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HISTORY
The Greco-Roman Pantheon
Roles, myths and iconography, the ancient Greeks and Romans had a multitude of iconic deities.
By Will Street
Jul. 25, 2019, 11:30 AM
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The Scope of this Catalogue
The ancient Greco-Roman pantheon in its entirety consists of close to a hundred deities, some of which are considered primordial deities and others lesser deities. This catalogue includes a selection of the most popular gods and goddesses immediately related to either Uranus and Gaia, the most primordial god and goddess in the Greek pantheon, and Zeus, the considered King of the gods in the Greek pantheon. I've added in also Eros as another central god in the Orphic religion. The gods included in this list, who were either the offspring of Zeus or his siblings, were considered members of the twelve Olympians, who were said to reside to on Mount Olympus. Depending on the source, one of either Hestia or Dionysos is included in the list.
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Greco-Roman gods and goddesses often acted as a particular force in the universe, for instance the Greek god, Ares, and Roman equivalent, Mars, was the god of war and brought warfare into occurrence in the world. They were also portrayed iconographically and a multitude of myths surrounding their characters were attached to them.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans actively worshipped the gods in their pantheon, erecting temples in their honour, designating priests and priestess to each god or goddess, engaging in rituals and offering sacrifices, which could be live animals.
Both Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome were largely polytheistic pagan societies until the Christian revolution during the reign of Emperor Constantine, the official religion of the Roman Empire becoming Christianity in 380 CE.
Uranus / Caelus
The primal Greek god personifying the Sky as an entity capable of reproduction. Uranus is the husband of Gaia, father of Cronus and grandfather of Zeus. Although in Hesiod's Theogony he is the son of Gaia, the best known legends of Uranus are those which place him as the husband of Gaia, and with her he had a large number of children totalling six male Titans, the six female Titanides, the three Cyclopes and the three Hecatoncheires. The legend goes that Gaia was tired of endless childbirth and asked her children to protect her against Uranus. They all refused, except her son, Cronus, who ambushed Uranus and cut off his testicles, using a sickle his mother had lent him.
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It was said that Cronus threw his father's testicles into the sea, and several geographical locations around Greece have been attributed as the place of the mutilation. It is usually said to have taken place at Cape Depranum, as the Greek word for sickle is drepanon, suggesting the island is named after Cronus' sickle. Alternatively, others attribute the location to just off Corcyra, the land of the Phaeacians. In this case, the island is said to be the sickle itself, which had been thrown into the sea by Cronus, while the Phaeacians were born off the god's blood. The final alternative legend was that the act happened in Sicily, which was fertilised by the god's blood, which was taken as a reason to explain why the region was so fertile.
The Ancient Greek writer, Hesiod, preserves a prophecy attributed also to the myth of Uranus and Gaia, that warned that Cronus' reign would end when he had been conquered by one of his sons.
Gaia / Terra
Gaia, or Ge, was the personification of the Earth, conceived as the primordial element from which sprang the gods and other divine beings. According to Hesiod, she was born immediately after Chaos, which, depending on the interpretation of Hesiod's Theogony, has been taken variously to mean either the void space above the Earth after it split from the sky or the void space below the Earth on which it sits, and immediately before Eros, the greek god of love and sex.
Without the assistance of a male, she gave birth to Uranus, the Mountains and Pontus, the personification of the sea. After the birth of Uranus, she coupled with him and had the large number of children listed above. As stated, Gaia sought help from her son Cronus who cut off Uranus's testicles with a sickle she had leant him.
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After Uranus's castration, she coupled with another of her initial children, Pontus, and gave birth to five marine divinities. At the same time, Cronus had become ruler of the world and also a brutal tyrant, imprisoning his brother, Tartarus. Gaia was resentful against Cronus, and was planning a second revolution.
The greek goddess Rhea, had coupled with Cronus, but seen all her children be eaten by him after he had been warned he would be overthrown by one of them. She was pregnant with the god, Zeus, and sought help with Gaia and Uranus, who revealed the secret of the Fates to her, and later concealed him at birth, hiding him in a deep cave. Instead of the baby, Gaia gave Cronus a stone wrapped in cloths, which enabled Zeus to escape and grow into manhood.
When Zeus began openly resisting Cronus, Gaia told him that he could only achieve victory with the Titans as allies. However, she did not completely join forces with Zeus, instead coupling with Tartarus, with whom she gave birth to the monster Typhon, who made war on the gods and held them at bay for a considerable time. Other theogonies attribute Gaia also to giving birth to a number of other various giants and monsters.
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Earth, the tremendous power and fecundity, gradually became known as the Universal Mother and mother of the gods. Mother Earth became incarnated as divinities such as Demeter or Cybele and speculations concerning the Earth shifted from the mythological to the philosophical. Gaia was also credited with being the inspiration of numerous oracles, for she possessed the secrets of the Fates, and her oracles were claimed to be older and more accurate than those of Apollo.
Eros / Cupid
Eros was the personification of Love. In the oldest theogonies, Eros was considered to be a god born directly from primitive Chaos, however the envisaging of his personality evolved dramatically between the Archaic era and the age of Alexandria and Rome. Nonetheless, Eros always remained a fundamental world force, ensuring reproduction of species and the internal cohesion of the cosmos.
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Authors and philosophers speculated on Eros according to this theme. In Plato's Symposium, Diotima, a priestess from Mantinea, describes Eros as a demon half-way between god and man. He was born through the union of Expediency and Poverty, being restless in search of his objectives like Poverty but also like Expediency as he could always think of a way to attain it. However, as the opposite of an all-powerful god, he was perpetually restless and dissatisfied.
The common depiction of Eros as a winged boy was based on the myth that he was born from Hermes and Artemis. However, other accounts place him as the son of Hermes and Aphrodite or sometimes as the son of Eilithyia or Iris.
The envisaging of Eros gradually developed into his traditional appearance under the influence of the poets. He was depicted as a child, often winged, but also wingless, whose job was to trouble the hearts of humans. To do so, it was depicted that he either inflamed them with his torch or wounded them with his arrows.
Those that he inflicted with love included Herakles, Apollo (who poked fun at him for playing the archer), even Zeus and his own mother, Artemis. Greeks and Romans invented new scenes to fit his child-like character. He was depicted as being punished by his mother or wounded by plucking roses. This development is typified on the paintings found at Pompeii. The Alexandrine poets often portrayed him as playing knucklebones (the ancient equivalent of dice), most commonly with Ganymede, a Trojan boy who was abducted by Zeus.
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One of the most celebrated accounts of Eros is Apuleius' story of Cupid and Psyche in the Metamorphoses. Here, he welcomes into her home, however when Psyche attempts to look at him for the first time, he flies away leaving her to embark on a series of wanderings, before the two are eventually reunited and married.
Cronus / Saturn
Cronus was one of the Titans born from Uranus and Gaia. He was the precursor to Zeus as King of the universe before his defeat. In the Orphic tradition, ie. the Greek and Hellenistic system of religious beliefs, Cronus appears reconciled with Zeus and depicted living in the Islands of the Blessed. This tradition regards Cronus as a good King and as the first to rule over both Heaven and Earth.
To Greeks, Cronus was said to have reigned on Olympus, whereas Romans identified him with Saturn and attributed his throne to on top of the Capitol Hill in Rome. He was also said to have reigned in African, Sicily and the whole of the western Mediterranean. It was said that when mankind had become wicked during the ages of iron and bronze, Cronus had retreated to heaven.
With his own sister, Rhea, Cronus was the father of Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Pluto, Poseidon and Zeus. In some traditions he is the father Hephaestus by Hera, and others claim that Aphodite is his daughter rather than Uranus'.
Zeus / Jupiter
Zeus was generally regarded as the greatest of the gods and essentially viewed as the god of Light, clear skies and thunder.
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His characterisation as the king of both men and gods and enthroned in luminous heights of the sky is found first in the Homeric poems. Here, he was responsible for guarding over royal powers and social hierarchy, and ensuring appropriate duties were carried out to one's host. He was also responsible for distributing good and evil, for example, in the Iliad, where Homer states that at the gate of his palace, there were two jars: one containing good and the other evil. Zeus allotted a portion to each mortal, however, the ratio could be different resulting in different destinies.
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He was also responsible for interpreting Fate, which he was also subject to, and defending Fate from the whims of other gods. This is exemplified in the Iliad, where Zeus forbids Apollo from intervening when Hector goes down to the underworld.
Olympus gradually came to mean the ethereal region where the gods lived rather than an actual mountain, and Zeus was considered to be in control of rain, thunder and lightning, but above all in command of order and justice in the world. The most extreme development on the personality of Zeus was that of the Stoics, who emerged later in the early 3rd Century BC. They considered Zeus as the symbol of a single god, the incarnation of the cosmos, and that the laws of the world were nothing but the thought of Zeus.
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When Zeus began fighting Cronus, it was said that he asked Metis, whose name meant "cunning intelligence" and who was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, for advice. She gave him a drug, which made Cronus vomit up his children whom he had swallowed. Supported by his newly recovered brothers and sisters, Zeus waged war on the Titans.
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The struggle lasted ten years, and the Olympians were eventually victorious, expelling the Titans from heaven. In order to win, on Gaia's advice, Zeus had liberated the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires from Tartarus, prison for the Titans, where Cronus had locked them up. Zeus was armed with thunder and lightning, which the Cyclopes had made, while Hades was given a magical helmet which made him invisible and Poseidon a trident, which could shake the sea and land when hit.
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Having won the struggle, it was said the gods divided power by lots, Hades receiving the underworld, Poseidon the sea, and Zeus Heaven, along with command over the Universe. They would still have to face the giants in battle after they were roused to war by Gaia, who was annoyed that her sons, the Titans, had been locked away in Tartarus. Zeus also had to overcome Typhon, the monster who was the youngest son of Gaia and Tartarus.
Zeus also fathered many other gods including Ares, Demeter and Persephone, along with other mortal mythological families through various nymphs. To the Romans, he was identified as Jupiter, whom they considered god of heaven and protector of the city, residing in his temple on the Capitol hill.
Aphrodite / Venus
Aphrodite was the goddess of love. There are two accounts concerning her birth. In some accounts she was the daughter of Zeus and Dione, alternatively others claimed she was born when Uranus' testicles were cut off by Cronus and thrown into the sea, begetting or forming the goddess.
She was married to Hephaestus, but in love with the god Ares. The Odyssey relates the story where the two lovers were caught out one time in the morning by the all-seeing god Helios. Helios informed Hephaestus, who devised a trap using an invisible net only he could handle. When the two lovers were in bed together, Hephaestus closed the net over them and called upon all the Olympian gods to come and observe.
At Poseidon's request, Hephaestus drew the net back, revealing the two gods. Out of shame, Aphrodite fled to Cyprus and it was said the affair resulted in the birth of Eros, Deimos and Phobos.
Aphrodite also had other love affairs, most notably with Anchises, with whom she bore the child Aeneas who was central to Roman mythology as the protagonist of Virgil's Aeneid.
The goddess was also famous for her outbursts of anger. She either enamoured or punished gods and mortals out of spite for their indignation towards her. She also showed devout allegiance towards certain mortals, most notably Paris in the Iliad, and succeeded in ensuring that Aeneas, at least, escaped the burning city of Troy and would go on to start the origins of Rome.
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In Rome, Aphrodite was identified as Venus. Expressed in Virgil's Aeneid, the Julii clan claimed descent from Iulus, the son of Aeneas, and consequently the goddess Venus as well. For that reason, Julius Caesar erected a temple in honour of Venus Genetrix in the 1st Century BC. Owing to the legacy of Aeneas, Venus was generally considered special protectress of Rome.
Poseidon / Neptune
The son of Cronus and Rhea, Poseidon was the brother of Zeus and god of the Sea. The story of Cronus vomiting out his children suggests that Poseidon was considered the older brother of Zeus, however owing to the development of birthright, he was considered the younger brother by the time of the Classical period in Greece.
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As god of the Sea, Poseidon could command the waves, provoke storms and create landslides on the coast with a stroke of his trident. He also held power over springs and lakes, but not rivers.
Poseidon was vindictive against the Trojans owing to the story where he refused the salary he was owed for helping build the walls of Troy. However, like all the other gods, he sought the demise of the sons of Priam but protected the sons of Anchises, and thus Aeneas who he saved from being killed by Achilles.
Poseidon was depicted armed with a trident, which was the weapon used by tuna fishermen. He rode on a chariot drawn by a monstrous animals, who were half horse and half serpent. Finally, his chariot was surrounded by fish dolphins, and an array of sea creatures as well as the Nereids and other minor divinities such as Proteus.
Hades / Dis Pater / Orcus
Again the son of Cronus and Rhea, Hades was the god of the dead. The Greek underworld, which was called "the House of Hades" by Homer, came to be called simply "Hades." Within the Underworld, Hades was said to reign over the dead, prohibiting all of his subjects from returning to the Living. After his legendary abduction of his niece Persephone, who was the daughter of Demeter, she too was said to reign at his side.
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Generally out of fear, for his name was not usually said out loud for fear of arousing his anger, Hades appears little in legends. However the main exception is related in the Iliad, where Herakles goes down to the Underworld and shoots Hades in the shoulder at the Gate of Hell. Hades, however, manages to make his way to Mount Olympus where the wound is healed.
Hera / Juno
Hera was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea and considered the greatest of all the goddesses. She married Zeus in a formal wedding ceremony and according to Hesiod was his third wife. The Iliad states that Zeus and Hera were married on the summit of Mount Ida in Phrygia. Festivals took place across Greece commemorating this occasion. Their love was long-standing and together they produced the children Hephaestus, Ares, Eilithyia and Hebe.
She was considered the protecting deity of wives and generally portrayed as being jealous, violent and vindictive, often angry at Zeus, whose infidelities she regarded as insults.
Hera’s wrath was most notably inflicted upon Herakles. In the myth of Herakles, Hera raised a violent storm against Herakles’ ship on his return after his had captured Troy. This prompted Zeus to hang her by the wrists from Mount Olympus. Hephaestus tried to help her, which prompted further wrath from Zeus at him as well. Hera would eventually make formal peace with Herakles.
Hera’s wrath was also brought upon a number of other deities, including notably Leto who she tried to stop giving birth to Apollo and Artemis out of spite of Zeus’ affair with her.
One of the most well-known myths involving Hera, was the judgement of Paris, where she, Aphrodite and Athena competed in a beauty contest. Out of spite over Paris’ refusal to award her the prize, she sided against the Trojans in the Trojan War, becoming instead Achilles’ protectress.
Hera’s usual symbol was the peacock, where symbolically the plumage was said to represent the eyes of Argos, the god she had set over Io. To the Romans, Hera was identified with Juno.
Demeter / Ceres
The second daughter of Cronus and Rhea, Demeter was considered the Mother Goddess of the Earth, but distinct from Gaia as the divinity of agriculture and therefore essentially the Corn Goddess, rather than the Earth as a cosmogonic element.
Demeter was the daughter of Persephone, and when Persephone was abducted by Hades and carried off to the Underworld, it was said she wandered over the world without eating, drinking, bathing or changing her clothes for nine days and nights, holding a lighted torch in either hand. Eventually Helios informed her what had happened and she decided to abandon her divine role until her child was returned to her, assuming instead the shape of an old woman and venturing to Eleusis.
Her exile had made the world sterile so eventually Zeus ordered Hades to return Persephone. However, Persephone had eaten a pomegranate, which bound her to Hades and prevented her from leaving the Underworld.
A compromise was reached whereby Persephone would be permitted to spend half the year with her mother and half the year in the Underworld. It was said that when the first shoots came through in spring, Persephone could make her way up to heaven, however in winter she would have to return underground and so Demeter deserted the land causing it to be sterile in winter.
Demeter was generally depicted seated, with torches or a serpent.
Hestia / Vesta
The eldest daughter of Cronus and Rhea, Hestia was the goddess of the hearth. She was courted by Apollo and Poseidon, however Zeus gave her permission to preserve her virginity.
Zeus bestowed special honours on her, causing her to be worshipped within every household and in the temples of every deity. She resided permanently on Olympus.
As the domestic hearth was the religious centre of the household, Hestia was the religious centre of the divine dwelling within each household. Her immobility, however, ensured she played no role in myths.
Athena / Minerva
The daughter of Zeus and Metis, Athena was the warrior goddess who also presided over the arts and literature, although being more closely connected with philosophy than with poetry and music. She was also the patroness of spinning, weaving embroidery and similar household activities practised by women.
The story of her birth was that when Metis was pregnant, Gaia and Uranus informed Zeus that once she had given birth to a daughter, she would have a son by Zeus who would go on to dethrone him. Following Gaia’s advice, Zeus swallowed Metis, however when the time arrived for the child to be born, Hephaestus split Zeus’ head open with an axe, from which sprang the goddess Athena in full armour.
Athena played a key role in the gods fight agains the giants, and also looked after Herakles during his Labours, he himself fighting beside her against the giants. She also supported Odysseus in the Odyssey, providing Odysseus with supernatural good looks to ensure Nausicaa obtained a boat for him and causing Calypso to release him in another instance.
Athena’s combination of ingenuity and war-like spirit lead her to invent numerous artifices and fabrications including the war chariot, and aid Danaus to build the first two-prowed ship, Argos the Argo, and Epeius the Trojan horse. In Attica and Athens she was also credited with introducing the olive tree and blessed for the discovery of olive oil.
Athena was the patroness of Athens, however there were also temples to her in the citadels of Megara, Argos and Sparta. She was depicted armed with a spear, helmet and an aegis, which was a goat-skin shield or short cloak surrounded by Fear, Strife, Force and Pursuit, with a Gorgon head at the centre, which it was said Perseus had given her that turned to stone every living being that looked at her. There was also a fringe of snakes on top. She was conceived as a majestic goddess, with calm features and whose favourite animal was the owl and favourite plant the olive tree.
Hephaestus / Vulcan
Hephaestus was generally considered the son of Hera and Zeus, however, according to Hesiod, he was produced by Hera on her own without any assistance from Zeus, because she was resentful at the birth of Athena.
Hephaestus was the god of fire. He was said to be the master of fire, using flame as his weapon in the Trojan War and slaying Clytius was a mass of red-hot iron during the Giant's Revolt. He was also considered the god of metal and metal-work. To him, no fabrication was impossible and, accordingly, Thetis sought his help when she wanted arms forged for Achilles.
It was said he ruled over volcanoes, which acted as his workshop, while the Cyclopes were his assistants. Hephaestus was a lame and deformed god, the account of the reason why was set forth initially in the Iliad. Here, it is related that when Hephaestus took Hera's side in a quarrel with Zeus about Heracles, Zeus threw him down from Olympus. The fall lasted a whole day before he hit the island of Lemnos in the evening, where he was rescued and restored to life by the Sintians, however he remained lame.
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Another account of his infirmity was also set forth in the Iliad. In this case, Hephaestus was born lame and thrown down from Olympus by his mother out of shame. It was said he fell into the sea where his he was brought up in a cave for nine years. Attempts to reconcile the two stories were made by asserting it was Zeus who had thrown Hephaestus into the sea.
In any case, following his childhood, Hephaestus was said to have created a throne of gold, attached to which were invisible chains that would bind anyone who sat in the seat. He sent it to his mother who fell for the trap. Hephaestus, as the only one who knew how to undo the chains, was asked to return to Olympus. He was convinced into doing so by Dionysos who got him drunk, and he arrived at Olympus on top of an ass and released his mother.
Hephaestus also had a notable lust for Athena, which was said to cause the birth of the legendary early ruler of Athens, Erichthonius, and he also played a part in the creation of Pandora, fashioning her body out of clay.
Ares_Canope_Villa_Adriana.jpg: Jastrowderivative work: EricMachmer [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
Ares / Mars
Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, and the god of war. His position as the god of war was established by the time of the Homeric poems. Here, he was said to be generally on the side of the Trojans, however he possessed little regard for justice nor the cause he was backing.
Often the brute strength of Ares was restrained or deceived by the wiser strength of Heracles or the greater wisdom of Athena.
When confronting the Aetolian hero, Diomedes, on the battlefield at Troy, Ares’ spear deflected and he was wounded by Diomedes and fled to Mount Olympus. It was also said that in the fighting that took place between the gods before the battle of Troy, Athena got the better of him by stunning him with a stone. Similarly, when Ares defended his son, Cycnus against Heracles, Athena intervened directly by turning aside Ares’ spear enabling Heracles to wound him in the thigh.
Numerous legends relate Ares’ various love affairs, the most famous being with Aphrodite. Iconographically, he was represented wearing armour and a helmet, while carrying a shield, spear and sword. He was attended also by his children, Deimos and Phobos (Fear and Terror), and sometimes by Eris (Strife) and Enyo, the goddess of war. He was taller than a human and normally fought on foot, although on some occasions he could ride a chariot. To Romans, he was identified with Mars.
Apollo / Apollo
Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto and said to be the god of music and poetry, who presided over the activities of the Muses on Mount Parnassus. He provided inspiration for artists, and gave oracles at Delphi, which were delivered generally in verse. It was said he shared his office with Dionysus.
Gradually, he also became to be considered god of the whole Orphic religion in general. His name, consequently, was associated with the whole system of thought that promised safety and eternal life to its initiates.
The origins of the Pythian games and Apollo’s oracle at Delphi, was related by a myth in which Apollo slew a dragon at Delphi, which had had the task of protecting the oracle of Themis however terrorised the neighbourhood. Having rid the country of the dragon, it was said Apollo founded funerary games in its honour, which were called the Pythian games, named after Python which had been the dragon’s name, and held at Delphi. He then took possession of the oracle, dedicating a tripod in the shrine. That was the origins of Apollo’s oracle, and he had to defend it against Heracles, who came to came to question the oracle and then attempt to ransack the temple.
Apollo was depicted as a god of great beauty and stature, and particularly distinguished for his long, curling, black hair. He had a large number of affairs with various Nymphs and mortal women, including the Nymph Daphne and the Muses, whose cult was closely linked with his own.
He appears in the Iliad, fighting on the side of the Trojans, protecting Paris, and intervening to bring about the death of Achilles. To Romans, he was likewise named Apollo, and ascribed as being his personal guardian by Augustus, who built a temple in his honour next to his house on the Palatine hill in Rome. Following that trend, the Ludi Saeculares, at which Horace’s Carmen Saeculare was sung, were largely in Apollo’s honour in 17 BC.
Artemis / Diana
Artemis was said to be the twin sister of Apollo as the daughter of Zeus and Leto. She was considered the goddess of the hunt.
She was generally depicted as a ferocious goddess who roamed the woods and mountains, and usually preferred company with wild beasts. Like Apollo, her weapon was the bow, which she used while hunting stags and mortals, being highly vindictive and causing many to suffer on account of her anger.
Artemis was held in honour in the wild and mountainous areas of the Ancient Greek world. Her most famous shrine was at Ephesus. As Apollo was closely connected with the sun, she was conversely connected with the moon. She was also the protecting deity of the Amazons, who, like her, were independent of men and were said to be warriors and huntresses.
Hermes / Mercury
Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia, and the messenger god. He was also the god of commerce and flight. He was the first to invent the lyre, which he had done so by stretching cows’ intestines over a tortoise, after he had stolen the cows from Apollo and sacrificed them in Pylos. It was said that when Zeus ordered Hermes to return the animals, Apollo saw the lyre in the cave where the cows were hidden, however was so enchanted by the sounds it produced that he agreed to exchange the animals in return for the lyre.
Later, Hermes invented the Pan Pipes as well, and learned how to foretell the future by using small pebbles. Zeus made him the herald of the gods, alloting him particular responsibilities towards him and Persephone and Hades in the Underworld.
Hermes commonly played a secondary role as a divine agent and protector of heroes, saving for instance Odysseus by ordering to Calypso to release him and build him a raft and, in another instance, providing Heracles with his sword.
He was most frequently depicted wearing winged shoes, a large-brimmed hat and carrying the winged staff, which was the symbol of his role as divine messenger. To Romans, he was identified as Mercury.
Dionysos / Bacchus
Dionysos was.the god of the vine, of wine and of mystic ecstasy. He was the son of Zeus and Semele and said to dwell on Mount Olympus.
The story of his birth was that his mother Semele had asked Zeus to show himself to her in all his majesty. When he did this, it was said Semele was unable to endure the sight of the lightning, which flashed above Zeus, and dropped down dead. Zeus then took the unborn child and sewed it up inside his thigh. Eventually the child was born fully formed.
He was then sent King Athamas, a mythical Boeotian King, and concealed as a girl to deceive Hera who sought the destroy the child owing to the Zeus’s adultery. Hera sent King Athamas and his wife, Ino, mad so Zeus entrusted Dionysos to the Nymphs of Nysa and to avoid Hera’s clutches a second time, concealed him as a boy.
When Dionysos grew into manhood, he discovered the vine and its uses. He then followed on to do a number of things including conquering India with a large army and by use of his enchantments and mystic powers. His conquest of India was the originator of his triumphal train, which consisted of a chariot drawn by panthers, adorned with vine branches and ivy and accompanied by the Sileni, the Bacchantes, the Satyrs and other minor deities including Priapus.
In a number of instances in mythology, Dionysos was said to exert his power over particular communities. He introduced wine into Thebes, and then punished those who banned it, and, similarly, drove the king of Argos mad.
Once Dionysos’ might had won world-wide recognition and his cult be established, it was said he retreated to Olympus. He then decided to attempt to free his mother, Semele, from the Underworld, and persuaded Hades to release her in exchange for a myrtle, one of Dionysos’s favourite plants. For that reason, the initiates of the Dionysian mysteries wore crowns of myrtle.
Dionysos was usually worshipped with large processions in which spirits of the earth and fecundity were depicted with masks. From the revels that coincided with these processions developed the representations of Dionysos in theatre, comedy, tragedy and satyric drama.
In the Roman Empire, the Dionysian mysteries made their way into Italy in the second century BC, and took up quickly with the people of southern and central Italy. The Roman Senate banned the celebration of Bacchanalia in 186 BC, however various mystic sects still retained the Dionysiac tradition. It was most probably Julius Caesar who authorised the Bacchanalia ceremonies once again, and Dionysos played an important role in the religion of Imperial Rome.
Conclusion
The Greek and Roman gods and goddesses were central to both Greek and Roman religion. They were worshipped daily and beseeched for aid in worldly affairs. In epic literature, philosophical treatises and plays, they acted as over-seeing guardians of heroes and characters and shaped the course of the narratives. In art and sculpture, they were depicted according to their myths and characterisations. Festivals to the gods also occurred throughout the year, which were rich with iconography and central to communities.
The Greek and Roman pantheon has had far-reaching and significant influence on the themes of particularly the art and momuments of Western Europe but also throughout the world. During the Renaissance and Enlightenment, depictions of the gods and goddesses and their myths were widespread in the art of the period. Monuments present today, too, rely heavily on the Greco-Roman pantheon for inspiration, such as the statue of Athena in Vienna and numerous others throughout Italy, Greece and the rest of the world.