DEMETER ~ THE GODDESS OF HARVEST

In the Greek Religion, Demeter ( Greek: Δημήτηρ) is the Goddess of the grain, agriculture, harvest, growth, and nourishment, who presides over grains and the fertility of the earth. 

Though Demeter is often described simply as the Goddess of the harvest, She also presides over the sacred law, and the cycle of life and death. She and Her daughter Persephone are the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a religious tradition that predated the Olympian pantheon, and which may have its roots in the Mycenaean period, c. 1400–1200 BCE.

In addition to her role as an agricultural Goddess, Demeter is often worshipped more generally as a Goddess of the earth. In Arcadia, She was represented as snake-haired, holding a dove and dolphin, perhaps to symbolize Her power over the underworld, the air, and the water.The Athenians called the dead "Demetrioi", and this may reflect a link between Demeter and an ancient cult of the dead, linked to the agrarian belief that a new life would sprout from the dead body, as a new plant arises from buried seed. This was probably a belief shared by initiates in Demeter's mysteries, as interpreted by Pindar: "Happy is he who has seen what exists under the earth, because he knows not only the end of life, but also his beginning that the Gods will give".

Demeter's epithets show Her many religious functions. She is the "Corn-Mother" who blesses the harvesters.
Potnia ("mistress") in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Hera especially, but also Artemis and Athena, are addressed as "Potnia" as well.
Despoina ("mistress of the house"). This title was also applied to Persephone, Aphrodite and Hecate.
Thesmophoros ("giver of customs" or even "legislator"), a role that links Her to the even more ancient goddess Themis, derived from thesmos, the unwritten law. 
Chloe ("the green shoot"), that invokes Her powers of ever-returning fertility, as does Chthonia.
Europa ("broad face or eyes"). 

Some of the earliest accounts of Demeter's relationships to other deities comes from Hesiod's Theogeny. In it, Demeter is described as a daughter of Cronos and Rhea.

Demeter's most well-known relationship is with Her daughter, Persephone, Goddess of the Underworld. Both Homer and Hesiod described Persephone as Zeus' daughter. Demeter and Persephone are often worshiped together and are often referred to by joint cultic titles. In their cult at Eleusis, they were referred to simply as "the Goddesses", often distinguished as "The Older" and "The Younger".

Demeter's daughter, Persephone, was abducted and taken to the Underworld by Hades. Demeter searched for Her ceaselessly, preoccupied with Her loss and Her grief. The seasons halted; living things ceased their growth, and began to die. Faced with the extinction of all life on earth, Zeus sent his messenger Hermes to the Underworld to bring Persephone back. Hades agreed to release Her if she had eaten nothing while in his realm; but Persephone had eaten a small number of pomegranate seeds. This bound her to Hades and the underworld for certain months of every year, either the dry Mediterranean summer, when plant life is threatened by drought, or the autumn and winter. There are several variations on the basic story. In the Homeric hymn to Demeter, Hecate assists in the search and later becomes Persephone's Underworld attendant. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Persephone is secretly slipped a pomegranate seed by Hades. In another, Persephone willingly and secretly eats the pomegranate seeds, thinking to deceive Hades, but is discovered and made to stay. Contrary to popular perception, Persephone's time in the Underworld does not correspond with the unfruitful seasons of the ancient Greek calendar, nor her return to the upper world with springtime. Demeter's descent to retrieve Persephone from the underworld is connected to the Eleusinian Mysteries.

SOURCE: Wikipedia

ATHENA ~ THE GODDESS OF WISDOM,STRATEGY AND WAR

Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek Goddess associated with wisdom, handicraft, and warfare. Athena is the Patron and Protectress of various cities across Greece, particularly the city of Athens.She is usually shown in art wearing a helmet and holding a spear. Her major symbols include owls, olive trees, snakes, and the Gorgoneion.


From Her origin as an Aegean palace Goddess, Athena is closely associated with the city. She is known as Polias and Poliouchos  (meaning "city-state"), and Her temples were usually located atop the fortified Acropolis in the central part of the city. The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis is dedicated to Her, along with numerous other temples and monuments. As the patron of craft and weaving, Athena is known as Ergane. She is also a Warrior Goddess, and leads soldiers into battle.

In the classical Olympian Pantheon, Athena is regarded as the favorite daughter of Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead. In the version recounted by Hesiod in his Theogony, Zeus married the Goddess Metis, who is described as the "wisest among Gods and mortal men", and slept with Her. After learning that Metis was pregnant, however, he became afraid that the unborn offspring would try to overthrow him, because Gaia and Ouranos had prophesied that Metis would bear children wiser than their father. In order to prevent this, Zeus tricked Metis into letting him swallow her; but it was too late, because Metis had already conceived. 

After swallowing Metis, Zeus took six more wives in succession until he married his seventh and present wife, Hera. Then Zeus experienced an enormous headache. He was in such pain that he ordered Hephaestus to cleave his head open with the labrys, the double-headed Minoan axe. Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed. The "First Homeric Hymn to Athena" states  that the Gods were awestruck by Athena's appearance and even Helios, the God of the sun, stopped his chariot in the sky. Pindar, in his "Seventh Olympian Ode", states that she "cried aloud with a mighty shout" and that "the Sky and mother Earth shuddered before Her."

In the founding story of Athens, Athena bested Poseidon in a competition over patronage of the city by creating the first olive tree. She is known as Athena Parthenos-The Virgin. In one archaic Attic story, the God Hephaestus tried and failed to rape her, resulting in Gaia giving birth to Erichthonius, an important Athenian founding hero. Athena is the patron Goddess of heroic endeavor; she also aided the heroes Perseus, Heracles and others. Along with Aphrodite and Hera, Athena was one of the three Goddesses whose feud resulted in the beginning of the Trojan War. She plays an active role in the Iliad and in the Odyssey, she is the divine counselor to Odysseus. 

SOURCE: Wikipedia

HERMES ~ THE MESSENGER OF THE GODS

Hermes ( Greek: Ερμής ) is the God of trade, heraldry, merchants, commerce, roads, thieves, trickery, sports, travelers, and athletes in Ancient Greek Religion; the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia, He is the second youngest of the Olympian Gods (Dionysos being the youngest).

Hermes is the emissary and Messenger of the Gods. He is also  the God of boundaries and the transgression of boundaries.Hermes is described as moving freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine Ones, and is the conductor of souls into the afterlife. He is the protector and patron of roads and travellers.

In some stories, He is a trickster and outwits other Gods for His own satisfaction or for the sake of humankind. His attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, winged sandals, and winged cap. His main symbol is the Greek kerykeion ,which appears in a form of two snakes wrapped around a winged staff with carvings of the other Gods.

Homer and Hesiod portrayed Hermes as the author of skilled or deceptive acts and also as a benefactor of mortals. In the Iliad, He is called "The Bringer of Good Luck", "Guide and Guardian", and "Excellent in All the Tricks". He was a divine ally of the Greeks against the Trojans. However, Hermes protected King Priam when he went to the Greek camp to retrieve the body of his son Hector and accompanied them back to Troy.

The Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes, which tells the story of the God's birth and His subsequent theft of Apollo's sacred cattle, invokes Him as the one "of many shifts, blandly Cunning, a Robber, a Cattle Driver, a Bringer of Dreams, a Watcher by Night, a Thief at the Gates, One Who was Soon to Show forth Wonderful Deeds among The Deathless Gods." In addition to the chelys lyre, Hermes is believed to have invented many types of racing and the sport of wrestling, and therefore, He is a Patron of athletes.


               

SOURCE:Wikipedia

ARTEMIS ~ THE GODDESS OF HUNTING

Artemis ( Άρτεμις) is the Goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, the Moon, and chastity in the ancient Greek Religion.

Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She is the Patron and Protector of young girls, and is believed to bring disease upon women and relieve them of it. Artemis is worshipped as one of the primary Goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia. Much like Athena and Hestia, Artemis prefers to remain a maiden and is sworn never to marry.

Artemis is one of the most widely venerated Ancient Greek Goddesses and Her temple at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Artemis' symbols include a bow and arrow, a quiver and hunting knives; the deer and the cypress are sacred to Her. 

image source

An account by Callimachus has it that Hera forbade Leto to give birth on either the mainland or on an island. Hera was angry with Her husband Zeus, because He had impregnated Leto; however, Leto managed to give birth to Her children on the Sacred island of Delos.

Artemis believed that she had been chosen by the Fates to be a midwife, particularly since she had assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin brother, Apollo. All of her companions remain virgins, and Artemis closely guards Her own chastity. Artemis spent her girlhood seeking out the things that she would need to be a huntress. She obtained her bow and arrows from the isle of Lipara, where Hephaestus and the Cyclops worked.

Artemis also visited Pan, the God of the forest, who gave Her seven female and six male dogs. She then captured six golden-horned deer to pull Her chariot. Artemis practiced with Her bow first by shooting at trees and then at wild beasts.

An important aspect of Artemis and Her worship is her virginity, which may seem contradictory to her role as a Goddess associated with childbirth. It is likely that the idea of Artemis as a virgin Goddess is related to her primary role as a huntress. Hunters traditionally abstained from sex prior to the hunt as a form of ritual purity and out of a belief that the scent would scare off potential prey. The ancient cultural context in which Artemis' worship emerged also held that virginity was a prerequisite to marriage, and that a married woman became subservient to her husband. In this light, Artemis' virginity is also related to her power and independence. Rather than a form of asexuality, it is an attribute that signals Artemis as Her own master, with power equal to that of male Gods. It is also possible that Her virginity represents a concentration of fertility that can be spread among Her followers. 

 Her worshippers in Arcadia also traditionally associated Her with Demeter and Persephone. In Asia Minor, She was often conflated with local mother goddess figures, such as Cybele, and Anahita in Iran. 
 As Agoraea, She is the protector of the agora.
As Agrotera, She is especially associated as the patron Goddess of hunters. In Athens, Artemis is often associated with the local Aeginian Goddess, Aphaea. As Potnia Theron, She is the patron of wild animals; Homer used this title. As Kourotrophos, She is the nurse of youths. As Locheia, She is the Goddess of childbirth and midwives.

SOURCE: Wikipedia

POSEIDON ~ THE GOD OF THE SEAS

Poseidon ( Ποσειδών) is one of the Twelve Leading Gods in ancient Greek Religion. He is the God of the Sea and other bodies of  water,of earthquakes and of horses.

Poseidon is the Protector of seafarers, and of many Hellenic cities and colonies. In Homer's Iliad, Poseidon supports the Greeks against the Trojans during the Trojan War. In the Odyssey, during the sea-voyage from Troy back home to Ithaca, the Greek hero Odysseus provokes Poseidon's fury by blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, resulting in Poseidon punishing him with storms, the complete loss of his ship and companions, and a ten-year delay. Poseidon is also the subject of a Homeric hymn. In Plato's Timaeus and Critias, the island of Atlantis was Poseidon's domain.

Poseidon was the second son of titans Cronos and Rhea. In most accounts He is swallowed by Cronus at birth but later He is rescued by Zeus, along with his other siblings. However, in some versions of the story, He, like his brother Zeus, did not share the fate of his other brother and sisters who were eaten by Cronos. He was saved by his mother Rhea, who concealed Him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have given birth to a colt, which She gave to Cronos to devour.

 The nurse of Poseidon was Arne, who denied knowing where He was, when Cronos came searching; according to Diodorus Siculus Poseidon was raised by the Telchines on Rhodes, just as Zeus was raised by the Korybantes on Crete.


According to a single reference in the Iliad, when the world was divided by lot in three, Zeus received the sky, Hades the underworld and Poseidon the sea. In the Odyssey , Poseidon has a home in Aegae.

Poseidon is known in various guises, denoted by epithets. He also has a close association with horses. He is more often regarded as the tamer of horses, but in some stories He is their father, either by spilling His seed upon a rock or by mating with a creature who then gave birth to the first horse.He is closely related with the springs, and with the strike of His trident, He creates springs.

Some epithets of Poseidon are:
"Asphaleios"- as protector from the earthquakes.
"Tavreios"- related with the bull. 
"Pelagios"- in Ionia.
"Phykios" -related with seaweeds.


Athena became the patron Goddess of the city of Athens, after a competition with Poseidon. During that competition, Poseidon struck the ground with His trident and a spring sprang up; the water was salty and not very useful for the residents of Athens. Athena offered them an olive tree and won the contest. Yet, Poseidon remained a numinous presence on the Acropolis in the form of His surrogate, Erechtheus.

Poseidon is said to have had many lovers of both sexes. His consort is Amphitrite, a Nymph and ancient sea-Goddess, daughter of Nereus and Doris. Together they have a son named Triton, a merman. Poseidon is also the father of many heroes. He is thought to have fathered the famed hero Theseus.

SOURCE:Wikipedia

ARES ~ THE GOD OF WAR

Ares ( Άρης) is the Greek God of war. He is the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, He often represents the physical or violent and untamed aspect of war, in contrast to his sister, the armored Athena, whose traits as a Goddess of intelligence include military strategy and generalship.

The ancient Greeks were ambivalent toward Ares: although he embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war, he is a dangerous force, "overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering." His sons Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror) and his lover, or sister, Enyo (Discord) accompany him on his war chariot. An association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality.

In Sparta, Ares was viewed as a model soldier: His resilience, physical strength, and military intelligence were unrivaled. An ancient statue, representing the God in chains, suggests that the martial spirit and victory were to be kept in the city of Sparta. The fact that the Spartans admired Him is indicative of the cultural divisions that existed between themselves and other Greeks, especially the Athenians .

In the Iliad, Homer represented Ares as having no fixed allegiances, rewarding courage on both sides. During the war, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares fighting on the Trojans' side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly.
 Athena, Ares's sister, saw his interference and asked Zeus, Their father, for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield, which Zeus granted . Hera and Athena encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares. Diomedes thrust with his spear at Ares, with Athena driving it home, and Ares's cries made Achaeans and Trojans alike tremble. Ares fled to Mt. Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back.


When Hera mentioned to Zeus that Ares's son, Ascalaphus, was killed, Ares overheard and wanted to join the fight on the side of the Achaeans, disregarding Zeus's order that no Olympic god should enter the battle, but Athena stopped Him. Later, when Zeus allowed the Gods to fight in the war again, Ares was the first to act, attacking Athena to avenge Himself for His previous injury. Athena overpowered Him by striking Ares with a boulder.

Ares is also well known as the lover of Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, who was married to Hephaestus, God of craftsmanship. The union of Ares and Aphrodite created the Gods Eros, Anteros, Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, and Adrestia. 

SOURCE: Wikipedia

GODDESS HERA ~ ΤΗΕ QUEEN OF OLYMPUS

Hera ( Ήρα) is the Goddess of women, marriage, family, and childbirth in ancient Greek Religion. She is one of the Twelve Olympians and the sister-wife of Zeus, and She is the daughter of the Titans Cronos and Rhea. Hera rules over Mount Olympus as Queen of the Gods. A matronly figure, Hera serves as both the patroness and protectress of married women, presiding over weddings and blessing marital unions. One of Hera's defining characteristics is Her jealous and vengeful nature against Zeus' numerous lovers and illegitimate offspring, as well as against the mortals who cross Her.

Hera is commonly seen with Her sacred animals; these include the cow, the lion and the peacock. Portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned, and crowned with the polos -a high cylindrical crown worn by several of the Great Goddesses- Hera may hold a pomegranate in her hand, emblem of fertile blood and death and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy.

According to Homeric Hymn III to Delian Apollo, Hera detained Eileithyia to prevent Leto from going into labor with Artemis and Apollo, since the father of the Twins was Zeus. The other Goddesses present at the labor on Delos sent Iris to bring Eileithyia. As she stepped upon the island, the divine birth began. In the story of the birth of Heracles, it is Hera Herself who sits at the door, delaying the birth of Heracles until her protégé, Eurystheus, had been born first.

The Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo makes the monster Typhaon the offspring of archaic Hera in her Minoan form, produced out of Herself, like a monstrous version of Hephaestus, and whelped in a cave in Cilicia.  She gave the creature to Python to raise.

In the Temple of Hera, Olympia, Hera's seated cult figure was older than the warrior figure of Zeus that accompanied it. Homer expressed Her relationship with Zeus delicately in the Iliad, in which She declares to Zeus, "I am Cronos' eldest daughter, and am honourable not on this ground only, but also because I am your wife, and you are King of the Gods."



As we mentioned before,Hera is the daughter of Titan Cronos and his wife, Rhea. Cronos was fated to be overthrown by one of his children; to prevent this, he swallowed all of his newborn children whole until Rhea tricked him into swallowing a stone instead of her youngest child, Zeus. Zeus was raised hidden and protected, and when he grew up, he tricked his father into regurgitating his siblings, including Hera. Zeus then led the revolt against the Titans, banished them, and divided the dominion over the world with his brothers Poseidon and Hades.

Hera is known for Her jealousy; even Zeus, who is known to fear nothing, fears her tantrums. Zeus fell in love with Hera, but She refused his first marriage proposal. Knowing her love and empathy for animals and other beings, Zeus created a thunderstorm and transformed Himself into a little cuckoo. As a cuckoo, Zeus pretended to be in distress outside Her window. Hera, feeling pity towards the bird, brought it inside and held it to her breast to warm it. Zeus then transformed back into Himself and seduced her.  All of nature burst into bloom for their wedding and many gifts were exchanged.

Zeus loves Hera, but he also loves Greece and often sneaked down to Earth in disguise to bear children with the mortals. He wanted many children to inherit His greatness and become great heroes and rulers of Greece. Hera's jealousy towards all of Zeus' lovers and children caused Her to continuously torment them and Zeus was powerless to stop His wife. Hera was always aware of Zeus' trickery and kept very close watch over Him and His excursions to Earth.

Hera presides over the right arrangements of the marriage and is the archetype of the union in the marriage bed. In Greek Religion, fragmentary references and archaic practices remain of the sacred marriage of Hera and Zeus. At Plataea, there was a sculpture of Hera seated as a bride by Callimachus, as well as the matronly standing Hera.

Hera is also worshipped as a Virgin: there was a tradition in Stymphalia in Arcadia that there had been a triple shrine to Hera the Girl (Παις), the Adult Woman (Τελεια), and the Separated (Χήρη )'Widowed', or 'Divorced'. In the region around Argos, the temple of Hera in Hermione near Argos was to Hera the Virgin.At the spring of Kanathos, close to Nauplia, Hera renews her virginity annually, in rites that were not to be spoken of . The Female figure, showing her "Moon" over the lake is also appropriate, as Hebe, Hera, and Hecate; new moon, full moon, and old moon in that order and otherwise personified as the Virgin of Spring, The Mother of Summer, and the destroying Crone of Autumn.

In Hellenistic imagery, Hera's chariot is pulled by peacocks. A bird that had been associated with Hera on an archaic level, where most of the Aegean Goddesses are associated with "their" bird, is the cuckoo, which appears in  fragments concerning the first wooing of a virginal Hera by Zeus.

Hera bore several epithets in the Greek Religion, including:

Alexandros-Protector of Men  

Akráia- (She) of the Heights

Basíleia- Queen

Bounáia-(She) of the Mound

Boṓpis- Cow-Eyed or Cow-Faced

Parthénos- Virgin

Teléia- as Goddess of marriage
Chḗrē- Widowed

SOURCE:Wikipedia

THE TIMELESS STYLE OF MACEDONIAN ELITE

The over-life-size head of a bearded man wearing a kausia, the Macedonian elite hat, and a padded headband was found in the sea near Kalymnos in 1997.

Depictions of ordinary Macedonians wearing kausias in Macedonian wall-paintings do not include headbands. Alexander the Great first introduced the wearinf of Kausia with a diadem made of fabric, and its ends falling down the back of the head. We can see this accessory described in ancient sources,as well as on coins issued by Bactrian Kings, such as Seleukos the 2nd and Antimachos I.

The Kalymnos head lacks the tails falling on the back- and it has been argued that the person was not a king.Yet, this bronze portrait is very similar to a marble head of the 2nd century BCE found in Kos, which wears a royal diadem. The resemblance of these two artifacts with the image of King Philip V of Macedon, as seen on his coins, gives a solid ground to the theory that they are portraits of him.

The bronze head was exquisitely crafted by an undoubtedly skilled artist . The man wears the standard kausia hat, reinforced with what seems as a headband made of wool.

A similar hat is depicted on the Weapons Frieze, of the propylon of the sanctuary of Athena at Pergamon , which dates from the reign of Eumenes II, probably from the 180s BCE.

 The same hat is worn by Seleukos II on his bronze coins minted at Susa in 228 BCE. Two more Bactrian kings are also seen wearing the kausia: Antimachos I ,on his coin portraits and Demetrios II, on a clay seal from Seleukeia on the Tigris.

Silver tetradrachm of Antimachos I of Bactria.

The kausia is mentioned by the historians of Alexander the Great as having been worn by Alexander and his companions. After his victorious campaign to Persia, Alexander introduced a new royal headdress by combining his Macedonian kausia with a Persian diadem,creating a kausia diadematophoros; an indication of royalty.This Macedonian royal hat was popular  until the time of Cleopatra VII of Egypt. In 34 BCE, she presented her infant Ptolemy, son of Antony, at a public ceremony known as the Donations of Alexandria, wearing a kausia with diadem.

After his return from the expedition to India, Alexander gave his friends purple kausias as royal gifts.Plutarch tells us that Alexander’s friend, Krateros, wore a kausia and the hat could still be seen worn at the court of  Philip V, who reigned from 221 to 179 BCE.

An earlier version of the kausia, closer to Alexander the Great’s own time, is seen in the wall-paintings of Macedonian tombs from the late 4th and early 3rd c. BCE. The famous hunting frieze on the Tomb of Philip at Vergina shows two Macedonians in kausias hunting with Alexander the Great. One of Alexander’s companions on the Alexander mosaic, a 2nd-century BCE copy of an early Hellenistic painting of the battle of Issos, wears a similar kausia.  

Alexander’s royal headgear was adopted by the Successors as a sign of royalty from 306 BCE and it continued to be a symbol of royalty until the end of the Hellenistic era.

As far as the bronze head of Calymnos is concerned, it does not wear a royal diadem of the sort described above. Questions arise as to whether he could be a King or simple one of the Kings entourage, who had the right to wear a kausia without the royal diadem.
Returning to the marble head of Kos, one cannot ignore the resemblance between the man depicted on marble and the model of the bronze head. The main difference is of course the royal diadem which is worn by the marble head-an unmistakable indication that he was a King of the Hellenistic era. 

  It has been suggested that the Kos head dates to the last quarter of the 3rd century, before the reign of Perseus, and that it might be Philip V of Macedon, Perseus’s father.Another 'candidate' is Antigonos Doson, King of Macedonia from 229 to 221; he was an uncle and predecessor of Philip V. Doson had his own ruler cult on Kos in a shrine called Antigoneion. There is yet no information about the location of the shrine, or how exactly Antigonos benefited the Koan people. The cult seems to have existed until the 2nd century BCE. Antigonos Doson did not include his portrait on his coins,therefore his image is still unknown to modern researchers. 

The coin portraits of Philip V also present a lot of similarities to the bronze head, with the shape of the face and the hairstyle being the most significant ones. Nevertheless, Philip the V and the island of Kos were not on friendly terms- a fact that would make the presence of his marble head on the island seem at least peculiar. His son,Perseus, did have a royal estate on Kos, however. In addition,  the shrine of Antigonos Doson may have been used as a repository of other royal Macedonian portraits. The Koans supported the Ptolemies quite strongly, yet they may have found themselves forced to appease Philip's anger. 

Silver tetradrachm of Philip V of Macedon.

In conclusion, the bronze head seems to depict a king of Macedonia from the late 3rd century BCE; and this King could very well be Philip.What makes this artifact even more valuable is that it is the only original over-life-size bronze portrait of a Macedonian king known to date; giving us a further insight into the rich artistic heritage of Macedonia.

Edited from : SOURCE

ZEUS ~ THE KING OF THE GREEK GODS

Zeus is the Olympian God of the sky and the thunder, the King of all other Gods and men, and, consequently, the chief figure in Greek Religion. The son of Cronos and Rhea, He is also well-known for having children with women other than His sister and wife, Hera.  Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Dionysus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, and the Muses are all children of His numerous erotic affairs. Hephaestus, Hebe, and Ares are His legitimate children.

Usually, Zeus is portrayed with a scepter in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other – both symbols of His authority. Sometimes He wears a crown of oak leaves – the oak is deemed to be His sacred tree. Homer repeatedly describes Him as “aegis-bearing”: the Aegis is an enormous shield which Zeus frequently carries with Him, lending it to His daughter Athena from time to time. In addition, He owns a pet: a giant golden eagle called Aetos Dios.

Considered the ruler of heavens and the governor of weather, Zeus is also associated with wisdom and awareness, with authority and destiny, with battles and power. In fact, Homer says that before the fight between Achilles and Hector, Zeus weighed their lots and blessed the outcome. Further down, the poet even claims that Zeus owns two urns filled with ills and blessings – the gifts which He gives to every mortal in the amount He decides.

In relation to the many other roles Zeus has, he acquired many different epithets. Some of them are: “warlike,” “oath-keeper,” “guest-patron,” “All-Greek,” and “Savior.”

Paradoxically, Zeus is both the youngest and the oldest son of Cronos and Rhea. Namely, soon after the Creation of the world, the then-ruler of the Gods Cronos – who had learned that one of his children would overthrow him – swallowed Zeus’ three sisters and two brothers at birth: Demeter, Hera, Hestia, Hades, and Poseidon. Zeus would have been eaten as well, if Rhea hadn’t given Cronos a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes in his place, hiding Her youngest child in a cave on the Cretan Mount Ida.

There, Zeus was raised by nymphs and met his first wife, Metis – or Wisdom. On Her advice, He masked himself as an Olympian cupbearer and tricked His father into drinking poisoned wine. The wine made Cronos vomit so much, that he ultimately disgorged Zeus’ siblings – intact and ready for revenge. This, Their second birth, made the youngest among them – Zeus – actually Their oldest brother.

Thus, They had no problem in acknowledging Zeus' authority. Led by Him, and helped by the one-eyed Cyclopes and the hundred-handed Hecatoncheires (Zeus freed all of them from Cronus’ imprisonment), the siblings overthrew Cronos and the Titans during a decade-long war called the Titanomachy.

Zeus and His brothers drew lots to share the world among them. Poseidon got the sea, Hades the underworld, and Zeus the sky. Finally, Zeus was crowned to be the Ruler of all Gods and Men, referred to universally as Father.

SOURCE:Wikipedia

THE SUN TEMPLE OF GARNI IN ARMENIA

The Temple of Garni is the only standing Greco-Roman colonnaded building in Armenia and the former Soviet Union. An Ionic temple located in the village of Garni, it is the most famous structure and the symbol of the history of pre-Christian Armenia.

The exact construction date of the temple is still unknown. The dominant theory is that it was built in 77 CE, during the reign of king Tiridates I of Armenia. This date is calculated based on a Greek inscription, discovered by artist Martiros Saryan in July 1945 at the Garni cemetery. It names Tiridates the Sun (Helios Tiridates) as the founder of the temple. 

The inscription of Tiridates I, goes as follows ( Greek and English ) :

Ἣλιος Τιριδάτης [ὁ μέγας]

μεγάλης Ἀρμενίας ἄνα[κτος]

ὡς δεσπότης. Αἴκτισε ναΐ[διον]

βασιλίσ[σ]α τὸν ἀνίκητον κασ[ιν ἐνι]

αιτούς. Αι. Τῆς βασιλεί[ας αὐτου]

με[γαλείας]. Ὑπὸ ἐξουσίᾳ στεγάν[ου]

λίτουργος τῷ μεγάλῳ σπ[ῆι εὔχεσθε]

μετὰ ματήμι καὶ εὐχαρ[ιστίαν εὐχήν]

τοῦ μαρτυρίου.

The Sun Tiridatēs

of Greater Armenia, lord as despot,

built a temple

for the queen; the invincible...

in the eleventh year of his reign.

...Under the protection of the...

may the priest to the great cave (?)

in the vain (?)

of the witness and thanks.

Most scholars now attribute the inscription to Tiridates I.According to the inscription , the temple was built in the 11th year of reign of Tiridates I;  it is believed to have been completed in 77 CE.The date is primarily linked to Tiridates I's visit to Rome in 66 CE, where he was crowned by the Roman emperor Nero.To rebuild the city of Artaxata, destroyed by the Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, Nero gave Tiridates 50 million drachmas and provided him with Roman craftsmen. Upon his return to Armenia,Tiridates began a major project of reconstruction, which included rebuilding the fortified city of Garni. It is during this period that the temple is thought to have been built.

The temple is commonly attributed to Mihr, the sun god in the Zoroastrian-influenced Armenian mythology and the equivalent of Mithra.Mihr was the patron god of Tiridates and other Armenian monarchs. It has been argued that since Tiridates built the temple after his glorious return from Rome, it would have been normal for him to dedicate the temple to his patron god. Furthermore, white marble sculptures of bull hooves have been discovered 20 metres from the temple; these could be the remains of a sculpture of the god Mihr, who was often portrayed in a fight with a bull.

The temple follows the style of classical Ancient Greek architecture. The structure has been described as Greek, Roman or Greco-Roman and has been usually linked to Hellenistic art; its highly distinct features and local influence have been frequently highlighted. Some scholars emphasize this Armenian influence on its architecture, calling it "Armenian-Hellenic" (Sahinian), while others have completely rejected this notion, calling it a "foreign structure on Armenian soil". Toros Toramanian stressed the singularity of the temple as a Roman-style building on the Armenian Highlands and "remarked that the Garni construction essentially had no influence on contemporary or subsequent Armenian architecture." Sahinian, on the other hand, called it a "product of the architectural-constructional art of the Hellenistic period" that entirely resembles the 9th century BCE Urartian Musasir temple.

The temple is a peripteros,- surrounded by a portico with columns- built on an elevated podium.It is constructed of grey basalt quarried locally. The temple is composed of a portico (pronaos) and a cella (naos). It is supported by a total of 24 columns of the Ionic order: six in the front and back and eight on the sides (the corner columns are listed twice). Based on a comparative analysis, Sahinian proposed that the columns of the temple of Garni have their origins in Asia Minor.

Exterior

The triangular pediment depicts sculptures of plants and geometrical shapes. The staircase has 9 unusually high steps-30 cm high, about twice as the average height of stairs. Tananyan suggests that the unusually high stairs compel a person ascending the staircase to feel humbled and make physical effort to reach the altar. On the both sides of the staircase, there are roughly square pedestals. Atlas, the Greek Titan who held up the earth, is sculpted on both pedestals, in a way that makes him look as if He's trying to hold the entire temple on His shoulders.It is assumed that the pedestals originally held altars.

The exterior of the temple is richly decorated. The frieze depicts a continuous line of acanthus. Furthermore, there are ornaments on the capital, architrave, and soffit. The stones in the front cornice have projecting sculptures of lion heads.

Cella

The cella of the temple can fit up to 20 people inside. Due to its relatively small size, it has been proposed that a statue once stood in the interior and the ceremonies were held on the outside.The cella is lit from two sources: the disproportionately large entrance and the opening on the roof.

View of the interior of the temple.

The temple’s proportions differ somewhat from the proportions of other antique structures. Its composition is based on the contrast between the horizontal divisions of the podium and the entablature and the vertical columns which rose sharply against the background of the sky. The structure makes an impressive sight from many remote and close observation points.

In the early 4th century CE, when Armenian King Tiridates III adopted Christianity as a state religion, virtually all known pagan places of worship were destroyed. The Temple of Garni is the only pagan, Hellenistic, and Greco-Roman structure to have survived the widespread destruction. It remains unknown why the temple was spared, but philosopher Grigor Tananyan argues that its status as a "masterpiece of art" possibly saved it from destruction. He suggests that the temple was perceived to be a "quintessence of an entire culture." Robert H. Hewsen suggested that the reason why it was not destroyed is because it was not a temple, but a tomb of a Roman-appointed king of Armenia. He also noted that, in the 7th century a church was built immediately next to it and not in its place.

Greek mosaic from a nearby destroyed building.  Marine Greek deities are depicted- the inscription above their heads means " work hard and gain nothing".

According to Movses Khorenatsi a "cooling-off house" (summer house) was built within the fortress of Garni for Khosrovidukht, the sister of Tiridates III. As its purpose changed, the temple underwent some changes. The sacrificial altars in the outside of the temple and the cult statue in the cella were removed. The opening in the roof for skylight was closed. The stone structures for removal of water from the roof were also removed, while the entrance of the temple was transformed and adjusted for residence.

The entire colonnade of the temple collapsed in a devastating earthquake on  June 4, 1679. According to many scholars, the epicenter of the earthquake was located in the gorge of Garni. Most of the original building blocks remained scattered at the site, allowing the building to be reconstructed. As much as 80% of the original masonry and ornamental friezes were in the site by the late 1960s.

Decoration with acanthus leaves- another typical feature of Greek architecture.

In 1949, the Armenian Academy of Sciences began major excavations of the Garni fortress site led by Babken Arakelyan. Architectural historian Alexander Sahinian focused on the temple itself. It was not until almost twenty years later, on December 10, 1968, that the Soviet Armenian government approved the reconstruction plan of the temple. A group led by Sahinian began reconstruction works in January 1969. It was completed by 1975, almost 300 years after it was destroyed in the earthquake. The temple was almost entirely rebuilt using its original stones, except the missing pieces which were filled with blank stones intended to be easily recognisable. In 1978, a monument dedicated to Sahinian was erected not far from the temple.


The Garni temple  has become a symbol of the pre- Christian era in Armenia.It became a tourist destination, even before its reconstruction. Today, it is one of the main tourist attraction sites in Armenia.

EDITED FROM: Wikipedia