Augustus Was Rumored To Be The Son Of Apollo

Augustus’ family was one of several that claimed to have divine blood—his own Julii clan believed their lineage traced back to the goddess Venus (or Aphrodite). In addition, Julius Caesar, Augustus’ great-uncle and adoptive father, was posthumously declared a god by the senate in 42 BCE. As if this godly pedigree was not divine enough, Augustus (or his propagandists) also began to spread rumors that he was actually a son of Apollo.

The biographer Suetonius (c. 70-130+ CE) wrote about this divine origin story in the section on Augustus from his work, The Twelve Caesars. According to the tale, Augustus’ mother, Atia, went to a midnight service at a Temple of Apollo. At some point during the service, the entire crowd gathered at the temple suddenly fell asleep. After Atia awoke from her unexplained slumber and returned home, she discovered a peculiar mark on her body.  As the mysterious mark was in the shape of a serpent, an unnerving story emerged that the god Apollo (disguised as a snake) had forced everyone in the temple to fall asleep so that he could have his way with Atia. After Apollo left the scene, no sign remained of his presence except for the snake mark he left on Atia’s body, which she discovered later that night. According to Suetonius, Atia gave birth to Augustus nine months after this incident supposedly occurred.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Statue of Apollo (photographed by Marie-Lan Nguyen) and a statue of Augustus (via the Vatican Museum) in front of an ancient landscape painted by C. W. Eckersberg (1783-1853), all Public Domain or licensed for use via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius, translated by Robert Graves and edited by James B. Rives. New York: Penguin Classics, 2007.

In Homer’s Mythology About The Trojan War, Poseidon Almost Blasted An Opening Into The Realm Of Hades

If you want a decent modern visual depiction of the scenes that Homer poetically described in his epics on the Trojan War, you need look no further than a superhero movie that pits different powerful beings against other entities with incredible power. In Homer’s vision of the Trojan War, the ancient Greek gods split into separate factions (favoring either the Trojans or the Greeks) and fought it out in a series of separate, intense battles that could make scenes from The Avengers movies seem pitifully weak.

This concept is perfectly illustrated in one of the final skirmishes in The Iliad, right before Achilles killed Hector, the champion of the Trojans. In this awesome battle, many of the gods joined the fray, either by directly fighting, or by more subtle means, such as mystically inspiring troops or using their powers to sabotage enemy soldiers to give their own men an advantage. According to Herodotus, an intrigued Zeus gave off cracks of thunder as he watched his divine kin join their respective sides in the Trojan War. On the side of Troy were Apollo, Artemis, Leto, Aphrodite, the river-deity Scamander, and Ares (who would later switch sides). Siding with the Greeks were Hera, Athena, Poseidon, Hephaestus and Hermes.

In a battle of epic proportions, all of the participating gods became embroiled in one-on-one fights. The gods of war, Ares and Athena, crossed blades. The queen of the gods, Hera, faced off against the huntress, Artemis. The formidable messenger of the gods, Hermes, found himself battling Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis. The river-deity, Scamander, met flame-wielding Hephaestus in battle. Yet, possibly the most impressive match-up was between Apollo and Poseidon, a fight between the sun and the seas.

The battle between Apollo and Poseidon, unfortunately, proved quickly to be one-sided—Apollo suddenly decided he didn't want to fight his uncle, and wisely called a truce. It is safe to say that Apollo made a good choice; Homer vividly described the palpable power flowing from Poseidon, brother of Zeus:

“The foothills and peaks

Of Mount Ida of the many springs were shaken; Ilium and the

Greek ships trembled; and in the underworld Hades, lord of the

Dead, took fright and leapt with a cry from his throne. He was

Afraid earthshaker Poseidon might split open the ground above

His head and expose to mortal and immortal eyes the horrible

Decaying chambers that fill the gods themselves with loathing.”

• (Homer, The Iliad, Book 20, Penguin Classics, 2014).

Such was the awful power that Poseidon exhibited in his frenzied state of excitement as he prepared to faced down the archer-god, Apollo. With this power, shaking the earth to the depths of Hades, Poseidon and his comrades in the pro-Greek faction were able to win the day, overwhelming the gods who had sided with Troy. Bolstered by their victorious divine support, the Greek forces were able to press the Trojans back into their city of Ilium, and Achilles brought the scene to a climax by killing the Trojan champion, Hector. Yet, despite this show of force, the Trojan city of Ilium did not fall. It would take some cleverness from Odysseus for that to finally occur.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Top picture attribution: (Poseidon graphic (augmented), [Public Domain] via maxfreepixel.com)

Sources:  

• The Iliad by Homer, translated by E. V. Rieu and edited by Peter Jones. New York: Penguin Classics, 2014.

The Tragic Greek Myth Of Niobe, And Her Family That Was Massacred By The Gods

(Apollo and Artemis Killing The Niobids, c. 1772, by Pierre-Charles Jombert, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

The myth of Niobe is definitely a contender for ancient Greece’s most depressing mythological story. Her story was one of the clearest examples of unrestrained wrath from the gods meted out against humans. What became of Niobe and her family is sure to dampen your eyes and strum on your heartstrings.

According to myth, Niobe was the daughter of King Tantalus and the wife of King Amphion. Alongside her husband, Queen Niobe ruled Thebes. Her proudest achievement, however, was her huge family—Homer wrote that she had twelve children, but many other writers recorded that she had fourteen. The sexes of her children were split evenly in all accounts of her myth; there were either six or seven sons and six or seven daughters.

Niobe’s pride for and love of her family would bring destruction upon everyone she loved. It all began when she acted disrespectfully during a ceremony that honored the titan goddess Leto—Niobe had the gall to compare her motherhood to that of the goddess. Leto did not take kindly to a petty human comparing her motherly achievements with a goddess like herself, so she had her children go put Niobe in her place. In some versions of the story, Leto’s famous divine twins, the archer-gods Artemis and Apollo, sought out retribution against Niobe without any instruction from their mother. Nevertheless, in each way the story was told, the two powerful twins set out to defend the honor of their mother, Leto.

The number of deaths that Artemis and Apollo caused depended on which account was being read—in all cases, however, the majority of Niobe’s family was massacred. Apollo rained arrows down on all of Niobe’s sons and Artemis shot the queen’s daughters. In an alternative telling of the myth, the youngest daughter survived. After witnessing the massacre of his children, King Amphion committed suicide. With her children and her husband dead, Niobe fled from Thebes to Mt. Sipylon (or Sipylus).

After the killing of Niobe’s children, Zeus turned the people of Thebes into stone. As there was no one to bury the dead, the bodies of the slain children were left out in the weather for nine days. Only on the tenth day did Zeus and the gods, themselves, bury Niobe’s deceased children.

As for Queen Niobe hiding in the mountains, she could only cry. She eventually turned to stone, but her tears continued to pour—legend claimed that the Achelous River was created and sustained from Niobe’s ceaseless tears caused by the loss of her children.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Sources:

• The Iliad by Homer, translated by E. V. Rieu and edited by Peter Jones. New York: Penguin Classics, 2014. 
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Niobe-Greek-mythology 
• http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Niobe/niobe.html 
• http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/niobe.html