tradition
Hellenic religion
The cults, poems, and civic rites of the ancient Greek-speaking world, known from temples, travelers, and later literature.
Also known as Greek religion
Meetings with this tradition
Hermes belongs to Hellenic religion.
The Homeric hymn presents Hermes as a Greek god of theft, speech, and the newborn’s cunning, born in a cave and already crossing boundaries.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Hermes, c. 6th–5th century BCE
belongs to · sourced · documented
Labyrinth appears in Hellenic religion.
Ovid tells the Cretan labyrinth as a built prison for a bull-man. The tale is Roman poetry about a Greek story, not a map of every maze.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
appears in · sourced · culturally specific
Transformation appears in Hellenic religion.
Ovid’s poem is a catalogue of bodies changed. The Metamorphoses is literature about change, not a ritual of change.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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Dream appears in Hellenic religion.
Artemidorus’s book is a Greek intellectual product about dreams as signs that can be classified.
from Artemidorus of Daldis · Oneirocritica, 2nd century CE
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Offerings is used in Hellenic religion.
Pausanias notes altars, victims, and dedicated gifts at Greek sanctuaries. The local god and the local gift vary by site.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Dream incubation belongs to Hellenic religion.
Pausanias describes sleeping in Asklepieia for a healing dream. The practice is Greek temple incubation.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Underworld appears in Hellenic religion.
Greek Hades is a named below with its own keepers. Pausanias visits cults of the dead and of chthonic gods as a traveler.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
appears in · partially sourced · documented
Delphi belongs to Hellenic religion.
Delphi is a Greek sanctuary. Pausanias treats it as a place one can walk through and describe.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Flood appears in Hellenic religion.
Ovid tells Deucalion and Pyrrha’s flood. The tale is a Mediterranean literary flood, related in type to older Near Eastern floods, not proof they are one event.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
appears in · sourced · culturally specific
Oracle appears in Hellenic religion.
The Greek oracle is a speaking institution. Pausanias’s Delphi is the type-site for this seed, not the only house of the word.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
appears in · sourced · documented
Demeter belongs to Hellenic religion.
The Homeric Hymn to Demeter is a Greek poem about a Greek goddess of grain and of Eleusis.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Medicine appears in Hellenic religion.
Pausanias’s Asklepieia are a religious-medical institution. They are not a later hospital by another name.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
appears in · sourced · documented
Hades belongs to Hellenic religion.
Hades is a Greek named below. Pausanias visits cults of the dead and of chthonic gods as a traveler in that landscape.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Epidaurus belongs to Hellenic religion.
Pausanias describes Epidaurus as a working Asklepian sanctuary in the Argolid.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Fate appears in Hellenic religion.
The Theogony’s Moirai are a genealogical fate. They are not Ptolemy’s inclination and not Virgil’s fatum.
from Hesiod · Theogony, c. 700 BCE
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Hera belongs to Hellenic religion.
Hera is a Greek goddess of Argos and of marriage in the poems. She is not a peacock-spirit of later India.
from Hesiod · Theogony, c. 700 BCE; Walter Burkert · Greek Religion, 1977 German; 1985 English
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Athens belongs to Hellenic religion.
Athens is a Greek city of Athena’s cult. Philosophers later used the name as a mind; the cult is older than that metaphor.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE; Walter Burkert · Greek Religion, 1977 German; 1985 English
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Athena belongs to Hellenic religion.
Athena is a Greek goddess. Burkert’s synthesis is secondary; the hymns and epic are primary.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Athena, c. 7th–5th century BCE; Walter Burkert · Greek Religion, 1977 German; 1985 English
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Griffin appears in Hellenic religion.
Herodotus reports northern gold-guarding griffins in Greek ethnographic speech. A Hellenic traveler’s monster report, not a Mesopotamian guardian and not every hybrid.
from Herodotus · Histories, c. 440s BCE
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Sphinx appears in Hellenic religion.
Pausanias reports the Theban sphinx in Greek travel narrative — the roadside riddling being of Boeotia. Hellenic story-topography, not Egyptian guardian monuments.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
appears in · sourced · documented
Tartarus appears in Hellenic religion.
Hesiod’s Theogony places Tartaros as a deep pit in the earth, a bronze-walled confinement below the ordinary dead. A Greek cosmogonic below, not Hades’ house and not a Christian hell.
from Hesiod · Theogony, c. 700 BCE
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Hyperborea appears in Hellenic religion.
Herodotus reports Hyperboreans as a far-north people in Greek ethnographic speech, including offerings said to reach Delos. A Hellenic far-country report, not Atlantis and not a later occult north.
from Herodotus · Histories, c. 440s BCE
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Ambrosia appears in Hellenic religion.
The Iliad uses ambrosia as the gods’ food and as anointing stuff on the bodies of gods and the dead. Homeric divine fare, not a later perfume slogan.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
appears in · sourced · documented
Aegis appears in Hellenic religion.
The Iliad attests Athena’s aegis as a goat-skin or shield-device shaken in battle. Homeric divine gear, not every later shield and not unpublished Medusa as a second being.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
appears in · sourced · documented
Minotaur appears in Hellenic religion.
Pausanias reports the Cretan Minotaur kept in the labyrinth at Knossos as Greek local story. Attested in that periegesis, not every bull-man image and not the maze as architecture.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
appears in · sourced · documented
Olympus appears in Hellenic religion.
The Iliad attests Olympus as the seat of the gods, a mountain-court of Homeric speech. Greek poetic geography, not Asgard and not the geographic peak as a hiking address.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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Omphalos appears in Hellenic religion.
Pausanias describes the omphalos at Delphi as the navel-marker of that sanctuary. A named cult stone of the periegesis, not Lia Fáil and not the Stone of Scone.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Delphic tripod appears in Hellenic religion.
Pausanias attests the Pythian tripod at Delphi among the sanctuary’s gear. A named oracular tripod of that visit, not a cooking-stand and not the omphalos restated.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Poseidon's trident appears in Hellenic religion.
The Iliad has Poseidon hold the trident when the Achaean wall is to be unmade. Hellenic epic’s three-prong, not Trishula and not a fisherman’s fork.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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Kynee appears in Hellenic religion.
The Iliad has Athena put on the cap of Hades, the kynee, so that Ares cannot see her. A named cap of darkness in that epic, not a generic helmet.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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Talaria appears in Hellenic religion.
The Homeric Hymn to Hermes has the god make immortal golden sandals. Greek hymn’s sandals under the later Latin name talaria, not generic shoes and not a second Hermes identity walk.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Hermes, c. 6th–5th century BCE
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Golden Fleece appears in Hellenic religion.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses 7 tells Jason’s taking of the golden fleece. Hellenic quest-object in that Latin verse, not generic wool and not a minted Jason.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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Harp of Orpheus appears in Hellenic religion.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses tells Orpheus’s lyre in the underworld and after his death. Named instrument of that cycle, not a generic harp and not an Orphic-liturgy handbook the Atlas does not hold.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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Ariadne's thread appears in Hellenic religion.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses has Theseus leave the labyrinth by Ariadne’s thread. A named clue of that telling, not a restatement of labyrinth-hellenic and not a generic string.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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Nemean hide appears in Hellenic religion.
Ovid’s Hercules cycle names the Nemean lion’s skin among the labors. A worn hide in that Latin verse, not generic leather and not a minted Heracles as the meeting’s other end.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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Shield of Achilles appears in Hellenic religion.
Iliad 18 has Hephaestus work Achilles’ shield as a world of cities, dance, and sky. A named Homeric panoply, not the aegis Athena shakes and not the generic shield node.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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Apples of the Hesperides appears in Hellenic religion.
Hesiod’s Theogony places the Hesperides as guardians of golden apples beyond Ocean. A named cosmogonic fruit-hoard, not Eris’s wedding apple and not the Golden Fleece.
from Hesiod · Theogony, c. 700 BCE
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Scepter of Agamemnon appears in Hellenic religion.
Iliad 2 traces Agamemnon’s ancestral sceptre from Hephaestus through the Argive kings. A named Homeric staff of office, not a was-sceptre and not a generic staff.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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Spear of Achilles appears in Hellenic religion.
The Iliad names Achilles’ Pelian ash spear, which only he can wield. A named Homeric shaft, not the Shield of Achilles, not Gáe Bulg, and not a generic spear.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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Gorgoneion appears in Hellenic religion.
The Iliad sets the Gorgon’s head on Athena’s aegis as a named facing-device. A named Homeric apotropaic face, not the aegis itself and not Medusa as a being-dump.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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Cestus of Aphrodite appears in Hellenic religion.
Iliad 14 has Hera borrow Aphrodite’s embroidered strap, the cestus, to beguile Zeus. A named Homeric girdle, not Megingjörð and not a generic necklace.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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Wings of Icarus appears in Hellenic religion.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses tells the wax-and-feather wings Daedalus makes for Icarus. A named pair of wings in that poem, not Talaria and not a being.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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Shirt of Nessus appears in Hellenic religion.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses tells the poisoned shirt of Nessus that burns Heracles. A named garment in that poem, not Kāṣāya and not the Coat of Padarn.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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Chelys appears in Hellenic religion.
The Homeric Hymn to Hermes has Hermes make the tortoise-shell lyre, the chelys. A named hymnic instrument, not the harp of Orpheus and not Talaria from the same hymn.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Hermes, c. 6th–5th century BCE
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Xoanon appears in Hellenic religion.
Pausanias describes early wooden cult-images, xoana, at Greek shrines. A named image-form in that travel-book, not the Palladion, not an ushabti, and not a moai.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Adamant appears in Hellenic religion.
Hesiod’s Theogony has Gaia make a sickle of adamant for Cronus. A named unbreakable material in that cosmogony, not diamond as a gem-market stone and not orichalcum.
from Hesiod · Theogony, c. 700 BCE
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Cornucopia appears in Hellenic religion.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses tells Achelous’ broken horn becoming the horn of plenty. A named plenty-horn in that poem, not a grail, not a cup, and not the Sampo.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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Thyrsus appears in Hellenic religion.
Pausanias describes the thyrsus in Dionysiac procession, a fennel staff of that cult as a visitor saw it. A named wand in that travel narrative, not Caduceus the twinned-snake staff and not Agamemnon’s sceptre.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Keraunos appears in Hellenic religion.
Hesiod’s Theogony has the Cyclopes give Zeus the keraunos, the thunderbolt, with thunder and lightning. A named fire-weapon in that cosmogony, not a vajra and not Mjölnir.
from Hesiod · Theogony, c. 700 BCE
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Chains of Prometheus appears in Hellenic religion.
Hesiod’s Theogony has Zeus bind Prometheus with unbreakable bonds and a driven shaft. A named binding in that cosmogony, not Gleipnir and not Tartarus restated as a place.
from Hesiod · Theogony, c. 700 BCE
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Harpe of Perseus appears in Hellenic religion.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses tells Perseus’ sickle-sword in the Medusa episode, the harpe of that killing. A named curved blade in that poem, not adamant as a material, not a labrys, and not the harp of Orpheus.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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Styx appears in Hellenic religion.
Hesiod’s Theogony makes Styx an Oceanid whose water is the oath the gods swear. A named Hellenic oath-river, not Virgil’s underworld crossing, and not Lethe.
from Hesiod · Theogony, c. 700 BCE
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Oak appears in Hellenic religion.
Herodotus reports the oracle at Dodona as a speaking oak of Zeus. A named Hellenic oak-oracle, not Pliny’s Druid oak, and not Yggdrasil.
from Herodotus · Histories, c. 440s BCE
appears in · sourced · culturally specific
Palladion appears in Hellenic religion.
Pausanias reports the Palladium among Greek local images of Athena. A named Hellenic cult-statue in that periegesis, not the Aeneid’s stolen Trojan luck, and not the aegis.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Nestor cup appears in Hellenic religion.
Iliad 11 describes Nestor’s cup as a gold vessel with dove-handles that the old man of Pylos lifts in the Achaean camp. A named Homeric cup in that poem, not Nestor the elder as identity, and not a later kiddush cup.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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Nestor appears in Hellenic religion.
The Iliad sets Nestor of Pylos among the Achaean elders of counsel. A named Homeric figure in that poem, not Nestor’s cup as identity, and not Homer the poet.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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Roman religion
Roman religion is historically related to Hellenic religion.
Roman cult borrowed Greek names and stories while keeping civic priesthoods of its own. Virgil’s poem is one famous Latin weaving of that borrowing.
from Virgil · Aeneid, 19 BCE (unfinished at the poet’s death)
historically related to · sourced · culturally specific
Meetings in this tradition's context
Hermes is associated with Trickster.
The hymn’s Hermes steals Apollo’s cattle on his first day and talks his way out of it. The trick is a Greek poetic role, not a Yoruba or Tlingit one.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Hermes, c. 6th–5th century BCE
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Hermes is associated with Knowledge.
The hymn’s Hermes invents the lyre and bargains with Apollo. The knowledge is craft and speech, not Hermetic revelation.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Hermes, c. 6th–5th century BCE
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Moon is associated with Dream.
Artemidorus classifies dreams that involve celestial lights among the images a professional interpreter might be asked to read.
from Artemidorus of Daldis · Oneirocritica, 2nd century CE
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Serpent is associated with Knowledge.
Pausanias describes Asklepieia where the god of healing was approached; the serpent is part of that cultic furniture. Healing here is Greek temple medicine, not a global serpent-essence.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Serpent is associated with Dream incubation.
At Epidaurus, as Pausanias tells it, the sick slept in the sanctuary of Asklepios. The serpent belongs to that Asklepian house, not to every snake.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Serpent is associated with Delphi.
Pausanias records the story of a serpent at Delphi slain so that the oracle could be established. The Python is a local opponent, not Quetzalcoatl.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Water is associated with Offerings.
Greek cult used lustral water and libation. Purification by water at an altar is not the same act as a Vedic fire offering.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Circle is associated with Labyrinth.
Some labyrinth pavements are circular in plan. The path is still a walk, not an abstract “wholeness.”
associated with · interpretive · culturally specific
Key is associated with Underworld.
Greek and later Mediterranean images give keys to figures who keep the dead. The key is a lock-tool borrowed by a geography of below.
associated with · interpretive · culturally specific
Labyrinth is associated with Transformation.
The Metamorphoses places the labyrinth among stories of changed bodies and trapped lives. The change is poetic, not alchemical.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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Pausanias records cults of the Fates in Greek cities. The triplicity is a traveler’s report of cult, not Hesiod’s genealogy of the Moirai.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
appears in · sourced · culturally specific
Delphi was famous for Apollo’s oracle. Prophecy here is a seated, civic, expensive answer, not Ifá and not a raven’s cry.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Prophecy is associated with Oracle.
An oracle is one institutional form of prophecy. The word should not be stretched until every omen is an oracle.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Dream is used in Divination.
Artemidorus writes a professional handbook for interpreting dreams. Dream-reading here is a Greek technical service, not temple incubation and not Ifá.
from Artemidorus of Daldis · Oneirocritica, 2nd century CE
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Dream is used in Dream incubation.
Incubation is a method for soliciting a dream. Artemidorus reads dreams that have already arrived; incubation tries to make one arrive in a holy place.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
used in · partially sourced · documented
Divination appears in Delphi.
Pausanias’s Delphi is a working oracular site in the Roman-era landscape. The method is not Ifá’s chain and palm nuts.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Divination is connected to Oracle.
Oracle names a speaking house of answers. Divination is the broader craft. Delphi is one overlap, not the definition.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Dream incubation is associated with Knowledge.
The useful dream at Epidaurus is knowledge for a cure. It is not the Pythia’s daytime speech at Delphi.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Delphi is associated with Oracle.
The oracle of Apollo at Delphi is the site’s most famous institution. The word oracle here has a Greek address.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Oracle is associated with Knowledge.
An oracle claims to give knowledge on a god’s behalf. The claim is institutional, not a proof that the future is known.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
associated with · partially sourced · documented
Labyrinth is associated with Knowledge.
The Cretan story is a problem that is solved by a thread. Knowledge here is a trick for getting out, not a Hermetic key.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Season is associated with Demeter.
The Homeric Hymn to Demeter explains a season of barren earth as a mother’s grief. That is a Greek story about grain, not a global vegetation-myth.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Pausanias’s Delphi is Apollo’s oracular house. The god and the slope belong together in that travel-book.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Apollo is associated with Oracle.
The Pythia answers in Apollo’s name. That is a Greek civic institution, not Ifá and not a raven’s cry.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Apollo is associated with Prophecy.
Delphic answers are one famous Greek form of prophecy. The seat, the cost, and the god are local.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Apollo is connected to Hermes.
The Homeric hymn has Hermes steal Apollo’s cattle and then settle with him. The two gods share a poem of bargaining, not an identity.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Hermes, c. 6th–5th century BCE
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Apollo is associated with Healing.
Greek Apollo can send plague and also be asked for its stopping. Harm and help sit in one cult without becoming Asklepios.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
associated with · partially sourced · documented
Asklepios is sacred to Healing.
Pausanias describes Asklepieia as places one went to be cured. Healing here is a temple craft with a named god.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Asklepios is sacred to Epidaurus.
Epidaurus is the famous house of Asklepios in Pausanias’s landscape.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Asklepios is associated with Serpent.
The serpent belongs to Asklepian cult as Pausanias and later images show it. It is not Apep and not Quetzalcoatl.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Asklepios is used in Medicine.
Temple sleep, offerings, and a named healing god are one Greek medical institution. Later clinics are another.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
used in · sourced · documented
Asklepios is used in Dream incubation.
The sick slept in Asklepios’s precinct for a useful dream. Incubation is the method; Asklepios is the host.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
used in · sourced · documented
Demeter is associated with Seed.
The hymn’s crisis is that seed will not grow while the mother grieves. Grain is the plot’s body.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Demeter is associated with Descent.
The hymn is a search that reaches toward the below because a daughter has been taken there. The descent is Persephone’s and the mother’s grief, not Gilgamesh’s.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Demeter is associated with Initiation.
The hymn ends by founding rites at Eleusis. Initiation here is a named Greek mystery, not a generic coming-of-age.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Healing is associated with Serpent.
Asklepian healing keeps a serpent in the sanctuary. Healing and the snake meet there as Greek temple medicine, not as a global serpent-essence.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
associated with · partially sourced · documented
Healing is used in Dream incubation.
At Epidaurus the useful dream is for a cure. Incubation is one Greek method of asking to be healed.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
used in · sourced · documented
Serpent is associated with Healing.
Greek Asklepian cult pairs the serpent with a healing god. Keep this pairing separate from Apep’s hostility and from the Nahua feathered serpent.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
associated with · partially sourced · documented
Initiation is associated with Demeter.
The Homeric Hymn ties Demeter to the founding of Eleusinian rites. Initiation here has a Greek address.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Initiation is associated with Knowledge.
A mystery claims to give a knowledge that is not for the uninitiated. The claim is institutional, not a proof of content.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Veil is associated with Initiation.
What is hidden from the uninitiated is sometimes literally cloth. Eleusis is one famous house of that hiding; not every veil is Eleusis.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Stone is associated with Delphi.
Sanctuaries are stone piled on a slope. Delphi’s working body is rock, terrace, and a named omphalos in later description.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
associated with · partially sourced · documented
Soil is associated with Demeter.
The hymn’s barren year is soil that will not feed people. Earth here is a Greek agricultural body, not a philosophical element only.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Mountain is associated with Delphi.
Delphi sits on Parnassus. The sanctuary is a mountain place in Pausanias’s walk.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Cave is associated with Hermes.
The Homeric hymn has Hermes born in a cave. The cave is a Greek poetic birthplace, not a tomb Duat.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Hermes, c. 6th–5th century BCE
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Hades is connected to Underworld.
Hades is one underworld. The category-word should not be used as its alias.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Hades is associated with Death.
The Greek below is a geography of the dead. Descent stories go there for a local reason.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Hades is associated with Descent.
Greek katabasis is often a trip to Hades. The Hymn to Demeter reaches toward that below because a daughter has been taken.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Hades is associated with Demeter.
The hymn’s crisis is a daughter in the below. Hades the place and the taker share a name in Greek; keep the geography distinct from Duat.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Later Mediterranean images give keys to keepers of the dead. The lock-tool is borrowed by a Greek geography of below.
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Epidaurus is used in Dream incubation.
The sick slept there for a healing dream. The place is the address of that method in Pausanias’s book.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Epidaurus is associated with Healing.
People went to Epidaurus to be cured. The cure is a temple hope with a named god.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Apollo is associated with Serpent.
Pausanias records a serpent at Delphi slain so the oracle could be established. Apollo’s house is founded against a local snake, not Asklepios’s tame one.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Asklepios is connected to Apollo.
Greek tradition makes Asklepios Apollo’s son in some tellings. The healing god and the oracular god are kin in story, not one cult.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Underworld is connected to Hades.
Walking the underworld page should reach Hades as a named Greek instance, not an alias.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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The Homeric Hymn to Apollo tells of the god’s taking of a Delphic seat and of a serpent slain there. The poem is a Greek foundation-story, not Pausanias’s later walk, though they share a slope.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Apollo, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Three is associated with Fate.
Hesiod names the Moirai as daughters who allot. Three here is a Theogony count, not a Vedic triad of fires.
from Hesiod · Theogony, c. 700 BCE
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Medicine appears in Epidaurus.
Epidaurus is an address of Greek religious medicine in Pausanias. The place keeps medicine from being only an abstract craft.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Minerva is a counterpart of Athena.
The pairing is the same interpretatio read from the Greek side. Civic cults remain local.
from Walter Burkert · Greek Religion, 1977 German; 1985 English
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Pleiades is associated with Seven.
Greek and later European speech calls them seven sisters. The cluster’s bright members are not always seven to every eye, and Matariki is not that myth.
from Hesiod · Theogony, c. 700 BCE
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Athena is glaukōpis in Homer, and later Athenian art gives her the owl. The epithet is a glance; the bird on coins is a civic sign, not a pan-European wisdom mascot.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form); Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Athena, c. 7th–5th century BCE; Walter Burkert · Greek Religion, 1977 German; 1985 English
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Athena is associated with Owl.
The same pairing read from the goddess. Burkert treats the owl as one of Athena’s animals in cult and image, not as a death-omen of later folklore.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form); Walter Burkert · Greek Religion, 1977 German; 1985 English
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The city bears her name and her temple on the Acropolis. Civic cult, not a generic mind-goddess of later essays.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Athena, c. 7th–5th century BCE; Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE; Walter Burkert · Greek Religion, 1977 German; 1985 English
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Athena is associated with Olive.
Athenian story makes the olive her gift in the contest for the city. A local aetiology of oil and prize, not every Mediterranean grove.
from Herodotus · Histories, c. 440s BCE; Walter Burkert · Greek Religion, 1977 German; 1985 English
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The olive is Attic agriculture and prize. Pausanias walks a landscape of trees and cult; he is not writing a pan-Hellenic oil theology.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Athena is associated with Knowledge.
Athena’s counsel is craft and civic intelligence in Greek sources. Later “goddess of wisdom” posters flatten that craft into a motto.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form); Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Athena, c. 7th–5th century BCE
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Athena is connected to Delphi.
Athena is not Delphi’s owner; Apollo is. The two cults share a Greek world without sharing a priesthood.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Apollo, c. 7th–6th century BCE; Walter Burkert · Greek Religion, 1977 German; 1985 English
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Hera is associated with Peacock.
Later Greek and Roman art gives Hera the peacock. Ovid tells Argus’s eyes on the bird’s tail; that is poetry’s aetiology, not Indian peafowl cult.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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The same pairing. A South Asian bird in a Mediterranean garden-story.
from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE
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Dioscorides lists mandrake as a drug plant with narcotic uses. A pharmacological entry, not a screaming homunculus.
from Pedanius Dioscorides · De Materia Medica, 1st century CE
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Olive is associated with Tree.
The olive is a tree. Athena’s gift is one civic story about that tree.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Oil and wreaths can be gifts. Pausanias notes local uses; he does not license a pan-Mediterranean olive-sacrament.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Athens is associated with Olive.
The civic olive and its prizes belong to Attica. Pausanias walks that landscape.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Athenian coins and the city’s goddess share the owl. Civic sign, not a death-cry.
from Walter Burkert · Greek Religion, 1977 German; 1985 English; Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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The Iliad has Athena shake the aegis in battle. A named goat-skin or shield-device of that goddess, not every later shield, and not Minerva as a flatten.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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Gorgoneion is sacred to Athena.
The Iliad sets the Gorgon face on Athena’s battle-gear. A named face-sign of that goddess, not the aegis as a whole, and not unpublished Medusa as a second being.
from Homer · Iliad, c. 8th–7th century BCE (this form)
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The Homeric Hymn to Hermes gives the god his immortal sandals. A named footwear of that god, not the caduceus, and not Icarus’ wings.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Hermes, c. 6th–5th century BCE
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The Homeric Hymn to Hermes has the god make the tortoise-lyre. A named first lyre of that god, not the harp of Orpheus, and not a generic lyre.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Hermes, c. 6th–5th century BCE
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Delphic tripod is sacred to Apollo.
Pausanias describes the tripod at Delphi as Apollo’s oracular seat-furniture. A named tripod of that god, not the omphalos, and not every later three-legged stand.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Pausanias reports the omphalos at Delphi as Apollo’s navel-stone. A named stone of that god, not Benben, not the Delphic tripod, and not generic stone.
from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE
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Apples of the Hesperides is sacred to Hera.
Hesiod’s Theogony gives Hera the Hesperides as keepers of her golden apples. A named fruit of that goddess, not the Golden Fleece, and not the Golden Bough.
from Hesiod · Theogony, c. 700 BCE
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The Homeric Hymn to Demeter has the goddess mix a kykeon of barley and pennyroyal, and withholds the grain of the earth until her child is returned. A named Hellenic grain of that goddess, not Ṛgvedic yava, and not Dioscorides’ ptisan.
from Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Demeter, c. 7th–6th century BCE
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Late antiquity
Plutarch’s treatise On Isis and Osiris is a Greek philosophical retelling of an Egyptian pair. It is a secondary meeting, not the spells of the dead, and should not be used as if it were an Old Kingdom handbook.
from Plutarch · On Isis and Osiris, c. 100 CE
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Nile valley
Isis is a counterpart of Demeter.
Herodotus says that Isis is, in the Greek language, Demeter, locating that name at a temple in the Egyptian Delta. A Greek traveler’s identification of an Egyptian goddess, not a single being and not the Homeric Hymn’s grain-mother.
from Herodotus · Histories, c. 440s BCE
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sources
- Homeric Hymn to Hermes · Anonymous (Homeric hymn)
Homeric Hymn 4, to Hermes.
- Metamorphoses · Ovid
Ovid, Metamorphoses.
- Oneirocritica · Artemidorus of Daldis
Artemidorus, Oneirocritica (The Interpretation of Dreams).
- Description of Greece · Pausanias
Pausanias, Description of Greece.
- Homeric Hymn to Demeter · Anonymous (Homeric hymn)
Homeric Hymn 2, to Demeter.
- Aeneid · Virgil
Virgil, Aeneid.
- Theogony · Hesiod
Hesiod, Theogony.
- Greek Religion · Walter Burkert
Walter Burkert, Greek Religion.
- Homeric Hymn to Athena · Anonymous (Homeric hymn)
Homeric Hymn 28, to Athena.
- Histories · Herodotus
Herodotus, Histories.
- Iliad · Homer
Homer, Iliad.
- Homeric Hymn to Apollo · Anonymous (Homeric hymn)
Homeric Hymn 3, to Apollo.
- On Isis and Osiris · Plutarch
Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris (Moralia).
- De Materia Medica · Pedanius Dioscorides
Dioscorides, De Materia Medica.