Spencer Clevenger's Blog

Madness of the Daughters of Proitos

When the unruly band following Dionysos reached the Argeia, they were opposed, as usual, by the conservative nobles in power. The devotees engaged in drunken orgies, which did not sit well with the conservative kings. They doubted effeminate Dionysos’s divinity and extolled the virtues of warriors. When the Mainades arrived, they found Mycenai and Tiryns ruled respectively by Akrisios and Proitos, twin sons of the great Mycenaian warrior-king Abas. They had been feuding since they shared their mother’s womb, but the two found rare common cause against the new Dionysian religion. Dionysos punished Proitos for his resistance by afflicting the women of his kingdom, particularly his daughters, with madness.

The women ran off into the mountains of Arkadia and madly celebrated wild Bakkhinad rites. Then bull-like Proitos sent word to the holy man Melampous of Triphylian Pylos113 asking that he come and cure the women. When Melampous offered to do so for one-third of the kingdom, Proitos flatly refused. The hideous wantonness of the women of Tiryns deprived them of their beauty, and the men became desperate. Their demands for action prompted Proitos to agree to Melampous’s revised terms: one-third of the kingdom for himself and one-third for his brother Bias (1328T/1078R BCE).

Melampous enlisted the aid of his brother, and together they captured the possessed women led by the daughters of Proitos in the wild Aroanian Mountains near Pheneos in Arkadia. He was able to temporarily cure them by a purification cleansing at the site of Lousai (meaning “Washing”) in Arkadia. Melampous brought all the girls home safely except for Proitos’s incurable daughter Iphinoe, who died in Sicyon during the long walk home.

Upon his triumphant return, Melampous insisted that Proitos institute Dionysian rites in Tiryns. Proitos readily agreed, and once Dionysos was honored, the bouts of madness ceased. Proitos’s daughter Maira joined the Mainades and spread the Dionysian gospel throughout Arkadia. This holy woman was honored in Arkadian Mantinea with a spring named for her, and she was buried in Tegea. Grateful Proitos not only held up his part of the bargain, but he also gave Melampous and Bias his daughters in marriage. Melampous received the city of Argos and Proitos’s eldest daughter, Lysippe. Bias received the citadel of Midea, and upon the death of his first wife, he married Proitos’s daughter Iphianassa (1309T/1059R BCE).

Golden Aphrodite

Zeus invited laughter-loving Aphrodite to join the Olympians; she was alone among the gods who were not the siblings or offspring of Zeus30 (a testimony to the power of love). She rose out of the foam surrounding the genitals of Ouranos floating in the fish-rich sea off of Cyprus, and from there she became known to the Hellenes as golden Aphrodite. The second- century CE travel guide writer Pausanias of Magnesia says the Assyrians were first to worship Aphrodite, and the Cypriots of Paphos second.31 On Olympos she was attended to by Eros and Desire.

Hephaistos married laughter-loving Aphrodite, but the sweet-garlanded goddess could not find it in her heart to love the god of crafts, he who hobbled on skinny legs that carried his monstrous bulk. She found the dashing war god Ares more to her liking, and they made love secretly in the Olympian house of Hephaistos. Ares gave her much and fouled the marriage and bed of Hephaistos. When their passionate embraces carried on beyond the dawn, all-seeing Helios (the sun) observed them at their sport and promptly told Hephaistos.

Seething in anger against manly Ares, the craftsman plotted his revenge. Inspired rage brought sweat to his brow as he stood by the billows and built a snare to trap the lovers in the act. When he had spun his treacherous device around the lordly posts of his massive bed, he started off to visit the Sintians in the strong citadel of Lemnos, which of all the places on earth was far dearest to him. Ares kept no blind watch and entered the house of the limping god Hephaistos lusting after the love of the sweet-garlanded Cyprian. She was well pleased to lie with him as he led her by the hand to the handsome bed. When their ardent desire was fulfilled, they found it impossible to rise out of bed. Then did the glorious strong-armed smith turn back before reaching Lemnos. He returned to Olympus and found them in their predicament.

Hephaistos cried out in his anger and anguish for the other Olympians to come see. Standing by the bed, his heart grieving, Hephaistos demanded back the bride’s price he had paid. Far-shooting Apollo turned to luck- bringing Hermes and asked if he would change places with Ares. Hermes said that he would without hesitation. The two gods laughed. Dark-haired Poseidon was not amused and promised that either Ares would make restitution or he would cover the debt himself. So Hephaistos released them. Aphrodite flew off in her dove-drawn golden chariot for Cyprus to refresh her spirit and let her embarrassment pass. Meanwhile, golden- throned Hera secured Hephaistos a new wife, the youngest of the richly dressed Kharities, Aglaia. Aglaia was the daughter of Zeus and Eurynome, the Oceanid who had once cared for wounded Hephaistos, and according to one myth, the one who had danced on the waters to create the universe.

To Ares and Aphrodite were born Terror and Fear, who pierced men’s shields and served as attendants to their violent father. (Sometimes Terror and Fear accompany their mother as well). Ares and Aphrodite also bore lovely Harmonia.

Apollo of the silver Bow and Artemis, Mistress of Animals

In the center of the Cyclades lay Delos. When all the lands of earth refused her (Leto), fearing the wrath of Hera, Delos took her in. Upon finding haven on Delos, Leto was wracked for nine days and nine nights with pangs beyond wont. Though goddesses and Titanesses stood by her, jealous Hera detained her daughter Eileithyia on Olympos. The goddesses sent Iris, the messenger goddess, to secretly talk to Eileithyia and bring her to Delos. Iris moved the heart of Eileithyia and they left Olympos together, like shy wild-doves in their going.

As soon as Eileithyia, goddess of sore travail, set foot on Delos, the pain of birth seized Leto and she longed to bring forth; so she cast her arms about a date palm tree and kneeled in the soft meadow while the earth laughed for joy beneath. Then the child leapt forth to the light, and all the goddesses raised a cry. The earth laughed and the sea rejoiced. Straightaway, great Phoebus, the goddesses washed you purely and cleanly with sweet water and swathed you in a white garment of fine texture, new- woven, and fastened a golden band about you.

Now Leto did not give Apollo, bearer of the golden blade, her breast; but Themis duly poured nectar and ambrosia with her divine hands: and Leto was glad because she had borne a strong son and archer. But as soon as you tasted that divine heavenly food, O Phoebus, you could no longer then be held by golden cords nor confined with bands, but all their ends undone. Forth-with Phoebus Apollo spoke out among the deathless goddesses:

“The lyre and the curved bow shall ever be dear to me, and I will declare to men the unfailing will of Zeus.” (24)

Artemis too sprang forth. Over the shadowy hills and windy peaks she draws her golden bow, rejoicing in the chase, and sends out grievous shafts. The tops of the high mountains tremble and the tangled wood echoes awesomely with the outcry of beasts: earthquakes and the sea also where fishes shoal. (25)

24 Hesiod, “Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo,” in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica.

25 Hesiod, “Homeric Hymn to Delian Artemis,” in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica.

Herakles Destroyed Greek Civilization

 

What caused the collapse of the dazzling Mycenaean civilization of Greece?  In the span of a decade all the rich palaces were abandoned.  The decline was so fast and so severe that most of the Greek generals of the Trojan War chose to immigrate rather than go home.  Speculation has centered on famine, earthquakes, climate change, civil unrest, foreign invasion or some combination of these factors.

Greek myths unequivocally blame the collapse on their own heroic ancestors who sought power, glory, and loot.  No hero was more to blame than Herakles for this self-destructive behavior – and the Greeks bestowed immortality upon him for that dubious accomplishment.

The Fates gave young Herakles a choice between a long happy life of obscurity or a difficult but glorious life.  Soon after making his decision, the goddess Hera struck Herakles with insanity, and he slew his wife and small children.  He gained glory performing twelve labors during his servitude for those murders.  After another homicide conviction, and servitude, brooding Herakles planned revenge upon those enemies he had made over the years. Inspite of Herakles’s leadership, the battles were fierce and the outcomes in doubt. More than once he was initially defeated but ultimately prevailed.  When he was finished he had defeated the armies of Pylos, Sparta, Elis, Elion and Oichalia.  He died at Oichalia and was awarded a place among the Olympian Gods.  His army, and other like it, continued to ransack the cities and palaces of Greece until the whole civilization collapsed.  There was nothing for those stout warriors plundering Troy to go home to.

The story is Herakles is just one of the relationships between myth and the history explored in my book Greek Mythic History.

 

Quote of the day

Continuing the myth of Persephone

PART II of my excerpt, highlighting the myth of Persephone and Hades.

Aimlessly, dark-robed Demeter wandered the world, lost and without purpose; her daughter was gone. She left Sicily and landed in Hellas at the Peloponnesian city Sicyon. From there she roamed into wild Arkadia, where Poseidon saw her. Filled with desire for this vulnerable beauty, he approached her. Demeter, as Poseidon would have realized if he had not been so blinded by lust, was in no mood for sex. Golden-haired Demeter changed herself into a mare to escape his amorous advance. Dark-haired Poseidon was neither deceived nor deterred. He changed into a stallion and caught and mounted her. In due time, Demeter gave birth to the fabulous horse Arion and to a goddess so mysterious that the Arkadians know her only as Despoina (meaning “mistress”).

Demeter was so enraged with her brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and pitiless- hearted Hades that she refused to return to Olympos. Instead she took on the guise of an old woman and, unnoticed by mortals, for whom immortality is hard to see, continued wandering. All the while she withheld fertility and drought conditions prevailed. She visited the great palaces at Mycenai and Knossos. Still miserable, she took a boat across to Thornikos in southern Attike.

Sullen Demeter arrived in Eleusis and demanded that the Eleusinians build her a temple. She shut herself inside it for one year. Demeter did not forget her fury over Persephone’s disappearance, and the drought she induced reached crisis proportions.

Finally all-seeing Zeus, not wishing to lose the sacrifices of men, relented. He sent for Persephone to be returned to her mother. A complication arose because anyone who has eaten in the underworld is forbidden to leave. Persephone had been tricked into eating some pomegranate seeds. So the dark-clouded son of Kronos decreed that Persephone would spend part of the year with her mother and part with her husband.

Persephone learned to love her days in Hades, a place of knowledge and insight, mystery and paradox, as well as she loved her life on earth, a place full of passion and warmth, beauty and wonder.

 

A Story for Spring: The taking of Persephone

Have you heard the story of Persephone and Hades? Here is an excerpt from my book to introduce the myth.

..With Persephone leading the world into full bloom, she blissfully gathered wildflowers with the deep-bosomed daughters of Oceanos. Grim Hades caused the cosmic flower to appear in front of the blossoming child: “A thing of awe whether for deathless gods or mortal men to see: from its roots grew a hundred blooms and it smelled most sweetly, so that all wide heaven above and the whole earth and the sea’s salt swell laughed for joy.”19

Persephone, naturally, stooped to pick it, and immediately the ground split open beneath her and the Host of Many, Hades, appeared riding in his royal chariot. Against her will, he grabbed the wailing girl and in his golden chariot carried her down from a life of beauty. A nearby swineherd and his pigs were inadvertently swallowed too. (Henceforth, sacrificing pigs into chasms was an important part of Demeter’s mysteries).

For ten days golden-haired Demeter frantically searched for her lost daughter. Each night, Hekate carried a torch as the search continued. Hope charmed her mind, despite her grief. None of the gods could bear to tell her the truth, and none of the birds of omen came to her as trusted messenger. Finally rich-haired Demeter and Hekate, who had heard Persephone’s cries, gave up the search. Together the goddesses went to the all-seeing sun, Helios. Helios told them that it had been dark-haired Hades, not an unseemly bridegroom, who had abducted Persephone and that Demeter should be pleased for her daughter, for she was now a queen. Instead Demeter sank further into despair…

Hittite references to the heroes of Greek Mythology

A strong connection between the pantheon of Hittite and Greek gods was immediately obvious upon the discover of Hittite texts.  For example, each had a council of 12 supreme gods, a supreme god was castrated and overthrown by a younger god, and gods flew on winged sandals.

To me the most interesting connection relates to the story of Pelops.  He was an important figure in Greek myth and he is probably specifically identified in Hittite texts!

According to myth, King Pelops of Lydia (Arzawa) sailed from his home to Ahhiyawa (Achaia/Greece).  The myth says he was drawn across the Aegean Sea to Greece for love, but it was also noted that he attacked enemies to the east of his homeland and was defeated.  Hittite records say they defeated rebellious king Uhhaziti of Arzawa in 1316 B.C.E. and he fled across the sea to Ahhiyawa.

There are other connections between the annals of the Hittites and Greek myth.

The Greek hero Bellerophontes was said to have lead Lycian (Lukka) armies to numerous victories.  According to myth Bellerophontes and Pelops lived during the same generation.  The Hittite records say that Lukka (Lycia), too, was in open rebellion at the same time as Pelops’ Arzawa.  The Hittite record says the rebellion was supported by the Ahhiyawa.  The Hittites sacked the Ahhiyawa city of Milawata (Miletos) in retaliation.

Perseus married the Aethiopian (Hittite) princess Andromeda and sent their first born son to be raised at the Hittite royal court.  That was standard Hittite diplomatic process meant to ensure loyalty and friendship between states.

The Greek attacks on Troy do not go unnoticed in Hittite annals.  The Hittites say they nearly went to war with Ahhiyawa over Wilos (Ilos/Troy) at the time Herakles sacked Troy.  Both Hittite and Greek sources say the ruling dynasty remained in power after that war.  Homer says Eurypylos of Teuthrania (Seha River Lands) lead the Ketoi in support of King Priam of Troy.  The Egyptian word for Hittite, Kheta, sounds suspiciously similar.  The Homeric poem Aethiopis says Memnon of Aethiopia (Hittites) lead a large army in support of Troy.

In my book, Greek Mythic History, I explore the many overlaps between myths and the historical, archaeological, and other scientific evidence of the age.  As I tried to illustrate above, the Hittites play an important role – just as you would expect of a major nearby kingdom.

 

 

In the beginning…

There were, no doubt, many mythic explanations for the creation of the cosmos or universe that circulated among the ancient Greeks,2 all believed with a healthy skepticism. The great poets were not oblivious to the obscure version above, and they gave Eurynome a place of honor as well; Hesiod says she bore the Kharities (Graces) to Zeus, and Homer says she attended to Hephaistos when he was thrown from Olympos.

Another early creation myth is preserved in the Rhapsodic Theogony of the early first century BCE. The Rhapsodic Theogony records the influential sixth- and fifth-century BCE Orphic cult creation myth. It states that out of the primeval abyss came a winged serpent with heads of a bull and a lion on either side of a god’s countenance. Its name was Khronos (meaning “unaging time”). Khronos created the One, represented as the silver egg of the cosmos. From it burst out Protogenos (meaning “firstborn”), the creative principal, also called Eros (meaning “love”), and the bisexual god Dionysos-Phanes. Phanes ruled during the Golden Age and created Nyx (meaning “night”) and with her produced Ouranos (meaning “heaven”) and Gaia (meaning “earth”). Ouranos and Gaia gave birth to the Titans, and one of them, Kronos, castrated his father and ruled until Rhea saved Zeus, her sixth child, from being swallowed by his father. The Orphics say Zeus swallowed Phanes, embodying in himself the previous Golden Age.

Through his daughter Persephone, Zeus gave birth, or rebirth, to the creative principal—Dionysos-Zagreus. Goaded by jealous Hera, or by envy, the Titans dismembered, roasted, and ate Dionysos-Zagreus. Zeus’s thunderbolts brought swift retribution, and from the ashes of the Titans came the human race. Thus man is part evil-natured Titan and part divine Dionysos, whom the Titans ate. Lord Zeus was only able to recover the heart of his son. He swallowed it and, through the womb of Semele, gave birth to Dionysos. Orphics evoked Dionysos to help them purge their Titan nature so that their Dionysian soul could be liberated.

Greek mythology is good history

Greek myths have long entertained and inspired people.  That has continued long after people stopped believing in the gods and heroes.  I was hooked on the subject during a 7th grade Mythology Class.  That summer I read the Iliad and the search was on to learn more and more.  One question about the myths that has always interested me is:

What is the connection between Greek mythology and Greek history?

The topic has frequently been discussed.  For example, there are exhaustive discussions of the historic and mythic aspects of the Trojan War.  However, I have not found a comprehensive analysis of the Greek gods, kings, and heroes of mythology in their intended physical place and historic perspective.

I happily read English versions of the ancient poets as well as many modern retelling of the myths; wondering if they preserved some historic truths.  Over time I began to notice that by comparing the myths, especially the genealogies, that they fit together into a surprisingly coherent narrative.  So I began to laying out the myths in chronological order, excluding version that did not fit with the overall story.  Then I compared the results to our historic understanding.  The exercise kept providing new insights into the myths – and to the historic narrative – that kept me happily studying the topic for years.

I wanted to compare my results to what the experts said, but I could not find any sources that discussed the topic in detail.  A connection between history and myth is obvious.  What is a surprise is how a comprehensive view of all the surviving myths provided obvious insights that aren’t clear when each myth is considered individually.  It was my brother Jerry who pushed me to present my findings in a book.  He said that there would be others who would enjoy reading my findings; to hear the myths retold from a new perspective.

My book, Greek Mythic History, tells the mythic history of Greece from the beginning of time up to the time that the poets began to record their stories.  It is the first book to tell the myths in chronological order and to weave into it known historical findings.  There are some interesting results that will surprise and challenge commonly held assumptions regarding myths place in history.  It isn’t history, it is what history would be if the myths were true.  I hope the readers will enjoy my findings as much as did discovering them.  I also hope to learn from readers who have something to add to the subject.