Heroes of Olympus

by Philip Freeman

  In spite of her sympathy for women, Hera’s revenge was terrible when it came to women who were involved with her husband, Zeus. Io, Callisto, and Leto were just of a few of Zeus’s innocent lovers tormented by his wife.

  Hera was never shy about standing up to her husband, either. One day when the sea goddess Thetis came to seek a favor for her son, Hera burst in and screamed at Zeus: “Which of the gods is plotting with you now? You and all your secret plans. Why don’t you have the guts to let me know what you’re up to?”

  Zeus yelled back: “Woman, I’ve had just about enough of you! If you keep on nagging me, you’re going to regret it. I’m the ruler of the gods, not you. I’m going to do what I think is right whether you like it or not.”

  Stories of arguments between Hera and Zeus are many. Once they even argued about who enjoyed love more, men or women. They asked the oracle Tiresias to settle the matter because he had been both a male and a female. He told them that women enjoyed love more—ten times more. Hera struck Tiresias blind for revealing the secret, but Zeus gave him the power to predict the future and he became a great prophet.

  Like all goddesses, Hera enjoyed her famous beauty. When Side, the wife of the hunter Orion, boasted that she was fairer than the wife of Zeus, Hera cast her into Hades forever. Likewise, after the queen of the Pygmies claimed her own beauty was beyond compare, Hera turned her into a crane.

  DEMETER

  Like her sister Hera, Demeter was a child of Cronus and Rhea. Unlike Hera, Demeter cared little for love or for contests of beauty. She ruled over the fertile green earth and life-giving grain.

  Demeter wasn’t completely against love. At the wedding of King Cadmus of Thebes and his bride Harmonia, she fell in love with a mortal named Iasion. The couple had two sons: Plutus, a god of riches under the earth, and Philomelus, a mortal farmer who invented the wagon.

  Demeter could be terrible in her anger. A man named Erysichthon was cutting firewood when he came upon a sacred grove of Demeter. The wood nymphs in the trees cried as he chopped their limbs. Blood dripped from their leaves. The trees prayed to Demeter for revenge. She heard their prayer and struck Erysichthon with an uncontrollable hunger. Soon Erysichthon ate himself alive.

  The best-known tale of Demeter is the story of what happened when Hades kidnapped her daughter Persephone. One day the maiden was gathering violets and roses in a meadow. Suddenly, a giant chasm opened. Hades flew out in a golden chariot and grabbed Persephone. She called to Zeus for help, but Hades flew back to the underworld with her and closed the ground above him.

  Persephone sat weeping in the dark palace of the underworld, longing to see the light of day. Her sobs echoed throughout the land of the dead, but could not reach the land of the living.

  Demeter flew down from Mount Olympus and searched the world for her daughter. She looked everywhere and asked everyone if they had seen her. No one could tell her where Persephone was. She raced across the Earth seeking her child. At last she came upon the goddess Hecate, who told her an amazing tale: “Demeter, goddess of the fruits of the earth, you wish to know who carried off Persephone and brought pain to your heart? I heard her cry out. I did not see who stole her away.”

  Demeter then sought out the sun god Helios who sees all from his chariot. Helios finally told her the truth: “Daughter of Rhea, I am moved by your sorrow. It is Zeus who allowed Hades to seize the maiden. The lord of the dead holds her in his underworld kingdom and will not let her go. She is there by the will of Zeus and there is nothing you can do.”

  Demeter swore she would never return to Olympus. She took on the form of an old woman and wandered the earth, weeping for the daughter she would never see again.

  One day she came to the town of Eleusis, north of Athens, and sat by a well. It wasn’t long before the four daughters of King Celeus came to fill their brass pitchers. They greeted the old woman and asked her what brought her to the town. Demeter said that she had been kidnapped from Crete by pirates, but that she had escaped. She wanted a quiet place to live out her days. Perhaps the girls knew a household that needed a nurse for a child?

  The daughters’ own mother had recently given birth to a son. They led Demeter to the palace to meet their mother, who welcomed the old woman and offered her the job of caring for her son. Demeter loved the child at once and promised to care for him as if he were her own.

  Every night while the palace slept, the goddess nursed the baby on ambrosia and buried him in the hearth fire to burn away his mortality. One night, his mother walked in and screamed. The goddess pulled the baby out of the fire and addressed the mother: “I am Demeter, you foolish woman! I would have made your son free from old age and death. Now he will know the pain of life as a mortal.”

  The goddess then ordered the people of Eleusis to build her a temple so that she could establish her religion in their city. The boy may have lost his chance to live forever, but she would show her followers how to escape the gloomy land of Hades after death.

  The king and citizens of Eleusis built Demeter a wondrous temple. When it was finished, the goddess entered and closed the doors. She stayed there weeping for Persephone and stopped caring about the earth’s harvests. No seeds ripened. Hunger spread across the world. Starving people called on the gods for help, but only Demeter had the power to make grain grow.

  Zeus sent golden-winged Iris to urge Demeter to return to Mount Olympus, but Demeter was unmoved. All the gods made their way to the temple to beg her to make the earth bloom again. Without grain the people of the earth would die and no one would worship the gods.

  Demeter refused. She would never set foot on Olympus or send forth the fruits of the earth until she saw her daughter.

  Zeus then sent Hermes to Hades to plead for Persephone’s release. The ruler of the underworld was surprisingly agreeable and drove Persephone back to her mother in his golden chariot. Demeter threw her arms around her daughter and held her as if she would never let her go. Then she asked Persephone if she had eaten anything when she was with Hades. Persephone had eaten one small pomegranate seed because Hades had insisted. Demeter groaned and explained that since Persephone had tasted the food of the underworld, they could not be together always. She would have to spend a third of each year with Hades, then she could return to the land of the living.

  Demeter was not happy, but she agreed to restore the earth to its fruitfulness. She declared that each winter she would mourn for her daughter. Thus, when Persephone journeys to the underworld in the autumn, the land turns brown and the sky grows cold and dark until spring, when Demeter and Persephone are together again.

  ARTEMIS

  Daughter of Zeus and Leto, and sister of Apollo, Artemis was the goddess of the hunt. She honored those who devoted themselves to her, but was harsh with followers like Callisto who lost their virginity. Artemis was even more harsh with men who wanted her.

  A young man named Actaeon discovered this one day when he was hunting with his dogs. The grandson of King Cadmus of Thebes, Actaeon had the finest hounds in all of Greece. Artemis was hunting in the same forest and stopped to swim in a cool spring. She was splashing with her nymphs when she saw a man’s face staring at them from behind a tree.

  Actaeon was enchanted by Artemis’s beauty. The nymphs gathered around her to shield her from his eyes, but the goddess rose up before him: “Take a good look, my young friend. You can tell all your friends that you saw the goddess of the hunt naked—if you can.”

  She splashed Actaeon with spring water, and he suddenly began to sprout antlers. His ears became pointed, and his arms and legs turned into those of a deer. He tried to cry out for mercy, but his human voice was gone. He ran from the spring in terror and found his hounds in a nearby glade. The dogs sank their teeth into his hide. He tried to tell them who he was, but he could not. The dogs ripped the life from the deer, wondering where their master was. Artemis stood on the edge of the glade, watching and smiling.

  One foolish hunter named Burphagus tried to force hi
mself on Artemis when he found her in the woods of Arcadia, but she killed him with an arrow from her quiver. Another great hunter, the giant Orion, met the same fate when he insulted the goddess.

  There are different stories about Orion’s death. Some say he tried to force himself on Artemis. Others say she loved him and killed him in a fit of jealousy when he went to live with Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Still other stories say that the goddess was angry after he beat her in a contest. Most stories agree that Artemis killed Orion by forcing a scorpion to sting him. She later placed him in the sky as a constellation along with his faithful dog Sirius and the scorpion that caused his death.

  APHRODITE

  Aphrodite was the goddess of love. But for a mortal to love a goddess was a dangerous business. A young Trojan named Anchises learned this when he tended cattle alone on Mount Ida, far above Troy.

  The gods had grown tired of Aphrodite’s tricks, so Zeus struck her with a longing for a mortal man. One look at Anchises was all it took for Aphrodite to fall in love. She raced to her temple on the island of Cyprus where her attendants bathed her and anointed her with sweet perfume. They dressed her in a beautiful gown, and then she flew down to Mount Ida.

  Aphrodite put aside her divine glory and appeared before Anchises as a young maiden wearing a silky robe and beautiful jewels.

  Anchises jumped to his feet: “Welcome, goddess on earth. Whether you are Artemis, Athena, or even Aphrodite, I will build you an altar and worship you forever.”

  Aphrodite smiled: “Dear Anchises, I am no goddess. I’m a mortal girl, daughter of King Otreus of Phrygia. I was dancing with my friends when Hermes whisked me away and brought me here. He said I was to be the wife of King Anchises. I hope you will take me to meet your parents, but first, perhaps, we could spend the night here.”

  Anchises was very much in love: “If you are truly a mortal woman, gladly I will take you for my wife.”

  The goddess smiled like a shy young girl. Anchises took her into his bed where they made love. When dawn came, the longing sent by Zeus had passed. Aphrodite rose and put on the shining form of a goddess. “Get up, Anchises! Aphrodite, goddess of love, now stands before you.”

  Anchises bowed down before Aphrodite in terror: “I knew when I first saw you that you had to be a goddess. Please have mercy on me!”

  Aphrodite answered: “Calm down. You are loved by the gods, as are your people. No harm will come to you. But if you ever tell anyone about your night with me, you will suffer. I am disgraced. Worse still, I am pregnant! I will bring the boy to you to raise. Tell him his mother was a mountain nymph. If you say my name, you are a dead man.”

  Aphrodite flew back to Cyprus but returned nine months later with the boy, whom his father named Aeneas and raised as a prince of Troy. In time, Aphrodite forgot her anger and claimed Aeneas as her son.

  Aphrodite was sympathetic to true love, even among mortals. Pygmalion was a king on her island of Cyprus. The young ruler could not find a woman to live up to his high standards. He lived in his palace without a queen.

  Pygmalion sculpted a life-size maiden in precious ivory. She was more perfect than any woman ever born and he fell deeply in love with the statue. He kissed the statue and brought her gifts of pretty shells, sweet flowers, and amber jewelry. He dressed her in fine robes, and pretended that she loved him, too.

  One day during a festival of Aphrodite, Pygmalion approached the altar. He prayed to Aphrodite to give him a woman like his ivory maiden. The goddess heard his prayer. When the king returned to his palace, he kissed the statue on the cheek. She seemed warm to his lips, but surely this was his imagination. He kissed her again, and her skin felt soft. At last he placed a hand on her chest and felt her heart beating. The goddess had granted his wish.

  The ivory maiden opened her eyes and beheld Pygmalion. She smiled and hugged him, and then agreed to be his wife.

  Some stories say that Pygmalion and his bride had a daughter named Metharme who became the mother of a boy named Adonis. Most say the child was a son of Cinyras, king of Assyria, by his daughter Myrrha.

  Adonis was so beautiful that Aphrodite placed him in a chest and gave it to the underworld goddess Persephone to hide him from the world. Persephone also loved the child and wanted to keep him. Zeus asked the muse Calliope to judge the case. Calliope said that Adonis would spend one third of the year with Persephone, one third with Aphrodite, and one third as he chose. The boy so loved Aphrodite that he spent his own time with the goddess.

  When Adonis was a young man, he and Aphrodite spent their days hunting. He wanted to chase larger game, but the goddess warned him to stick with smaller animals like rabbits. One day he saw a wild boar running through the woods and chased it with his spear. The boar turned and charged Adonis, sinking his razor-sharp tusks deep into the young man. Aphrodite arrived and took Adonis in her arms, but it was too late. From his blood she made a bright red blossom, the anemone, rise from the earth. It lives only a short time, but while it blooms it is the most beautiful flower in the world.

  HECATE

  If there was a goddess of mystery in the ancient world, it was Hecate. According to one early story she was the daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria. When most of the other Titans were overthrown by Zeus and cast down into Tartarus, Hecate was spared and was honored by the ruler of the gods. She was praised as protector of horsemen, sailors, and fishermen, as well as herdsmen and hunters.

  There are few stories about Hecate. She appears briefly to help Demeter find Persephone, but then quickly disappears. Still, she was worshipped throughout the ancient world as a goddess of the underworld. She ruled over crossroads and was a goddess of dark magic. She was said to keep the keys that controlled the three-headed dog, Cerberus, and to wear the sandals of the goddess who ruled Tartarus.

  Ancient Greeks made sacrifices for the gods. Hecate’s favorites were red mullet fish, little cakes with candles, and fresh young puppies. At the time of the full moon, meals of garbage were offered to the goddess made up of old bread, rotten eggs, spoiled cheese, and dog meat. Those who wished to curse their enemies or make magic spells stronger invoked the name of Hecate. She was, like Hades, a god best worshipped with respect but otherwise treated with devoted silence.

  HESTIA

  Another goddess mentioned in only a few myths is Hestia, although this goddess of the hearth was welcomed in every household. She was a daughter of Cronos and Rhea, like Zeus and Hera. Hestia’s only task was to guard the life-giving fire at the center of every home. She refused to marry both Poseidon and Apollo, and remained a virgin. The lack of myths about her might be a result of her chosen job. As guardian of the hearth, she was never able to leave the sacred fire unguarded.

  But Hestia was still greatly admired. As one early hymn sings:

  Hestia, you who dwell in the lofty halls with undying

  gods and with men who walk the earth, you

  have gained an everlasting home and highest

  honor. Your portion among the gods is precious and

  everlasting. Without you, there would be no feasts

  for mortals. To you, the first and last drops of sweet

  wine are poured in sacrifice.

  ATHENA

  Most stories say that Athena was the daughter of the goddess Metis whom Zeus swallowed after getting her pregnant. Athena leaped from the head of Zeus months later, fully grown and wearing armor. She was a goddess of both warfare and the feminine arts. As the goddess of Athens, she was honored with the grand temple of the Parthenon on the Acropolis.

  Most of Athena’s myths involve battles, warriors, and helping heroes in their quests. In some stories Athena is a patroness of crafts. The most famous of these begins with a young woman named Arachne. This maiden was so skilled at weaving that nymphs gathered to watch her work. Her graceful fingers flew across the loom. Everyone thought she must have been taught by Athena, but Arachne was insulted: “I taught myself. If the goddess thinks she is better than me, let her come to a
contest.”

  Athena heard the girl’s boasting and paid her a visit. She took on the form of an old woman and went to Arachne’s cottage. “You’re good, no doubt, but you are only a mortal,” she said. “Pray to Athena for forgiveness for your pride and I’m sure she will grant it.”

  Arachne was displeased. “Mind your own business, old woman. If Athena is so great at weaving, let her come and challenge me.”

  The goddess then revealed herself. The nymphs fell to their knees, but the girl insisted on a contest. Two looms were set up, and Arachne and Athena began to weave. Athena moved with lightning speed as she wove stories in cloth of foolish mortals who had dared to challenge the gods. Arachne answered with pictures of cruel gods tricking men and women. Athena could not find even the smallest mistake in Arachne’s weaving. She was furious and injured the girl. Arachne was in such pain that she hung herself.

  Athena was sorry. She sprinkled the dead girl with herbs and watched her hair fall away. The maiden’s body shrank, leaving a tiny head, a large belly, and eight long legs. Arachne was restored to life as a spider. Her offspring weave beautiful patterns in their webs to this day.

  EOS

  The goddess of dawn was rosy-fingered Eos, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. She was an unusually romantic goddess who delighted in kidnapping mortal men to love her. One of these was Orion, Artemis’s hunting companion. Eos once transported him to the island of Ortygia before he died of a scorpion bite.

  Cephalus was a prince who was deeply in love with his wife, Procris. The couple had exchanged a vow that they would always be faithful to each other. One morning when Cephalus was out hunting, Eos offered herself to him. He told the goddess of his promise. Eos assured the prince that she didn’t want him to break his vow—unless Procris broke hers first. Cephalus swore this would never happen, so Eos proposed a test. She changed his appearance and gave him many fine gifts. Then she dared him to try, as a stranger, to seduce his wife.