§ i  For scholarly purposes, consult the improved translation, with extensive commentary, in Boys-Stones, G. (2018). L. Annaeus Cornutus: Greek Theology, Fragments, and Testimonia. SBL Press.
Translator's Note: The translation follows the text of C. Lang, Cornuti Theologiae Graecae Compendium (Leipzig 1881): variations noted. [TT paragraph numbering follows Lang's page numbers.] The chapter-divisions in curved brackets are traditional (but not original to Cornutus). The section-divisions and headings are my own. I use the pronouns “he” and “she” to refer to the persons of the deities, but “it” when the subject of some claim is clearly intended to be the feature of the cosmos they represent. (Where it is not clear, I default to “he” and “she”.) (The fact that all nouns in Greek are gendered, and that they are usually aligned with the corresponding gender of deity – cf. 15.10-11! – means that this is not a distinction Cornutus generally had to make.) Typographical conventions: words whose etymologies are given by Cornutus are put in ‘scare-quotes’. “Double quotation marks” are used for mere quotation or mention.

§ 1  A. First Survey of the Physical System
A.1 Cosmos: origins and structure
‘Heaven’, my child, encircles earth and sea and everything on the earth and in the sea, and this is how acquired its name Ouranos – being the upper limit [ouros] of all things and the limit of nature.

§ 2  But some say that it is so-called from the fact that it care for or takes care of things [ὠρεῖν ἢ ὠρεύειν], i.e. guards them. (This is where the word θυρωρὸς for ‘door-keeper’ comes from; also ‘to treat with care’.) Others find its etymology in the words for looking upwards. Considered with everything it embraces, it is called ‘cosmos’, from the fact that everything is arranged in the best possible way. Some of the poets said that he was the son of ‘Akmon’, hinting at the unwearied nature of its circuit – or else they established this on the basis of the etymology because they understood that heaven is indestructible; for we call the dead worn out. Its substance is fiery, as is clear from the sun and the other stars. This is why the outermost part of the cosmos is called ‘aether’: because it blazes – although some say that it is named this way because it always runs, i.e. is carried along at a rush. And the ‘stars’ are as it were unstable, since they are never fixed in place, but always in motion. It is reasonable to think that the ‘gods’ acquired their name from hurrying; for in the first place, the ancients conceived their notion of god from those things they saw unceasingly borne along, reckoning that they were responsible for changes in the air and for sustaining the universe.

§ 3  But perhaps the ‘gods’ are those who establish and make those things that come into being.
(2) Just as we are governed by a soul, so the cosmos has a soul which holds it together, and this is called ‘Zeus’ – who lives pre-eminently and in everything, and is the cause of life in those things that live. Because of this, Zeus is said to reign over the universe – just as our soul and nature might be said to reign over us. And we call him ‘’ because through him everything comes to be and is sustained. Among some people he is called ‘Deus’ as well, perhaps because he bedews the earth or gives a share of live-giving moisture to the living. (And the genitive case of it is Deos, which is related somehow to Dios.) He is said to live in heaven, since that is where the most important part of the cosmic soul is – and indeed our souls are fire too.
(3) Tradition relates that his wife and sister is ‘Hera’, i.e. air, which is linked and bonded to him directly: she rising from the earth, he having come down to her. And they were born as a result of a flow in the same direction: for when substance flowed towards fineness, it gave rise to both fire and air.

§ 4  This is why mythology makes ‘Rhea’ their mother. It makes their father ‘Kronos’ either because these things came to be in ordered measures of time, or because the elements are distinguished by the combination and agitation of matter; or, as is most plausible, because aether and air come about whenever nature is roused to make out of fire the things that exist, and bring them to completion.
(4) For this reason, the ancients said that Poseidon is also the son of Kronos and Rhea: for water is a product of the aforementioned change as well. ‘Poseidon’ is the power which produces moisture in the earth and around the earth – whether so called from drink, and the fact that he provides the same; or whether he is the principle responsible for nature sweating: “Physiidion”; or whether it is as if he were called Earth-Shaker, in line with the characteristic activity ascribed to him in the tradition.
(5) Hades is said to be their brother. He is the most dense form of air, closest to the earth, and is produced along with them when nature starts

§ 5  to flow and make the things that exist according to the principles within it. It is called ‘Hades’ either because it is in itself unseen (so that he is also called ‘Aïdes’, with a diaeresis); or by antithesis, as if it is the one who pleases us – for it appears that this is where our souls go at death, and death is least pleasing to us. It is called ‘Pluto’ as well, because, all things being perishable, there is nothing that does not in the end get allocated to him and become his property.
(6) The characterisation of ‘Rhea’ is appropriate to the flow she represents. To her is ascribed the cause of rain-storms; and because it usually happens that storms are accompanied by thunder and lightening, it became a custom that Rhea rejoices in drums and cymbals, the playing of horns, and torch-lit processions. And since rain-storms pour down from above, and often seem to come from the mountains, first of all they gave her the name of Ida – a skyscraping mountain, visible from a long way off – addressing her as being ‘of the mountains’;

§ 6  and they made it a custom that her chariot should be pulled by lions, which are the most noble of the animals that live in the mountains (although perhaps this is because storms have a rather wild aspect). And she wears a turreted crown, either because the first cities were built on mountains for reasons of fortification, or because Rhea founded the first and archetypal city, the cosmos. The poppy-head is dedicated to her, suggesting that she was the cause of animal generation. For this reason too, certain other symbols are placed around her breast, to show that each thing, and the variety of the things that exist, have come about thanks to her. The Syrian Atargatis seems to be the same as Rhea; and she is honoured by abstention from the dove and from fish, signifying that air and water make the flow [Reading ῥεῦσιν for αἵρεσιν] of substance especially manifest. Rhea is known, distinctively, as Phrygian because her worship is especially cultivated among the Phrygians. Here, the service of Galli is not uncommon, and perhaps represents something like the Greek myth about the castration of Ouranos. First of all, Kronos is said to swallow the children born to him from Rhea.

§ 7  This is understood in a way that is completely reasonable: whatever comes about according to the descriptor of motion mentioned earlier disappears again in its turn according to the same thing – and time is indeed something like this; for everything born in it is consumed by it. Next, Rhea, they say, having given birth to Zeus, gave Kronos a swaddled stone instead of him, saying that this is what she had given birth to; he swallowed it, and Zeus, who was raised in secret, came to reign over the cosmos. Here the swallowing is not understood literally: the myth has been composed about the origin of the cosmos, whose governing nature was raised and brought to power when this stone which we call the earth had been as it were ‘swallowed’ and fixed firmly at the very centre of it. Nothing that exists could have come about if it were not supported on this foundation; and all things are born and raised from it.
(7) And finally, it is said that Kronos castrated Ouranos, who was continually descending for intercourse with Earth, and stopped his outrages. But Zeus expelled him from his throne and threw him down to Tartarus. By all this, then, they hint that the plan for the universe to come into being –

§ 8  which we said was called ‘Kronos’ from make – sent the great flow of what until then had been surrounding down towards it, making the exhalations finer. Cosmic nature (which we said was called Dia) was strong, and restrained the excessive impetus in this change, giving a longer life to the cosmos itself. And it is quite appropriate that Kronos was called Crafty in Counsel, since he produces such a great number of things that what he plans is crafty and hard to follow.
(8) In a different account, Okeanos was said to be the progenitor of all things – for there was more than one story about this topic – and his wife was said to be Tethys. ‘Okeanos’ is reason as it moves swiftly and makes changes in due sequence; ‘Tethys’ is the stability of qualities. What exists comes about from the combination or mixing of these two: there would be nothing if either prevailed unmixed.

§ 9  A.2 Cosmos: order and justice
(9 ) Next: Zeus is called “father of gods and men”, because cosmic nature caused these things to exist, as fathers give being to their children. They call him Cloud-Gatherer and Thundering and give him the thunder-bolt and aegis as attributes because he is responsible for the clouds and thunder above us, and for the storms and thunder-bolts that rush down from there – the whole space above the earth being allocated to the god to whose lot heaven fell. And he was called Aegis-Bearer because of ‘hurricanes’, which are so-called from the word for rushing; and for other, similar reasons which are easy to understand, he was called Bringer of Rain (Hyetios), Guardian of Fruits (Epikarpios), God of the Thunderbolt (Kataibates), God of the Lightening Flash (Astrapaios – and various other things too, according to the different views people had of him. They also call him Saviour (Soter), and Bulwark (Herkeios), and Guardian of the City (Polieus), and God of our Forefathers (Patroos), God of our Race (Homognios), God of Hospitality (Xenios), Protector of Property (Ktesios), Counsellor (Boulaios), God of the Trophy (Tropaiouchos), and Deliverer (Eleutherios): these names are endless, since he extends to every power and state and is the cause and overseer of everything. Likewise, he was also said to be the father of Justice (Dike), because it was he who brought community to the affairs of men

§ 10  and ordered them not to wrong each other; and of the Graces (Charites), because this is the source of gracious and beneficent action; and of the ‘Seasons’ (Horai), which are named for their guarding the changes in the [sc. earth’s] surrounding which sustain everything, including things that grow on earth. By tradition, he has the age of a mature man, since he shows neither deficiency nor excess, but what is appropriate to someone fully-grown. For this reason too, mature animals are sacrificed to him. The sceptre is a symbol of his power, being something carried by kings; or of his sure and steady bearing, like those supported by staffs. And the missile which he holds in his right hand has a name too clear to need explanation. He is often depicted ruling over Victory, for he is superior to everything, and nothing can defeat him. The eagle is said to be his sacred bird because this is the swiftest of birds. He is crowned with olive because olive is evergreen, lustrous, and useful for many things; or because of the similarity of its grey colour to heaven. He is called by some Avenger (Alastor) and Blood Avenger (Palaimnaios) because he punishes those who deserve ‘vengeance’ and are ‘guilty of blood’ – the former being named

§ 11  from the fact that they commit crimes in the face of which one might feel hatred and grief; the latter from the fact that they acquire inexpiable pollution from crimes of violence.
(10) The so-called ‘Erinnyes’ came about in the same way, as investigators of crimes: ‘Megaira’ and ‘Tisiphone’ and ‘Alekto’ – as if god holds a grudge against such men, and punishes the murders done by them, and does this unremittingly and unceasingly. These goddesses truly are holy (Semnai) and Kindly (Eumenides): for it is nature’s benevolence towards men has also provided for the punishment of wickedness. They have terrifying faces. They pursue the impious with fire and goads, and they are called “snake-haired”, because this is the impression made on the minds of the wicked by the penalties they pay for their crimes. They are said to live in Hades because the sufferings that come to these men lie in hiding, and punishment comes to those who deserve it out of the blue.
(11) Consistent with this is the line: “The eye of Zeus sees all, and he hears all.” For how can anything that happens in the cosmos

§ 12  elude the power that pervades everything? And they call Zeus Gentle (Meilichos), since he is easily appeased by those who repent of their injustice – he does not want to be irreconcilable towards them. For this reason there are altars dedicated to Zeus God of Suppliants (Hikesios).
(12) And the Poet said that the Prayers are daughters of Zeus. They are lame because those who supplicate fall down; they are wrinkled because of the suppliants’ display of weakness; they squint because they overlook some prayers, intent on whatever future necessity.
(13) And Zeus is ‘Lot’ (Moira), because the distribution of the things that are assigned to each person is not seen – which is why other potions are called “lots”. ‘Destiny’ (Aisa) is the unperceived and unknown cause of things that come about – in which case it indicates the obscurity of things considered piecemeal. Or, according to earlier people, it is what always exists. What is ‘fated’ (Heimarmene) is that by which all the things that come about have been seized and put together in an order and series that has no limit. (The syllable hei- contains the idea of “putting together”, as in heirmos [“series”].)

§ 13  ‘Necessity’ (Ananke) is what it is impossible to break and overcome; or it is the point to which everything that comes about develops. In another approach, the tradition gives us three Lots, corresponding to the three aspects of time: one of them is named ‘Klotho’ from the fact that events are like the spinning of fleeces: one thing comes on top of another (and this is also why they represent the spinner as the oldest); another is called ‘Lachesis’ from the fact that what is assigned to each person is like the apportionment of what is allotted; the third is called ‘Atropos’ because the things arranged by her are unchangeable. It might appropriately seem that the three names all have the same force, which is ‘Adresteia’, named either because of being ineluctable and inescapable; or from the fact that the things for which she is responsible are always active, as if it were “Aiei-drasteia”; or else the privative particle is indicative of magnitude in this case, as in the phrase “unchipped wood”: for it does a great deal. It is called ‘Nemesis’ from distribution – for it divides out what happens to each person; ‘Fortune’ (Tyche) from the fact that it builds our surroundings and is the craftsman of those things which befall men; and ‘Opis’ because it escapes notice and, as it were, follows behind and

§ 14  keep an eye on our actions, so as to punish those that are worthy of punishment.
A.3 Education and ethics
(14) Zeus is said to have been father of the Muses by Mnemosyne [“Memory”] since he was the author of those curricular subjects which are learnt through hard work and retention as the things most necessary for a good life. They are called ‘Muses’ from seeking, i.e. searching – in the sense of the line: ‘O wretch! Don’t seek the soft, don’t hold the hard!’ They are nine because, as someone says, they render those who belong to them square [or: virtuous] and odd [or: learned] – that being what the number Nine is like: it is constituted by that number which seems to be the first after One to partake of some perfection generating [Reading γεννᾶσθαι for γενέσθαι] it from itself.

§ 15  Βut some say that there are only two, some three, some four, others seven. Three because of the perfection of the triad, which has been mentioned; or because there are three kinds of investigation which make up a philosophical account of the world. Two, because it falls to us both to contemplate and to do what must be done, and these two topics constitute education. Four and Seven perhaps because the musical instruments of antiquity had that many strings.
They were presented as women because the words for the virtues and for education happen to be feminine, and symbolise the fact that learning comes from staying at home and from stability. They associate and dance with each other to show that the virtues are inseparable from each other and cannot be unyoked. They spend time in particular in singing hymns and serving the gods, since it is a fundamental part of education to raise one’s gaze to the divine, and those who take it as their model for life ought to talk about it. In any case, ‘Kleio’ is one of the Muses

§ 16  because the educated obtain renown, and they themselves, along with others, celebrate them. ‘Euterpe’ is so called from the fact that associating with them is pleasant and attractive. And ‘Thaleia’, because their life always flourishes – or because they also have the virtue of conviviality, and conduct themselves with wit and decorum at feasts. ‘Melpomene’ derives from the sweet song which results when a tune is given voice – for the good are sung about by everyone, and they themselves sing of the gods and of earlier men. ‘Terpsichore’ is so called because they enjoy themselves and rejoice for most of their lives; or because the very sight of them gives pleasure to those who approach them. (In this case, the final part of the name [i.e. - chore] is superfluous; but perhaps it is there because the ancients instituted dances for the gods, the wisest among them composing songs for them.) ‘Erato’ either takes her name from love, because she cares about every kind of philosophy; or else she oversees the ability to ask questions and give answers, since the wise engage in dialogue. ‘Polymnia’ is virtue, which is greatly hymned; or rather,

§ 17  perhaps, she hymns many, and hears everything that is hymned about our ancestors and after research from poems and other writings. ‘Ourania’ is knowledge about the heavenly bodies and the nature of the universe – for the ancients called the whole cosmos heaven. ‘Kalliope’ is rhetoric, which is beautiful of voice and beautiful of word; by this, men govern cities and address the people, leading them by persuasion, not force, to whatever they choose. This, in particular, is why Hesiod says that she “serves kings and bards”. Tradition assigns various instruments to them, each showing that the life of the good is well structured, harmonious with itself and consistent. Apollo dances with them because of his affiliation with the arts. Tradition has it that he plays the kithara, for a reason you will learn in a little while.
They say that they dance in the mountains because those who love learning need to be alone and are always going into the wilderness, “without which nothing holy is discovered” as the comic poet has it. Because of this Zeus is said to have fathered them during nine nights of intercourse with Mnemosyne:

§ 18  night-time research is necessary for the business of education. This, anyway, is why the poets called night “kindly”; and Epicharmos, then, says: “if there is wisdom you seek, consider it at night” and “all serious answers are best found at night”. Some say that they were born from Heaven and Earth, since one must think that the account of them is the most ancient. They are crowned with palm because, some think, of its homonym: writing is thought to have been an invention of the Phoenicians. But it is more reasonable to hold that it is because the palm is a delicate plant, vigorous, perennial, difficult to climb, but sweet of fruit.
(15) Since, as has been said, we are capable of beneficial activity too, the greater part of the tradition has it that that the Graces are the daughters of Zeus.

§ 19  Some were born to him by ‘Eurydome’, because a love of giving gifts is especially characteristic of wide and expansive homes; some from ‘Eurynome’, which establishes that those who are apportioned more as their lot are, or ought to be, more generous; and some from ‘Eurymedouse’, for just the reason suggested by its etymology: for men are masters of their own possessions. Others say that Hera was their mother so that they might be the most noble of the gods by birth, as they are by their deeds. They are presented naked to make another point, which is that even those who have no possessions are able to provide help with some things, to do many useful favours; and that one does not have to be really wealthy in order to be a benefactor – as it is said: “in the gifts of a friend, it’s the thought that counts.” And some think that their nakedness indicates that one must be at ease and unencumbered in order to do favours. They are said by some to be two in number, but by others to be three. Two, counting those who first do the favour, and those who repay it; but three, because it is good when someone who has been repaid does another favour, so that there is no end to it. (Their dance illustrates something of the sort as well.)

§ 20  Others have said that there is one Grace to represent the man who does some useful service, another for the recipient of the service who looks out for the appropriate moment to repay it, and a third for the person who does his own service in return at the appropriate moment. Since one should do good deeds cheerfully, and since favours make their beneficiaries cheerful, first, the ‘Graces’ were named in common from joy (and they are said to be beautiful and to favour people with charm and persuasiveness); but then, as individuals, they were called Aglaia, Thaleia and Euphrosyne – some saying, because of this, that Euanthe is their mother, others Aigle. Homer says that one of the Graces lives with Hephaistos, because the technical arts give pleasure.
(16) The tradition gives Hermes as their leader, showing that one’s favours must be reasonable – not given at random, but to those who are worthy of them, since someone who meets with a lack of gratitude becomes more reluctant to do good in the future. And ‘Hermes’ happens to be reason, the pre-eminent possession of the gods, which they sent to us from heaven, making man alone of the terrestrial animals rational. He is named from contriving to speak i.e. to talk; or from being our bulwark and stronghold, so to speak.

§ 21  In addition, he is called, first of all, ‘Diaktoros’, either from being piercing and distinct, or from conducting our thoughts into the souls of those nearby – which is why they dedicate tongues to him. Secondly, he is called ‘Eriounios’ from being a great help and from the fact that those who use it surpass themselves in strength; and ‘stout’ as being the saviour of homes – or, as some say, strong.
Calling him ‘guileless’ signifies something similar: for reason is not for doing evil and harming, but rather for sustaining – which is why they have Health live with him. And he is ‘Argeiphontes’, as if the word were argephantes, because it illuminates everything brightly and clarifies it (for the ancients used the word argos for ‘bright’); or else because of the speed of the voice, since argos means ‘swift’ as well. And he is Hermes ‘of the Golden Wand’, because it is highly honourable even to be struck by it, since timely admonitions are worth a great deal, as is the repentance of those who take heed of them. The tradition makes him the herald of the gods, and he was said to announce their doings to men. He is a herald, because a herald uses a loud voice

§ 22  to present rational meaning to an audience; and he is a messenger, because we know the will of the gods from the concepts rationally instilled in us. That he wears winged sandals and is carried through the air is consistent with the idea of ‘winged words’, as they have been called. (Iris is also for this reason called ‘wind-footed’ and ‘whirlwind-footed’ messenger – also on the basis of her name.) And mythology represents Hermes as the Conductor of Souls, associating with him its proper task of guiding souls. Anyway, this is why they put in his hand a wand “with which he charms the eyes of those men he wishes” (obviously the eyes of the mind) “but again rouses others, even the sleeping”. For those who are slack it is able to urge on, and those who have been stirred up it brings to order. This is why it was thought that he sends dreams as well, and tells the future this way, twisting impressions as he wishes: “and dreams too are messengers of the gods.” And the snakes which twine around and complete the aforementioned wand, the wand which looks like a messenger’s wand, are a symbol of the fact that the savage too are bewitched and charmed by it:

§ 23  it resolves their differences and binds them together with a knot which is hard to undo. For this reason the herald’s wand seems to be a ‘peace-maker’. (In any case, those who pursue peace also carry branches in their hands, as a reminder that the land wishes to be cultivated, and to spare young and fruitful plants.) They said that Hermes was born to Zeus from ‘Maia’, again suggesting through this that reason is the offspring of contemplation and inquiry: those who help women deliver are thus called midwives because, as in the case of inquiry, they bring something to light – the foetus. Sculptures of Hermes lack hands and feet, and are square in shape. Square, because there is something so steadfast and secure about it that even its modifications serve as foundations. He lacks hands and feet because it does not need hands or feet to complete the tasks before it. The ancients made the genitals of the older, bearded Herms erect, but those of the younger, smooth ones hang down: this shows that reason is fertile and ready in those advanced in age, and might actually attain the goals it sets; but in the immature it is infertile and imperfect.

§ 24  He is set up in roads and is called ‘Wayside’ (Enodios) and ‘Guiding’ (Hegemonios), as it is necessary to use it as guide in every action, and because it leads us in our planning down the path we need; and perhaps also because it needs solitude to be refreshed and cultivated. Because reason is shared, and the same in all men and in the gods, it is customary for someone who finds something as he goes along a road will to say ‘Hermes in common!’ (Hermes of the Wayside being in fact witness to the find). This shows that people reckon the thing found to be common property – and so found objects are called hermaia. And people heap stones up in front of Herms, each passer-by adding a stone: whether because this is a useful public service done by each individual (it clears the road); or because it invokes Hermes as a witness; or because it is a mark of honour to him (if one has nothing else to bring to him); or because it makes the statue more conspicuous to passers-by; or because

§ 25  it acts as a symbol that uttered speech is made up of small elements. He is also, reasonably, the first to be called god ‘of the agora’ (Agoraios): for he is overseer of public speakers. And from the ‘agora’, he also extends to those who trade and sell, as everything should be done in line with reason.
From here he came to be thought of as the superintendent of the markets and was named god “of Business” (Empolaios) and ‘of Profit’, (Kerdoos) since it alone is the cause of true profit for men. He is the inventor of the lyre, as of the harmony and consistency by which those alive are happy, when it falls to them to have a well-adjusted disposition. Some people wished to establish his power through incongruous images as well, and made it part of the tradition that he was a thief; and there are those who build altars to Hermes the ‘Deceitful’ (Dolios), because it stealthily erases the beliefs a man previously held; and there are times when, by persuasion, he steals away the truth – in cases where it is said that someone is using ‘thieving words’. And in fact the ability to use sophisms belongs to people who know how to use reason. He is called Nomios [from nomos/law] because the purpose of reason is rectification: it is prescriptive of those things that must, for the good of the community, be done, and proscriptive of things not to be done. (It is thanks to the homonymy that he has been appropriated for the care of pastures as well.)

§ 26  He is also honoured in the wrestling-grounds alongside Heracles, because one wants to enjoy strength along with reasoning. To someone trusting only in the power of the body, but neglecting reason (which also gave us the arts), one might very properly say
“Fool: your own strength destroys you!”
(17) B. Wisdom and its Transmission: Theological traditions
That many and various myths about the gods arose among the ancient Greeks, as others among the Magi, others among the Phrygians, and again among the Egyptians and Celts and Libyans, and other races, one might take as witness the way Homer’s Zeus speaks when he confronts Hera:
“Or do you not remember when I hung you on high, and fixed anvils to your feet?”
For it seems that the poet hands down this fragment of an ancient myth, according to which Zeus is said to have hung Hera from the aether with golden chains (because the stars have a kind of golden appearance) and fixed from her feet two anvils (clearly the earth and the sea,

§ 27  by which the air was stretched down, unable to be torn away from either). Another myth, the one about Thetis, mentions that Zeus was saved by her: “When the other Olympians wished to bind him – Hera and Poseidon and Pallas Athene.” It appears that each of these gods individually was always plotting against Zeus, intending to prevent the cosmic order that we have – something that would happen if the moist prevailed and everything became water, or if fire prevailed and everything were turned to fire, or if air prevailed. But ‘Thetis’, disposing everything in due order, set ‘Briareos’ with his hundred hands against the gods that were mentioned – perhaps because the exhalations of the earth are distributed everywhere, as it is through many hands that division into all the various forms occur. Or consider whether he is named ‘Briareos’ from raising up nourishment (so to speak) for the parts of the cosmos. ‘Aegean’ is he who always flourishes and rejoices – but one must not confuse the myths, nor transfer the names from on to another, nor should you set down unthinkingly something which has been made up and added to the genealogies handed down according to them

§ 28  by people who don’t understand what they hint at, but use them as they use fictions.
B.2 Hesiod
Again, then, the myths say that Chaos was the first to be, as Hesiod relates; and after it Earth and Tartarus and Eros; and from Chaos Erebos and Night were born; and from Night, Aether and Day. ‘Chaos’ is the moisture that came about before cosmic order, so named from the word for stream; or fire, which is as it were a burner, and itself streams, because of the fineness of its parts. Everything, my child, was once fire, and will be again when the cycle comes round. On being quenched to become air, an overwhelming change occurs to turn it into water, which it controls, compressing part of substance to make it settle, and rarefying part to make it finer.
They say, reasonably enough, that Earth came to be after Chaos and misty Tartarus, which the aforementioned poet named the recess of Earth because it embraces and hides it. Eros, the impulse to generation, was said to come into being with them: for one must suppose that,

§ 29  when one thing arises from another, this most beautiful and gorgeous power is present at the birth. And from Chaos was born ‘Erebos’, which is reason making a thing to be covered and embraced by something else. This is why, when Earth met with it, she gave birth to Ouranos (a thing which is similar in appearance to it), “so that he might hide her all around, so that she might be the secure seat for the blessed gods” – the secure home for the long-lived stars which rush along upon it. And Earth bore Ouranos from its exhalations – although the whole of the finer substance around it is now more commonly called Ouranos. Night is also the daughter of Chaos. For the first air which came up from the primeval moisture was dark and misty; then it was refined and changed to aether and light, which, reasonably enough, were said to be born from night. And Earth is said to have given Birth in turn to the mountains and the sea “without dear affection”. And the sea, being what the transformation had made it, remained in the hollow parts of the earth; and the mountains acquired peaks as it subsided irregularly.

§ 30  After all this comes the birth of the so-called Titans. These would be the differences among the things that exist. They are, as Empedocles enumerates them in his Physics: “Physo, Phthimene, Eunaie and Egersis, Kino, Astremphe, and many-crowned Megisto,” and Phoryne and Siope and Omphaie – and many others, all hinting at the variety (as I said) in the things that exist. In the same way, the process by which creatures with voices came to be, and sound in general was made, was called ‘Iapetos’ by the ancients: it is a sort of archer, with the voice as an arrow. And ‘Koios’ is that by which the things that exist have qualities [poia] (the Ionians often use the sound k instead of p); or it is the cause of perceiving, that is of contemplating or thinking. ‘Krios’ is that because of which some things rule and hold sway, while others are commanded and ruled; perhaps also because the ram in the flock is so named.
And by ‘Hyperion’, some things rise above others; and by Okeanos, things are accomplished at speed. (It is also called ‘soft-flowing’ because its flow appears calm and leisurely, like the movement of the sun;

§ 31  and ‘deep-eddying’, because it has deep eddies.). And by ‘Tethys’, things stay in the same state for some time. And ‘Theia’ is the cause of vision; ‘Rhea’ of flux; ‘Phoebe’ of something’s being pure and bright. (One has to understand that in all these are the causes for the opposite states as well.) Mnemosyne is the cause of recalling things that have happened; ‘Themis’ of making an agreement about something between us and keeping to it. Kronos is the aforementioned reason behind all things brought to completion, and is the cleverest of the children. And he said that he was the youngest of them, because during their birth, he himself remained as it were in the process of being born.
There could be a more complete exegesis of the genealogy of Hesiod – who got some things, I think, from those more ancient than him, but added other things for himself rather in the manner of a story-teller (and by this means, most of the ancient theology has been corrupted). Now, though, we should look at what is claimed by the majority.
(18) B.3 Science and philosophy
It is a tradition passed down that Prometheus fashioned the race of men out of earth.

§ 32  It should be understood that ‘Prometheus’ is so called as the forethought exhibited by the soul of the universe. (More recent thinkers have called this ‘providence’.) For it was by forethought that everything else came into being, and men were born from the earth – the original state of the cosmos being suitably disposed for this. And it is said that Prometheus used to be with Zeus, since all government and authority over the masses – especially when it is that of Zeus –needs forethought. They also say that he stole fire for men, since it was through our own understanding and providence that we worked out how to use fire. The myth says that Prometheus carried the fire out of heaven either because there is a superabundance of fire there, or because thunder-bolts crash down from there, setting fire to things that they strike down here.
(Perhaps something of the sort is also hinted by the fennel stalk.) Prometheus was bound for this, and punished by having his liver eaten by an eagle: for our skill-set, which includes the accomplishment I have been talking about, among others, experiences some difficulty despite itself when it is bound up with the painful cares of life, having as it were its bowels gnawed at by petty concerns. ‘Epimetheus’ is said to be the somewhat simple-minded younger brother of Prometheus, because foresight is worth more than education

§ 33  in things that have happened and hindsight. For in truth “the fool too knows what has been done”. (This is why they say that Epimetheus lived with the first woman: for the female is somewhat less thoughtful by nature, and inclined to hindsight rather than foresight.) Prometheus is said by some to have invented the technical arts just because understanding and forethought were needed for their discovery.
(19) Most people, however, ascribe them to Athena and Hephaestus: Athena, because she seems to represent intelligence and cleverness, and Hephaestus because most of the technical arts use fire to produce their works. Aether, and bright, pure fire is Zeus: ‘Hephaestus’ is the fire, mixed with air, which we use – named from having been kindled. This is why some say that he was born from Zeus and Hera, but others from Hera alone: for these flames are somewhat denser, as if its they exist only due to from the air being burnt up. Traditionally, he is lame, perhaps because he makes slow progress through matter like those who limp; but perhaps it is from the fact that he cannot proceed without something wooden – as if he needs a staff. Others still explain his being lame by

§ 34  the inequality and unevenness of its movement – upwards, and downwards through what it consumes, [Reading τροφὴν for στροφὴν] the latter being slower. He is said to have been thrown to earth from heaven by Zeus, perhaps because the first people to use fire found it where it had been started by a thunder-bolt – given that they could never have hit on the idea of fire sticks. They say that his wife is ‘Aphrodite’ for much the same reason as she is one of the Graces. For, just as we say that the works of technical art are pleasing, so we say that a certain pleasure is diffused through them – unless this story was fabricated to show that the impulse towards sex is very fiery. There is a story that Hephaestus bound Ares while he was committing adultery with his wife (indeed, the myth comes through the Poet, and is extremely ancient): for iron and bronze are tamed by the power of fire. The fiction of the adultery shows that what is pugnacious and brutal does not at all go with what is cheerful and gentle, and it is not the law of nature that brings about their embrace. However, the former somehow manages it, and the offspring it produces from their intercourse is fine and noble – the harmony derived from both. It is said that Hephaestus stood midwife to Zeus, when he was giving birth to

§ 35  Athena, and that he cut open his head and made her leap out. For the fire which craftsmen use helps to demonstrate the natural ingenuity of men, as if leading it out into the light when it had been hidden before – and we say that those looking to discover something ‘conceive’ it and ‘bring it to birth’.
(20) Athena is the intelligence of Zeus, being the same thing as his providence, which is why temples are founded to ‘Athena Pronoia’. She is said to have been born from the head of Zeus perhaps because the ancients got the idea that the ruling part of our souls is there – as others after them have thought; but perhaps because the head is the highest part of the human body, as the aether, which is its ruling part and the substance of its wisdom, is the highest part of the cosmos. As Euripides says: “The peak of the gods is the bright aether surrounding earth.” Athene is motherless because the genesis of virtue is different – not the sort due to the union of two things. Zeus, then, gave birth to her after swallowing ‘Metis’ since, as a counsellor and an intelligent being his thought has its roots nowhere else than in his own private deliberation.

§ 36  It is hard to give an etymology for the name of ‘Athena’ because of its antiquity. Some say that it comes from her contemplating everything – as if they said she was ‘Athrene’; others that it is because, although ‘Athena’ is female, nevertheless she participates least in femininity and weakness; others again from the fact that virtue is not the kind of thing to be slain and overcome. And perhaps, if it is ‘Athenaia’, which is what the ancients called Athena, it means aether-dwelling. Her virginity is a symbol of her being pure and unstained: that is what virtue is like. Athena is depicted armed, and the story is that she was born like that, which points out that wisdom is sufficiently kitted out for the greatest and most difficult deeds – for acts of war strike us as the greatest. For this reason, her attributes also include great masculinity and a steely gaze. The grey colour [sc. of her eyes] points to the same kind of thing: for the strongest wild animals, such as leopards and lions, are grey-eyed, their flashing gaze hard to return. But some say that Athena was made like this because the aether is grey. It is very appropriate that Athena shares the aegis of Zeus, since she is that very thing

§ 37  by which Zeus seems to surpass and excel everything. There is a Gorgon’s head in the middle of the goddess’s breast, its tongue sticking out – as if to show that reason is the most conspicuous thing in the design of the universe.
Snakes, like the owl, are associated with her because their eyes, which are grey, have some similarity with hers: for the snake has a terrifying way of looking. Also, it is rather vigilant and sleepless, and seems not to be easy prey, and “a counsellor should not sleep all the night”. She is called ‘Atryone’ as if not worn out by any labour; or else because the aether is unwearied. And ‘Tritogeneia’, because she it is who has generated quaking and trembling for the evil – for she declared war against vice. Others say that the name hints at the three kinds of subject matter in philosophical enquiry; but that way of making sense of it is too contrived to represent the ancient outlook. She is called ‘Laossoös’ because she rouses the nations in battles (as she is called ‘Dispenser of Booty’ from booty); or, better, because she is the salvation of the nations who use her – for intelligence should be made the guard of city and home and the whole of life. For this reason she is also called Defender of the City and Polias, like Zeus Polieus, Guardian of the City:

§ 38  both are overseers of cities. She is called ‘Pallas’ because of her youth in mythology, and for the same reason that ‘lads’ and ‘lasses’ are so named: for youth is skittish and unstable. They establish her especially in a city’s acropolis, with the intention of showing that she is a tough opponent and hard to besiege; or that she looks down from above on those who flee to her; or to suggest the elevation of that by virtue of which Athena is a part of nature. The poets call her ‘Alalkomeneida’, and ‘Ageleis’: they derive the former from warding off – for she is capable of protection and help, which is why she is called Victory as well –, and the latter from the fact that she leads nations; or else from her being untameable, like common cattle, which especially are sacrificed to her. She is said to be the inventor of the aulos, as of the other subtleties of the technical arts, which is why she is patron of wool-spinning. She threw the aulos away, since the tunes played on it emasculate the soul, and seem to be the least manly and warlike. The olive is her gift because it is evergreen, and because it is somewhat grey.

§ 39  And olive oil is not easily adulterated with another liquid, but always remains unmixed so that it seems to have something in common with the virgin. She was called ‘martial’ because she is concerned with strategy and the organisation of wars and the fight on behalf of justice. For she is cunning in all things, and the summation of all virtues. They call her Equestrian, too, and Horse-Tamer and Spear- Thrower and many other things. And they set up trophies made out of olive-wood; and, especially, Victory is made to share her throne – Victory who makes people yield to a single person (whoever prevails), and who is traditionally winged, because battle-lines turn quickly and are easy changed. According to the tradition, Athena was the champion in the battle with the giants, and she was named Giant-slayer for this sort of reason. For it is reasonable to think that the first men, who were born from the earth, were violent and irascible with each other because they could not yet arrive at decisions or fan the spark of community that was in them.
But the gods, as if spurring them on and reminding them of their concepts, prevailed. The capacity allowed by reason, in particular, fought them down and put them in order so that

§ 40  it appears that they were changed and destroyed and no longer seemed to be like that. [Reading τοιούτους for τοσούτους]. For different men came out of this change, and those born from them lived together in cities under the protection of Athena Guardian of the City.
(21) Other gods concerned with military matters do not similarly aim at what is stable and reasonable, but are somewhat more disruptive: Ares and Enyo. Zeus introduced these into things by stirring animals up against each other; and there are occasions when he decrees a settlement by arms which, even among men, is not without utility: it makes them welcome nobility and bravery in themselves, as well as behaviour towards one another which is appropriate to peacetime. (For this reason, then, tradition makes Ares the son of Zeus as well by exactly the same reasoning as that by which Athene is Daughter of a Mighty Sire.) Accounts of Enyo differ: for some she is the mother of Ares, some his daughter, some his nurse. But it makes no difference: ‘Enyo’ is the one who implants in soldiers their spirit and strength; or else her name is a euphemism, because she is the least kind and seemly.
‘Ares’ got his name from seizing and destroying;

§ 41  or from bane, i.e. injury; or again by antithesis (as if to mollify him while addressing him) – since he smashes and ruins things which are joined together: the name arises, then, from join, which is to fit together. (‘Harmony’ is perhaps one of these things – and mythology says that it was born from him.) He is appropriately called Murderous and the Bane of Men; also God of the War-Cry and Loud- Shouting, since the loudest cry is made by those fighting in battle – and this is why some people sacrifice asses to Ares, their braying being so disruptive and loud. (Most, however, sacrifice dogs because they are daring and ready to attack.) Ares is said to be honoured especially by the Thracians and Scythians and races like these, among whom the practice of warfare is highly esteemed, as is indifference for justice. The vulture is said to be the bird sacred to him because of their abundance wherever there are a lot of battle-slain corpses.
(22) C. Second Survey of the Physical System C.1 Water (and the principles of fertility)
After this, my child, we should speak of Poseidon. It has already been said that he is the same as the ordered power associated with the moist, and now we need to justify this. First, then, they named him ‘Nourishing’ since, of things that come from the earth, it is clear that the moisture in it is a contributing cause of their growth.

§ 42  And then he is called Earth-Shaker (Enosichthon) and Land-Shaker (Enosigaion) and Earth-Quaker (Seisichthona) and Shaker of the Earth since earthquakes are caused precisely by the sea, and other waters, falling into the cavities of the earth: the air trapped inside seeks a way out, and make it surge and break up – sometimes producing a bellowing noise as it breaks. Some people understandably call him the ‘Bellower’ because the sea produces a noise like this; and this is why he is also called Roaring and Loud-Groaning and Loud-Roaring; and this is why bulls are thought to be associated with him, and bulls are sacrificed to him – of pure black, because of the colour of the sea (and in any case they say water is black). (It also makes sense that he is called dark-haired and is, by custom, made to wear dark clothes.) And because of this rivers are depicted with horns and the face of a bull: their current has something violent about it, so to speak, and bellows. So Skamander, according to the Poet “bellowed like a bull”.
A different approach leads some people to call Poseidon Earth-Holder and Upholder of the Foundations. In many places they sacrifice to him as Poseidon the ‘Steadfast’, since terrestrial buildings are

§ 43  securely founded because they rest on him, and need him. He carries a trident, whether because this is something used to hunt fish, or because it is a tool suited for moving the earth, so that it is also said that “he, the earth-shaker, having in his hands a trident, led: and he poured out all the foundations”. (‘Trident’ contains some hidden etymology, along with and ‘Triton’ and ‘Amphitrite’ – whether the letter ‘t’ is irrelevant, and they are all named like this from the flow, or something else. Triton has a double form, part man, part leviathan, since the aforementioned moisture has the power both to help and to harm.) Poseidon is called widechested because of the breadth of the sea (as it is also said: “on the wide back of the sea”). This leads to his being called ‘wide-ruling’ and ‘wide-powered’. He is ‘god of the horse’ perhaps because passage through the sea is swift,

§ 44  and it is as if we are on horses when we use ships.
This led to the later tradition that he is the guardian of horses. He is called by some Leader of the Nymphs and Lord of the Springs for reasons already given: ‘nymphs’ are the sources of fresh waters, thus named because they always appear to be young, or from the fact that they shine as new. (Brides are called ‘nymphs’ because they are now appearing for the first time, after being hidden away.) The same line of reasoning is given for the fact that ‘Pegasus’ is the son of Poseidon: he is named from springs. Because of the observable force of the sea, mythology holds that all those who are violent, and who plot enormities, like the Cyclops, the Laistrygonians and the Aloeidai, are offspring of Poseidon.
(23) ‘Nereus’ is a name given to the sea from one’s swimming through it. They also call Nereus ‘Old Man of the Sea’ because foam crowns the waves like grey hair. ‘Leukothea’, who is said to be the daughter of Nereus, represents something of the sort as well: clearly the ‘white’ of the foam.
(24) And it is plausible that Aphrodite is traditionally born in the sea just because movement and moisture is necessary for the generation of everything –

§ 45  and both are, in abundance, associated with the sea. Those who make Aphrodite the daughter of ‘Dione’ are getting at the same thing: for the moist is wet. ‘Aphrodite’ is the power which brings male and female together. The name derives perhaps from the fact that the seed of animals is foamy or, as Euripides suggests, because those who are conquered by her are fools. She is supposed to be extremely beautiful because the pleasure of intercourse is especially pleasing to men and surpasses all others. And she is called ‘laughter-loving’ because laughter and gaiety are appropriate to this kind of encounter. The Graces share her throne and altar, as do Persuasion and Hermes, because one seduces lovers through persuasion, speech and favours; or because of the attraction of intercourse. She is called ‘Kytheria’ because of the pregnancies that result from sex; or else because sexual desires are, for the most part, hidden. It is because of this that the island of ‘Kythera’ appears to be sacred to Aphrodite, and perhaps ‘Cyprus’ too: the name sounds a bit like hiding. But her proper home is Paphos, and she is called the ‘Paphian’, perhaps by ellipsis from beguile which is to deceive. For according to Hesiod, she “smiles and deceives”; and Homer talks about “allurement

§ 46  which steals even the mind of the thoughtful”. The ‘kestos’ is a strap, as it were something kitted out or elaborately pierced. It has the power of tying and binding together. She is called Heavenly and Vulgar, and Goddess of the Sea, because her power is to be seen in the heaven and on earth and in the sea. They say that the vows of love are without authority and may be violated with impunity; and as long as she is readily invoked, the suitor can procure for himself any woman he can use oaths to persuade.
Among the birds, Aphrodite rejoices especially in the dove, because it is a pure creature and, because of its “kisses”, friendly. On the other hand, the pig seems to be alien to her because of its impurity. Among plants, the myrtle has been taken to be Aphrodite’s because of its sweet smell; and the ‘lime tree’ because of its name, which turns out to be rather similar to love, and since it tends to get heavy use for the wreaths of her crowns. And they keep ‘boxwood’ to offer the goddess in a kind of religious devotion

§ 47  to her buttocks.
(25) It is no paradox, given how Aphrodite is, that Eros should share her honour and be her companion – also her son, according to the majority tradition. He is a child because lovers are immature in their thinking and are easily deceived; he is winged, because he makes people bird-brained; or because he tends to fly suddenly into one’s thoughts, like a bird; he is an archer, because those captured by him experience something like a blow just from looking – not even approaching or touching someone beautiful, but seeing them from afar. He is given a torch, since he seems to set souls on fire. It is plausible that he is called ‘Eros’ from the search involved for those who are the objects of love: for inquiry is linked with searching, as in the line: “Iphitos inquiring after horses . . .”[Od.21.23] (It is from this, I think, that ‘quest’ is also named.)
Traditionally, there is more than one Eros, because there is a variety of lovers – and because Aphrodite is furnished with many of them as her attendants. Eros is called ‘Desire’ (Himeros), named either from being eager for and carried away towards the enjoyment to be had of those in their prime; or to represent the distraction experienced by the mind, which becomes silly in the face of it.

§ 48  He is called ‘Yearning’ (Pothos) from a representation of kisses (which is how we get the word ‘pappa’ too); or else from the fact that a lover finds out many thing about their beloved – and from their very questions: whence they come and where they were.
Some think that Eros is also the whole cosmos: beautiful, desirable, young, and at the same time the oldest thing of all; rich in fire, and the cause of swift motion, such as that produced by a bow, the use of wings.
(26) In another sense they say that it is ‘Atlas’, tirelessly producing everything that comes to be according to the principles encompassed in it, and thus holding up even the heavens. Its great pillars are the powers of the elements, which lead to some things being borne upwards, and some downwards; heaven and earth are governed by them.
Atlas is called Sagacious because he is concerned for the universe and provident in seeing to the welfare of all its parts. From him were born the ‘Pleiades’, it being established that it generated all the stars, of which there are a superabundance. He is identical with ‘Astraios’ and ‘Thaumas’

§ 49  because it does not stand still (it is never everywhere at rest – although its progress is the best possible, and calm), and it produces great wonder in those who contemplate its organisation.
(27) And it is ‘Pan’ as well, since it is identical with everything. He is hairy and goat-like in his lower parts because of the roughness of the earth; his upper parts have the form of a human, because the ruling part of the cosmos, which is rational, is in the aether. He is traditionally held to be lecherous and lewd because of the number both of the seminal principles it possesses, and of the things that come about from their intermingling. He passes much of his time in the wilderness because it was established that he is solitary on this basis of the fact that the cosmos is single and unique. He pursues Nymphs, because it rejoices in the moist exhalations of the earth, without which it could not be constituted. His skittish and playful nature points to the ceaseless motion of the universe. He is clad in fawn-skin or leopard-skin because of the variety of the stars, and of the other things which are observed in it. [Reading χρημάτων for χρωμάτων]

§ 50  He is said to play the pan-pipes, perhaps because it is swept by all sorts of winds; or perhaps because they sound wild and austere, and is not just for making a show. Because he spends time on mountains and in caves, the pine-wreath was associated with him – the pine being an impressive tree associated with mountains. Also associated with him are the sudden and irrational disturbances called panic-attacks: for this is how sheep and goats are frightened when they hear a sound from the wood or from underground caverns and in places where there are ravines. It was appropriate that they should have made him guardian of the young of the herds; and it is perhaps because of this that they depict him with horns and cloven hooves; and perhaps they were hinting at his double nature in his protruding ears. Perhaps it is ‘Priapus’ as well, by which all things come into the light – the ancients thus suggesting in a superstitious and grandiose way what they thought about the nature of the cosmos. Anyway, the size of his genitals shows the abundant seminal power that is in god, while the collection of fruits held in the folds of his cloak indicates the wealth of fruits that grow in the bosom of the land and come forth in due season. Traditionally, he is guardian of orchards and vineyards,

§ 51  since it the job of the parent to preserve what he has brought into being (Zeus too thence being said to be Preserver): vineyards suggest bounty and purity, but fruits suggest more especially variety, pleasure and making generation easy – he mostly dressed that way as well. And he holds out a sickle in his right hand, either because this is used for pruning vines, or because he is guarding something and is armed to protect it, or because it is the same power that, after bringing things into being, cuts them off and destroys them.
Again, the cosmos is ‘Good Daimon’, he too being laden with fruits; or else he is the principle which rules it, considered insofar as it divides and shares out what happens, being a good distributor. He is defender and preserver of household matters because it keeps its own house in order and at the same time offers itself as an example to others. The ‘horn of Amaltheia’ is an attribute proper to him, because of whom all which are generated in due season grow at the same time – not that he brings them into being for some single purpose: they crowd into being for many and various purposes. Or it [sc. the ‘horn of Amaltheia’] might indicate that the cosmos periodically destroys and

§ 52  again plunders everything; or it might be the exhortation to labour which comes from him, since good things come to those who are not made soft.
(28) C.2 Earth (and principles of stability)
(Next, my child, we must speak about Demeter and Hestia [sc. ‘hearth’]: both seem to be none other than the earth. The ancients called this ‘Hestia’ because it is stands firm through everything; or because it was placed innermost by nature; or because the whole cosmos stands firm on it as on a foundation. Since it gives birth to everything and nourishes it like a mother, the ancients called it ‘De-meter’, as if it were Earth-Mother; or else ‘mother Deo’ because the earth and the things on it ungrudgingly produce what men can divide among themselves and feast on; or because on it they meet with, i.e. find, what they seek.
Hestia is traditionally a virgin because what is unmoving generates nothing – because of this, she is also served by virgins. (But Demeter is not also a virgin: she gave birth to ‘Kore’ – as it were Satiety – she [i.e. Demeter] being the material for one’s being nourished to satiety.)

§ 53  The eternal fire is associated with Hestia because it too seems to be being; and perhaps because all the fires in the cosmos are nourished from the earth and subsist because of it; or because the earth is life-giving and the mother of living things, in which the fiery element is the cause of life. She is formed circular and set in the middle of the home because the compression of earth gives it similar shape and setting. This is why the earth is also, imitatively, called ‘chthon’ – but perhaps it was called ‘chthon’ from the fact that it contains or has room for everything, as in the line: ‘This road will contain us both’. Mythology tells that she is first and last because the things that were born from the earth and sustained by it are dissolved into it; and his is also why the Greeks start and end their sacrifices with her. She is garlanded with white branches because it is crowned, and covered all over, by the whitest element.
Demeter, depicted according to her role in making seeds spring up, is quite appropriately shown crowned with ears of corn – for of all things whose cultivation benefits people, corn is the most essential. According to the myth, it was sown throughout the inhabited world by Triptolemos of Eleusis,

§ 54  mounted by Demeter in a chariot of winged ‘serpents’. For it seems that there was among the ancients some first man who was mounted by god in a higher level of thought and saw and understood the use of ‘barley’ – how it is ground and separated from its husk by being tossed in the air. (For the same reason ‘krios’ is also suited for sowing.) He took his name from he who grinds the oulai (barley-seeds are called oulai).
‘Eleusis’ is the place where barley-seeds were first discovered, and Demeter is called ‘Eleusinian’ from the fact that human progress to a truly human life began there. There is a myth that Hades kidnapped the daughter of Demeter, because of the disappearance of the seeds under the earth for a certain time. (The dejection of the goddess and her search throughout the cosmos are fictional additions.) Among the Egyptians, Osiris (who is sought and rediscovered by Isis) suggests the same sort of thing; and among the Phoenicians there is Adonis, who is alternately above the ground and below the ground for six-month periods –Demeter’s produce being thus called ‘Adonis’ from the fact that people enjoy it. It is said that a wild boar struck and killed him because pigs are known to devour the crops; or this all hints at the teeth of the ploughshare,

§ 55  by which seed gets covered in earth. He was assigned to be with Aphrodite and Persephone for equal periods of time, for the reason we said. They called the daughter of Demeter ‘Persephone’ because manual labour is hard work and brings hard work; or from the fact that hard work brings endurance. Fasts are held in honour of Demeter, either as a special way of presenting her with the first fruits by abstaining for one day from those things given to people by her, or through pious fear of want when god withdraws within. When they were sowing, they drew on their own stocks, which is why people hold her festival at the time of sowing. Around spring they sacrifice to Demeter ‘Chloe’ with games and good cheer, seeing green shoots which hint at the hope of plenty for them as well. Hence Wealth is thought to be the son of Demeter, and it is well said that

§ 56  “wealth in grain and barley is best, you fool!” Being wealthy is in some way the opposite of starving: Hesiod notices this when he says ‘work, Perses, divine race, so that hunger may hate you, but Demeter of the lovely hair will love you”.
Pregnant sows are, quite appropriately, sacrificed to Demeter: it represents ease in fertility, conception, and birth. Poppies are dedicated to her for a reason: their round, spherical shape represents the shape of the earth, which is a globe, while the irregularity on their surface represents the hollows of the earth and the peaks of the mountains. Its interior is like caves and mines. They produce countless seeds, like the earth. Because of the plentifulness of corn, men no longer had any difficulty getting by, and their supply of food was no longer doubtful. This allowed them to agree with each other about the boundaries of cultivated land, and to distribute its produce justly; and so they said that Demeter was the originator of their laws and ordinances.
Thus it is that they called her ‘Thesmothetis’, as being a lawgiver – although some people wrongly think that her crops were called ‘thesmos’ because they are laid aside and treasured. It was with philosophical intent that they began to celebrate the ‘mysteries’ for her, rejoicing at the same time in the discovery of things beneficial for life, and in a festival which they used

§ 57  to bear witness to the fact that they had stopped fighting with each other over the necessities, and were replete, i.e. satiated. It is plausible that this is why the ‘mysteries’ are so named; and this is why some people know Demeter as a ‘Mysian’ – or else because matters which are to some extent difficult to understand need investigation.
(29) For this same reason, Zeus is said to have generated the ‘Seasons’ from Themis: they take care of and guard all good things we have. One of them is called ‘Eunomia’, from the distribution of the things that fall to us; one is ‘Dike’ [Justice], because she gets those who are at variance apart from one another; one is ‘Eirene’ [Peace], from judgements made through words not weapons: for they called the language of reason “peace”. (‘War’ is so named from the fact that many are destroyed; or from the hurry to lay hands on each other that comes upon enemies.
(30) It is appropriate that Dionysus was thought of as peace in some sense as well, since he is the overseer of cultivated trees and a generous god – and this explains why “libations” are made: for the countryside is deforested in wartime, but feasting, which requires wine above all else, thrives in peace.

§ 58  And ‘Dionysus’ is either ‘Dionuxos’ or as it were ‘Dianusos’ – named from the fact that we weep with pleasure; or else it is as if it is ‘Dialusos’, which is the origin of their calling him Looser (Lysios) or Deliverer, releasing us from our cares. Some say that his name has entered common usage from the fact that Zeus first made the vine appear on the Nysian mount. He is said to have been born thanks to fire (a story which refers to the fact that his heat warms body and soul – for wine really does have the strength of fire, as the poets say); and he was stitched into the thigh of Zeus where he came to full term (because wine needs to mellow and reach maturity) < . . .> since its first birth is the ripening of the grapes in autumn, which happens when it is hottest, while its second is at the trampling of the grapes, when it is squeezed out

§ 59  by the feet –and something like this has to be understood from the reference to the thigh. He is called Bromios and Bacchos and Iacchos and Euios and Babaktes and Iobacchos, because in the first place people trampling the grapes let out many such cries, as people tend to do subsequently when they are drunk. The ‘Satyrs’ are a symbol of the playfulness and distraction of someone their cups: their name comes from grinning. There are also the ‘Skirtoi’, from dancing; and the ‘Silenoi’ from mocking; and the ‘Seuidai’ from hastening, i.e. rushing.
These perhaps suggest the way in which people who are drinking stagger about in a dissolute and effeminate way. This is also why he [i.e. Dionysus] is depicted as feminine in appearance – yet with horns: when drunk, people become lax, but also violent, difficult to control and impulsive. His bright clothes suggest the colours of autumn; and the fact that he is naked in most statues suggests the stripping off of affectation, which happens among drinkers, and would seem to be what is meant by the line “wine and truth”. This might also be why there are places with an oracle of Dionysus. The noise of tambourines and drums, which are invitations to their rites, seem appropriate somehow to drunken rowdiness. Often the aulos is also played

§ 60  to accompany the harvest, along with other such instruments. The thyrsus represents the fact that people who drink too much wine cannot depend on their own feet, but need something to prop themselves up. Some of the thyrsoi have spear-heads hidden within the leaves, as if to say that when the drinking is hard there is sometimes something painful hidden beneath the cheerfulness, which leads some to fall into violence and frenzy. This is why Dionysus was called ‘Maddening’, and the women around him ‘Maenads’. He is depicted both as young and as old, because it [wine] is suitable for any age: more exciting for the young who use it, more pleasurable for the older. Tradition has it that the Satyrs had intercourse with the nymphs, seducing some, [Reading πείσαντες for πειρῶντες] forcing themselves on others for sport. This came about because the mixing of wine with water was seen to be useful. Leopards were yoked to Dionysus’ chariot and made to accompany him either because of their colourful skin (just as he himself and the Bacchai wear fawn skin), or because of the taming effect a moderate amount of wine has on even the wildest predispositions. Goats are sacrificed to him because it is an animal known to destroy vines and figs – which is why young farmers in the Attic villages flay it jump on the skin. And perhaps Dionysus enjoys this sort of sacrifice because the goat is lecherous – the same reason why

§ 61  the donkey also tends to feature in his processions, and phalli are dedicated to him, and phallic processions held. For wine moves a person to sex – which is why some people sacrifice to Dionysus and Aphrodite together. The ‘narthex’, a cane which has stems that twist around, suggests the way that drunk people stagger all over the place – and are likewise liable to be swayed and moved. Some say that it stands for the in-articulate nature of their chattering (as if it is what “has articulation”). The Bacchae wander in the mountains and love the wilderness because wine is produced not in cities but in the countryside. Dionysus was called ‘Dithyrambos’, either because it draws attention to the double door of the mouth and makes people blurt out secrets; or because it makes the young go up to doors, or barge into them, i.e. fall against them and dislodge the bolts. (People thought he was destructive of absolutely everything; also that he was a warrior, and first established the practice of the triumph for military victories. The ‘triumph’ got its name from the shouting and lampooning, which is why in military triumphs the crowds use anapaests when they jeer.) The jay is sacred to him

§ 62  as a chattering bird, and they call him ‘Fox-like’ from to talk, and Eiraphiotes from venting one’s wrath. He is crowned with ivy because of its resemblance to the vine, and because its flowers are like clusters of grapes (also it brings down trees, creeping up through them and twining around their lower parts with some strength). Theatrical performances are put on in the service of Dionysus because they are appropriate for celebrations – like song and the kithar: “For they are the offerings of the feast.” There is a myth that Dionysus was torn apart by the Titans and but back together again by Rhea. The tradition through which this myth comes is hinting that farmers, who are sons of the soil, gathered in the grapes and separated out the different parts (“of Dionysus”) in them. They are all brought back together when the must is poured back in, and a single body is made of them again. There is a clear meaning to the poet’s story that the god, fleeing a plot of Lycurgus, once submerged himself in the sea where he was saved by ‘Thetis’: vines are the nurses of Dionysus: these Lycurgus, being a vine-gatherer, took as spoil and carried off; subsequently the wine was mixed with sea-water and safely stored away. So much for Dionysus.

§ 63  (31) ‘Heracles’ is universal reason thanks to which nature is strong and mighty, being indomitable as well: giver of strength and power to its various parts as well. The name comes, perhaps from the fact that it extends to heroes, and is what makes the noble famous. For the ancients called heroes those who were so strong in body and soul that they seemed to be part of a divine race. There is no need to be disturbed by the more recent story: the son of Alkmene and Amphitryon was deemed worthy of the same name as the god because of his virtue, so that it has become hard to distinguish what belongs to the god from the stories about the hero. The lion skin and the club may have originated with ancient theology and been transferred to the latter – it cannot have seemed right that a good military leader who launched powerful attacks on many parts of the earth would have gone around naked, armed only with wood: rather, then, the hero was decorated with these badges of the god when his services had earned him apotheosis. Both the lion-skin and the club can be a symbol of force and nobility: for the lion is the most powerful of the beasts, the club the mightiest of weapons.

§ 64  Traditionally, the god is an archer, because he extends everywhere, and because even the path of his missiles is somehow unwavering – and it is not an irrational commander who faces his enemies with his trust in weapons like this. The Koans have a tradition that, appropriately enough, he lived with Hebe, as if to make him more perfect in intelligence – as it is said: “The hands of the young are fitter for action, but the souls of the older are better by far.” I suspect that it is more plausible that the service to Omphale refers to him [sc. the god]: through it, the ancients showed again that even the strongest ought to submit themselves to reason and to do what it enjoins, even if its voice (which it would not be extraordinary to call ‘Omphale’) happens to call for the somewhat feminine activity of contemplation and rational inquiry. It is also possible to explain the Twelve Labours as referring to the god, as Cleanthes in fact did. But ingenuity should not always win the day.

§ 65  C.3 Fire (32)
Next, then, my child: Apollo is the sun, and Artemis the moon. This is why they represent both of them as archers, hinting at how far their rays shoot, as it were. The one, the sun, is called ‘Hecatos’ while the other is called ‘Hecate’ for this reason: because they shoot light and send it here from afar. They have likewise also come to be called Hecateboloi. Some give a different etymology for ‘Hecatos’ and ‘Hecate’, as names given to them by people who were praying that they be far away and that their harmful effects should not reach them. For sometime they seem to corrupt the air, and to be responsible for pestilential states – which is why the ancients attributed sudden deaths to them. And the Poet represents Achilles as saying during the plague, as if it was something obvious that a soothsayer should be sought “who might say why Phoebus Apollo raged so much”. Because of this, they think that we are dealing with euphemisms: ‘Artemis’ being named from making things stable, i.e. healthy, and ‘Apollo’ being so addressed as delivering us from diseases, or driving them away from us or destroying them.

§ 66  This notion led to his being called ‘Paieon’ and considered a physician.) For the same reason, some say that it [i.e. the sun] was called ‘Apollo’ from to destroy: for this is what destroys the present world order by continually evaporating the moisture from everywhere in it and making it part of the aether. So perhaps the name is also from his reducing and disintegrating the composition of substance – or the darkness as well – as if he were called ‘Haplon’. It is appropriate that they should be presented as brother and sister, since they are like each other and move in the same pattern and have a similar power in the universe and both alike nourish things on the earth.
Apollo was represented as male, since fire is warmer and more active; Artemis as female, being less active and her power being weak. Apollo has the age of a grown boy, when men appear at their most handsome: for the sun is the most beautiful and youthful thing to see.
Beyond this, he is called ‘Phoebus’ because he is pure and bright. There are other epithets for him: they apply Golden-Haired and Unshorn to him since the sun

§ 67  looks golden and stands beyond grief because of its holiness. They called it ‘Delian’ and ‘Phanaian’ because what exists is revealed by it, and the cosmos lit up – so also they established a temple of ‘Anaphaian’ Apollo, who brings to light all things. It is as a consequence of this that Delos and Anaphe came to be considered his shrines. Because of the afore-mentioned elucidation of things, he was associated with prophecy; and when the oracle in Delphi was discovered they gave Apollo the epithet ‘Pythian’, since people come here to learn things that concern themselves. The place was called the ‘navel’ of the world, not because it is right in the middle of it, but because the oracular voice, which is the speech of god, was given out there. Because the oracles it gives are oblique and difficult, he was called ‘Loxias’ – or because of the oblique course [sc. of the sun] through the zodiacal circle. He has been represented as a musician and kithar-player because it strikes every part of the cosmos tunefully and makes it harmonious in all of its parts: none of them, of all that exists, can be considered out of tune. Rather, it preserves to the highest degree, as if rhythmically, a mutual balance in the timings of things – as it does the voices of living creatures,

§ 68  and indeed the sounds made by all other bodies, since it produces the necessary air through its drying action, and makes it wonderfully adapted to hearing. [Reading: καὶ τὰς τῶν ζῴων φωνάς, ὡς αὖ τοὺς τῶν ἄλλων σωμάτων ψόφους, διὰ τὸ ξηραίνεσθαι χρησίμως ὑπ' <αὐτοῦ> τὸν ἀέρα ἀποδιδόντος καὶ δαιμονίως ἡρμόσθαι πρὸς τὰς ἀκοὰς ποιοῦντος. (cf. von Arnim, SVF 1.503). ] This is the origin of his being called Leader of the Muses and their guardian; and he himself was thought to play with the Muses: “For from the Muses and Far-Darting Apollo men are singers on earth, and kings,” says Hesiod. And this is the reason why the swan is sacred to him: it is at the same time the most musical and the whitest of birds; but the crow is alien to him because it is foul, and because of its colour. The ‘laurel’ is his garland since, although it is somewhat tawny in colour, it is a vigorous evergreen plant. It happens to be the most flammable as well, and is somehow appropriate for purification rites, so its dedication to the purest and most fiery god is not inappropriate. And perhaps its name, which is a bit like making clear, made it seem that the plant should be associated with prophecy.

§ 69  The tripod is dedicated to Apollo because the number three is perfect. It might also be to do with the three concentric circles, one of which is cut by the sun as it moves through its yearly course, while the other two are touched by it. Because it mostly seems to happen that the young are the first to get sick when there is a plague and are ill for longer, or perish by themselves of the plague, they dedicated the care of flocks to him, calling him God of the Pasture, Lycian and Wolf-Killer. And he was called ‘Aguieus’, of course, where his statue was set up in the streets: for he illuminates them and fills them with light as he rises – as, conversely, it is said: “The sun sets, and all the streets were darkened.”
They also called him ‘Leschenorios’ because people spend their days in public buildings, mingling with each other; but the nights they spend resting by themselves. They called him ‘Healer’ – whether, indeed, by antithesis, to appease him, so that he should not send diseases to them or corrupt the air they breathed; or whether it was because he is in fact himself the cause of bodily health, by making the immediate environment well-tempered.

§ 70  (33) Consequently, Asclepius was said to be his son. He was thought to have handed the art of medicine to mankind – for in this field too some knowledge of the divine was necessary. ‘Asclepius’ was named from his healing softly, and putting off the stiffness that comes about at death. This is why they dedicated the snake to him: it shows that those who benefit from medicine experience something like the snake in becoming as it were rejuvenated after their disease, and putting off old age. At the same time, the snake is a symbol of careful attention, of which much is needed in medical treatment. The staff seems to be a symbol of something of the sort as well: the suggestion made by it is that we would fall into illness constantly if we did not rely on medical understanding, and, deprived of what we needed, would collapse more quickly. ‘Chiron’ is said to have nurtured Asclepius and to have trained him in the science of medicine,

§ 71  thanks to people who wanted to show that the exercise of an art is through the hands. The wife of Asclepius, according to tradition, is ‘Epione’ – a name which was not idly incorporated into mythology idly: it points out how distresses are soothed through gentle medicine.
(34) Artemis acquired the epithet ‘Phosphoros’ because it [i.e. the moon] too emits light and illuminates the surroundings to some extent, especially when it is a full moon. She is called ‘Dictynna’ from its shooting out rays of light – for to cast is to shoot; or else from the fact that her power reaches everything on earth, as if she were ‘Diiktynes’. She was represented as ‘Huntress’ and ‘Beast-slayer’ and ‘Deer-shooter’ (Elaphebolon) and ‘Mountain-wanderer’ either because people wanted to deflect the harm that comes from it onto wild beasts; or because it shines during the night in particular and everywhere is very peaceful during the night – as peaceful as woods and deserts, which thus seem appropriate haunts for her. (To this was added the fiction that she uses her archery to hunt; and it is of a piece with this that dogs came to be thought sacred to her,

§ 72  since they are suitable for hunting – and they stay awake at night and bark.
And it resembles a hunt with hounds in the way that it never leaves off sometimes pursuing, sometimes fleeing the sun; also in the way that “chases” the animals in the zodiac and swiftly catches them up – speed being something associated with a hunt as well.) They said that she is busied about the mountain-tops since it is the nearest of the heavenly bodies to earth. Hecate, who is the same as Artemis, is represented as three in form because the moon makes three kinds of shape: it is in turns crescent-shaped and ‘full’; and then they represent it, thirdly, taking on another shape, when the crescent is filled but it is not quite a circle. This is why she was called ‘Goddess of the Forked Way’ (Trioditis) and was thought to look over forks in the road: it is because of the threefold change it undergoes as it journeys through the zodiac. And since the sun only shines during the day, but it [i.e. the moon] is also seen at night and in the dark, and what is more is seen changing, they called her ‘Goddess of the Night’ and ‘Night-Wanderer’ (Nyktipolon) and ‘Chthonian’; and they started to worship her in company with the chthonian deities, and introducing dinners in her honour. The fiction was added that it pollutes this earth, and pollutes it

§ 73  as the dead do, and that she helps witches and plots with them against households; and finally that she rejoices in grief and slaughter – which is what led some people to want to propitiate her with unusual sacrifices and human slaughter. The ‘mullet’ is sacred to her because of its name. She is called ‘Enodia’ for exactly the reason that Apollo is called ‘Aguieus’. Most people think that Artemis is the same as ‘Eileithuia’, who unceasingly turns and rushes around the earth. Those in labour pray that she should come to them as ‘Gentle’ and ‘Looser of the Girdle’, as she loosens the constriction of the womb so that the child that has been conceived might fall out easily and without labour. So she is called ‘Eleutho’ too. Tradition has it that there is more than one Eileuthuia, for just the same reason that there is more than one Eros: for the births experienced by women are as varied as lovers’ desires. Obviously, the moon brings to term creatures that have been conceived, and it is due to her that they grow and are released from their carriers when ready. There is nothing extraordinary in the fact that people thought of Artemis in one sense as a virgin, pure and holy like the sun; in another

§ 74  as assistant to those giving birth, responsible for the safe delivery of children; and in a third sense as somewhat terrifying and baleful, which is the notion we said was behind Hecate.
C.4 Air (35)
Finally, the air which receives souls is ‘Hades’, as I said, so called because it is unseen: it is because things beneath the earth are not apparent to us that they put it about that the dead go there. Hades is said to be ‘famous’ because this air is the cause of hearing: sound is air that has been struck. Despair led them to call him ‘Prudent’ and ‘The Prudent One’: the idea was that he plans well for men by bringing an end at some time to their toils and cares. His epithets include: ‘Much-Receiving’ and ‘Receptive of Much’ and ‘Ruler over Many’ because he receives many and rules over the so-called majority or the many. The Poet called him ‘Gate-Keeper’ as holding his gates tightly closed and letting none out. ‘Charon’ was perhaps named by antithesis from joy; but it might be that its etymology is contain or gape – or yawn. ‘Acheron’ and the ‘Acherousian’ lake came about because of the sorrows which come to the dead. It is clear where the names of ‘Kokytus’ and ‘Pyriphlegethon’ come from:

§ 75  the Greeks of old used to burn their corpses and raise a wail. Because of this they also called the dead ‘daemons’, which comes from burning as well. The ‘Birdless’ Aornos Lake perhaps has its name with some regard to science from air; although sometimes the ancients called darkness and mist ‘air’ as well – unless, by Zeus, they were appealing to the grey-green of the air, which it shares with the so-called gladioli with which they garland Pluto. They also garland him with ‘maidenhair’, as a reminder that the dead dry out and no longer hold moisture, and are deprived of the water that is needed to breathe and flourish. This is why myths call them ‘corpses’: the dead are in Hades because they lack a share in the wet. The ‘narcissus’ was appropriately associated with the dead, and they said that it was the wreath of the Erinnyes, noting its similarity to numbness – and because the dead grow as it were numb.

§ 76  D. Epilogue
In the same way, my child, you can apply these basic models to everything else that comes down through mythology concerning those considered to be gods, in the conviction that the ancients were far from mediocre, but were capable of understanding the nature of the cosmos and ready to express their philosophical account of it in symbols and enigmas. It has all been said at greater length and in more detail by earlier philosophers, but I wanted now to pass it on to you in abbreviated form: facility with the subject is useful even to this extent. When the young are being taught to sacrifice and pray, and worship and swear oaths in the right way and in the appropriate circumstances (according to the sense of proportion you adopt for yourself) – you will come to grasp both your ancestral traditions about these things (the gods and their cults and everything that exists for their honour), and also an unblemished account of them, so that they will lead you only to piety, and not to superstition.