To understand the Story of Troy it is necessary to know something about
the gods and goddesses, who played so important a part in the events we
are to relate. We shall see that in the Troʹjan War nearly everything
was ordered or directed by a god or goddess. The gods, indeed, had much
to do in the causing of the war, and they took sides in the great
struggle, some of them helping the Greeks and some helping the Trojans.
The ancient Greeks believed that there were a great many gods. According
to their religion all parts of the universe,--the heavens and the earth,
the sun and the moon, the ocean, seas, and rivers, the mountains and
forests, the winds and storms,--were ruled by different gods. The gods,
too, it was supposed, controlled all the affairs of human life. There
were a god of war and a god of peace, and gods of music, and poetry, and
dancing, and hunting, and of all the other arts or occupations in which
men engaged.
The gods, it was believed, were in some respects like human beings. In
form they usually appeared as men and women. They were passionate and
vindictive, and often quarreled among themselves. They married and had
children, and needed food and drink and sleep. Sometimes they married
human beings, and the sons of such marriages were the heroes of
antiquity, men of giant strength who performed daring and wonderful
feats. The food of the gods was Am-broʹsia, which conferred immortality
and perpetual youth on those who partook of it; their drink was a
delicious wine called Necʹtar.
The gods, then, were immortal beings. They never died; they never grew
old, and they possessed immense power. They could change themselves, or
human beings, into any form, and they could make themselves visible or
invisible at pleasure. They could travel through the skies, or over
earth or ocean, with the rapidity of lightning, often riding in gorgeous
golden chariots drawn by horses of immortal breed. They were greatly
feared by men, and when any disaster occurred,--if lives were lost by
earthquake, or shipwreck, or any other calamity,--it was attributed to
the anger of some god.
Though immortal beings, however, the gods were subject to some of the
physical infirmities of humanity. They could not die, but they might be
wounded and suffer bodily pain the same as men. They often took part in
the quarrels and wars of people on earth, and they had weapons and armor
like human warriors.
The usual place of residence of the principal gods was on the top of
Mount O-lymʹpus in Greece. Here they dwelt in golden palaces, and they
had a Council Chamber where they frequently feasted together at grand
banquets, celestial music being rendered by A-polʹlo, the god of
minstrelsy, and the Muses, who were the divinities of poetry and song.
In all the chief cities grand temples were erected for the worship of
the gods. One of the most famous was the Parʹthe-non, at Athens. At the
shrines of the gods costly gifts in gold and silver were presented, and
on their altars, often built in the open air, beasts were killed and
burned as sacrifices, which were thought to be very pleasing to the
divine beings to whom they were offered.
[Illustration: THE PARTHENON.
_From model in Metropolitan Museum, New York._]
The greatest and most powerful of the gods was Juʹpi-ter, also called
Jove or Zeus. To him all the rest were subject. He was the king of the
gods, the mighty Thunderer, at whose nod Olympus shook, and at whose
word the heavens trembled. From his great power in the regions of the
sky he was sometimes called the "cloud-compelling Jove."
He, whose all-conscious eyes the world behold,
The eternal Thunderer sat, enthroned in gold.
High heaven the footstool of his feet he makes,
And wide beneath him all Olympus shakes.
POPE, _Iliad_, Book VIII.
The wife of Jupiter, and the queen of heaven, was Juʹno, who, as we
shall see, was the great enemy of Troy and the Trojans. One of the
daughters of Jupiter, called Veʹnus, or Aph-ro-diʹte, was the goddess of
beauty and love. Nepʹtune was the god of the sea. He usually carried in
his hand a trident, or three-pronged scepter, the emblem of his
authority.
His sumptuous palace-halls were built
Deep down in ocean, golden, glittering, proof
Against decay of time.
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book XIII.
Mars was the god of war, and Pluʹto, also called Dis and Haʹdes, was god
of the regions of the dead. One of the most glorious and powerful of the
gods was Apollo, or Phœʹbus, or Sminʹtheus, for he had many names. He
was god of the sun, and of medicine, music, and poetry. He is
represented as holding in his hand a bow, and sometimes a lyre. Homer
calls him the "god of the silver bow," and the "far-darting Apollo," for
the ancients believed that with the dart of his arrow he sent down
plagues upon men whenever they offended him.
The other principal deities mentioned by Homer are Mi-nerʹva, or
Palʹlas, the goddess of wisdom; Vulʹcan, the god of fire; and Merʹcu-ry,
or Herʹmes, the messenger of Jupiter. Vulcan was also the patron, or
god, of smiths. He had several forges; one was on Mount Olympus, and
another was supposed to be under Mount Ætʹna in Sicʹi-ly. Here, with his
giant workmen, the Cyʹclops, he made thunderbolts for Jupiter, and
sometimes armor and weapons of war for earthly heroes.
The gods, it was believed, made their will known to men in various
ways,--sometimes by the flight of birds, frequently by dreams, and
sometimes by appearing on earth under different forms, and speaking
directly to kings and warriors. Very often men learned the will of the
gods by consulting seers and soothsayers, or augurs,--persons who were
supposed to have the power of foretelling events. There were temples
also where the gods gave answers through priests. Such answers were
called Orʹa-cles, and this name was also given to the priests. The most
celebrated oracle of ancient times was in the temple of Apollo at
Delʹphi, in Greece. To this place people came from all parts of the
world to consult the god, whose answers were given by a priestess called
Pythʹi-a.
The ancients never engaged in war or any other important undertaking
without sacrificing to the gods or consulting their oracles or
soothsayers. Before going to battle they made sacrifices to the gods. If
they were defeated in battle they regarded it as a sign of the anger of
Jupiter, or Juno, or Minerva, or Apollo, or some of the other great
beings who dwelt on Olympus. When making leagues or treaties of peace,
they called the gods as witnesses, and prayed to Father Jupiter to send
terrible punishments on any who should take false oaths, or break their
promises. In the story of the Trojan War we shall find many examples of
such appeals to the gods by the chiefs on both sides.
"O Father Jove, who rulest from the top
Of Ida, mightiest one and most august!
Whichever of these twain has done the wrong,
Grant that he pass to Pluto's dwelling, slain,
While friendship and a faithful league are ours.
"O Jupiter most mighty and august!
Whoever first shall break these solemn oaths,
So may their brains flow down upon the earth,--
Theirs and their children's."
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book III.
[Illustration: OFFERING TO MINERVA.
_Painting by Gaudemaris._]