Ep 2: No Country For Old Gods...

... Episode two  examines what really happened to the revered Greek gods and where they are today. Historians treat them as fantasies, as "myths."

Here we suspend our disbelief and explore why the gods were never myths;  here, too, we follow them as they slowly retreat during the collapse of the Roman empire--and wander into other pursuits as a new religion slowly subverts the old.

Narrated by mythologist and best-selling author, Patrick Garner,  Garner's Greek Mythology is unlike any other Greek history series. The series views these divine beings as if they were anything but mythical... And wonderfully, in episode 2 we encounter all the greats--Gaia, Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Ares, Hestia, Hermes, Hades, Hera, Hephaistos and Dionysus.

If you love these podcasts, you'll also enjoy new stories about the gods in Garner's novel Homo Divinitas, now available as an audio book on Amazon.com and Audible.com.

(Musical score includes selections from Fesliyan Studios.)

Transcript

EPISODE 2

THIS IS EPISODE 2 OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY. I'M YOUR HOST, MYTHOLOGIST & AUTHOR, PATRICK GARNER. 

TODAY I'M TAKING YOU BACK IN TIME, TO A WORLD RULED BY GODS. THUS, THIS PODCAST FOCUSES ON ONE THING ...

GREEK GODS, OF COURSE ... & AS I DISCUSSED IN EPISODE 1 OF OUR SERIES, THE ANCIENT GODS ARE NOT FANCIFUL, IMAGINARY BEINGS. THEY ARE HERE NOW.

BUT THAT'S WHY YOU'RE HERE.

WHAT MAKES THIS SERIES UNIQUE? FIRST, WE LOOK AT THESE GODS AS NO ONE ELSE IN THIS FIELD DOES.

AND SECOND, IN THESE EPISODES WE'LL WALK WITH THE ANCIENT DIVINITIES, AS IF THEY ARE ALIVE AMONG US.

IN MY NOVELS THEY LIVE. IN THIS PODCAST THEY HAVE NEVER DIED. 

SO I ASK YOU: WHAT IF THEY WERE NEVER MYTHS? IMAGINE THEM WANDERING AMONG US, OBSERVING, CONTINUING TO PLAY OUT THEIR OWN FASCINATING LIVES. 

DOESN'T THAT FLY IN THE FACE OF EVERYTHING WE'VE BEEN TAUGHT?

UH-HUH, & TODAY WE'LL FOCUS ON WHY THE GREEK GODS RETREATED FROM THEIR HIGH ROOSTS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, ONE THAT ONCE REVOLVED AROUND THEIR EVERY BLESSING ...

Ω

A MOMENT AGO I SAID 'RETREATED', THAT THE GREEK GODS MAY HAVE RETREATED ... REALLY? WHO GIVES UP HIS OR HER THRONE SO EASILY?

AND ADMIT IT:  MOST OF YOU LISTENING ASSUME THE GODS WERE NO MORE REAL THAN CHARACTERS IN A FAIRY TALE ...

AFTER ALL, THAT'S WHAT ALL OF THE BOOKS SAY. THAT'S WHAT YOU'LL READ ON THE WEB. THE GODS WERE MERELY ALLEGORICAL, RIGHT? ...

FOR INSTANCE, WIKIPEDIA SAYS, "GREEK MYTHOLOGY IS A BODY OF MYTHS ..." GET IT? MYTHS ARE ,,, WELL, WHAT ARE MYTHS? UH, TO WIKIPEDIA THEY'RE ... MYTHS. 

THAT'S THE BEST THEY CAN DO. AND THAT'S PRETTY WEAK.

THAT'S LIKE SAYING, 'UH, I DEFINE FLOWERS AS FLOWERS.' OR IF SOMEONE ASKS AN ACADEMIC TO DEFINE A TREE, SHE SAYS, ‘WHY, YOU KNOW—A TREE IS ... A TREE.'

AND ACCORDING TO AUTHORITIES, MYTHOLOGY ... IS A BODY OF MYTHS.

Ω

WELL, THAT'S AN INTELLECTUAL COP-OUT. BUT IT'S TYPICAL OF WHAT YOU'LL FIND IF YOU RESEARCH ANCIENT DIVINITIES. 

MYTHS--THEY'RE ALL MYTHS, GET IT? IT'S AN UTTERLY SAFE POSITION TO TAKE.

NO ONE TODAY IMAGINES APOLLO, ATHENA & ARTEMIS AS BEING MORE THAN INVENTIONS. IF YOU DO, YOU'RE CALLED A ROMANTIC. OR SOMETHING EVEN LESS COMPLIMENTARY.

DICTIONARIES DEFINE MYTH AS "A WIDELY HELD, BUT FALSE BELIEF."

BUT WHAT IF ALL OF THIS IS WRONG? WHAT IF THE BACK STORY IS SOMEHOW MORE COMPLICATED? WHAT IF THESE BEINGS ARE NOT A MYTH? 

AND IF THEY'RE REAL, WHAT IF THEY NEVER DISAPPEARED?

OKAY. BUT IF THEY'RE REAL, YOU THINK, THEN WHY AREN'T THEY THROWING AROUND ... THUNDERBOLTS?

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CONSIDER THIS: WHAT IF, AS I SAID EARLIER, THEY SIMPLY ... RETREATED?

THAT'S WHAT I FOUND IN MY NOVELS. THAT'S WHAT THE CHARACTERS REVEALED. 

IT'S TRUE, YOU SEE: THEY LIVE. THEY WALK AMONG US.

RATHER THAN DISAPPEARING AT SOME POINT IN THE DISTANT PAST, THEY ACTUALLY ... JUST LEFT ... & MOVED ON TO OTHER PURSUITS.

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HOW COULD THEY HAVE GIVEN UP SUCH IMMENSE POWER?

WHO STEPS OFF THEIR THRONE & WALKS AWAY, DOING SO WITHOUT REGRET? PERHAPS ... PERHAPS WIELDING SUCH POWER, WHEN THE POWER CAME SO EASILY, BECAME BORING.

WHAT'S THE PHRASE? 'EASY COME, EASY GO.'

BUT LET'S PAUSE & LOOK AT THIS FROM THE GREEK POINT OF VIEW. I BELIEVE THE ANSWER LIES THERE.

WHY WERE THE GODS SO IMPORTANT TO THE ANCIENT GREEKS, & THEN THEY WEREN'T?

DID THE GREEKS SUDDENLY COME TO THEIR SENSES, REALIZING THEY COULD LIVE WITHOUT THE DIVINITIES? DID THE GREEKS JUST SHAKE OFF THEIR OLD SUPERSTITIONS?

DID THEY, LIKE THE EDITORS AT WIKIPEDIA, CONCLUDE ZEUS & APOLLO WERE NO MORE THAN MYTHS?

COULD IT HAVE BEEN THAT SIMPLE? OR DID ANOTHER, GREATER FORCE SWEEP THE ANCIENT WORLD?

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BEFORE WE GO THERE, LET'S REVIEW WHO THESE BEINGS WERE. AFTER ALL, THE OLYMPIC GODS DOMINATED THE LIFE OF THE GREEKS FOR ALMOST TWO THOUSAND YEARS ...

EVEN TODAY WE ALL KNOW OF MIGHTY ZEUS, THE GOD OF THUNDER ... 

AND HIS TWO BROTHERS ... ONE THE SEA-GOD, POSEIDON ... 

AND THE OTHER THE RULER OF THE UNDERWORLD, HADES ... 

ZEUS, POSEIDON & HADES STARTED IT ALL. AND WHO FOLLOWED IN THE PANTHEON?

THERE'S ARTEMIS, WHOM WE SPOKE ABOUT IN THE LAST EPISODE. SHE'S A PROTECTOR OF YOUNG GIRLS ... AND OF WILD ANIMALS—ANIMALS, REMEMBER, THAT SHE DELIGHTS IN HUNTING.

TOO, THERE'S APOLLO, THE GOD OF MUSIC & THE ARTS ...

AND OTHERS? THERE'S THE WISE, GRAY-EYED ATHENA, ALWAYS WITH HER OWL ... 

AND THE INCOMPARABLE GODDESS OF LOVE, APHRODITE ...  

AND THE FIERCE GOD OF WAR, ARES ...

Ω

ZEUS HAD A WIFE, THE ALWAYS JEALOUS HERA ...

THEN THERE'S THE MESSENGER & TRICKSTER, HERMES ... 

WE'VE NAMED TEN GODS. THE ELEVENTH IS THE INGENIOUS LEONARDO OF HIS TIME, HEPHAISTOS & ...

AND THE TWELFTH GOD —?

DIONYSUS, THE SEDUCER & THE GOD OF WINE ... WE'LL DISCUSS EACH OF THESE BEINGS IN COMING EPISODES ... 

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EACH WAS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT. 

REMEMBER, FOR THE GREEKS, THESE OLYMPIC DIVINITIES MADE THE SUN RISE & THE STARS SHINE. THEY DETERMINED WHETHER CROPS WOULD FLOURISH OR CITIES STARVE, & EVEN WHETHER BRIDES WOULD BE FERTILE ...

AMAZINGLY, BATTLES WERE NEVER FOUGHT WITHOUT ARMIES SACRIFICING TO A GOD, OR SOMETIMES MULTIPLE GODS. IF OMENS WERE POOR, GENERALS WOULD WAIT.

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OMENS? IT'S AN INTERESTING WORD. WE HEAR IT & OFTEN THINK OF LIKE ... A 'BAD OMEN.'

BUT OMENS COULD BE BAD OR GOOD. THEY WERE LIKE PROPHESIES. 

OMENS COULD BE A BIRD HUNCHED ON A DEAD TREE LIMB, A RELUCTANT LAMB HAVING TO BE DRAGGED TO ITS SACRIFICE, OR SOMETHING DRAMATIC LIKE AN UNEXPECTED ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.

THAT HAPPENED ONCE WHEN TWO ARMIES FACED OFF. THE SUN DISAPPEARED, THE SKY WENT BLACK, SOLDIERS FLED & THE BATTLE WAS POSTPONED.

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SPECIALISTS TRAVELED WITH EVERY MILITARY FORCE. THESE WERE DIVINERS WHO COULD READ OMENS. EVEN ALEXANDER THE GREAT DEPENDED ON FORTUNETELLERS BEFORE LAUNCHING AN ATTACK. 

HISTORIANS SAY HE WAS THE MOST SUPERSTITIOUS LEADER, & YET THE MOST SUCCESSFUL.

OMENS COULD BE FAVORABLE. BUT, OFTEN THE OMENS WERE OMINOUS. IN FACT, THE WORD OMINOUS IS DERIVED FROM OMEN ...

Ω

OMENS WERE SIGNS FROM THE GODS. THEY INDICATED THAT ARES GAVE HIS GREEN LIGHT FOR AN IMMEDIATE STRIKE. OR THAT ATHENA WARNED AGAINST DOING SO.

BASICALLY, IN ALL THE IMPORTANT MOMENTS IN A CITIZEN'S LIFE, GREEKS SOUGHT THE BLESSINGS — OR WARNINGS — of one god or another. 

I THINK YOU GET IT: THEIR IMPORTANCE WAS INCALCULABLE. 

BUT LET'S CIRCLE BACK ... IF THE GODS WEREN'T MYTHS, WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?

NO MATTER HOW IMPORTANT THE GODS WERE, WITHIN SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS AFTER JESUS' DEATH — ABOUT 1,600 YEARS AGO —  THEY HAD, ESSENTIALLY, BECOME IRRELEVANT ...

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I MENTIONED JESUS ... AM I SAYING CHRISTIANITY WAS TO BLAME?

TO BE CANDID, NO, IT CAN'T BE ATTRIBUTED COMPLETELY TO WHAT WAS THEN A NEW RELIGION. 

EVEN BEFORE JESUS' BIRTH, THE GODS' RELEVANCE WAS IN MARKED DECLINE. 

AS EARLY AS SOCRATES, 450 YEARS BEFORE CHRIST,THERE WERE THOSE QUESTIONED THE EXISTENCE OF THE GODS. PHILOSOPHERS WOULD QUIETLY WHISPER TO EACH OTHER, "WHO HAS EVEN SEEN THEM?"

IN TIME, EDUCATED CITIZENS EITHER IGNORED THE GODS, OR MENTIONED THEM ONLY WITH WEARY LOOKS, OR EVEN IMPERTINENCE ... AS IF ZEUS COULD NO LONGER STRIKE YOU DOWN WITH LIGHTNING, OR POSEIDON SINK YOUR SHIP IF YOU DISRESPECTED HIS NAME.

AND MORE & MORE COMMONLY, THE YOUTH OF ATHENS WERE TAUGHT BY PHILOSOPHERS TO QUESTION, RATHER THAN ACCEPT THE FANTASTIC STORIES OF THE IMMORTAL GODS ...

Ω

GRADUALLY — EVER SO GRADUALLY — PEOPLE DECOUPLED FROM THEIR DEPENDENCE ON THESE ... DIVINITIES. 

YET THE GRAND TEMPLES TO ARTEMIS, APOLLO & ZEUS STILL STOOD PROUD. 

AT IMPORTANT MOMENTS SUCH AS WEDDINGS & DEATHS, THE OLD WAYS & THE ANCIENT GODS WERE CALLED UPON ...

YET OTHERWISE, THEY NO LONGER PLAYED AN ACTIVE ROLE IN LIVES. THE OLYMPIC GODS NO LONGER STRUCK TERROR INTO PEOPLE LIKE THEY HAD DONE BEFORE ... 

Ω

AFTER ALL, WHEN HAD ANYONE SEEN ZEUS THROWING LIGHTNING BOLTS? WHAT A JOKE! OR WITNESSED THE GLORIOUS ARTEMIS HUNTING DEER WITH HER SILVER BOW, A DOZEN NYMPHS FOLLOWING HER IN ADORATION?

ZEUS WAS REPUTED TO HAVE HAD COUNTLESS AFFAIRS, BUT WHEN? 

HAD ANYONE SEEN A MAIDEN SWEPT AWAY BY THE MIGHTY ZEUS? MAYBE 500 YEARS AGO. OR A THOUSAND. NO ONE COULD EVEN REMEMBER IT HAPPENING ... 

TODAY WE WOULD SAY OF THE GODS, "OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND."

YOU SEE, THE GODS SEEMED NO MORE THAN TALL TALES ...

ONLY ORACLES SUCH AS THE PYTHIA, A YOUNG WOMAN AT DELPHI IN A FRENZIED STATE INDUCED BY THE VAPORS RELEASED FROM THE EARTH, PROFESSED TO REMAIN IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH THESE  BEINGS ... 

Ω

AND THUS, AS THE YEARS TICKED ON, THE DIVINITIES GRADUALLY BECAME SORT OF ... WELL, MYTHOLOGICAL ... THAT IS, THEY ALLOWED THEMSELVES TO BECOME ... MERE ACTORS IN A FANTASTIC PLAY THAT HARDLY ANYONE BELIEVED TO BE REAL. 

THE UNIMAGINABLE HAD HAPPENED: THE OLYMPIC GODS, THE MIGHTY GODS, HAD BECOME CHARACTERS IN WHAT, FOR THE GREEKS, BECAME A HAZY & INCREASINGLY EMBARRASSING PAST ...

Ω

OH, AND THE EMBARRASSMENTS CONTINUED. 

AROUND 145 B.C., THE ROMAN EMPIRE CONQUERED GREECE. 

IN WHAT MUST HAVE BEEN HUMILIATING, THE ROMANS RENAMED GREECE ACHAIA. IT WAS NO LONGER GREECE, BUT MERELY ANOTHER ROMAN DISTRICT.

ADDING INSULT, THE ROMANS THEN RENAMED MANY OF THE GREEK GODS AS WELL. 

THE GODS, LIKE THE GREEKS, WERE CAPTURED & LATINIZED. 

Ω

FOR INSTANCE, ARTEMIS BECAME DIANA, ARES BECAME MARS, APHRODITE WAS RENAMED VENUS & SO ON ... STILL, THE DIVINE TRAITS OF THE OLYMPIC GODS REMAINED. AND THE PRACTICE OF SACRIFICE THRIVED IN ROME AS IT HAD IN ATHENS.

SACRIFICE & TEMPLES & SACRED PRIESTS & VESTAL VIRGINS WERE GRAND THEATRE THAT WORKED TO THE ADVANTAGE OF THE CAESARS & THE ROMAN GENERALS.

WHO AMONG US DOESN'T LOVE SPECTACLE? YET THE POPULACE INCREASINGLY WINKED. THE GODS HAD BECOME PART OF THE ROMAN BREAD & CIRCUS. 

BUT THERE'S AN IRONY HERE. CAN YOU GUESS?

IN THE SAME WAY ROME CONQUERED GREECE, CHRISTIANITY BEGAN TO SLOWLY CONQUER ROME. 

IT WAS A DELICIOUS IRONY THAT NO ONE COULD APPRECIATE UNTIL MANY YEARS LATER.

Ω

BY THE TIME THE NEW RELIGION BEGAN ITS SUBVERSIVE OVERTHROW OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE — A PERIOD, BY THE WAY, THAT TOOK FOUR CENTURIES —  THE GODS HAD, IN THE MINDS OF MANY ROMAN CITIZENS, NO MORE SUBSTANCE THAN THE SACRIFICIAL SMOKE THE SAME GODS SUPPOSEDLY CRAVED ...

THEY HAD BECOME GHOSTS, NO MORE THAN SHADOWS WHEN THEY HAD ONCE BEEN GIANTS ...

CHRISTIANITY, ALWAYS THE OPPORTUNIST, SLIPPED INTO THE VACUUM LEFT BY THE OLYMPIANS.

YET, THESE DIVINITIES, THESE ANCIENT GODS & GODDESSES, SURVIVED.

LIKE CHAMELEONS, THEY CHANGED COLORS. THEY BECAME RETIRING. THEY ABANDONED THEIR HAUGHTY WAYS WHEN IT SERVED THEIR PURPOSES ...

HOW CAN I BEST SUMMARIZE THIS TRANSITION? ... THEY SIMPLY ADAPTED TO THE CHANGING WORLD AROUND THEM.

Ω

YOU SEE, IF THE GODS COULDN'T BE UNIVERSALLY WORSHIPED, THEY SHRUGGED — THEY SIMPLY SHRUGGED — & WENT ON.

THE GODS HAD NO EGO. OR IF THEY DID, IT WAS ONE THAT WAS AS MALLEABLE AS GOLD. 

THEY SAW NOTHING TO GAIN BY RESISTING. IN THE END THEIR APPARENT CAPITULATION TO THE NEW RELIGION HAD ITS OWN QUIRKY APPEAL. 

WHAT DO I MEAN BY THAT? WELL, IF THEY WEREN'T WANTED, THEY WOULD MOVE ON. 

DIVINITIES, YOU SEE, COULD PROSPER ANYWHERE. AFTER ALL, THEY HAVE ... ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD ...

Ω

YET, FOR WHAT'S IT'S WORTH, CHRISTIANITY DID ACCELERATE THEIR DEPARTURE.

AND AS THEY SLOWLY LEFT, THE BOLDNESS OF THE NEW RELIGION GREW.

I RECOMMEND YOU CHECK OUT A BOOK BY CATHERINE NIXEY. IT'S CALLED "THE DARKENING AGE." IT'S A RECENT SCHOLARLY PUBLICATION ABOUT THIS PERIOD.

SHE WRITES, QUOTE, "IN A SPASM OF DESTRUCTION NEVER SEEN BEFORE ... DURING THE FOURTH & FIFTH CENTURIES, THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH DEMOLISHED, VANDALIZED & MELTED DOWN A ... STAGGERING QUANTITY OF ART ...

"CLASSICAL STATUES WERE KNOCKED FROM THEIR PLINTHS, DEFACED, DEFILED ... TEMPLES WERE RAZED TO THEIR FOUNDATIONS & BURNED TO THE GROUND. A TEMPLE WIDELY CONSIDERED TO BE THE MOST MAGNIFICENT IN THE EMPIRE WAS LEVELED ..." UNQUOTE

SHE OF COURSE IS DISCUSSING THE DESTRUCTION OF STATUES DEPICTING THE MIGHTY GODS, & THE RAZING OF THEIR TEMPLES ...

IN THE END ALMOST NOTHING WAS SPARED.

Ω

SHE DETAILS THE SYSTEMATIC DESTRUCTION OF ALL THAT GREECE LEFT BEHIND, THE DISMANTLING OF WHAT MANY CALL THE WORLD'S GREATEST CIVILIZATION ... 

AND HORRIFICALLY, WHAT FOLLOWED WHEN THE CHURCH SUCCEEDED IN ITS RIGHTEOUS WORK WAS A THOUSAND YEARS OF DARKNESS. IT'S WHAT WE COMMONLY REFER TO AS THE DARK AGES ...

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WHAT THE CHURCH FATHERS DECIMATED, THEY COULDN'T REPLACE. 

THE BRILLIANT GREEK ACHIEVEMENTS WERE DESTROYED, THE THINKERS SILENCED — & IN THE RUBBLE, IN THE SMOKE — THERE WAS NOTHING TO REPLACE THEM. 

MANKIND WOULD NOT CREATE SUCH BRILLIANCE FOR OVER THOUSAND YEARS ... THE INCOMPARABLE WAS FOLLOWED BY INCOMPETENCE.

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OF COURSE WHAT THE EARLY CHURCH DID WAS NO DIFFERENT THAN WHAT OTHER RELIGIONS BEFORE & AFTER HAVE DONE. 

IT'S DIFFICULT TO DISPUTE THAT HUMANS HAVE A DEEP NEED TO DESTROY THAT WHICH DIFFERS FROM WHAT THEY BELIEVE ...

AND IN THE CASE OF GREECE, A SUPERSTITIOUS PEOPLE SIMPLY SWAPPED AN ANCIENT BELIEF IN MULTIPLE GODS FOR BELIEF IN A SINGLE, NEW ONE ...

I'LL MENTION THAT WHAT I CALL A "SWAP" WAS NOT NECESSARILY VOLUNTARY. THE ROMAN CITIZENS DIDN'T JUST DECIDE EN MASSE ONE DAY TO BECOME CHRISTIANS. 

HARDLY. BY 350 A.D. ROMAN AUTHORITIES WHO WERE CONVERTS TO THE NEW RELIGION ISSUED HARSHER & HARSHER LAWS FORBIDDING WORSHIP OF THE OLD GODS. 

AND NOT ALL CITIZENS ... COOPERATED. THOSE WHO REFUSED TO CONVERT WERE MOCKED AS PAGANS ...

BY THE WAY, THE TERM 'PAGAN' WAS A SLUR FOR COUNTRY RUSTICS. THE SO-CALLED PAGANS WERE RIDICULED AS ... IGNORANT & OBSTINATE. 

THEIR BELIEFS WERE SCORNED & THEIR SACRED PLACES DESTROYED. 

IN A FEW CENTURIES, AN ENTIRE CIVILIZATION'S BELIEFS, ART & INTELLECTUAL BRILLIANCE WERE DISCARDED WITHOUT REMORSE. AND IN FACT, WITH REJOICING.

Ω

IN THE END, IN THAT REGION, THE DIVINITIES WHO HAD PRESIDED OVER THE WORLD WERE GONE. THE GODS HAD READ THE CARDS CENTURIES BEFORE & SLOWLY SLIPPED AWAY ...

AND IT'S POSSIBLE THAT THEY HAD BECOME BORED WITH THE ADULATION. WHAT IF BEING WORSHIPPED & CONSTANTLY IMPLORED FOR FAVORS ... SIMPLY BECAME TIRESOME AFTER AWHILE? IT'S POSSIBLE ... 

REGARDLESS, THE TIME HAD COME FOR THESE DIVINITIES TO MOVE ON ... & ONE BY ONE THEY BROKE AWAY ... CHRISTIANITY BECAME AN EXCUSE FOR THEM TO 'BOLT.'

Ω

AND SO THEY DID ... 

POSEIDON TO HIS DEEP, WINE-DARK SEAS. 

ARTEMIS, THE UNRIVALED HUNTRESS, TO THE DENSE FORESTS OF FRANCE & SICILY. 

ATHENA, GONE IN A BLINK WITH HER GRAY OWL ... 

APHRODITE TO EXOTIC ISLANDS WHERE SHE COULD EASILY OCCUPY HERSELF ON THE BEACHES FOREVER ...

DIONYSUS IN A SLY DISGUISE &

ARES, THE GOD OF WAR, HIS OPERATIONS BARELY INTERRUPTED AS MEN INVENTED EVER MORE VIOLENT WEAPONS. 

HE PLIED HIS MASTERY OF WAR TO ANY ARMY WITH ARMOR & SHARP SWORDS. OR LATER, ANY MILITARY WITH MACHINE GUNS, TANKS OR HYPERSONIC MISSILES. 

ALMOST ALL COUNTRIES WELCOMED HIS BLOODY STRATEGIES. 

AND ZEUS? ALTHOUGH ONCE THE GREATEST OF ALL THE GODS, ZEUS MET A DISMAL END THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE UPSTART CHRISTIANS ... 

IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE DARK AGES, ZEUS STUPIDLY DARED TO CONFRONT GAIA, THE GREATEST & EARLIEST GODDESS ...

AND THE CONFRONTATION DID NOT GO WELL. NOT FOR ZEUS. BUT WE'LL DISCUSS HIS END IN THE FUTURE ... 

Ω

ISN'T IT STRANGE THAT IN THE WORLD OF SO-CALLED CLASSICAL STUDIES, THE WORD IS THAT THE GREEK GODS DOMINATED THE REGION, THEN SUDDENLY, AS IF ZEUS HAD SNAPPED HIS FINGERS ...

... DISAPPEARED ... 

THEIR CONTENTION IS THAT ONE DAY THE GODS TYRANNIZED ALL, THEN IN A BLINK, THEY BECAME NOTHING MORE THAN ROMANTIC FIGURES OF MYTH.

I SAY THEIR CONCLUSIONS WERE FLAWED.

WHAT WAS THAT COP-OUT PHRASE I QUOTED EARLIER FROM WIKIPEDIA? "GREEK MYTHOLOGY IS A BODY OF MYTHS ..." 

YOU KNOW, EVEN IN MY TEENS I WAS UNCONVINCED ... AND AT THAT AGE YOU QUICKLY SMELL A RAT.

YOU SEE, IN THE EYES OF SCHOLARS THESE MIGHTY GODS REIGNED FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, & THEN ... 

THEY DIDN'T ...

Ω 

IS IT EVEN CONCEIVABLE THAT IN THE REAL WORLD THE GREEK GODS SIMPLY GAVE UP & VANISHED?

EVEN MORE ABSURDLY, THAT THEY WENT WILLINGLY LIKE CATTLE TO THEIR OWN SACRIFICE?

NO, HARDLY. SOMETHING FAR MORE PLAUSIBLE OCCURRED. 

WHAT WAS IT THAT REALLY HAPPENED TO THESE BEINGS?

Ω

THEY SPREAD OUT ACROSS THE WORLD, EACH PURSUING HIS OR HER OWN ... PASSIONS.

AFTER ALL, THEY COULD BIDE THEIR TIME ...

AFTER ALL, THEY ARE IMMORTALS. THE FABRIC OF TIME-SPACE WHICH DEFINES OUR EXISTENCE DOES NOT CONFINE THEIRS. 

TO IMMORTALS, TIME MEANS NOTHING & THEY LIVE ... FOREVER.

Ω

IN OUR NEXT EPISODE, WE'LL DISCUSS GAIA, WHO, FOR GOOD REASON, PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN THE WORLD'S CREATION ... & IN MY BOOKS. 

JOIN US SHORTLY FOR EPISODE 3 OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY ...