Folk Lore: Ganymede, Typhon

Folk Lore

Ganymede

Shared By: High Priestess, Lady Gloriana

Fast Facts: Pronunciation: gan-uh-meed Origin: Greece Role: Mortal prince of Troy Parents: Tros and Callirrhoe Brothers: Assaracus, Ilus

Who Is Ganymede? Ganymede was the son of the Tros of Dardania, the ruler of Troy, and the lovely nymph Callirrhoe, the daughter of the river god Scamander.

The most handsome mortal boy in all of Greece, Ganymede achieved divine status as cup bearer and servant of the gods. As the lover and companion to Zeus, he was eventually gifted with the legacy of being immortalized amongst the stars. The Greek word ganumai translates togladdening and medon has two meanings. The first is prince and another translation is genitals. The derivation of the name Ganymede seems to have an intended double meaning.

The exceptionally handsome prince stood on Mount Ida tending his father’s flock of sheep. Zeus was so enchanted with his appearance he transformed himself into an eagle, picked up Ganymede and brought him up to Mount Olympus, the home of the gods in the heavens.

Upon hearing that King Tros was devastated about the disappearance of his son, Zeus summoned the god Hermes and told him to deliver two special horses to Tros as compensation. It is said the horses were so fast, they could run over water.

Later, Heracles would ask for these same horses as payment for killing the sea monster that attacked the city of Troy. Hermes also promised that Ganymede would become divine and act as cup bearer of Zeus and the gods.

Now, there were other things going on in the house of Zeus before he grabbed a handsome young mortal and carried him home. Although known for philandering,

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Zeus was married to Hera, and their youngest daughter Hebe had the cup bearer position. It was their daughter Hebe’s duty to serve the guests of her parents nectar and ambrosia.

This is the food and drink of the gods and the sustenance of immortality. One day Hebe tripped and had an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction. Her breasts fell out of her dress.

Apollo fired her from her job as cup bearer and Zeus immediately replaced her with Ganymede. Hera was particularly irritated and jealous that the new love interest of her husband was a young boy and that her daughter was replaced by him in an instant.

The gods were very happy with their new handsome male cup bearer, with the exception of Hera, who abandoned the Trojans and shifted the alliances of the Trojan War in her anger and jealousy over the affair. Eventually, after the wrath of Hera’s anger settled in, Zeus turned Ganymede into a constellation called Aquarius, the water bearer, and he was immortalized amongst the stars.

Historic Influence The ancient Greek concept of sexuality and virility, at least for the gods, was expressed as a mixture of both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. Zeus and other gods had male lovers, and the most infamous of all was the handsome prince Ganymede.

He is portrayed in numerous museum quality paintings and sculptures, including Peter Paul Rueben’s, The Rape of Ganymede, which is on display at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, and Rembrandt’s version with the same title, which is at the Gemaldegalerie in Dresden Germany.

Ganymede is also the name William Shakespeare chose for the alter ego of protagonist Rosalind in his comedy of love, As You Like It.

Rosalind dresses as a man and goes undercover with her male identity as she travels into the Forest of Arden. Hardly a random choice of names, considering the legendary mythology.

Greek historian Apollodorus argued that the myth was an expression that men did not need women or their attention to exist.

However, the classic philosopher Plato used the legend as justification for the sexual feelings he had for his male students.

The consensus seems to be that the allegory of the myth and the legacy of handsome Ganymede is god of homosexuality.

https://mythology.net/greek/heroes/ganymede/

Ancient Legends

Typhon

By: Mawa Cardea

There might be gods and monsters, but rarely are you going to hear about a god who is also a monster. Apparently, Typhon is and its why he’s one of the most fearsome deities you can face.

I wonder if this is where the word Typhoon comes from?

As in researching information I found that Typhon is a Titan with power over the wind and was the Titan God of Storm. Typhon also spelled Typhaon, or Typhoeus, in Greek mythology, youngest son of Gaia (Earth) and Tartarus (of the nether world).

There are a quite a few stories (lore) of Typhon so it is hard to bring them all here in this article. We can start with how was Typhon born? According to Hesiod’s Theogony (c. 8th – 7th century BC), Typhon was the son of Gaia (Earth) and Tartarus: “when Zeus had driven the Titans from heaven, huge Earth bore her youngest child Typhoeus of the love of Tartarus, by the aid of golden Aphrodite”

Typhon’s Appearance: He was a giant that was so tall that his head touched the stars. His torso was that of a man, but his legs were coils of vipers that would hiss and attack as he moved.

His main head had on it 100 snakeheads who would make different sounds of animals. His eyes were glowing red and would terrify everyone who looked upon them, and he had what was called a savage jaw which would breathe fire.

His body had hundreds of different wings on it and his hands were made up of 100 snake coils just like his legs. Typhon has a soot black color and is filthy from head to toe and especially his hair.

They say that Typhon’s weakness is that each of his legs were huge vipers who writhed and hissed as he walked. He had hundreds of wings up and down his body and his hands were made of 100 deadly serpents. I wouldn’t call this a weakness because

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if I had all that, goddess only knows what I would be capable of.

Typhon was known as the father of all monsters even though he was a monster, he did find a wife and married Echidna, who was considered to be the mother of all monsters.

Typhon and Echidna spawned a few children such as the The Sphinx, Nemean Lion, Heracles, Cerberus, Orthrus, Ladon, Lernaean Hydra, Caucasian Eagle & Chimera. Typhon was so powerful that the even struck fear into the Olympian Gods and since being so fearsome and a fire-breathing monster, it is believed that volcanic eruptions are the result of Typhon trying to escape from the mountain.

The same is true for earthquakes, which are seen as movements of the earth that are triggered by Typhon trying to escape.

He was sent to Earth to put an end to Zeus and the world and was more than able to do it. Typhon spat molten rock, and after the gods ran away only Athena was capable of convincing the gods to stand and fight.

In another fight with Zeus, his thunderbolts were no match for Typhon, who defeated the god easily. He dragged him off to a cave and removed some tendons to make it so that the god could not escape and so that Typhon could torture the god at his leisure. HERMES and PAN decided to go help out Zeus, andso they went to the cave and popped Zeus’s muscles back into place. His immortality did the rest of his healing, and he lived to fight another day.

After this, a ten-thousand-year battle ensued between Typhon and the gods, and it finally ended with Zeus trapping Typhon under Mount Etna where he would forever be trapped to be a volcano. Regarded as one of the most active volcanoes in Europe (and sporting a name that derives from the Greek for “I burn”), it’s not too surprising that the ancient Greeks would consider the volcano’s volatility to be something God-given.

However there are other versions of the story. As per usual Greek mythology isn’t exactly consistent, and the location of Typhon’s imprisonment does vary a bit. It is said that Typhon was imprisoned in another country entirely. More specifically, he was cast underground. “engulfed in the waters of the Serbonian lake”, according to Apollonius Rhadius. Which doesn’t sound all too strange, until realizing that this Serbonian Lake (or marsh, or bog) is actually located in Egypt, not Greece.”

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written and retold by many people and therefore there are a few variations of the Lore of Typhon. As I found that there are two versions of Typhon that might have existed all at once.

I suggest if interested in learning more about Typhon to follow this links below.

https://www.grunge.com/655559/the-myth-of-typhon-explained/ https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/gods/ typhon/ www.google.com