(Generations of the gods – lesser deities – nymphs, etc.)
The Greeks were not pagans, as they had been accused of in order to exterminate them. The Greek gods (six gods – six goddesses) were ideas, while others were ancient kings who, because they benefited the world, were deified over time.
Their early gods were Night and Erebus, that is, the material and immaterial forces, who gave birth to Proteus or Pan, Hephaestus, god of fire, Athena, who expresses the wisdom of the creator and wife of Hephaestus, Hestia, the Moon (Hecate), and Nemesis, the divine force that distributes the goods of creation.
The second generation of gods and benefactor heroes
The second generation includes Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon, Dionysus, Heracles, Hera, and Artemis.
Gods – Benefactors
Such were Prometheus, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to man, Pandora, the first mortal woman, whom the gods created and endowed with all the gifts, namely beauty, intelligence, skill, grace and persuasion, but also with disadvantages such as cunning, lies, curiosity, impatience, avarice and recklessness. She is responsible for all the evils of man.
Also, Demeter, goddess of wheat, who taught the people of the world how to cultivate the land.
Lesser deities
These are related to nature and show the sensitivity of the Greeks to the environment. They were, so to speak, deities of ecology.
The Greeks, in order to keep alive the memory of the old era that was lost with the Flood of Ogygus (approximately 25.000 BC), but also the Flood of Deucalion (approximately 14.000 BC), created the Greek myth through oral speech.
The myth contains encrypted truths from ancestral roots, so that they may be perpetuated in future generations and eras, such as the Hecatombs, the Cyclopes, the Titans, Iapetus, Triptolemus, Proteus, Nereus, the Nereids, the Tritons, the Sirens, the Nymphs, the Gorgons, Calypso, Circe, the Centaurs, the Alcyones, Atlas, Amphitrite, Poseidon, Heracles, Theseus and thousands of others.
The characters and the heroism or suffering in the myths are real and surpass the imagination of modern man. However, they symbolically express certain hidden truths that only the Greek can understand, because always in his life each generation or some story of previous generations has gone through similar suffering. Through these sufferings, which became lessons for him over time, he acquired knowledge, courage, philosophy and life experiences.
The time when the Greek myths were created is unclear and this shows that they were an indigenous people and not an Epilian. Their experiences go back to prehistoric times, lost in the depths of time, as a witness to the tectonic disasters and changes in their region.
The Nymphs
The Nymphs were immortal or mortal goddesses. Traditions state that they were daughters of Oceanus and some of Zeus. They were very beautiful and lived in the divine groves. They fed on ambrosia, nursed the gods and their children, and accompanied the immortals of Olympus on their travels.
They loved dancing, the carefree life, and the music of the god Pan's flute. That's why they spent most of their time with him on the mountaintops and in the gorges of the Greek land.
The Nymphs were divided into four major groups: Celestial, Aerial, Terrestrial and Aquatic.
The Nymphs who protected the water, the Naiads or Naides, lived as long as the springs lasted and were their protectors.
The Tree Nymphs, the Dryads or Hamadryads, also died when a tree or forest they protected died.
The Nymphs of the seas, the Nereids, never died, because the sea is eternal.
The Oceanids, the daughters of Ocean, were three thousand.
The Nymphs protected the forests, the mountains, the plains, the caves, the shepherds, the springs, the wells, the lakes and the rivers, but also all the movable and immovable things and beings of the earth. In the Orphic, the Nymphs were likened to water.
Comment
1/ The Greeks did not worship statues of the gods, as Christians did icons, even objects belonging to saints (slippers, sheets, belts, etc.). They made them out of artistry and love for art.
3/ It is false that our ancient ancestors were pagans. As the authors write, the ancient gods were ancient kings who ruled over the greater part of the then known world and, due to their benevolence, people deified them. That is why they distinguished the earthly Zeus of Olympus from the Heavenly Zeus.
4/ Also worthy of attention is respect for nature, its animate and inanimate creations. Today we have forgotten this for the sake of profit and the deceptive so-called "fun", because nature is also a creation of divine power.
5/ As a maritime and mountainous people, they had deities of the Ocean, the sea and the mountains, leaving nothing outside their protection and interests.
6/ Mythology is always new and is before us. We can learn a lot from the study of mythology and the first is respect for nature and the natural environment.
photo intrographics, https://pixabay.com
