Notebook

Notebook, 1993-

ANCIENT GREEK CULTURE

[From: Kyriazis, Constantine D. Eternal Greece. Translated by Harry T. Hionides. A Chat Publication.]

Demigods and Heros - Achilles - Aegisthus - Agamemnon - Ajax the Locrian - Ajax the Telamonian - Alcestis - Amphiaraos - Amphitrite - Antigone - Atalanta - Belerophon - Cadmus - Clytemnestra - Daedalus - Danae - Dioscuri - Electra - Europa - Eurydice - Ganymede - Hector - Hecuba - Helen - Heracles - Hippolytus - Icarus - Io - Iphigenia - Jason - Leda - Menelaus - Minos - Nestor - Niobe - Odysseus - Oedipus - Orestes - Medea - Orpheus - Paris - Pasiphae - Pelops - Penelope - Perseus - Phaedra - Phaethon - Phrixus - Priam - Telemachus - Theseus - Triptolemus

Demigods and Heros
of Greek Mythology


Some mortals became deified heroes in Greek mythology and were given many attributes of gods in whose image they were created. To further enhance their divine origins, the heroes often boasted of kinship with the deities by maintaining that they were offspring of the marriages of gods and mortals. On their deaths, the heroes became patrons and guardians of the cities wherein they were interred, even though it was not their birthplace, for the soul, in the opinion of the Greeks, never abandoned the corpse; rather, it resided within it at the spot in which it had been buried. Thus one finds that Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, was treated as a deity at Delphi although his only association with Delphi was his burial there. In much the same way, the Athenians honoured their patron Eurystheus although he was originally from Argos. The dead in every instance guarded the country in which they were buried suffice it that they were worshipped by the inhabitants through festivals given in their honour and at the altars specially built for them on which sacrifices were offered to their souls. Some authorities have gone so far as to identify this hero worship with ancestor worship encountered as an established communal and religious phenomenon amongst most peoples at the dawn of their respective civilizations and which phenomena were certainly known to the Greeks.

The most famous heroes usually became demigods and assumed that role amongst the ancients which is today played by the Saints in the Christian church. With the passage of time, however, the distance separating heroes from mortals became less noticeable for the idea grew stronger that they did in fact once exist. Indeed, there came a time in history when the most illustrious families could actually count the number of generations with exactitude that separated them from their heroic ancestors.

The most illustrious and famous demigods, heroes and heroines of Greek mythology are here listed in alphabetical order. [p.57]

[Kyriazis, Constantine D. Eternal Greece. Translated by Harry T. Hionides. A Chat Publication.]




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