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Monday, November 27, 2023

The Demi-Gods Guarding the World: Greeks Had the Most

 Nadene Goldfoot

Abraham, born in about 1948 BCE, had a different view of the world that people had at that time.  He believed the world was created by one G-d, an unseen G-d; and the rest of the world only saw that it took many gods to do it.  Then they believed in the power of gods co-habiting with humans, creating a being that was half god-half human.  The sons of gods came into being. The god could have been a male or even a female.  The Greeks had a long long list.The belief ranged all the way to the Norse gods as well, far away from the Middle East.

                       Zeus, King god of pantheon In Ancient Greek religion, Zeus was a major deity of the sky, weather, lightning, thunder, air, law, order, justice, honour, hospitality, governance, moral conduct, oaths, honesty and integrity. He was the King of the Gods, and held jurisdiction over Mount Olympus. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and Etruscan counterpart is Tinia

Greek mythology:  In the late 330s BCE, Alexander the Great invaded the Middle East (including the area which is now Israel), during his campaigns against the Achaemenid Empire. 

  • Achilles: son of the sea nymph Thetis (daughter of sea god Nereus), and Peleus, king of the Myrmidons.
  • Actaeon: son of Aristaeus and Autonoë, Boeotian prince who was turned into a stag by Artemis and torn to pieces by his own hounds.
  • Aeacus: son of Zeus and Aegina who was the daughter of a river god. He was the father of Telamon and Peleus and grandfather of Ajax and Achilles.
  • Aeëtes: son of Helios. He was the king of Colchis and played a key role in the story of the Argonauts. His daughter Medea married the famous hero Jason.
  • Aeneas: Trojan hero, son of Aphrodite, goddess of love and Prince Anchises. He fled to Italy and became the ancestor of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome.
  • Amphion: son of Zeus and Antiope, and twin brother of Zethus.
  • Arcas: son of Zeus and Callisto, a nymph and minor goddess associated with Aphrodite.
  • Aristaeus: son of Apollo and Cyrene, a Thessalian princess. He was a shepherd who was made a god after inventing skills such as cheese-making and bee-keeping.
  • Asclepius: son of Apollo and Coronis, who achieved divine status after death. He became such a great healer, that he could bring back the dead. Zeus killed him for this, but raised him from the dead as the god of healing and medicine.
  • Augeas: son of Helios, king of Elis. Heracles had to clean his stables as one of his famed twelve labours.
  • Autolycus: son of Hermes. He was a famous thief and ancestor of Odysseus who was also Heracles' wrestling teacher.
  • Bellerophon: according to Homer's Iliad, son of Glaucus and Eurymede of Corinth. According to Apollodorus and Hesiod's catalogues by Hyginus, he was a son of the sea god Poseidon by Eurymede.
  • Calais: son of Boreas (the Greek god of the cold north wind and the bringer of winter) and Oreithyia, daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens. His brother was Zethes, and they are collectively known as Boreads.
  • Ceyx: son of Eosphorus, King of Trachis and husband of Alcyone.
  • Codrus: son of Poseidon and King of Athens, forefather of Ariston of Athens, father of Plato
  • Dardanus: son of Zeus and Electra, daughter of Atlas.
  • Deucalion: son of Prometheus. He and his cousin-wife Pyrrha repopulated the earth after the Great Flood that ended the Bronze Age.
  • Dionysus: son of Zeus and Semele, born a mortal, later became the god of wine. Also called Bacchus by the Greeks.
  • Epaphus: son of Zeus and Io, a priestess of the goddess Hera (Zeus' wife).
  • Harmonia: according to Greek mythology was the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. However, in Samothrace mythology, she was the daughter of Zeus and Electra.
  • Heracles: son of Zeus (king of the gods) and Alcmene, a mortal woman.
  • Helen of Sparta, also known as Helen of Troy: According to older sources, daughter of king Tyndareus and Leda, but Homer also calls her daughter of Zeus and Leda. Wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta.
  • Hippolyta: daughter of Ares, a Queen of the Amazons.
  • Hyacinthus: son of the Muse Clio and Oebalus of Sparta, lover of Apollo.
  • Iasion: son of Zeus and Electra (one of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione). He was the brother of Dardanus.
  • Ion: son of Apollo and Creusa of Athens. Creusa abandoned Ion when he was just a child, so he was raised by a priestess of Delphi. They eventually reunited many years later.
  • Memnon: son of Tithonus and Eos, a Titan goddess of the dawn.
  • Minos: son of Zeus and Europa, and king of Crete. He commissioned Daedalus to build him the Labyrinth, where he hid the Minotaur, a bull-man creature born from the union of his wife Pasiphae and a bull.
  • Narcissus: son of the river-god Cephissus and Liriope. A Boeotian hero who scorned many of his lovers, including Echo. Cursed by Nemesis, he ended up falling in love with his own reflection.[14]
  • Neleus: son of Poseidon and Tyro and king of Pylos. He was the twin brother of Pelias, who played a key role in the story of the Argonauts. He and most of his sons were killed by Heracles, leaving only one survivor.[15]
  • Orion: son of Poseidon (the sea god) and Euryale, a Cretan princess. Along with Hippolytus, he is one of the only male hunters who followed Artemis.
  • Orpheus: son of Calliope and the god Apollo.
  • Pasiphae: daughter of Helios. She was a powerful sorceress who married King Minos of Crete. Due to a curse from Aphrodite, she fell in love with the Cretan Bull. Her union with the bull produced the Minotaur.[16]
  • Pelias: son of Poseidon and Tyro and king of Iolcus. He was the twin brother of Neleus, and played a key role in the story of the Argonauts. He challenged his nephew Jason to sail to Colchis and bring back the legendary Golden Fleece. His daughters were tricked into killing him by Jason's wife Medea.[17]
  • Penthesilea: daughter of Ares and Otrera, a Queen of the Amazons.
  • Perseus: son of Zeus and mortal princess Danae, whom he impregnated as a golden shower.
  • Phaethon: Egyptian son of Helios and Clymene, famous for crashing the sun chariot.
  • Polydeuces, also known by his Roman name of Pollux: one of the Dioscuri and twin brother of Castor. He was son of Zeus and the mortal Leda while his twin had a mortal father, king Tyndareus (Leda's husband).
  • Pyrrha: daughter of Epimetheus and the first woman Pandora. She and her cousin-husband Deucalion repopulated the earth after the Great Flood that ended the Bronze Age.[18]
  • Sciron: son of Poseidon, a Corinthian bandit who was defeated by Theseus on his way to Athens.[19]
  • Tantalus: son of Zeus and the nymph Plouto, a Lydian king, father of Pelops and Niobe.[20]
  • Telegonus: son of the minor goddess Circe and Odysseus. He accidentally killed his father with a lance tipped with the venom of a stingray. He married his father's wife Penelope.[21]
  • Theseus: son of Poseidon (the sea god) and Aethra, the wife of king Aegeus.
  • Tityos: a giant, son of Zeus and Elara.
  • Zethes: son of Boreas (the Greek god of the cold north wind and the bringer of winter) and Oreithyia, daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens. His brother was Calais, and they are collectively known as Boreads.
  • Zethus: son of Zeus and Antiope, twin brother of Amphion, co-founder of Thebes.

Zeus in Greek Mythology is Jupiter in Roman Mythology 
Zeus is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.  Jupiter was the Roman King of all gods, chief of the pantheon and protector of ancient Rome. His full name says it all: Jupiter Optimus Maximus. He was also god of the sky and thunder, and carried a shining thunderbolt to represent the almighty power he could wield.. 
                                            Jupiter 

Roman mythology : The Roman army arrived on the shores of the Holy Land in 63 BCE. About 135 years later in 70 CE, the Temple in Jerusalem lay in ruins and the third and most enduring expulsion of the Jews from their homeland was underway.

Norse mythology[edit]

  • Sæmingr: king of Norway, son of god Odin and queen Skade.
  • Bragi: another son of Odin.
  • Sigi: son of Odin and the ancestor of the Völsung lineage.
  • Sleipnir: child of Loki and Svaðilfari.

Celtic mythology[edit]


 These are but some of the places believing in people being half god-half human.  It was very accepting, then, when the Roman Constantine and mother Helena pushed in about 325 CE in their world-wide meetings the belief in a new demi-god who promised to save them from all ills. First Council of Nicaea, (325), the first ecumenical council of the Christian church, meeting in ancient Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey). It was called by the emperor Constantine I, an unbaptized catechumen, who presided over the opening session and took part in the discussion.   Its main accomplishments were settlement of the Christological issue of the divine nature of God the Son and his relationship to God the Father, the construction of the first part of the Nicene Creed, mandating uniform observance of the date of Easter, and promulgation of early canon law.

Abraham's belief system of One G-d that was unseen  was continued by his descendants; Isaac, and Jacob and Jacob's 12 sons and their descendants to Moses and on up to this very time. It did not accept polytheism nor demi-gods.   It's a belief system that is 3,971 years old and in 29 more years will be 4,000 years old.  

Resource: 

  
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