Revisiting Olympos

[kjn]

From the beginning, Wonder Woman has drawn on Greek mythology, and that is even more so since Pérez. However, as someone with an interest in especially Norse mythology, the polytheism, gods, and goddesses that have been presented in Wonder Woman feels a little flat, or perhaps rather too modern. Marston re-imagined the Amazons not out of some modern take on them, but rather based on his own crank theories on innate female superiority and examining the Greek myths about the Amazons without the misogyny of the Greeks.

So why not attempt something similar for the gods and goddesses as well?

I should probably preface this with an observation that I read in a book about Norse religion, but probably is applicable to classical Greek religion as well. The religion of the time had two parts: the stories (mythology) told and later written down, and the actual religious practices. Of the former, we know a fair bit. Of the latter, not so much. But the importance of a god (or goddess) to a person or society lie far more in the latter than the former. Thus, our modern-day view of Athena as a central figure in Greek mythology is to some degree a modern construct due to that she was the patron figure of Athena (who turned out to become the most important city-state), the amount of stories about her, and last modern lenses in trying to understand Greek religiousity.

Part of this also comes from my idea that the Amazons could be regarded as nymphs of humanity and civilisation.

Index:

Hestia

[kjn]

Hestia

Very little is known about Hestia from myths, and most of it are part of the stories of other gods. She was the eldest daughter of Rhea and Cronus, and thus sister to Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and Hades. After Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge his siblings, she was the last to appear; thus born both first an last. Both Apollo and Poseidon courted her, but she swore to remain a maiden in order to avoid strife between the gods. As a result Zeus gave her the duty to tend the fires of Olympos and receive the first of every offering to the gods. Another myth describes that after a feast the god Priapus attempted to rape her, but an ass brayed waking everyone up, after which Priapus was chased away. It is also described how she willingly gave up her throne in the Olympos for Dionysus.

Some of the epithets used for Hestia were "Beloved", "Eternal", and "She of the public hearth". Of especial interest is the Orphic hymn to Hestia, which in one translation said she inspired "endless youth, wealth, benevolences, and holiness".

She was the goddess of fire, especially the hearth, which was the central place in any building at that time. Aristotle apparently called the crackling of a fire for her laughter. She was also a goddess of architecture and the right ordering of the home and the state.

So how can we reimagine and make use of Hestia for Wonder Woman? First observation is that if there is one goddess who can be said to embody loving submission, it is Hestia. Another is that her withdrawn nature makes her a natural candidate for giving the Amazons shelter on Themyscire, hiding them from the rest of the world. The notion of "eternal" (and even more "endless youth" in one translation) in the Orphic hymn fits with the Amazons being ageless or immortal on Themyscira. The right ordering of the state connects her with utopic ideas.

Coupled with her importance in everyday religious life, all this points to that Hestia could be the central figure in the religious life of the Amazons. She used the Amazons to teach humanity about civilisation. She created the sanctuary of Themyscira after mankind rejected the Amazons. She grants the Amazons eternal youth. And given that the Golden Perfect has been described as the Lasso of Hestia, it might be read as that as long Diana has it by her side, she carries her own hearth with her, and thus Hestia's blessing and a piece of home.

[Phoenixx9]

Wasn't there also something about "the fires of Hestia"?

I think they currently tied Diana's Lasso to "burning out the truth with the fires of Hestia" or something like that.

[WonderScott]

Interesting thoughts and analysis kjn!

[kjn]

Wasn't there also something about "the fires of Hestia"?

I think they currently tied Diana's Lasso to "burning out the truth with the fires of Hestia" or something like that.

No idea!

Interesting thoughts and analysis kjn!

Thanks! Writing up Aphrodite now, which will be longer. I've already found some interesting tidbits, like bondage references.

[kjn]

Aprodite

Aphrodite is one of the most popular classical Greek goddesses to this, being the goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. Among her symbols are myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and sea-birds like swans. But she is quite a bit more than that.

There are two origin myths for her, both by sources that are judged of high validity. In Theogony by Hesiod, Cronus cut off Uranus' genitals and threw them into the sea, and from these Aphrodite was born. In the Iliad, however, Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and the titaness Dione (which basically means "belongs to Zeus" or "of Zeus"). Plato claimed that these two were separate goddesses: Aphrodite Ourania (heavenly, and associated with male homosexual desire) and Aphrodite Pandemos (for the people, and associated with heterosexual desire).

Some of the epithets used for her are "smile-loving", "merciful", "of the gardens", "mother", "armed", "whispering", "spying", "deceptive", "black one", "bringer of victory", and "gravedigger". This plethora of connections to both sex and war points to kinship with Inanna of Mesopotamia or Freya of Norse mythology, both of which had similar connections to war and death beside love and sex. Aphrodite was also both rewarding and revengeful. Of special interest with association to early Wonder Woman is that I have found some references of cult statues of her fettered or bound with chains, possibly only around her feet. Another variation from her early history is Aphroditus, where she is depicted with a phallus.

There are of course lots of myths and stories associated with Aphrodite, and I'm only going to cover the high points of a select few that I judged interesting.

One of the more famous ones is how after she was married to Hephaestus (which in itself seems to be a relatively modern invention in classical times), he heard that she had sex with Ares. He crafted a special bed, including some form of cage or a net, and when Ares and Aphrodite used it next time it trapped them both, after which all the other gods laughed at them. This also points to more bondage imagery.

Hesiod describes how Aphrodite assisted in crafting Pandora out of clay as the first woman by posing for Hephaestus, and then that she gifted Pandora with beauty, grace, and sexual desire.

Then is the Pygmalion myth, where the sculptor Pygmalion fell in love with the ivory statue of Aphrodite he was carving, Aphrodite brought the statue to life and Pygmalion married the former statue.

Her vengefulness and anger is also shown in various myths, where her revenge often takes the form of excessive lust or sexually related punishment. Her warrior aspect is less common in myths, and mostly appears in the older ones and in Laconia (which includes Sparta).

So how to connect all this to the Amazons, especially given that Aphrodite was there from the very beginning, crafting them herself in Marston's original run?

First, the Pandora myth reads very much like an inversion of the Amazon creation story, where instead of Amazons carrying blessings from the goddesses, women carried curses to mankind, and instead of civilisation they spread discord. There are several ways to bring this together, e.g. by having Hestia taking Zeus role and leading the goddesses into teaching mankind to use fire safely (after Prometheus had taught them its use), or the goddesses creating the Amazons after Zeus had released Pandora as a form of penance.

Second, Aphrodite is connected with not one but two myths where women are crafted from clay.

Third is of course the bondage references. While quite tenous, when taken together with the widespread bondage in early Wonder Woman, this is something that should be explored. Have some of the Amazon statues or picturs of Aphrodite showing her chained or bound, and include lots of allusions to Aphrodite whenever an Amazon is bound or binds someone. The bed was not crafted as a trap, but for consensual bondage.

Fourth is the story of Aphroditus, which carries with it the seed that the Amazons knew about and welcomed trans women. It is quite common for gods to be nebolous in their sex and gender, but here it is associated with one of the Amazon core goddesses.

Fifth is of course that Aphrodite included a warrior goddess aspect, and one rooted in passion and anger. This gives a stronger resonance when the Amazons ask for her aid when they have been enslaved by Heracles.

Sixth, what if Plato got it half wrong about Aphrodite Ourania, and she not only was the goddess of male homosexual desire, but of female homosexual desire as well, or simply was the goddess of female sexuality? (After all, having a goddess for male homosexual desire only makes sense given slash logic.) Given the Greek view of female sexuality, it would fit very well, but I'm not fully sure. Lets see if we manage to find a better fit to lesbian love later on, shall we?

[Agent Z]

I prefer the Amazons being women of varying origins and beliefs. While I have my issues with Marston, I did like the idea of Amazon abilities being learned.

[kjn]

I prefer the Amazons being women of varying origins and beliefs. While I have my issues with Marston, I did like the idea of Amazon abilities being learned.

That's nice, but it has little to do what I'm doing here, which is trying to explore Greek mythology outside of our modern takes on it and with a partly similar slant to how Marston explored the idea of the Amazons (i.e. the ancient Greeks turned it all inside-out due to their misogyny).

[kjn]

I had planned to get something written around Athena, but she's turning out to be exceedingly tricky; she appears to be highly syncretistic, with her name seeming to simply be "the lady/maid/goddess of Athens", and then having picked up bits and pieces and been combined with lots of other goddesses. E.g., I've seen references that she started out as a sun goddess. But I've picked up some interesting tidbits, and an idea for why the name Athena is used when that name is distinctly Greek.

First off, the Romans equated their goddess Minerva with Athana, and that one is the Etruscan Menrva or Menerva. Since one of Diana's standard phrases is "Merciful Minerva", we simply put in the Etruscan Menerva instead. But since the Amazons are mostly using the Greek names for their gods in Man's World, they substitute in Athena's name when talking about the gods as a group.

Another intriguing possibility is that it was the Amazons who founded Athens, and thus their chief goddess became the patron goddess of the city. There are plenty of myths that involve both Amazons and Athens, but they tend to include some of the Amazons being enslaved and the Amazons sacking the city. That might not be the best basis for the adoption of a protective goddess, so there might be reason to reexamine and reinterpret those stories as well.

Another little tidbit I picked up was that Athena has androgynous attributes. She should be depicted with slender hips and broad shoulders (think Diana in "Wonder Woman: Earth One"), and the Orphic Hymn about her mentions she is "female and male".

[AmiMizuno]

This is why I do like the idea of the Amazons having more than one tribe. Going back to the Gods there has been a few differences with the Amazons origins. In Marstons they were just made by Aphrodite, In Perez it several of the Gods. I mean I don't mind them being crafted by the Gods but maybe a mix. That the original amazons were clay but more and more of the amazons had found abandoned children and raised them

[Phoenixx9]

Very nice write ups, kjn! They are very interesting reads!

[kjn]

This is why I do like the idea of the Amazons having more than one tribe. Going back to the Gods there has been a few differences with the Amazons origins. In Marstons they were just made by Aphrodite, In Perez it several of the Gods. I mean I don't mind them being crafted by the Gods but maybe a mix. That the original amazons were clay but more and more of the amazons had found abandoned children and raised them

A lot of this comes down to how the Amazons are imagined, and also over time. Here I'm assuming a unitary Amazon civilisation or group, but it's not really the focus on the theorising, and I'm not saying anything about later splits. If one wants several early or originating Amazon-equivalent groups, then one can just as easily say that what I am discussing is the gods of the specific Amazons that Diana originated from.

Very nice write ups, kjn! They are very interesting reads!

Thanks!

[kjn]

A little continuation of Athena, and how her origin myth can be tied into Azzarello's run.

Metis was a titaness, and a goddess of cunning, good counsel, and wisdom. She is mentioned as Zeus's first lover, and it was she who hatched the plan that made Kronos regurgitate his earlier children (Zeus's siblings), that Kronos had devoured.

Then Zeus was informed that Metis would give birth to two children, first a daughter and then a son, and that the son would oust Zeus, just as Zeus had ousted Kronos (and Kronos had ousted Ouranos). In order to stop this, Zeus tricked Metis to transform to a fly, and then he swallowed her himself. However, Metis was already pregnant with Athena, and thus we get the story with Zeus getting a tremendous headache before (usually) Hephaestus splits his head with a hammer to release Athena.

So looked at it one way, Athena can be viewed Metis's daughter, but she can also be viewed as Metis herself, or at least her successor. And that's basically what happens in Azzarello's run, where Athena as Zola gives birth to Zeke/Zeus. I now have the idea that Zeus transformed himself something small and edible, have Athena eat him—thus becoming pregnant—and then Zeus becomes his own father.

(Of course, I still want Azzarello's run to be excised with extreme prejudice, but that's one piece of his run that would make sense mythologically speaking. Except for Zola/Athena having sex, that is.)

[kjn]

Hecate

I have had a bit of a block on choosing the next goddess to tackle, since they were becoming more and more complex, and I didn't really have much priority on any of them. But with The Witching Hour upon us, we'll leave Olympus proper for a bit for a closer look at Hecate!

But before I start with the proper writeup I should make one thing clear that I've only touched on earlier. The Greek gods and goddesses were more akin to personalised forces of natures or passions rather than ethical or moral beings. Demeter was the goddess of both harvest and the famine. Poseidon was god of the sea and of earthquakes. Athena was goddess of both strategy in war and the sacking of cities. Ares was the god of both courage and rage. Thus "modern" monotheistic assumptions about religion can easily lead us astray when discussing these Greek gods.

Hecate is another highly syncretistic goddess, who has picked up various functions and been associated with lots of other goddesses. Her functions in ancient Greece included being the goddess of magic, ghosts, the night, and the moon. She is often depicted as a wanderer, and her attributes include two torches, mustelids, and dogs (especially black dogs). Crossroads were associated with her, and thus she can be viewed as a goddess of roads and of choices. Her form and epithet as a triple goddess is not connected with the maiden, mother, crone concept, but rather how she can see every path of a crossroad at the same time. She also had power over both the heaven, earth, and sea.

Among her epithets one can find angry, terrible one, three-formed, of the crossroads, of the wayside, night wandering, tender-hearted, nurse of the young, and leader of the dogs. Shrines to her could often be found at doorways and at crossroads, but they were seldom large. She was seen to protect the human world from the dangers of the supernatural and the night. Paintings of her could show her with two torches, sometimes using them as weapons.

Like Artemis, she was usually depicted as a virgin goddess, and it is possible that they share a common origin, since both of them are associated with the moon, dogs, hunting, and childbirth. She also has a different parentage than the rest of the Olympians, being the daughter of two Titans with no connection with Kronos or Rhea. At most, she is a cousin of Zeus.

There aren't that many myths around Hecate, but she plays an important part in the myth around Demeter and Persephone, where she assisted Demeter as she searched for Persephone. Hecate is mentioned as one of the two who noticed Persephone's cries as Hades carried her away (the other was Helios as the sun), and as a friend, confidante, and minister of Persephone, and it is in this way she became associated with ghosts and communication with the dead.

So how to connect all these disparate elements to the Amazons? One way is to bring focus on her role as a goddess of choices and crossroads. In that way, I can see the Hecate acting as a guide for the Amazons when they split into the Themyscirans and the Bana-Mighdall, helping and guiding both of the new tribes (and possibly a third group as well, or that the third group was made up of individual Amazons out in the world when the split happened). Thus, I imagine that every Amazon group, no matter where it is found or what other gods they follow, ought to have some form of connection with Hecate.

If someone is interested in a positive depiction of Hecate in fiction I can recommend Burdens of the Dead by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and Dave Freer. It is part of a longer series, but is reasonably standalone.

[kjn]

Circe

We'll stay outside of Olympos proper for some more little while, again due to The Witching Hour. Circe is quite the interesting character in her own right, and arguably one of the most enduring and popular archetypes to come out of ancient mythology, especially in art.

Circe belongs to the group of minor divinity who lived on Earth, and not in the underground or in the sky. Her parents are usually given as Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an ocean goddess; both Hesiod and Homer give that parentage. A late source says her parents were Aeetes and Hecate. With Hesiod and Homer Aeetes is instead her brother. She is also related to Medea, who later was involved with Jason of the Argonauts, either as her aunt (Hesiod or Homer) or her older sister. She is noted for her skills in sorcery, transmutation, illusions, charms, potions, spells, and necromancy (i.e. communication with ghosts and the dead), and also for inventing new spells and potions. In some stories she also receives prophetic dreams. She is also noted for being sexually liberated and seductive.

Her island of Aeaea was said to lie far to the west; probably more more in the area of Italy than Greece, where she lived together with her nymph companions and strangely docile creatures; these are transformed men. She is mainly connected to two myths: with Medea and Jason of the Argonauts, and with Odysseus.

With Medea and Jason, Circe takes them into her home as her guests, but when she understands what they have done—partly through their story and partly through prophetic dreams—she sends them on their way. She is shown to taking kinship and guest rights seriously.

The main story about Circe is however the Odyssey. She transforms some of Odysseus men into swine when they invade her home. Odysseus is advised by Hermes on how to approach Circe and rescue his men, and after having done so he stays with her for a year. She also has at least one son by him. Before he leaves she sends him down to Hades to gain knowledge, and also advised him on how to best reach Greece.

Later depictions of Circe, especially in art, has played up her seductive and fickle nature, also due to her being conflated with Calypso. She has been depicted both as a dangerous seductress and a symbol of female liberation, and this tradition is also carried forward by DC, perhaps most especially by Poison Ivy. I read "Batman: Poison Ivy #1" (1997) as essentially a Circe tale. Meanwhile, the evil villanious Circe of Wonder Woman lore fits poorly with the original Circe. Tynion's Circe in "The Witching Hour", which depicts a woman who is more bored than evil, feels like an fresh return to basics to me.