By the Gods!

bythegods:

Augustus, Emperor of Rome

By now, I’m sure you know that the Romans had more than a few gods back in their day. The Roman Pantheon, brother to that of Ancient Greece, was growing every day as it incorporated the deities and venerated warriors/prophets/legends of conquered and soon-to-be conquered civilizations. However, this still wasn’t enough to slake their intense thirst for more things to pray to. In the days of the Republic (before 27 BCE) Generals and other men of merit would occasionally be raised to the status of god posthumously. A big example of deification like this came in the form of Augustus, the first Emperor of the Roman Empire.

Born Gaius Octavius, he was raised to the adopted son of Julius Caesar upon Caesar’s death, and began his path to glory. He became a Consul of the Roman Senate, (a position of immense influence and power) and received an enormous inheritance from his dead adoptive father. Julius Caesar’s death had thrown the Republic into a state of turmoil the likes of which had not been seen before, and Octavius formed a Triumvirate with the generals Lepidus and Marc Antony to take control of the wide lands of the Romans, and destroy those they saw as rebels. Octavius proved time and again that he was a brilliant tactical, political and financial leader, and brought prosperity to his people. Eventually destroying Marc Antony in a later clash, Octavius soon found himself without Roman enemies to dispatch, named himself Emperor, and turned his attention outward, to expand the territories of the rich empire.

At this point his name was changed, again, to Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (Augustus meaning “the revered one”), and he initiated the period that would come to be known as the Pax Romana, or “the Roman Peace”—a period of stability and wealth. Augustus, in his time, greatly enlarged the empire’s territories, developed networks of roads, established a standing Roman Army and the Praetorian guard, and basically set every recognizable tradition and protocol that would make the Empire great for centuries to come. Upon his death in 14 CE, he was declared a god by the Roman senate. The people were told to worship him just as they would Jupiter and the established pantheon, and his legacy certainly had a “divine” vibe. Each emperor after would adopt the names Augustus and Caesar, so beloved and renowned had the original Augustus been. The month of August, too, receives its name from the first Emperor; the sixth month of the Roman calendar, Sextilis, was renamed Augustus in his honour. What a guy!

Augustus once more, because I love him so.

Janus

There’s no better time to learn about Janus than in January, his very own special little month. As Janus is the Roman god of beginnings, (among other things) it’s fairly apropos to talk about him in the first days of a brand new year (on western calendars).

Besides being the patron of beginnings, (and endings) Janus is the god of transitions, as represented by doors and gates. Big fan of a good door, that Janus. Oh, and he’s also the god of time, and thus the two faces: looking back into the past and forward into the future.

Janus is actually difficult to classify in the Roman Pantheon: he’s one of those everything and nothing types of deities. It’s been debated exactly what he presides over, since things like “time” and “transitions” are nebulous. Is he everywhere, and perhaps all powerful, or is he literally just hiding behind a rock, watching you get out of bed and start your day? Many Roman philosophers saw him as both the spark that caused every beginning, and the shadow that brought about every end.

Janus is certainly one mysterious deity, and was the topic of countless debates in western culture since the days of the old Roman Kingdom.

Caligula

We recently talked about Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, and how he had been placed in the Roman Pantheon of Gods posthumously. He was a fairly amazing gent, after all—what harm could there be in worshipping him as a transcendant spirit akin to those who wrought the world from Chaos? A few emperors down the line, though, came Caligula. This guy took deification to a new, literal (probably quite embarrassing for Romans at the time) level.

When Caligula (whose real name was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, with “Caligula” being a nickname meaning “little soldier’s boot”) ascended to the role of Emperor, things went well at first, and we was beloved among the people throughout the vast empire. As you might imagine, however, all of that love, all those sacrifices in your name, all the knee-bending and praise might eventually go to one’s head. And it did. Oh, did it ever.

Eventually, Caligula’s political payments for support, luxury and extravagance exhausted the Roman treasuries, and there was a wee bit ‘o famine. Despite the proverbial and literal belt-tightening occurring throughout the empire, Caligula went on a construction spree, and didn’t do much to disprove the accusations of his fiscal inadequacy. About this time, he got wound up in a few sex scandals, too, and was said to be extra-perverted, even among the hedonistic Roman upper-class. Now that’s an accomplishment.

Caligula clearly believed that he was the bees knees, and then began making it a state requirement that everyone else think the same. He declared himself a living god. The story goes that, when several kings came to Rome and each argued about the nobility of his own descent, Caligula burst out “Let there be one Lord, one King!” and I have a sneaking suspicion that he was referring to himself. He began to appear in public dressed as Hercules, Mercury, Venus, and Apollo to name a few of his costumes du jour, and began referring to himself in documents and in person as Jupiter. After a few years of this, he told his court that he wished to be worshipped as Neos Helios, meaning “New Sun,” and was represented as the Sun God on Egyptian coins.

Eventually Caligula was assassinated through a plot devised and carried out by his own Praetorian Guard, the elite men trusted with guarding the Emperor at all costs. You know you must’ve screwed something up when the guys blood-sworn to protect you bring the hurtin’.

It’s not like Caligula was the first guy to claim divinity, but he sure went about it in a big way. Dressing up like Venus, the goddess of love, takes cohones no matter when you’re from.

Augustus, Emperor of Rome

By now, I’m sure you know that the Romans had more than a few gods back in their day. The Roman Pantheon, brother to that of Ancient Greece, was growing every day as it incorporated the deities and venerated warriors/prophets/legends of conquered and soon-to-be conquered civilizations. However, this still wasn’t enough to slake their intense thirst for more things to pray to. In the days of the Republic (before 27 BCE) Generals and other men of merit would occasionally be raised to the status of god posthumously. A big example of deification like this came in the form of Augustus, the first Emperor of the Roman Empire.

Born Gaius Octavius, he was raised to the adopted son of Julius Caesar upon Caesar’s death, and began his path to glory. He became a Consul of the Roman Senate, (a position of immense influence and power) and received an enormous inheritance from his dead adoptive father. Julius Caesar’s death had thrown the Republic into a state of turmoil the likes of which had not been seen before, and Octavius formed a Triumvirate with the generals Lepidus and Marc Antony to take control of the wide lands of the Romans, and destroy those they saw as rebels. Octavius proved time and again that he was a brilliant tactical, political and financial leader, and brought prosperity to his people. Eventually destroying Marc Antony in a later clash, Octavius soon found himself without Roman enemies to dispatch, named himself Emperor, and turned his attention outward, to expand the territories of the rich empire.

At this point his name was changed, again, to Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (Augustus meaning “the revered one”), and he initiated the period that would come to be known as the Pax Romana, or “the Roman Peace”—a period of stability and wealth. Augustus, in his time, greatly enlarged the empire’s territories, developed networks of roads, established a standing Roman Army and the Praetorian guard, and basically set every recognizable tradition and protocol that would make the Empire great for centuries to come. Upon his death in 14 CE, he was declared a god by the Roman senate. The people were told to worship him just as they would Jupiter and the established pantheon, and his legacy certainly had a “divine” vibe. Each emperor after would adopt the names Augustus and Caesar, so beloved and renowned had the original Augustus been. The month of August, too, receives its name from the first Emperor; the sixth month of the Roman calendar, Sextilis, was renamed Augustus in his honour. What a guy!

Nyx

In Greek mythology, Nyx was the primordial goddess of the night. We’re talking old even for the gods, here. Three generations before Zeus ‘n the gang, two before the Titans came on the scene; Nyx is ancient stuff, guys. She was born of Chaos, the great primordial deity who existed before naught else was made. These initial gods, as they were born out of Chaos, became the foundations of the universe. Gaia, from who Zeus and the Olympians trace their ancestry, was a sister of Nyx, for example, and she was the living Earth itself.

Most of what we know of Nyx comes from Hesiod’s Theogony, a history of the gods and the universe according to Greek paganism. Nyx, the night, was born, and then bore children with Erebus, the god of shadow and darkness: Aether (atmosphere), and Hemera (day). Later on, she made a few kids on her own, without Erebus. Momus (blame), Moros (doom), Thanatos (death), Hypnos (sleep), Charon (the ferryman of Hades), and the Oneiroi (dreams)… 

Excuse me— there are more, I just need to catch my breath. Okay:

… the Hesperides, the Keres, the Moirae (the Fates), Nemesis (retribution), Apate (deception), Philotes (friendship), Geras (age) and Eris (strife) were all her kids. She was dedicated, you could say. 

In other Greek texts, Nyx was sometimes listed as the first principle deity, before Chaos (in these cases Chaos often wasn’t mentioned at all), so she was clearly held in high regard. There were a handful of cults devoted to the goddess of Night, though she was not an object of direct worship very often, as were the Olympians. She was given respect, to be sure, but not the same devotion we would see toward the more contemporary Greek gods.

Helios

Helios was the Greek sun god, and son of the Titan Hyperion. To the Romans he was known as Sol. It was thought that Helios, after crossing the sky in that shiny chariot of his, sailed during the night around the earth in a golden bowl on the encircling waters of Oceanus, arriving back in the east just before dawn. A busy guy, to say the least. 

Both the Greeks and the Romans held that the inhabited world was a large island surrounded by an ocean (Oceanus). Although Oceanus was sometimes described as a river, it stretched into the unimaginable distance, endlessly far from any shore.

One big Helios myth concerns the sun god’s son, Phaethon. The impetuous youth tried to steer his father’s radiant chariot, but quickly lost control. Only the timely action of Zeus steadied the runaway horses and prevented the earth from catching fire. Phaethon, however, fell from the vehicle and drowned. Luckily, Helios had lots of other kids, like Augeas, Circe, and Pasiphae. One last thing about Helios: you may have heard of the gigantic Colossus built at the harbour of ancient Rhodes, That puppy was built in Helios’ image, and was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, before it was toppled by an earthquake around 226 BCE. 

Orcus

A god of the underworld in Etruscan and Roman mythology, Orcus was an intimidating fellow. He was known as the punisher of broken oaths, and while his appearance is never definitively agreed upon, he was almost certainly scary-lookin’, and is usually depicted as a hairy, bearded giant.  Orcus’ mother is Eris, the Greek goddess of Strife, also known as Discordia (her counter part was, quite fittingly, Harmonia). Sounds like the idea of pain/unpleasantness runs in the family, so it must not’ve been a surprise to Eris that her son turned out to be a bit of a tightwad/tyrannical daemon.

In many ways the Roman pantheon was transient, adopting different deities from different cultures (often freshly-conquered) and using syncretism to adopt new gods in an effort to pacify a newly-annexed population, and bring them under the Roman banner more peacefully. This went both ways, as some outside-gods became staples of Roman worship in certain areas. Chthonic deities (pertaining to the underworld) were often undergoing the switcheroo, but kept certain traits in common. Orcus has a great deal in common with the Roman Pluto, who in turn was partially derived from the Greek Hades. Dis Pater, an earlier chthonic deity, was subsumed by Pluto, though Pluto and Orcus seemed to feature in Roman culture simultaneously in different circles, and with different areas of focus. 

You’ve probably noted the “Orc” in “Orcus,” and you’re right on the money. “Orcus” was conflated with the aforementioned chthonic deities, but referred more specifically to the evil and punishing side of the underworld, which bridges nicely into daemons. His name came to be used for any number of daemons, and it is widely believed that the French “ogre” was derived from lo’ smelly-hell himself. J.R.R. Tolkien derived “Orc” from Anglo-Saxon, in which it meant simply “daemon,” for his fantasy works, though he personally believes that the root of this word does not lie with the Latin Orcus. Either way, from Tolkien’s “orc” is where we get the modern stock-fantasy-badguys that are so ubiquitous today.

Paris

Paris is the reason we have Rome, in a very roundabout way. If he didn’t cause the destruction of Troy by stealing Helen, then Aeneas wouldn’t have left the broken city for greener pastures, eventually founding the city of Rome, as the story goes, care of Virgil and his Aeneid. Well done Paris, you big pansy!

Paris is known as being the biggest wuss in history. He was the son of Priam and Hecuba of Troy, and the night before his birth, Hecuba dreamt that she gave birth to a burning torch. She went to an oracle to ask “WTF is up with this dream!?” and the oracle told Hecuba that her son would bring the downfall of Troy. Apparently she was fine with that, ‘cause she kept the little pansy instead of flinging him off a cliff like any good Greek mother would’ve done.

After that, I’m sure you all know the story. Golden apple, Paris chooses Aphrodite (stupidly), gets Helen, starts a war. Runs away from battle. Kills Achilles (in an extra-wussy way). Gets killed by Philoctetes. Helen goes home with hubby, Menelaus. The End.