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What Is The Gods Of Mythology In Greek Mythology

Decent Essays

2.2 Gods
“‘Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavours: the immortal gods of Olympus … Zeus … Hera. Apollo…’”
[The Lightning Thief; Pg 67; Chiron to Percy] The gods have been described in great detail in both the sets of texts. According to Greek mythology, there are twelve major Olympians – Zeus, the King of the gods, Hera, wife and sister of Zeus, Poseidon, the sea god, Demeter, the goddess of harvest, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, Apollo, the god of the Sun, of healing and prophecies, Artemis, the goddess of the Moon and Huntress, Ares, the war god, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods, Hermes, the god of travelers and messengers, and Dionysus, the god of …show more content…

Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way [the satyr] cringed, as if Mr. D were [their] master.
‘You’re Dionysus,’ I said. ‘The god of wine.’”
[The Lightning Thief; Pg 70; Percy to Dionysus]

While each of the Greek and Roman versions of the Olympians are mentioned in the texts, it is Dionysus or Bacchus – the ‘least’ of the Olympians – who is most interesting. This is so as if the least of the gods can be so ferocious, one can only imagine the extent of the power of the higher gods like Zeus or Poseidon.

“‘A god. You.’
[Dionysus] turned to look at me straight on, and I saw the man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane in battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a straightjacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.
‘Would you like to test me, child?’ he said quietly.”
[The Lightning Thief; Pg 70; Dionysus to …show more content…

Saffron and myrrh their fragrant odours shed,
And now the present deity they dread.
Strange to relate! Here ivy first was seen,
Along the distaff crept the wond'rous green.
Then sudden-springing vines began to bloom,
And the soft tendrils curl'd around the loom:
While purple clusters, dangling from on high,
Ting'd the wrought purple with a second die.”
[Book the Fourth; Alcithoe and her Sisters Transform'd to Bats; Ln 3-12]

The skin of a tiger, the color purple, grapes and grape vines are all associated with Dionysus and later Bacchus as well. While these may not seem like much to the untrained eye, these were the wealth as well as the weapons of the wine god of the Ancient Greeks.

“[The Manticore’s] tail bristled, but the planks under his paws erupted into grapevines that immediately began wrapping around the monster’s body, sprouting new leaves and clusters of green baby grapes that ripened in seconds as the manticore shrieked, until he was engulfed in a huge mass of vines, leaves and full clusters of purple grapes. Finally the grapes stopped shivering, and I had a feeling that somewhere inside there, the manticore was no more.”
[Titan’s Curse; Pg 226;

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