion was expelled from Olympus and blasted with a thunderbolt. Zeus ordered Hermes to bind Ixion to a winged fiery wheel that was always spinning.

Apuleius' Metamorphoses (or The Golden Ass)

Lucius, the protagonist of Apuleius' novel Metamorphoses (or The Golden Ass), appealed to Isis for help in becoming a human again. The worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era.

Minos, Rhadamanthus, Aeacus

Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus are the judges of the dead. They judged the deeds of the deceased and created the laws that governed the underworld. However, none of the laws provided a true justice to the souls of the dead, and the dead did not receive rewards for following them or punishment for wicked actions. Aeacus was the guardian of the Keys of the Underworld and the judge of the men of Europe. Rhadamanthys was Lord of Elysium and judge of the men of Asia. Minos was the judge of the final vote.

Judges of the Underworld

Minos, Rhadamanthys, Aeacus

Eleusinian Mysteries

Mystery religions, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates. The term "Mystery" derives from Latin mysterium, from Greek mysterion, meaning a "secret rite or doctrine" in this context. An individual who followed such a "Mystery" was a mystes, "one who has been initiated". The Mysteries were schools in which all religious functions were closed to the uninitiated and for which the inner workings of the school were kept secret from the general public.The most famous mysteries of Greco-Roman antiquity were the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were of considerable antiquity and predated the Greek Dark Ages.The various mystery religions flourished well into the late 4thcentury A.D. when they were shut down by the Christian emperor Theodosius. By the fifth century, the mysteries were extinct.

Orpheus and Orphism

Mystery religious in Roman Times Apart from the civic religion associated with the state, mystery cults offered the worshiper hope for a better life in an uncertain world and the expectation of a new life after death. The mystery cults thus supplemented rather than competed with civil religion and the Roman imperial cult. An individual could easily observe the rites of the state religion, be an initiate in one or several mysteries, and at the same time adhere to a philosophical school, such as Neoplatonism.

Tiresias

Odysseus was urged by Circe to make a journey to the underworld (the 'nekuia') to seek advice from Tiresias in the Underworld. Tiresias was the blind seer of Thebes.

Nekuia

Odysseus' Journey to the Underworld. Odysseus poured honey, milk, wine, water, and blood into a pit to feed the shades and allow them to speak. In this way Odysseus played the role of a necromancer, a magician who summons spirits of the dead to question them and gain information from them.

Anticlea

Odysseus' mother, who had died during his long absence.

In the underworld Odysseus met the spirits of some of the dead people he knew, as well as famous ones.

Odyssues meets Teiresias, Achilles, Agamemnon, Anticlea, Ajax, Elpenor

Aristaeus

Orpheus and his tragic love for EurydiceOn their wedding day, a beekeeper named Aristaeus pursued the bride across a field with the intention of raping her. As she fled, she was bitten on the ankle by a snake and died.

Musaeus

Orpheus had a son or a pupil, named Musaeus, who assumed many of Orpheus's characteristics. Various causes and reasons for Orpheus's death have been given, but Ovid and Vergil both agree on his death at the hands of Thracian women. Orpheus - the immortal artist: Orpheus exemplifies the universal power of the artist, especially in music and poetry. Orpheus is linked in one way or another to both Apollo and Dionysus. Was Orpheus a shaman? A shaman is a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a ritual, and practices divination and healing.

Orpheus and Eurydice (a dryad)

Orpheuswas considered the son either of a Thracian river-god named Oeagrus or of Apollo and a Muse. He was famous for his sweet singing and lyre playing. His music enchanted all the animals, drawing them all into the magic circle of his song. Orpheus descended into the underworld and was able to secure the release of Eurydice from Hades and Persephone by means of his enchanting music. The bloodless spirits of the Underworld wept. Hades and Persephone could not refuse Orpheus's pleas. Their icy hearts softened by Orpheus' music, Hades and Persephone agreed to release Eurydicê on the single condition that Orpheus not look back until he had reached the upper world. Through the mute silence, they made their arduous way, dark and thick with black vapors. As Orpheus and Eurydicê were nearing the entrance of Hades, an agonizing doubt took hold of Orpheus. Was she really there? He looked around, just in time to see Eurydicê fade away. On the second death of his wife, Orpheus returned to the Underworld, but Charon refused to take him across again as he begged in vain. After losing his wife a second time, Orpheus wanted nothing to do with any other women, withdrawing to the mountains. He began the practice among Thracians of having sexual relations with young men. He eventually met his end in his native homeland of Thrace, when the Ciconian women attacked him....and tore him to pieces. As Orpheus' head washed down the Hebrus river to the sea, it continued to sing and prophesy even as it washed ashore on the island of Lesbos.

Zagreus

Orphic name for Dionysus, lacchus (A statue of Iacchus (likely another name for Dionysus), which was carried in processionto Eleusis; "Iacche!" was also a ritual cry in the mystery cult of Dionysus.)

Orphism

Orphism refers to the set of religious beliefs and practices which originated among the Greeks, and more specifically with the Thracians, and was associated with literature ascribed to the mythical Thracian poet Orpheus, who descended into Hades and returned. Orphics also revered Persephone (who annually descended into Hades for a season and then returned) and Dionysus / Bacchus (who also descended into Hades and returned). Orpheus was said to have invented the Mysteries of Dionysus. Poetry containing distinctly Orphic beliefs has been traced back to the 6th century BC or at least 5th century BC.●As in the Eleusinian mysteries, initiation into Orphic mysteries promised advantages in the afterlife.

Rivers

Styx, Acheron, Lethe, Cocytus, Phlegethon (or Pyriphlegethon)

Danaids

The Danaids were the fifty daughters of Danaus, who were to marry the fifty sons of Danaus's twin brother Aegyptus, a mythical king of Egypt. In the most common version of the myth, all but one of them killed their husbands on their wedding night, and were condemned to spend eternity carrying water in a sieve or perforated device. They come to represent the futility of a repetitive task that can never be completed.

Kykeon

The drink with which Demeter broke her fast at Eleusis, as reenacted in the rituals at Eleusis; it is a mixture of barley and water. an initiation process lasting nine days, fasting, the carrying of torches, the exchange of jests, the imbibing of Kykeon (a special drink made from barley, mint, and probably some sort of psychotropic drug), and the wearing of a special dress.

Hermes

The god who escorts Persephone back to the upper world.

Helius

The god who sees the abduction of Persephone.

Syncretism

There were mystery religions associated with Eros, Rhea, Cybele and Attis, Aphrodite and Adonis, Dionysus, Demeter, and Orpheus. Mystery religions often shared similar characteristics, and in the context of religion and mythology there was a gradual harmonizing of the different cults and their myths so that they shared common elements. This process is called syncretism - literally a "growing together". The mystery religions all offered the worshiper hope for a better life in an uncertain world and frequently the expectation of a new life after death. Members belonged to a group. Initiates often submitted to the discipline of a rule of life, so that morality and religion were closely associated.

Cabiri (Castor and Pollux)

This Samothracian mystery cult spread rapidly throughout the Greek world during the Hellenistic period, eventually initiating Romans. The Cabiri were called the theoi megaloi and were most commonly depicted as two people. The membership and roles of the Cabiri changed over time, with common variants including a female pair (Axierus and Axiocersa) and twin youths (frequently confused with the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux) who were also worshiped as protectors of sailors. Greek seamen might invoke the Cabiri as "great gods" in times of danger and stress.

Tartarus or Erebus

The realm of Hades as a whole is sometimes called Tartarusor Erebus, although they are also used solely for the region of torment. It was thought of as a dim and shadowy place.

Demophoon

The son of Celeus and Metaneira; Demeter tries to immortalize him, but refuses to continue when interrupted by Metaneira, who thinks the goddess meant to harm her son. remains mortal. Demophoön is sometimes confused with Triptolemus, who is given the great commission to spread the rites of Demeter to the world.

Telesterion

The special sacred enclosure at Eleusis, in which the Greater Mysteries are prerformed; it literally means "the place for the rites." The heart of the ceremonies, celebrated in Demeter's temple (the Telesterion) involved a dramatic enactment, the revelation of sacred objects, and the utterance of certain words.

Tityus

Tityus was a giant who assaulted the goddess Leto as she traveling to the shrine of Delphi. Her son Apollo quickly intervened and slew the giant with a volley of arrows and the blade of his golden sword. As further punishment for his crime, Tityus was staked to the ground in the underworld where two vultures were set to feed on his ever-regenerating liver. The liver was believed to be the seat of passion.

Arch-sinners (and their crimes)

Tityus, Ixion, Sisphus, Tantalus, Danaids

Hiera

Translated literally as "sacred things," it can refer to any ritual offering or implement; in the mystery cult, especially at Eleusis, it refers to the final revelation of god in the ritual.

Persephone/Proserpina

UnderworldPersephone is an old chthonic deity of the agricultural communities, who received the souls of the dead into the earth, and acquired powers over the fertility of the soil, over which she reigned. The earliest depiction of a goddess who may be identified with Persephone growing out of the ground, is on a plate from the Minoan period in Phaistos. The goddess has a vegetable-like appearance, and she is surrounded by dancing girls between blossoming flowers. Oddly enough, at the ancient Greek town of Locris in southern Italy, Persephone was the protector of marriage, a role usually assumed by Hera. In the iconography of votive plaques at Locris, her abduction and marriage to Hades served as an emblem of the marital state, the "maiden death." Children at Locris were dedicated to Proserpina, and maidens about to be wed brought their peplos to be blessed.Proserpina was the Roman name for Persephone.

realms/domains/functions

after demophoon story, Demeter continues her wandering and mourning on earth. For a year the land lies barren; the race of men is threatened with famine and the gods' sacrifices are thus endangered, until Zeus sends Iris to bring his sister to him. Iris fails, and one by one all the other gods fail in their attempts to persuade her. Finally, Zeus addresses the heart of the problem and instead sends Hermes down to Hades to ask for the return of Persephone. Hades consents, but gives his bride a pomegranate to eat before Hermes takes her back. When Demeter receives her daughter, she perceives the trick immediately and concedes that if Persephone has tasted any food at all in the Underworld, she must return to her husband for a third of the year, the winter months. It was the rule of the Fates that anyone who consumed food or drink in the underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Persephone had no food, but Hades tricked her into eating some pomegranate seeds.

Zagreus

anthropogonyThe Orphic cosmogony follows the Hesiodic myth of the struggle between Cronus and Zeus. To reconcile Hesiod's account with the Orphic version, Zeus is said to swallow Phanes (the bisexual creator of all that exists) and make the world anew. On Demeter Zeus begets Persephone, and on Persephone he begets Dionysus, who is now called Zagreus. Dionysus Zagreus was symbolically killed and eaten by the Titans. After the Titans were killed by Zeus' thunderbolts, Zeus created human beings from the ashes of the blasted Titans. For this reason human nature has an evil, Titanic aspect. But because the flesh of Dionysus, whom the Titans devoured, was mingled with the Titans' ashes, human beings also contain a divine Dionysian spark encased in a gross Titanic body. The goal of human existence was therefore to free the immortal soul from the "grievous circle" of its bodily imprisonment (sômasêma, "the body is a tomb") through an ascetic way of life together with secret initiation rites. The Orphicsalso taught metempsychosis, or the reincarnation of the soul.

Mithraeum (pl., mithraea)

archaeology. Mithraism was particularly popular with the Roman legions, and mithraea, the shrines where the mysteries took place, are found everywhere in the empire, but especially at sites along the northern frontier. These were rectangular buildings designed to resemble caves: they lay partly underground with barrel-vaulted ceilings and no windows. Torches and lamps provided light for the performance of indoor rituals that involved rather small groups. A sequence of levels of initiation, the so-called seven grades, was observed. MithraeumThe Mithraeum was the Mithraic temple for the worship of Mithras.The Mithraeum was either an adapted natural cave or cavern, or a building imitating a cave. When possible, the Mithraeum was constructed within or below an existing building, such as the Mithraeum found beneath the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome. 'cosmos-cave' Mithraic temple

Demeter & the Eleusinian Mysteries

as the fertility of the soil, the reproductive capacity of wild animals, and sexual attraction between men and women with divine beings who were female. such goddesses have much in common, representing a religious figure whose cults and myths extended across racial and linguistic lines to exert enormous influence over much of the ancient world - and even today. Great Mother, or the Great Goddess.

Styx

considered to be one of the most prominent and central rivers of the Underworld. It's known as the river of hatred and is named after the goddess Styx. This river circles the underworld seven times.

Hecate

hears Persephone's cries. then joins as her companion and attendant, and then they both confront helius, and they tell demeter what hades did with Zeus's permission.

Mithra/ Mithras

was the god of light and truth and righteous champion of good against evil. He was of Persian origin and was considered a redemption god, somewhat similar to Isis and Dionysus. No myths about Mithras survive and there were no public festivals in his honor. What is known about his worship derives mostly from archaeology.

Greater Mysteries

were held annually during the months of September and October and involved various festivities and a procession to the town of Eleusis, about 14 miles west of Athens. Thus began a formal ceremony lasting 9 days and ending with a return home to Athens.

Islands of the Blessed

were islands in the realm of Elysium. When a soul achieved Elysium, they had a choice to either stay in Elysium or to be reborn. If a soul was reborn three times and achieved Elysium all three times, then they were sent to the Isles of the Blessed to live in eternal paradise.

Eleusinian Mysteries

were the religion and ceremonies centered around the worship of Demeter and her daughter Kore or Persephone. The death and rebirth of vegetation is seen as a metaphor for spiritual resurrection and, as deified in the Two Goddesses, suggests a belief in an afterlife.Thus the Mysteries promised a happy afterlife to its initiates. All those who could speak Greek (except murderers) were eligible to become initiates. Initiates included women and slaves as well as some Roman emperors. Under the Athenian ruler Peisistratos, the Eleusinian Mysteries became pan-Hellenic, and pilgrims flocked from Greece and beyond to participate. This led to a vast increase in the number of initiates. The only requirements for membership were freedom from "blood guilt", meaning never having committed murder, and not being a "barbarian" (being unable to speak Greek). Men, women and even slaves were allowed initiation. Even some Roman emperors were initiated. The Mysteries were controlled by two families, the Eumolpidaeand the Kerykes. Among the priests and officials connected with the worship there, the Hierophant was the highest. This priest alone had the special function of revealing to the worshipers the ultimate mysteries entailed in showing the Hiera, the sacred objects.

Achilles

who delivered the reply, "Better to serve as a hireling to a landless peasant than to be the ruler of the dead."

Tantalus

who served his son Pelops to the gods.