By the Gods!

Satan

Buckle up, kids–-we’re in for a big one! Satan, the big baddie, is a character that most people throughout the world are at least marginally familiar with. He wears quite a few different hats, however, and his role has changed a great deal over the 2,300-odd years he’s been around. 

His first appearance was in the book of Job, where he speaks to the god of the Israelites (Yahweh) about the nature of humanity’s faith. He is named as Satan, which means “the Adversary.” All Satan did was ask the big questions: he observed that those mortals who led rich and happy lives had no problem worshipping God, but how would they feel if they had it all taken away? God saw the point, and picked poor Job, a rich farmin’ man, to prove himself correct. He killed Job’s family, took all of his money, land, and cattle, and covered him with boils. Through it all, Job continued to worship, and God got to whip out the satisfying “told you so!” to Satan. 

Satan, you see, was just another divine dude up in heaven with God. Ipso facto, he was an angel. After the Job story, the Hebrews began to see ol’ Satan as an evil force, and eventually the source of all evil. This suggests the influence of Persian thinking: a battle between good and evil, going forever. After all, the Israelites came from Persia before the whole Egypt/Exodus debacle, and it only makes sense that some mythological and cultural diffusion can be seen there. They created a hierarchy of demons for him to control, to oppose God and his angelic hierarchy, and eventually he had his own origin story put together: the tale, as far as ancient Jewish lore is concerned, had Satan rebelling against God and was hurled by an angel (probably Michael, if you’re curious) into the abyss. 

Now, the Christians really ran with the Satan-stuff. “The Devil” can be traced back to the Latin diabolus, which is the source of “diabolical,” and became synonymous with Satan back in the day. In the Apocryphal book of John the Evangelist, Jesus describes Satan’s transformation into an handsome fellow with a tail and cloven hoofs. After that, more and more of the world’s wicked side became attributed to Satan.

Dante Alighieri’s The Inferno (a part of his Divine Comedy) had Satan at the innermost ring of hell as a great three-faced beast, half-frozen in ice, eternally devouring Judas Iscariot, Brutus and Cassius (Dante was a 14-th century Italian, and not a fan of the whole Julius Caesar-murder-thing). Note: no fire and brimstone. Milton, who expanded on the rebellion motif, put together Paradise Lost in the 17th century, which told the tale of Satan (aka Lucifer) and his rebellion in heaven. In the poem Satan sets himself up as the defeated rebels’ leader, and founds hell on the platform of  poisoning God’s favourite thing: mankind. “Lucifer” translates to the title “Morning Star” or “Light-bearer,” which was how Satan was known before he was cast out of heaven. Back then, he was a powerful angel, according to Christian lore, and was either a Cherubim or Power in the Angelic Hierarchy.

Thor

In honour of today’s premiere of the Marvel “Thor,” let’s give some credit to the Germanic god of thunder on whom the character is based!

The son of Odin the All-Father (and leader of the Aesir), Thor was the champion of good in Norse/German mythology. Riding his chariot pulled by goats through the sky, long red beard and hair blowing in the wind, Thor wields the magic hammer Mjollnir and brings the pain to Frost Giants. The name “Thor” means thunder, and “Mjollnir” may have once meant lightning. 

Things that Thor loves: contests of strength, eating enormous amounts of food in one sitting (a whole ox, for example), drinking like a champ (at one time he drank so much that he lowered sea levels all over the earth), and as aforementioned, cracking Frost Giant skulls. The Frost Giants were the adversaries of the Aesir, and were generally gigantic, angry, and immensely strong. They all hated Thor, because he kept taking out their champions in duels and contests, one by one reducing their numbers and building his own prestige.

Though you might know Loki, the trickster, as an enemy of the Aesir (which he did eventually become), he and Thor used to have adventures together back in the good ol’ days. They have a complex relationship now, I suppose. I mean, sure, Loki did try and get Thor killed a few times, but it was all in the spirit of fun!

That should tide you over for now. Go out and see the movie (I’m checking it out tonight!) and try to spot the differences between Norse and Marvel mythos; Thor wasn’t a natural blonde, guys. 

Hades

We’ve only mentioned this guy in passing up until now, so let’s give him the recognition he deserves. Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld, was/is a pretty big deal. He was the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and as such was the brother of Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. After Cronus was overthrown by the efforts of the younger generation of gods, the universe was divided between the three high-ranking brothers of the winning team: Zeus took the sky, Poseidon got the seas, and Hades got the Underworld. One of the only bright spots in the dark god’s life was his lovely wife Persephone, with whom he had a bit of a roller coaster relationship.

Dubbed by Homer as the “host of many,” (since the idea was that everyone would end up gracing his hall at one point or another) he was also known as Polydegmon, which meant “receiver of many guests.” It was also usual, among the ancient Greeks, to call Hades by the title of Pluto, which meant “giver of wealth;” many sacrifices were thrown his way, as it wasn’t the worst idea in the world to please the dude that would be the caretaker of your soul for eternity. 

Chances are you’ve seen Hades in some form of popular culture or another. There’s a fascination with the afterlife that persists from ancient days to now, though the tone has certainly varied by date and region. Neither the Greeks nor the Romans ever thought of Hades as an evil force like Satan in Christianity. He was certainly a grim deity, but malicious he was not. The Underworld was seen as very physical place––just a remote one. Deep under the earth, it could only be reached by a subterranean river known as Styx. Beyond that, the entrance was guarded by the three-headed dog Cerberus, who ensured no soul escaped. Most of the time Cerberus was pretty good at his job… most of the time. 

Alright, we don’t normally do stuff like this here at By the Gods!, but this video was brought to my attention, and it’s worth sharing (partly for lolz, partly for a slew of images and basic deity information). For more substantial Ganesh content, go here.

Please enjoy the song “Ganesh is Fresh.”

“If you think Ganesh is super-fresh, when I say ‘Jai’ you say ‘Ganesh.’”

Gungnir

Gungnir was the magic spear of Odin, the mighty chief of the Aesir. It was forged by the dwarfs, the sons of Ivaldi, who dwelt in mountains and beneath the earth. They were master craftsmen, and forged many magic knick-knacks for the Germanic gods.

On this occasion, they had been ordered to make a wig of spun gold as a replacement for the golden hair of Thor’s wife, Sif, that had been cut off as a joke by Loki, who was never as funny as he thought he was. Having made the wig without any issue, the dwarfs thought they’d use the furnace, already working, to make some additional godly gear. They made a magic ship for Frey that could be folded up small enough to fit in a pocket, and for Odin, the powerful spear, Gungnir.

Gungnir was remarkably slender, that it could be thrown great distances, and yet so strong it was nigh unbreakable. It was blessed with spells to ensure that it would never miss its mark when thrown. When Odin hung himself on the cosmic tree Yggdrasil for nine nights in order to obtain wisdom, he was, just like Jesus of Nazareth, stabbed with a spear. Patterns! Keep your eye out for them. Cultural diffusion  suggests that similarities in myth aren’t just coincidences! People hear a story, and make it their own. Keep that in mind when perusing this here blog!

It was required, in Germanic custom, that a spear should be thrown over the heads of an enemy force before battle commenced, as an entreaty for Odin’s aid. 

Apep

The eternal enemy of the great sun god Ra, Apep was a terrifying serpent who symbolized chaos and destruction in the Egyptian pantheon. Each day, as the sun god Ra crossed the sky in his boat, Apep would viciously attack the vessel and occasionally, during a total eclipse, he was believed to have swallowed it whole. 

Despite his ferocity, Apep never gained total victory over his enemy. However, at the same time, he himself was never believed to have been finally and completely conquered. The reddening of the sky at dusk was said to demonstrate that Apep had been overcome by Ra’s strength, but not utterly defeated. It’d be unnerving to have a divine god-snake still lurking around with a chip on his shoulder, I say. 

According to one story, Apep was created with Neith, the Great Mother, spat into Nun, the primal, watery chaos. That’s a dirty habit, Neith. In later times, Apep came to be identified with Seth, the rising baddie of the Egyptian pantheon in later days.