The Mythology of the Night Sky: Part Two

We’re all quasi familiar with the stars in the night sky; some more than others which often depends on whether you’re in the centre of a brightly lit polluted city sky or out in the clear dark air of rural – wherever. To the ancients, those bright lights in the night sky weren’t just bright lights in the night sky, but actual representations of their myths and legends. Time and time again their gods rewarded various characters with immortality, not by turning them into deities, but by placing them forever and a night in the heavens for all to see and remember.

One of the highest honours any demigod, demigoddess, mortal male or female, or beast for that matter could be awarded in Greco-Roman times would be to immortalized as a star or a constellation in the heavens. Here’s a few of those that achieved that honour.

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

*Eosphoros [see] Venus.

*Eridanus [see] Auriga, the Charioteer.

*Equuleus, the Pony: In Greek mythology, Pegasus, the winged horse, had either a brother or son, the foal Celeris (meaning "swiftness" or "speed"). Celeris was given to Castor (one of the two Gemini twins) by Hermes (Mercury to the Romans). Another version has Equuleus as the horse struck from Poseidon’s trident during a pissing contest between him and the goddess Athena when contesting who would be the superior patron of Athens (that name gives away who won). Because Equuleus’s section of stars rises before the constellation of Pegasus, it is often called Equus Primus, or the First Horse. See also Pegasus.

*Ganymede [see] Aquarius, the Water-Carrier.

*Gemini, the Twins: The Dioscuri, the “Sons of Zeus” or the “Heavenly Twins” are better known as Castor and Polydeuces (who is even better known as Pollux). Despite the “Sons of Zeus” tag, Pollux was the son of Zeus and Leda, and Castor the son of Leda and her husband, the King of Sparta. However they were twins, and brothers to Helen (of Troy), daughter of Zeus and Leda. When Castor was fatally wounded, Pollux asked Zeus to let him die alongside his beloved brother. They were eventually placed among the stars as the constellation we know as Gemini.

*Hercules was finally undone by an act of deception. His wife without knowing the true facts of the matter had Hercules put on a poisoned robe, which was akin to him bathing in a tub of acid. In agony, the demigod builds his own funeral pyre and lays on it awaiting death. A passing King of Malis, a former Argonaut, Poias, lights the pyre. An almighty thunderclap booms out as the pyre started burning as Zeus took Hercules up to Olympus and made him an immortal god. Even his stepmother, Hera, finally give up her intense anger towards him and they were reconciled. To honour his son, Zeus set up the stars in the constellation now named for him. See also Draco, Hydra and Leo.  

*Hesperus [see] Venus.

*Hyades (star cluster) [see] Pleiades.

*Hyas [see] Pleiades.

*Hydra, the Snake (or Water-Snake): After Hercules killed the Hydra (his second of twelve labours), the Hydra was placed in the firmament by Athena as the constellation Hydra, the Snake (or Water-Snake). See also Corvus, the Crow and Hercules.

*Ladon [see] Draco, the Dragon.

*Leo, the Lion: The first great labour of Hercules was to slay the great Nemean Lion who was invulnerable to arrows and spears and swords, etc. So, Hercules had to choke the beast to death. Hercules wore the skin of the lion as a cloak, and Zeus, to honour his son’s completion of his first Mission: Impossible task was to place the lion in the sky as a memorial – the constellation Leo. See also Hercules.

*Lyra: Orpheus, son of one of the nine Muses, was a highly skilled musician and singer who could charm the gods, mortals and beasts alike. However, when Orpheus eventually came to a sticky end, Zeus immortalized his music by placing his lyre among the stars as the constellation Lyra. Orpheus himself went to and stayed put in Hades, but that’s actually a happy ending, for he was forever reunited with his wife Eurydice, who he earlier, when alive, tried to rescue from the underworld, but failed to do so.

*Orpheus [see] Lyra.

*Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer: Asclepius, the son of Apollo and a mortal woman, turned out to be an extremely skilled physician. So skilled was he than he actually brought a corpse back to life! This was frowned on by Zeus as it got into deity only abilities, so Zeus smote him with his thunderbolts (and the now alive corpse as well). Now this pisses off Apollo, so in turn he smites the Cyclopes, the makers of those lethal thunderbolts. Now this as you would expect pisses off Zeus, so he forces Apollo into servitude to a mortal for one year as punishment. Meantime, as Asclepius was depicted with a staff with a snake coiled around it, he was immortalised as the eternal symbol in the heavens, the constellation Ophiuchus, the Serpent Holder (or Bearer). See also Sagitta.

*Orion: Orion, the mighty hunter, lusted after the Pleiades (the seven sisters) and their mum, so Zeus put the lot of them in the heavens thus out of Orion’s and harms way. Orion finally met his doom by boasting once too often about hunting and killing the wildlife, and so his was stung to death by a giant scorpion by orders of the earth goddess Gaia. On behalf of several of the gods or goddesses (Artemis and Leto) Zeus placed Orion too in the heavens, behind and forever chasing after those Pleiades sisters. The scorpion, for services rendered was also places in the heavens as the constellation Scorpio, still in pursuit of Orion! As an almighty hunter, Orion was accompanied by a hunting dog, the constellation Canis Major which includes the brilliant Dog Star, Sirius. 

*Pegasus: Pegasus, the winged horse was the offspring of the god of the sea, Poseidon (often identified with all things equine) and the gorgon Medusa, born when Perseus sliced off Medusa’s head. Pegasus was caught and tamed by Bellerophon, the two of which made a good team when Belleraphon slew the Chimera from the air and out of harms way.  But, he became unstuck when he tried to use his aerial transport and fly Pegasus to Olympus uninvited. Zeus, furious at the presumption that Bellerophon could just waltz into the abode of the gods any old time, sent an insect to sting Pegasus, causing the winged horse to throw off its rider, Bellerophon, who, without benefit of a parachute eventually went splat. Though Bellerophon survived the crash, he was crippled for life. Zeus then utilized Pegasus to draw his chariot filled with his thunderbolts, and as a final reward, placed Pegasus among the stars. See also Equuleus, the Pony.

*Perseus, who killed the gorgon Medusa, also rescued the lovely Andromeda from a sea monster, Cetus. Perseus and Andromeda of course married and had a son, Perses, but Parses was entrusted to and raised by King Cepheus (father of Andromeda) who needed a male heir to his throne (in Ethiopia). Now King Cepheus was married to the vain Cassiopeia (mother of Andromeda) who bragged she was better looking than the sea nymphs, the Nereids. The Nereids complained to their boss, Poseidon, the god of the sea who spat the dummy and demanded that her child, Andromeda of course, be sacrificed to Cetus, the sea monster, as retribution. That’s when Perseus happened by. All five, after they died their natural deaths, were placed among the stars as the constellations named after them. But Cassiopeia was placed upside down in the heavens to teach her some humility.

*Phaethon [see] Auriga, the Charioteer.

*Phosphorus [see] Venus.

*Pleiades (star cluster): The Pleiades, seven sisters all, were born of the Titan god Atlas and the Oceanid, Pleione. Prior to that Titan mated via the Oceanid Aithra producing a son, Hyas and his sisters, the Hyades. Thus the Pleiades were half-sisters to Hyas and the Hyades. Now one day Hyas was out hunting and was killed in the process by his prey, probably a boar. His sisters, the Hyades, died in turn from grief suffered by the loss of their beloved brother. In a triple-hankie story, their half-sisters, the Pleiades, also died, one and all, out of grief. Zeus, out of sympathy, immortalised the lot of them. Hyas and the Hyades as the star cluster Hyades; close in the sky to that of the Pleiades star cluster. The alternative version is that the hunter Orion had the hots for the seven sisters so Zeus intervened and transferred them to the sky where Orion couldn’t bother them. Of course later on, Orion too gets placed among the stars in the sky and to this day endlessly chases after the Pleiades. See also Orion.

*Pollux [see] Gemini.

*Sagitta, the Arrow: In ancient Greece, Sagitta was regarded as the weapon that Hercules used to kill the eagle (Aquila), an eagle that Zeus employed that perpetually gnawed at Prometheus’s liver. That was punishment for Prometheus’s ‘gift of fire’ to mankind, in defiance of Zeus’s instructions to the contrary. Another version believes the Arrow to be the one shot by Hercules towards the Stymphalian birds, his sixth labour. Those winged creatures had claws, beaks and wings of iron, and they lived on human flesh. Hercules got rid of the lot of them. Yet another version claimed it as the arrow with which Apollo exterminated the original trio of Cyclopes because the Cyclopes forged the thunderbolts for Zeus which Zeus used to kill Apollo’s son, Asclepius. See also Ophiuchus.

*Sagittarius: While undertaking his fourth labour, Hercules accidentally hit the centaur Chiron with one of his arrows that had been tipped with poison from the Hydra he killed earlier. Because the centaur was immortal and couldn’t die, he was doomed to be forever in agony. Zeus relieved him of his immortality, allowing Chiron to pass away, but Zeus in one manner restored Chiron’s immortality when he placed the centaur in the sky as the constellation Sagittarius. See also Centaurus.

*Scorpio [see] Orion.

*Sirius [see] Orion.

*Taurus, the Bull: When the king of the gods, Zeus, had his wicked way with Europa, he did so by shape-shifting into the form of a bull and carried Europa across the sea to Crete in that form, where they ‘did it’ (presumably Zeus shape-shifted back to human form before they ‘did it’). Since that time Crete (known as the Minoan culture or civilization) has had a long association with bulls or a bull-cult, like the sport of bull-jumping (grabbing the horns and somersaulting onto the back of the animal) and hosting half-a-bull as in the Minotaur. Because the bull-form suited Zeus so well, he immortalized the animal as the constellation Taurus.

*Ursa Major, the Great Bear: Callisto was the daughter of the King of Arcady, and she had the misfortune to have Zeus fall for her. Callisto was associated with the virgin goddess Artemis. When Zeus raped Callisto, she got in a family way (in mythology, every rape results in a pregnancy otherwise there’s no point to the rape in the first place). This rape ultimately produces a son, Arcas. Artemis, being the virgin, was livid and banished Callisto from any further association with her. Hera (Mrs. Zeus) in the meantime assumed Callisto was a willing partner to her wayward hubby and in revenge turned Callisto into a bear. Years later, Arcas, out hunting, ran across that bear and not realizing that it was mom, shot her dead. Zeus then placed Callisto into the zodiac as Ursa Major, the Great Bear (or the Big Dipper); Arcas ultimately got his place in the heavens too as the Little Bear (or the Little Dipper).

*Ursa Minor [see] Ursa Major

*Venus: Eos (Dawn) or to the Romans Aurora, born to Astraios all of the stars in the sky, of which two were most notable: Phosphorus (or Eosphorus), the Morning Star, and Hesperus, the Evening Star. In reality, both ‘stars’ are one and the same ‘star’ and not stars at all but the planet Venus.  

*Virgo [see] Bootes.

It’s a pity all that came to an end. If you were living way back then, perhaps you too might have been immortalised as a star, a star cluster or perhaps even as a constellation to be recorded for posterity, seen and talked about by millions for generations upon generations to come.

The Mythology of the Night Sky: Part One

We’re all quasi familiar with the stars in the night sky; some more than others which often depends on whether you’re in the centre of a brightly lit polluted city sky or out in the clear dark air of rural – wherever. To the ancients, those bright lights in the night sky weren’t just bright lights in the night sky, but actual representations of their myths and legends. Time and time again their gods rewarded various characters with immortality, not by turning them into deities, but by placing them forever and a night in the heavens for all to see and remember.

One of the highest honours any demigod, demigoddess, mortal male or female, or beast for that matter could be awarded in Greco-Roman times would be to immortalized as a star or a constellation in the heavens. Here’s a few of those that achieved that honour.

*Andromeda [see] Perseus.

*Aquarius, the Water-Carrier: In Greek mythology, a young handsome lad was known as Ganymede. Ganymede is carried up in a whirlwind to Olympus by the gods to be a cupbearer for Zeus, or, in a more erotic version, a servant of Zeus kidnaps him, or Zeus himself did the deed disguised as an eagle. The erotic upshot was that though Zeus favoured the ladies, goddesses, demigoddesses, even mortal women, for a catamite change of pace now and again… Ganymede was rewarded for his services by eternal youth and immortality, eventually placed in the sky as the constellation Aquarius, the Water-Carrier. See also Aquila.   

*Aquila (the constellation) was once an eagle owned by the Greek/Roman god Zeus/Jupiter who performed many useful tasks for the King of the Gods, such as carrying his thunderbolts and kidnapping the young and handsome lad Ganymede. See also Aquarius.

*Ara, the Alter: In ancient Greek mythology, Ara was identified as the altar, made by the trilogy of Cyclopes, an alter where the Olympian gods first made offerings and formed an alliance when they were about to fight the original Titans in order to become masters of the universe, or at least masters of third rock from the sun – well, would you believe a local region of the Mediterranean anyway.

*Arcturus, the Bear-Guardian [see] Ursa Major.

*Aries, the Ram: A young lad, Phrixos (or Phrixus), son of the King of Thessaly, became an unpopular stepchild after his natural mother died and the King remarried, a woman by the name of Ino. Ino had it in for Phrixos, and his sister (Helle) too. Ino arranged for the grain harvest to be ruined, resulting in a famine. She then bribed the Oracle at Delphi to predict that only the sacrifice of Phrixus to the gods would end the famine. Just before the fatal throat cut, a marvellous flying and talking ram appeared, a gift by Hermes to Phrixos’s natural mother, who I gather was able to send it from her place in the afterlife. The flying ram spirited Phrixos (and his sister) away in the nick of time (but unfortunately the sister fell off in mid-flight and perished). When safely deposited in a new land, the local king welcomed Phrixos and of course he eventually married the king’s daughter. In gratitude for his salvation, Phrixos sacrificed the ram to Zeus, who then immortalised it in the heavens as the constellation Aries. The ram’s golden fleece was given to the king who hung it up in a tree guarded by a dragon, which leads to another rather famous tale in Greek mythology – the quest for the golden fleece.

*Asclepius [see] Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer.

*Auriga, the Charioteer: Phaethon, son of the sun god Helios, tried to prove his manhood bona-fides by driving his father’s fiery chariot drawn by a team of highly spirited horses. He failed. When he ran out of control, Zeus had to shoot him down out of the sky. His lifeless body plunged into the River Eridanus. Phaethon was turned into the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer; even the River Eridanus achieved constellation status under that name, stretching across the night sky west of Orion. 

*Bootes, the Ploughman: Dionysus, the god of wine and good times, gave a wine branch to a lowly farmer, Icarius, and taught him how to grow grapes and make wine. The farmer shared some of this wine with neighbouring shepherds, but they got so intoxicated they killed Icarius. His daughter, Erigone, led by Dionysus’s faithful dog, Maira, uncovered the site where the shepherds buried Icarius. The daughter distressed and in grief, hung herself. Even the dog died of sorrow. Dionysus cursed the locals. Many went mad and many women hung themselves in that state. When later they learned of the injustice that had prompted all of this, they lynched the original shepherds. Dionysus immortalized the farmer as Bootes the Ploughman. The daughter became the constellation Virgo, and Maira the dog – well he became Canis Minor, the lesser dog.  

*Callisto [see] Ursa Major.

*Cancer, the Crab: Hera (Mrs Zeus) hated Hercules since he was a constant reminder of her husband’s wandering ways when it came to the opposite sex. Hercules second great labour was to kill the multi-headed Hydra, but while that battle was raging a giant crab entered the fray and had a go at Hercules too. So, Hercules had to deal with the crab first. Hera was very pleased that the crab had attacked Hercules and thus she herself honoured the crab by placing it in the heavens as the constellation Cancer. I’ve seen an alternative version that had Athena place the crab in the firmament, but Hera seems the more logical choice.

*Canis Major, the Greater Dog [see] Orion.

*Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog [see] Bootes.

*Capricorn:  In Greek mythology, this constellation is sometimes identified as Amalthea, the goat that suckled the infant Zeus after his mother Rhea saved him from being devoured by his father Cronos by spiriting him off to Crete and out of harms way. The goat's broken horn was transformed into the cornucopia or horn of plenty.

*Cassiopeia [see] Perseus.

*Castor [see] Gemini.

*Centaurus, the Centaur: The ancient Greeks depicted the southern constellation as a centaur and gave it its current name. The name Centaurus however in mythology is often given not to an actual centaur but to that deformed human who would later mate with mares and spawn the centaur race. More commonly however, Centaurus is credited as being the first centaur. See also Sagittarius.

*Cepheus [see] Perseus.

*Cetus, the Sea Monster (or Whale) [see] Perseus.

*Chiron, the Centaur [see] Sagittarius.

*Corona Borealis: Ariadne aided Theseus when he entered the labyrinth to slay the Minotaur by providing him with a ball of string which he unravelled as he made passage in through the maze and thus could follow the trail out again. Of course he promised eternal love to Ariadne, but shortly after having set sail from Crete, he abandoned her on the island of Naxos, no doubt on command from the deity Dionysus who wanted Ariadne for himself. Rank has its privileges!  Dionysus duly carried her off to Olympus and made her an immortal and as a wedding gift gave her a golden crown. That crown was later placed in the heavens as the Corona Borealis.

*Corvus, the Crow: The crow or raven is Apollo’s sacred bird. When Apollo sent his raven to fetch some water in the god's cup (Crater), the raven took his damn sweet time about it. To cover for his laziness, and lateness, he blamed the water-snake (the Hydra) for making him tardy. Apollo however knew a fib when told one and saw through the raven’s tall tale. Since he saw through the fraud and was not tricked Apollo rather pissed that his sacred bird would lie, put the raven in the sky (Corvus) along with the water snake (the Hydra) and the cup (Crater). For another version of the fate of the Hydra, see also Hydra. To further punish the raven, Hydra the snake keeps water from the eternally thirsty raven, yet the raven always sees the water, just out of reach.

*Crater, the Cup [see] Corvus, the Crow.  

*Cygnus, the Swan: When the rash wannabe charioteer Phaethon (son of Helios) had to be dispatched by Zeus for reckless driving, a relative, Kyknos, mourned so greatly that the gods turned him into a swan. When it was time to die, Kyknos-the-swan sang all the way to the heavens to become the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. As an aside, when you know it’s time to face the end, you sing your ‘swan song’.

*Delphinus, the Dolphin: Poseidon, the god of the sea, had the hots for the Nereid, Amphitrite. Being a shy sort of lass, she made a beeline out to sea to escape (which seems to be an odd strategy seeing how she’s fleeing from the god of the sea). Be that as it may, Poseidon sends out all manner of his marine creatures to find her. A dolphin does so and talks Amphitrite into reconsidering and so to make a long story short, Poseidon and Amphitrite tie the knot. As a reward, Poseidon immortalises dolphins by casting one into the heavens to become the constellation Delphinus.

*Draco, the Dragon: Hercules was tasked with his eleventh labour to fetch the golden apples from the garden of Hesperides. The tree that bore the apples was well guarded by a giant serpent called Ladon. So, of course, Hercules, at least in some retellings, had to slay the serpent before nicking off with the fruit. The late and great Ladon was immortalized as the constellation Draco, placed next to the constellation of Hercules himself, club raised and poised to strike. Oh, once Hercules handed over the apples, they were returned to him; he dedicated them to the goddess Athena who returned them to their rightful place. Golden apples are far too powerful to be entrusted to the keeping of mere mortals. See also Hercules.

To be continued…

Gods of the Chariots

One telltale sign that the ‘gods’ were really extraterrestrials would be if they displayed advanced high technology before humans could have come up with those same high-tech goodies. An obvious electronic circuit; a diagram of some sort of particle physics interaction; an aerodynamically sound aircraft, even a depiction of Saturn’s rings represented as a 50,000 year old  petroglyph or as cave art would just about be proof positive to convince the most strident of ancient astronaut sceptics. Alas, no such evidence – yet at least. But we do have those ‘chariots of the gods’, a topic worthy of further exploration.

When it comes to high-tech in our ancient history, few things impress me as representing extraterrestrial technology, such as the Baghdad (Parthian) battery or the Antikythera mechanical/astronomical ‘computer’. While impressive in their own terrestrial right, they are hardly the stuff of which extraterrestrial influences on our home planet are made. Ditto that for most of the megalithic structures like Stonehenge or massive building works like the Egyptian or Mesoamerican pyramids. Terrestrially impressive as representing massive undertakings involving lots of hard labour over long periods of time – yes. As extraterrestrial structures they leave a bit to be desired. You tend to think of alien stuff as a lot more futuristic looking – polished metals, weird designs, next generation computers, lots of flashing lights and unexplainable gizmos. If ET builds a building on Earth you’d hope for something more imaginative than a pyramid built with blocks of stone.

What else is there to consider? Well, machines that fly seem to be futuristic gizmos that were beyond the capabilities of the ancients to build and operate.

We have those vimanas (flying machines in Hindu mythology)  and the ‘Wheel of Ezekiel’ (in Biblical mythology) and those Pre-Columbian little gold model ‘aeroplanes’ from Central and South America, not to forget to mention those ancient Egyptian wooden ‘birds’, so-called, and pigeon-holed as such, yet ‘birds’ aerodynamically perfect as rigid fixed-wing  models that could really fly when scaled-up. While these and more have occupied much attention from ancient astronaut theorists, more traditional ‘chariots’ from much better known mythologies haven’t really captured their attention despite that title of Erich von Daniken’s best selling book. Alas, Erich didn’t provide an index entry for “chariots” in that tome of his, so maybe not even he was willing to put money where his mouth was when it came to just plain every old day aerial ‘chariots’.    

There’s nothing overly high-tech about a chariot, apart from those cultures like those of the Americas (North, Central and South) for example that never invented the wheel or cultures who hadn’t domesticated a horse to pull one. I guess to the Incas a horse-drawn land chariot of the ancient Egyptians might have seemed high-tech indeed.

But to the ancient Europeans, especially southern Europeans like the Greeks, Romans, and other cultures in the Mediterranean and nearby regions like Mesopotamia, and of course the Egyptians, even unto India and China, chariots were part and parcel of their transport and means of waging war.

But chariots that fly, aerial ‘chariots’, are a whole new ballgame, yet those ancient cultures and more had aerial ‘chariots’, often described as ‘fiery’, contained within their mythologies. Of course these winged ‘chariots’ weren’t meant as a public transport network for the great unwashed (like a subway or bus system), rather as limousines reserved for the gods, goddesses and just plain deities in general. Are they fact or fiction?

There’s no shortage of ‘gods’ who make use of aerial transport in the form of ‘chariots’. They tend to read like a who’s who of deities in mythology. They can be sky gods like Zeus; Thor (of the Norse) is obviously another; Apollo (Greece) ditto that; the Greek Moon goddess Selene (Luna if you’re Roman) is another as is the Greek goddess of the dawn Eos (the Roman’s Aurora). Most mythological Sun gods are associated with aerial chariots like the Nordic god Sol and the Hindu god Surya, or a solar barge (or boat) as in ancient Egypt.

Now you might think it obvious that chariots (or a boat) would be associated with a Sun god or a Moon goddess (or a sky deity in general).  Something has got to pull those celestial orbs along (recall this was way before Newton and that falling apple that came down with gravity). But, do you see a chariot (or a boat) associated or in proximity with the Sun and the Moon? You don’t? Well the ancients had eyesight equal to us moderns, so no doubt they didn’t see any chariots associated with the Moon or Sun, any more than you do. So there has to be another explanation for those ‘chariots’. Perhaps one needs to separate the god or goddess or deity from what they represent. Selene may be the goddess of the Moon, but she is not actually the Moon and it’s her ‘chariot’ not the Moon’s ‘chariot’ that is an issue here. Translated, the Moon doesn’t need transport; the goddess does.

Now following the Greek god’s War of the Titans, Zeus divided up the cosmos among his clan by their drawing of lots for the various portfolios and spoils of war that go to the victors. The Greek Sun god Helios, though well respected by Zeus, missed out on the spoils being fully occupied at the time with solar duties. However, Helios did take a ‘shine’ to a new piece of real estate that popped up in the Aegean Sea, so Zeus gave him title to that. It was called Rhodes and the locals later erected a statue of Helios in his honour – one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – the famed ‘Colossus of Rhodes’. Now mortals do not go to that sort of time and trouble, expend vast amounts of money and energy, on constructing gigantic statues of and to imaginary beings. There’s no benefit of doing so, either personally or for the community. Conclusion: Helios was real.

Now Helios, like nearly the entire ancient Greek pantheon of deities, had his share of offspring. Helios had various offspring-producing lovers like Rhode (the nymph of his island) and Clytie (another nymph) as well as his wife Perse (or Perseis), an Oceanid. [Talk about girls having a really hot time in bed – it doesn’t get any hotter than with the Sun god!] Among his kids were Circe (a sorceress) and Pasiphae, Queen of Crete, who had herself an affair with a bull (but that’s another story). Helios also had a fling with the Oceanid Clymene, resulting in a son Phaeton; setting the stage for the tragedy to follow.  

Now after that little interlude, let’s return back to those ‘chariots’. There’s one ‘chariots’ case history that really stands out and that’s the story of that Greek Sun god Helios, and especially the story of Helios and his son Phaeton. Now daddy very unwisely grants his son a wish. That wish is to drive the family car without benefit of a driver’s license or even any driving lessons. Now the family car is of course an aerial ‘chariot’. The end result was that the son suffered a bit of a prang – well that’s actually quite the understatement. Let’s just say modern Greeks even today could be finding pieces of the wreckage. Shades of Roswell! In fact, this might be the ancient Greek or Mediterranean version of Roswell!

Being a bit of a typical teenage hoon with a yen for fast ‘chariots’ (some things are probably universal even across extraterrestrial societies), Phaeton put the pedal to the metal, doing burnouts in the sky, and of course he lost control. Passing too close to ground level, the out of control ‘chariot’ scorched fertile plains, burned mountains and forests, turned lands into deserts, destroyed towns while burning the locals to a brownish crisp. No wonder Helios’s ‘chariot’ was thought to be the personification of the Sun!   

With the fate of the Earth at stake, a rather pissed-off Zeus brought this unhappy state of affairs to a quick conclusion by blasting the ‘chariot’, Phaeton and all, out of the sky via one of his famous thunderbolts. The ‘chariot’, trailing fire like a shooting star, fell from the heavens. The ‘chariot’ crashed and Phaeton’s dead body ended up in the River Eridanus. Good riddance to bad rubbish Zeus and no doubt the rest of ancient Greek society probably concluded. It doesn’t seem to be recorded what Helios thought – probably a silent “I told you so”. And that’s the story of the ancient Greek version of what I conclude as their Roswell.

In a further conclusion, the ancients could only label unknown exotic flying machines (UFOs) by what they were familiar with – like boats and chariots. In that sense I guess they, those aerial ‘chariots’ weren’t really UFOs since they had been identified, albeit incorrectly, in familiar terms.

Zeus, the Extraterrestrial: Part Two

The well known and recognized ancient Greek character Zeus, was either as fictional as Alice in Wonderland, or a supernatural deity as described, or a terrestrial mortal or a flesh-and-blood extraterrestrial. Of the four possibilities, the final one, Zeus the ET, is the most intriguing.

I’ve argued long and loud that the polytheistic gods were not supernatural deities but flesh-and-blood extraterrestrials. I’m not the only person who has come to this conclusion – there’s an entire set of ‘ancient astronaut’ buffs who also have argued equally long and loud that the mythologies of the gods are really the history of extraterrestrials that have influenced humanity over the millennia. Rather than cover generalities yet again, I’ll focus on probably the best known of the polytheistic gods – Zeus, IMHO the extraterrestrial (though one could just about pick any of the thousands of polytheistic deities and perform a similar analysis).

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

The Evidence for Zeus the Extraterrestrial: Why was this Zeus character an alien?

Well Zeus possessed and frequently used high technology not available to his Greek subjects. That high technology revolved around those famous and fearsome thunderbolts that Zeus liked to chuck around. Zeus and his mates using such high technology (supplied by the way via a trio of Cyclopes – and if they ain’t alien looking I don’t know what is) defeated the Titans (the Titanomachy) thus achieving power after a decade long battle (one of those ‘star wars’ in the heavens). Then Zeus had to use his thunderbolts battling against the mother of all monsters, the Typhon. Zeus suffered grievous injuries but he prevailed, those thunderbolts flashing every which way.

Another form of high-tech was suggested above and refers back to those alien-human demigods and demigoddess hybrids, human-animal hybrids, and those wired ‘births’ like that of Athena and Aphrodite. 

More high-tech could be suggested in that Zeus had the ability to shape-shift, or at least had the technology that allowed him the illusion of shape-shifting. It was through such trickery that he was able to have his wicked way with some of those mortal female humans that produced some of those demigods and demigoddesses.

Zeus was ‘immortal’, yet vulnerable, as the battle with Typhon proved. In theory, Zeus (unlike God), could be bumped off. Very long-lived extraterrestrials might be considered by us mortals to be, for all practical purposes, immortal.

Zeus of course was a sky god in Geek mythology. He came from the sky; he was of the sky. 

Zeus rode around in an aerial chariot (what we might call today a UFO).

A Hard Act to Swallow:

I noted above the ‘birth’ of Athena which gave Zeus a bit of a headache (to say the least)! Recall that Zeus swallowed Metis, his pregnant wife, who gave birth to a fully grown, clothed and armed Athena while in that swallowed condition!

But even before that Cronus swallowed his offspring, but was tricked into swallowing a rock instead of baby Zeus. Later on down the track Cronus was forced to cough up the other five of the siblings of Zeus.

But before even that, and somewhat akin, Uranus stuffed his brats, one of which was Cronus, back into the womb of his beloved mother and sexual partner, Gaia. That didn’t work for long, Gaia finally bursting at the proverbial seams. Gaia then had her revenge getting Cronus to slice off the private parts of Uranus – ouch!

So what do we make of all this swallowing and stuffing? On the surface it was the mechanism for daddy to make sure his offspring wouldn’t survive or be able to be around to ever challenge his power base. While the rational might be true, the biological act can’t be.

So what might the swallowing or the stuffing actually represent? Well, if you get into a vehicle; car, bus, train, plane, submarine, Apollo space capsule, etc. you have, to someone ignorant of the vehicle concept, that vehicle swallowing you. Did Jonah get swallowed by a whale? - Of course not. Jonah entered into some sort of mechanical device. In the same way, Zeus forced Metis into some sort of contraption where she eventually gave birth to and raised her daughter, Athena. Cronus forced his offspring into some sort of contraption, all later to be freed, but Zeus escaped that fate entirely while being raised on Crete. Uranus stuffed his brats into some sort of device, probably along with Gaia, but they escaped and Gaia got her revenge for their imprisonment.

The reverse procedure by the way, vomiting, is a commonplace theme in creation mythologies around the world. 

Where Did Zeus Go? I can not find a satisfactory explanation in classical mythology texts as to what happened to the ancient Greek sky-god.

Unfortunately, the story of Zeus (and the other Greek/Roman pantheon of deities) just stops mid-sentence. There’s no happy ever ending, ending or even a happy never ending, ending. There’s no ending at all, full stop! If the gods are mythical, why no last chapter in their saga? It must have been very frustrating to the ancient Greeks not to get the next and ultimately final installment in “The Amazing Adventures of Zeus, the Sky God”.

If Zeus and his comrades were real, but terrestrial, then it would have been difficult, but probably not impossible, for them to become incognito; disguised for the rest of their ‘immortal’ days, changing jobs and appearances and nationalities every few decades or so. 

But if Captain Zeus of the Starship Olympus and crew decided to pack up and leave and boldly go elsewhere in the cosmos to seek out another primitive civilization to rule over, they being under no obligation to inform and seek permission from the terrestrial authorities first, then it’s understandable why their story stops in mid-verse and why we’ve seen neither hide nor hair of the lot of them in over 2000 years!

One Final Thought: By my reckoning as related above at least demigods and demigoddesses like Gilgamesh, Brahma, and Shiva as non-Greek examples, and Achilles, Helen of Troy, Heracles, and [King] Minos [of Crete] were really human-alien hybrids. Since many of them in turn mated with mortals and produced offspring, and they in turn ditto, right on down the timeline, that means that most of us have probably a tiny percentage of our genetic makeup that is ultimately extraterrestrial in origin. 

Zeus, the Extraterrestrial: Part One

The well known and recognized ancient Greek character Zeus, was either as fictional as Alice in Wonderland, or a supernatural deity as described, or a terrestrial mortal or a flesh-and-blood extraterrestrial. Of the four possibilities, the final one, Zeus the ET, is the most intriguing.

I’ve argued long and loud that the polytheistic gods were not supernatural deities but flesh-and-blood extraterrestrials. I’m not the only person who has come to this conclusion – there’s an entire set of ‘ancient astronaut’ buffs who also have argued equally long and loud that the mythologies of the gods are really the history of extraterrestrials that have influenced humanity over the millennia. Rather than cover generalities yet again, I’ll focus on probably the best known of the polytheistic gods – Zeus, IMHO the extraterrestrial (though one could just about pick any of the thousands of polytheistic deities and perform a similar analysis).

Zeus vs. God: The Greek god Zeus (Jupiter in the Roman pantheon of gods) was a King-of-Kings deity, top of the totem pole, but unlike the monotheistic God…

Zeus was born and had a precarious start in life and childhood. His daddy wasn’t a very friendly father figure. In fact the father of Zeus, the Titan god Cronus (the product of Gaia and Uranus who was later done a mischief by Cronus) really sucked big-time. Cronus swallowed all of his new born kids in order that they, in the future, wouldn’t become rivals and a pain in the ass by challenging his rule. Fortunately, Zeus’s mother, Rhea, came to the rescue and tricked Cronus into swallowing a substitute stone instead of Zeus. Baby Zeus was secluded away to Crete and raised independently by nymphs, coming back eventually to get daddy to vomit up his siblings, and they collectively gave Cronus his just deserts in the war of the Titans vs. the Olympians. 

So Zeus, unlike God, had to work and fight his way to the top job.

Zeus lived on Earth – Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus at least is a really real place one can sink one’s teeth into, unlike the nebulous Godly abode of Heaven. 

Zeus also shared power, in the main with his brothers Poseidon and Hades, but also including various Olympic goddesses - the opposite sex. God does not share power; certainly not with females.  

There are statues of Zeus commissioned while he was still Greek’s all powerful chief cook and bottle washer, so we know today what Zeus looked like (and our imaginations and representations of God’s images are usually molded on images of Zeus).

Zeus and Sex: Zeus is probably more famous for his sexual exploits than anything else!

Unlike God, Zeus ‘married’, two or even three times. Firstly there was the Titaness goddess Metis, who produced Zeus’s daughter Athena via a very unusual mating process. Zeus apparently swallowed his pregnant wife and she gave birth to Athena in Zeus’s head which had to be split open to release the kid; well actually Athena was ‘born’ fully grown and armed (and presumably clothed as well). Now I put to you that no human in even the wildest drug induced state would conjure up such a fantasy. Instead, this is a misinterpretation of some sort of high-tech alien process little understood by the ancient Greek historians. See below for further analysis. 

Secondly, Zeus ‘married’ Themis, yet another Titaness goddess. That union produced the Fates, Dike, and Eirene. Lastly, Zeus ‘married’ Hera – the Queen of Olympus and his sister to boot – from which more offspring came, like Ares. But was Zeus a faithful hubby? Not on your Nellie; not a snowball’s chance in Hades!  

Zeus had sexual desires that just wouldn’t quit. God never lusted after Mother Mary or Eve I bet! Anyway, Zeus, via mortal women (and usually via trickery if not outright force), fathered a who’s who in Greek mythological demigods and demigoddesses – the hybrids that result from the mating of gods/goddesses with mortals. There was Helen of Troy; Heracles (Hercules); Perseus; Castor, Polydeuces, Minos and the Muses for starters. The randy old bugger even mated with another of his own sisters, Demeter producing Persephone (who later had a randy run-in with Zeus’s brother, Hades).

Speaking of Minos (son of Zeus and his rape victim Europa) and hybrids, there’s another example of weird unions; births and resulting offspring that’s suggestive of high-tech. Now it seems Minos pissed off Zeus’s brother Poseidon. Poseidon, ever inventive, caused Mrs. Minos (Pasiphae) to lust after a bull (and presumably the bull to lust after Mrs. Minos). The end product of this union became that human-bovine hybrid, the Minotaur (and that’s no bull!).

As an aside, in case you think Zeus is the sexual exception when it comes to lusting after us mortals and not the sexual rule in mythology, think again. Greek/Roman mythology is full of X-rated amorous tales for the over-18 only. You just have to think of Eros/Cupid and Aphrodite/Venus. The latter also mated with a mortal male producing some of the next generation (lucky guy). Now Aphrodite, like Athena, had a rather odd ‘birth’. She was also ‘born’ thanks to some weird biology between seawater foam and those severed private parts of Zeus’s grandfather, Uranus (see below for more graphic details). 

This is just the tip of the iceberg in the ‘who begat who’ and under what circumstances, and that god-mortal relationship isn’t confined to the Greek (and Roman) pantheon.

God gets into the act in the sense that the Old Testament references those “Sons of God” getting it on with the “Daughters of Men”.

Then there are American Indian tales such as the one from the Algonquin tribe that relates the story of the mortal Algon and the Sky-Girl he fell in love with. There are those from South America (Peru) where you have the mortal Ollantay and the love of his life, Cusicollur, a direct descendent from the Inca Sun-God Viracocha. Also Peruvian, involving a son or incarnation of Viracocha, name of Coniraya, who had it off with Cavillaca, a high-ranking but nevertheless mortal Inca who got pregnant in one of those rather unusual mythological ways – in this case by eating sperm-laden fruit (a case of artificial insemination perhaps?). Then you have the demigod Sigurd (Siegfried) who shacks up with his aunt Brynhildr (Brunnhilde), originally a goddess, a shield-maiden or Valkyrie in Norse mythology, but who was transformed into a mortal before Sigurd met her. These and more mirror the general theme of amorous god-mortal relationships in Greek mythology.

Now there has to be an explanation apart from the obvious one (it’s all fiction) how either supernatural beings and/or aliens can mate with humans. I dismiss the possibility of there being any really real supernatural deities, so that leaves ET as the other option. Now mythologies around the globe record that the ‘gods’ created human beings. The only way that could have been done is by their using incredibly advanced biotechnology, bio-engineering and other genetic manipulation techniques.

Part of that creation process was making sure humans were sexually and genetically compatible with their creators. Why they (deities or aliens) would desire that is for the moment unanswerable. At the least it suggests that various life forms in the cosmos can’t be all that dissimilar at a biochemical level, and might imply that a terrestrial-extraterrestrial connection extends farther back and is deeper than one could on probability expect. 

But back to alien-human genetic technology than enables our sexual and reproductive compatibility, the parallel is, moral and ethical considerations aside, this is genetic technology we ourselves might be capable of in the not all that distant future. In theory, even if a form of rather perverted theory, we could manipulate our genetics, and the genetics of another terrestrial species, to create a human-animal hybrid. In fact this has already been accomplished with less complex life forms. The term ‘Frankenfish’ comes to mind in context, though ‘GloFish’ is more correct. It was the transfer of the gene from a jellyfish into a zebrafish so that the fish became fluorescent. Though not created for the purpose, they can be obtained in the aquarium/pet trade. If GloFish today, translated into our near future, might it really be possible if one really wanted to, to create a really real mermaid? Yes!

To be continued...