Photos from the Nashville Parthenon

Laurelei & I just got back from a Caribbean cruise vacation, and on the way driving down to the port of Miami we decided to make a stop at the Nashville Parthenon. Here are some of the highlights.
Laurelei & I outside of the Parthenon.

The glorious 40 foot statue of Athena Parthenos. To give an idea of size, that statue of Nike in her palm is six feet tall.

Detail of the shield.


The interior of Athena's shield. Notice the figure of her near the handle, with her owl, overlooking Heracles.

Erecthonious gazes from a safe place behind his step-mother's shield.

Replica of the western pediment Parthenon marble of Athena.

Zeus watches as Nike presents Athena with laurels.

Detail of Nike and Athena.

Athena battles Poseidon.

The entire vacation was stupendous. I will share more about it soon. Hail, Athena!

Athena and Medusa

I have applied to be an Exegetai of Athena through Neokoroi. Part of the process of admittance includes the submission of two articles to their newsletter He Epistole. I shared my first article, Virgin Athena, here. Included below is the second article, with many inspirational thanks to the divine Thalia Took, who just happened to draw Medusa as the Goddess of the Week!

Athena and Medusa

In most myths Athena comes across as a gentle Goddess whose punishments are rare and just. This is not the case with the tale of Medusa. On the surface Athena's relationship with Medusa seems cruel and self-serving, very different from her relationships with other figures of mythology, but further investigation proves there is more going on between the two figures than the myth readily admits.

Medusa's story is a sad one. She was a lovely girl, often compared favorably to the goddess Athena. Medusa's beauty drew the unfortunate and unwanted attention of Poseidon. Medusa fled to a temple of Athena seeking sanctuary from the sea god's advances through prayers to virginal Athena. Poseidon found Medusa in the temple and raped her. As punishment for this desecration of her temple Athena transformed Medusa into a gorgon, a hideous creature with snakes for hair whose gaze turned men to stone. Medusa was beheaded by the hero Perseus with the assistance of Athena. From her body sprung forth her sons by Poseidon, Pegasus the winged horse and Khrysaor. Athena then gathered blood from Medusa's corpse and placed the head of Medusa, the Gorgoneion, prominently upon her breastplate, the aegis.

Who was Medusa and why is her myth so entwined with that of Athena, who seems to only want to punsish her for a crime that she was not at fault for? Pausanias points out that Medusa was said to have been from Lake Tritonis in Libya, which was also sometimes cited as the birthplace of Athena under her epithet Athena Tritogeneia, or Triton-born. This same epithet, along with that of Athena Glaukopis, has been cited as evidence that Athena's father was in fact Poseidon, not Zeus. Pausanias states:

"When I saw that the statue of Athena had blue eyes I found out that the legend about them is Libyan. For the Libyans have a saying that the Goddess is the daughter of Poseidon and Lake Tritonis, and for this reason has blue eyes like Poseidon."

So, we have links to two mythological figures of Libyan origin near Lake Tritonis with links to Poseidon. Athena and Poseidon have a famous rivalry concerning patronage of Athens, but Athena was never raped by Poseidon, was she?

Amazingly enough, there is a story of Athena being raped by her father. Although he is not named Poseidon, a story by Lycophron states that Athena was the daughter of the winged giant Pallas who attempted to rape his lovely offspring. Athena defended herself against his advances and slew him. She flayed the giant, taking his wings for her own use and his skin as her aegis. Here it is the fatherly male and not the transformed young woman whose visage becomes the basis for the aegis.

What of Pallas's wings? In early depictions of Athena she is shown winged, notably in Sparta. These wings would later be placed on the shoulders of Nike, goddess of victory, who accompanied Athena and was sometimes referred to as Athena. The Gorgons were also winged, shown with the same curling quadrupled wings as early black-figure-vase images of Athena. Medusa famously gave birth to the winged horse Pegasus, who myth states that Athena bridled and tamed. Suidas makes the connection between Athena, daughter of Poseidon and tamer of horses clear:

"Hippeia Athene (Athena-of-Horses) : They say she is a daughter of Poseidon and Polyphe, daughter of Okeanos; she was the first to use a chariot and was called 'of-Horses' because of this."

Athena was raped by her father, who may have been Poseidon, just as Medusa was. These events took place on the shores of Lake Tritonis in Libya and lead to associations with wings and winged horses by both Medusa and Athena. Both transformed a mutilated piece of themselves or their attacker into the aegis. There are clear connections here between Medusa and Athena, but what about Medusa's most notable feature, that of her snaky hair? Does Athena have connections to snakes also, and if so, do they bear any echo of Medusa?

Athena's associations with snakes are second only to her legendary affinity for owls. She wears the snake-tasseled aegis, and was said to be the mother of Erikhthonios, who was either part or all snake. So damning was her association with the snake that she forbid anyone to look upon her serpentine son, lest they recognize that she was its mother. The Arrephoria ritual of Athens commemorates these events. Anciently the snake in Greece was seen as the protector of the home. It guarded the grain, much in the way a housecat would in later Europe. Several deities with home protection roles had serpent associations, such as Zeus Kestos. Athena was so associated with the protection of cities that she was viewed in abstract terms as a great serpent. Her aegis is covered in scales and ringed with snakes to reenforce this association.

Barbara Walker states in her Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets under the entry Gorgon that “Gorgo, Gorgon, or Gorgopis... was the title of Athene as a death goddess.” She links the name Medusa with that of Athena's mother Metis and states that she believes that Athena was worshiped as Medusa/Metis in Libya where she was the destroyer aspect of the Egyptian goddess Neith who was called Anath among the Phoenicians and Ath-enna in Libya and North Africa.

Jane Ellen Harrison argues that the Gorgoneion is nothing more than a ritual mask, perhaps worn by Libyan priestesses in rites related to wisdom and the moon. The Orphics refer to the moon as “The Gorgon's Head”. Amazingly, an ancient image of Athena shows her winged and holding a crescent moon.

The similarities between Athena and Medusa weave an obscured but revealing pattern. Athena could no more punish Medusa than she could punish herself. Medusa, it seems, is only another older face of the complex Goddess known to us under the names Anat, Neith, Metis, Medusa, and Athena.

Sources Cited:

Theoi Project: Athena
Theoi Project: Medusa & Gorgons
Gimbutas, Marija: The Language of the Goddess.
Walker, Barbara: The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets: Athena, Gorgon, Medusa
Wikipedia: Gorgoneion

Respecting all of the Olympians

Over at the Hellenismos.us, forum where I post actively (Yes, yes, I know. But it really is a thoughtful, dedicated, and well-meaning group of folks), a teenage girl was venting her frustration about having a poor opinion of Aphrodite and Zeus. Because of this, she is struggling with honoring the entire Dodecatheon. I answered her struggle as follows.

I've had this problem also with Poseidon and Ares. I solved it by making a special effort to learn as much as I could about each of them and by honoring them for a month each as if they were my "favorites". This meant really looking at their myths, their epitaphs, and their spheres of influence, and making daily offerings to them.

Eventually I found things about them both that I respected and eventually even loved. For example, Poseidon is the Lord of the Sea and I visit St. Augustine, FL every year -- I love it there and plan to live there someday -- to enjoy the ocean. Now when I think of Poseidon I think of how much joy I get from watching the waves break along the coast.

In cases like Aphrodite and Zeus you are dealing with two entities that each have A LOT of things attributed to them beyond just the immediate interpretation that you'd get from most myths. To quote Laurelei, Aphrodite is not a "bimbo". In addition to being the personification of love, beauty, grace, and sensuality she was also a war goddess, (Aphrodite Area) the Lady of the tombs (Aphrodite Epitymbria), the star Goddess (Aphrodite Asteria), the dove of peace (Aphrodite Eirene), the dark Goddess (Aphrodite Melaina/Skotia), the averter of unlawful desires (Aphrodite Apostrophia), and the lover of laughter (Aphrodite Philomedes). She is thought to be an imported variant of the mighty Sumerian queen of heaven, Inanna. Those who reduce her to a simpering maid with no head for battle *cough* Homer *cough* do her a great disservice.

I'm waxing rather long on Aphrodite. I'll admit that I'm partial to her. My lovely Laurelei literally wrote the book on the revival of her worship: http://www.asteriabooks.com/catalog/aphrodites-priestess.html

I know that Zeus is painted in the myths as a philander at best and a rapist at worst. To those raised in an Abrahamic faith he can seem like little more than a judgmental sky-father. But he is more, also. He is the God of freedom (Zeus Elutherios) the great councilor (Zeus Euboulos), the divine child (Zeus Hersos) who saved his siblings and fathered the Gods you hold most dear, the God of rejoicing (Zeus Kharmon), the God of the people (Zeus Laoites), the God who was fufilled (Teleios) by his marriage to Hera (Zeus Heraios). Rather than solely the distant airy Lord of storms, He was an earthly God (Zeus Khthonios) who roamed groves of white poplar (Zeus Leucaeus) and forests of dark oak (Zeus Scotitas). He could be raging (Zeus Labrandeus) and wolfish (Zeus Lykaios) or gentle (Zeus Meilichios) and friendly (Zeus Philios). Zeus is the Theos Agathus, literally the Good God.

My advice to you is to learn all that you can of these Gods and then, with a humble heart and an open mind, ask them how they can best fit into your life. You are not courting them to gain the acceptance of the "in crowd". You are asking them to share their many blessings with you in your life. These blessings extend far beyond simply "love" from Aphrodite or "rulership" from Zeus. Open your mind and heart to the Olympians and they will receive you gladly.

Mind you, this is still an ongoing process, learning about the Gods, honoring them, and developing good relationships with each of them. I still struggle with Ares from time to time. I am a non-confrontational creature by nature. I see little good in war or conflict. It is hard for me to honor the "Destroyer of Men", the "Bloody", "Violent", "Terrible" "Skin-piercing" "Murderer". So, my personal understanding of Ares has come through other means. He is called "the one who the women feast", "the bountiful" and "the one who rallies". Ares (his name is literally war) can never be completely separated from the concept of battle, but I have come to accept that the conflict he brings is useful. I see him as a Kali sort of figure, one who destroys that creation may happen. He is also someone who it is useful to have on my side, as I am no warrior.

Also remember, it is not important to have excellent relationships with all of the Gods. It is only necessary to not disrespect them or neglect honoring them.

I'm reposting this information here as, despite my rationalizations to the contrary, I'm still having personal internal conflict with Ares. There are many who would state that as long as I'm following proper piety and orthopraxy it doesn't matter if I dislike Ares. I myself rationalized that "it is not important to have excellent relationships with all of the Gods. It is only necessary to not disrespect them or neglect honoring them." But in truth I am too much of a mystic to really believe that. Personal relationships with the Gods is what brought me to Hellenismos in the first place. To have a lack of respect for one of the major Gods of the pantheon bothers me. I find myself even looking to Zeus's example for permission to dislike Ares so. Zeus himself claimed that he hated Ares.

'To me you are the most hateful of all the gods who hold Olympus. Forever quarreling is dear to your heart, wars and battles." - Homer, Iliad 5.699

I addition of murder, savagery, cowardice, war, strife, blood, and mutilation, Ares is also associated with human sacrifice. He is the rival of Hephaestus, who I hold very dear, and is openly despised by my dearest Athena. Were it not for Aphrodite's relationship with him I believe I would cut my losses and discount him altogether. Yet, she loves the war-hungry God for reasons I don't completely understand.

I would not speak ill of Ares, mind you. I have a grudging respect for him as a God, if nothing else, and I am not one to be impious. But he vexes me. How should I cultivate a relationship with a God who is so alien to my own spirit?