Ep 8: Poseidon & Hades - "Come Hell or High Water"

... In the 8th episode of Garner's Greek Mythology , we meet  Zeus' two brothers, Poseidon and Hades. The first was the Lord of the Sea, and the second? The dark Lord of the Underworld.

Poseidon, known to the Romans as Neptune, ruled all waters. When crossed he could create earthquakes and rake shorelines with mighty tsunamis. Sailors sacrificed to him to ensure calm seas and safe passage.

Urged on by his sister, Demeter, to create the world's most beautiful animal, he imagined the horse and brought it to life on the plains of Greece. Poseidon himself, a magnificent example of man, was tall and muscled--and always carried an immense trident which he used to strike the earth and seas.

On the other hand, his brother Hades was a stern and dreaded god. Once anyone had entered his underworld, Hades was loathe to release them. The dead crossed the river Styx where Hades judged them by their accomplishments. Were they heroes or laborers? Had they built magnificent temples for the gods, or spent their lives complaining?

Too, Hades had a wife named Persephone, who ventured between the earth and the underworld. Caught up in the machinations of Zeus and her mother, Demeter, Persephone's story is also unveiled in this episode.

Narrated by mythologist and best-selling author, Patrick Garner,  Garner's Greek Mythology is unlike any other Greek history series.  Here these divine beings are viewed as if they were anything but mythical...

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.

Join us as our adventures continue! (Musical score includes selections from Fesliyan Studios and Free Sounds Library. Many thanks to both.)

Transcript

PODCAST #8 ... Poseidon & Hades

WELCOME TO EPISODE 8 ... YOU KNOW ZEUS ... GOD OF THUNDER! AND RULER OF THE SKIES! TODAY WE WALK WITH HIS BROTHERS ... 

ONE IS THE RULER OF ALL THE SEAS … & THE OTHER  IS THE LORD ... OF THE DEAD!

ONE SPENDS SUNNY DAYS TAMING HORSES & ... SWIMMING HIS OCEANS, IN A DANCE WITH DOLPHINS  ... WHILE THE OTHER STALKS THE UNDERGROUND… SURROUNDED NOT BY LIGHT ... BUT BY ... DEATH ...

I SPEAK OF THE SEA-GOD, POSEIDON ... AND OF HIS DARK BROTHER, HADES ... 

Ω

IN EARLIER EPISODES ... WE MET GAIA ...ZEUS ... ATHENE ...APOLLO & ARTEMIS. EACH DAZZLES US WITH COMPLEX STORIES OF CREATION, SEDUCTION & CONSTANT DECEPTION.

TODAY'S STORY BEGINS WITH A FAMILY SQUABBLE OVER AN INHERITANCE ... A BEQUEST GOING TO THREE BROTHERS ... ZEUS, POSEIDON & HADES.

... BROTHERS ...

BROTHERS FIGHTING OVER THE POSSESSIONS OF THEIR LATE FATHER, KRONOS — WHO WAS GONE BECAUSE THEY HAD KILLED HIM ...

HE HAD RULED EVERYTHING & NOW HIS SONS HAD ENDED HIS MIGHTY REIN ... COULD IT HAVE BEEN ANY OTHER WAY?

SONS KILLING FATHERS IS A COMMON THEME IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY & IT WAS TRUE HERE AS WELL ...

SO THEY DREW LOTS ... WHICH WAS A BIT LIKE THROWING DICE. FATE WOULD DETERMINE WHO GOT WHAT & WHO WOULD BECOME THE GOD OF EACH REALM.

ZEUS TOOK FIRST PRIZE AND WON THE HEAVENS AND EARTH! ... POSEIDON GOT THE SEAS, AND HADES? 

ALL THE REALMS OF EARTH WERE TAKEN ... & SO HE WAS LEFT WITH WHAT REMAINED, THE UNDERWORLD... WHERE ALL GO AT THE END OF LIFE. 

Ω

MOST OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE GREEK GODS CAME FROM THE WRITINGS OF HOMER IN THE ILLIAD & THE ODYSSEY. 

HOMER ALSO WROTE HYMNS TO THE GODS ... ONE HYMN WAS ABOUT POSEIDON:

"YOU HAVE SEA-COLORED LOCKS ... ARE BLESSED 

AMONG THE GODS... & PROTECT SAILORS ...

WHO VENTURE OUT ... UPON YOUR SEAS.”

THE SEA-GOD POSEIDON COULD CALM THE SEAS ... OR CREATE VIOLENT STORMS & EARTHQUAKES… 

IT WAS BELIEVED THAT WITH A SINGLE GESTURE, HE COULD DESTROY ENTIRE CITIES.

IN THE AFTERMATH OF SUCH DISASTERS, TEMPLE PRIESTS BLAMED POLITICAL LEADERS, CRIMINALS OR GENERALS FOR ANGERING POSEIDON ...

AS HIS TEMPER WAS INFAMOUS, POSEIDON HAD TO BE APPEASED ... THAT IS, IF ONE WAS TO VENTURE OUT TO SEA ...

HOW DID A MORTAL GAIN FAVOR OF AN IMMORTAL LIKE POSEIDON? ... SACRIFICE!  & SACRIFICES WERE DONE CONSTANTLY.  

IN FACT, THE TRADITION CONTINUES TODAY ... EACH NEW SHIP, WHETHER IT'S A CARGO FREIGHTER, DESTROYER ... OR A WEEKEND PLEASURE YACHT ... IS 'BLESSED' WITH THE FINEST BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE!  THE BETTER THE WINE, THE MORE LIKELY THE SHIP WILL STAY AFLOAT ... 

STILL, SHIPS SANK, & WHEN THEY DID, SHIP OWNERS BLAMED EVERYONE BUT POSEIDON ... A CAPTAIN HAD ERRED ... OR A SAILOR HAD DOUBTED THE GOD'S EXISTENCE ...

TO BLAME THE GOD WAS TO INCUR POSEIDON'S FURY ... 

Ω

WHAT DID POSEIDON LOOK LIKE? HE WAS RIPPED, MUSCLE-BOUND & ALWAYS CARRIED A BRONZE TRIDENT, A THREE-PRONGED SPEAR. 

FISHERMEN HAVE USED THESE FOREVER. THE ITALIAN CAR MAKER MASERATI TODAY USES HIS TRADEMARK TRIDENT AS THEIR LOGO... 

BUT POSEIDON RAISED ITS UTILITY ... TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL.

HIS WAS WEAPONIZED... HE WOULD PLUNGE IT INTO THE VERY EARTH ITSELF TO CREATE EARTHQUAKES, SHATTERING ROCKS ... & CAUSING GIANT WAVES.

AS WE LEARNED IN THE EPISODE ABOUT ATHENE, POSEIDON SHOWED HIS MIGHT ... BY STRIKING HIS TRIDENT INTO THE ROCK FACE OF THE ACROPOLIS.

THE BLOW WAS SO PIERCING THAT, ALTHOUGH THEY STOOD 500 FEET ABOVE THE SEA, SEAWATER RUSHED UP THE HOLE TO THE AMAZEMENT OF ALL.

POSEIDON'S MIGHT WAS ALSO DEMONSTRATED ON THE CYCLADIC ISLAND OF DELOS, WHERE ZEUS'S WIFE, LETO, FOUND REFUGE TO GIVE BIRTH TO APOLLO & ARTEMIS.

THE ISLAND WAS SAID TO BE UNATTACHED—TO FLOAT IN CIRCLES LIKE A CORK, MAKING IT WILDLY UNSTABLE & HARDLY A FITTING PLACE FOR CHILDBIRTH.

POSEIDON THRUST HIS TRIDENT INTO THE SEA & DELOS WAS INSTANTLY ANCHORED TO THE SEA FLOOR , GIVING LETO ... SOLID GROUND FOR HER SUCCESSFUL DELIVERY OF THE TWINS.

Ω

AT THE HEIGHT OF THE GREEK EMPIRE, POSEIDON LIVED IN A GOLDEN PALACE BELOW THE SEA. 

THERE HE RAISED NUMEROUS HORSES IN THIS GLISTENING WORLD BELOW THE WAVES...  HE WOULD HARNESS THEM TO A MAGNIFICENT GOLDEN CHARIOT ... 

SAILORS SAID IT WAS NOT UNUSUAL TO SEE HIM FLYING OVER THE WAVES, TRIDENT RAISED HIGH, DOLPHINS LEAPING BESIDE THE BRIGHT CHARIOT DRAWN BY THESE MIGHTY STEEDS...

Ω

IN LATER YEARS POSEIDON BECAME MERGED WITH THE ROMAN GOD, NEPTUNE. HIS NAME IN LATIN WAS NEPTUNUS, WHICH REFERRED TO THE GOD OF STREAMS & LAKES, A BEING LESS MIGHTY THAN THE GOD OF THE SEAS ...

AND SO POSEIDON'S POWER ... THAT IS, NEPTUNE'S POWER ... WEAKENED ... ONE EXPLANATION MAY BE THAT THE ROMANS WERE NOT THE SEA-FARERS THAT THE GREEKS WERE.

WHILE THE GREEKS DEPICTED POSEIDON AS A TALL MAN WITH A LEAN, BODYBUILDER'S PHYSIQUE ... THE ROMANS DEPICTED HIM AS AN OLDER MAN WITH UNRULY BEARD & HAIR.

Ω

NOW HORSES! ... I'VE NEGLECTED TO TALK ABOUT THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POSEIDON & THESE MAGNIFICENT CREATURES.

THE SEA WAS POSEIDON'S DOMAIN, BUT HORSES BECAME HIS OBSESSION & HIS GREAT GIFT TO MORTALS. 

ONE LEGEND SAYS HE STRUCK HIS TRIDENT AGAINST THE PLAINS OF THESSALY & A MIGHTY HORSE AROSE FROM THE DUST.

ANOTHER IS THAT HE CREATED THE CREATURE AT HIS SISTER DEMETER'S REQUEST. SHE CHALLENGED HIM TO MAKE THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL.

BEING A MIGHTY GOD, HE SAID, 'HOLD MY BEER...' OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT!

IT TOOK SEVERAL ATTEMPTS. ONE FAILURE WAS A CREATURE WITH THE FRONT BODY OF A HORSE ... & THE REAR BODY OF A FISH. 

ANOTHER, HOWEVER AWE-INSPIRING, WAS THE FLYING HORSE, PEGASUS — WINGED, IT WAS BEAUTIFUL, BUT A ONE-OFF.

THE STRANGE HORSE, PEGASUS, BECAME A LEGEND, A CONSTELLATION IN THE NIGHT SKY & A COMPANION OF ZEUS ... 

BUT FINALLY ... AFTER MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS, POSEIDON SUCCEEDED IN MAKING A HORSE TO FILL THE GREEK PLAINS ... 

AND WHAT DID HE CALL HIS CREATION? TO ENGLISH SPEAKER'S, THE ANCIENT GREEK WORD FOR HORSE IS SOMEWHAT AMUSING. 

THE WORD WAS, HIPPIOS, OR, HIPPOS, AS IN HIPPOPOTAMUS... SOUNDS LIKE A POOR TRANSLATION, DOESN'T IT?

AND IN FACT, OUR WORD FOR THE HIPPOPOTAMUS IS DERIVED DIRECTLY FROM THE GREEK WITHOUT CHANGE. IT MEANT 'HORSE OF THE RIVER,' OR 'RIVER-HORSE.'

THE CONNECTION SEEMS ODD, BUT BECAUSE THERE WERE NO HIPPOPOTAMUSES IN GREECE, THEIR EXISTENCE WAS ALMOST MYTHICAL. 

BUT THINK ABOUT IT: POSEIDON WAS A GOD OF THE WATERS ... & THESE AWKWARD LOOKING ANIMALS LIVED IN WATER, IN RIVERS ...

THE SEA-GOD HAD CREATED HORSES ... TO THE GREEK IMAGINATION, THE HIPPOPOTAMUS WAS CLEARLY RELATED TO THE MAJESTIC LAND ANIMAL, THE HORSE ...

THEN, IN TIME, AS HERDS OF HORSES BECAME COMMON THROUGHOUT THE MEDITERRANEAN, POSEIDON BECAME KNOWN AS THE TAMER OF HORSES.

THAT THE SEA-GOD COULD BE ASSOCIATED WITH A LAND ANIMAL IS ANOTHER PARADOX THAT'S SIMILAR TO OTHERS WE'VE SEEN WITH ALL THE GODS.

REGARDLESS, THE MAJESTY OF A HORSE HAS BEEN CELEBRATED EVER SINCE. 

Ω

 IN MY LAST TWO NOVELS, CYCLADIC GIRLS & HOMO DIVINITAS, POSEIDON  SHOWS UP AS THE FATHER OF A CHARACTER I CREATED NAMED DANAE, A YOUNG WOMAN WHO'S A DEMI-GODDESS LIVING UNDER THE PROTECTION OF ARTEMIS. 

SHE BELIEVES HE'S DISAPPEARED, LIKE SO MANY OF THE MALE GODS HAD DONE. BUT TO HER AMAZEMENT, HE SIMPLY SHOWS UP, HERE TODAY, IN MODERN TIMES. 

YEAH, TALK ABOUT A DEAD BEAT DAD, JUST 1,500 YEARS BEHIND ON CHILD SUPPORT! 

THE STORY APPEARS IN CYCLADIC GIRLS, & YOU CAN FIND IN ON AMAZON!

Ω

THAT'S ONE BROTHER, POSEIDON ... BUT WHAT OF THE OTHER BROTHER, HADES, THE ONE WHO GOT THE DARK UNDERWORLD? ... HE WAS KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE ANCIENT WORLD AS THE 'UNSEEN ONE’ AS HE RULED IN A DIFFERENT PLANE OF EXISTENCE. 

TO THE ROMANS HE WAS PLUTO, THE MONARCH OF THE DEAD ... 

THE POET HESIOD WHO LIVED AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME AS HOMER, WROTE,

"... STRONG HADES, WHO UNDER THE GROUND

LIVES IN HIS PALACE ... & HAS A HEART WITHOUT PITY."

MORTALS ASSOCIATED HADES WITH SNAKES ... POMEGRANATES ... BLACK SHEEP ... CYPRESS TREES ... SCREECH OWLS & — LIKE POSEIDON — HORSES. 

HIS FAVORED COMPANION WAS A THREE-HEADED DOG NAMED CERBERUS ... 

IT WAS SAID THAT THE DOG ... WATCHED ALL THINGS, INCLUDING ANYONE ENTERING OR TRYING TO FLEE THE WORLD OF THE DEAD...

AND I SHOULD NOTE THAT HADES WAS RARELY REFERRED TO AS HADES ... SPEAKING HIS NAME, YOU SEE, WAS FAR TOO DANGEROUS. 

SAYING HADES, YOU MIGHT DRAW HIS ATTENTION ... INSTEAD, THE ANCIENTS USED ... EUPHEMISMS SUCH AS 'THE NOTORIOUS ONE' & ... 'HE WHO RECEIVES MANY.'

HE WAS ALSO CALLED 'THE UNYIELDING ONE,' AS HE WAS LOATHE TO RELEASE ANYONE WHO ENTERED HIS DARK KINGDOM.

WHEN SACRIFICES WERE MADE TO THE GOD OF DEATH, ALL WOULD ... TURN THEIR FACES AWAY SO AS NOT TO BE RECOGNIZED.

ANIMALS SACRIFICED TO HIM WERE ALL BLACK ... IMAGINE BLACK-WINGED BIRDS SUCH AS CROWS & GRACKLES ... BLACK SHEEP ... & CHARCOAL-COLORED GOATS.

HADES HAD A MAGNIFICENT CHARIOT DRAWN BY FOUR BLACK HORSES. THEY WERE GIFTS FROM POSEIDON… 

WHO, YOU HAVE TO ASSUME, WAS THRILLED HE’D WON THE SEA IN THAT LONG AGO GAME OF DRAWING LOTS.

Ω

I'LL PAUSE NOW TO MAKE A CLARIFICATION ... IN THE MODERN WORLD WE EQUATE HELL & HADES AS ONE. 

THINK OF AN OLD-FASHIONED CURSE LIKE "YOU CAN GO STRAIGHT TO HADES."

BUT TO THE GREEKS & ROMANS, HADES WAS A GOD, NOT A PLACE, & HIS KINGDOM WAS SIMPLY ... THE UNDERWORLD. 

Ω

THOSE WHO DIED HAD TO CROSS INTO THE UNDERWORLD BY WAY OF A RIVER CALLED THE STYX ... THE RIVER'S NAME MEANT 'HATRED OF DEATH.'

ALL WERE FERRIED ACROSS IT IN A RUNDOWN BOAT BY A DEITY NAMED CHARON WHO POWERED IT USING A LONG WOODEN STAFF. 

HE WAS ACCOMPANIED BY THE GOD HERMES ... FOR THE JOURNEY, CHARON CHARGED AN OBOLUS, A SMALL COIN, AS PAYMENT.

THE ANCIENT PRACTICE OF PLACING COINS IN THE EYES OF THE DEAD, OR A SINGLE COIN ON THE TONGUE OF THE DECEASED, IS DERIVED FROM CHARON'S DEMAND.

PAUPERS & THOSE TOO POOR TO PAY WERE LEFT ON THE BANKS OF THE STYX, FORCED TO BEG & PLEAD FOR PASSAGE ... IN TIME, IF IGNORED ... THEY BECAME MERE GHOSTS.

BUT ONCE ACROSS THE BLACK, RAPID WATERS OF THE STYX, THE DEAD FIRST CONFRONTED HADES’ DOG, CERBERUS, WHO HERDED THEM INTO THE GLOOM. 

THERE, AFTER A TRAUMATIC JOURNEY, THEY WOULD BE JUDGED ... 

WERE THEY THE OFFSPRING OF SOME GOD ... OR WERE THEY MERELY COMMONERS? WERE ANY HEROES AMONG THEM?

FURTHER COMPLICATING THEIR FATE, THEY HAD TO DRINK FROM ONE OF TWO WATERS, DEPENDING ON HOW THEY HAD CONDUCTED THEIR LIVES.

ONE WATER WAS THE RIVER LETHE. ALL WHO DRANK FROM THERE FORGOT EVERYTHING.

THE SECOND WATER WAS THE POOL OF MEMORY ... THIS WAS THE PREFERRED WATER AS IT ALLOWED VIVID MEMORIES OF ALL THAT HAD OCCURRED IN ONE’S LIFE ...

Ω

HADES RULED THE UNDERWORLD, BUT HIS ACTIONS AFFECTED THOSE ABOVE GROUND, TOO.  WITH ZEUS’ HELP, HE KIDNAPPED A YOUNG WOMAN NAMED PERSEPHONE, DRAGGING HER DOWN TO THE UNDERWORLD TO BE HIS WIFE.

HER MOTHER, DEMETER, DESPERATELY SEARCHED FOR HER. IN DEMETER’S GRIEF SHE MADE ALL CROPS FAIL, WHICH THREATENED MORTALS WITH FAMINE.

ZEUS KNEW THAT IF EVERYONE STARVED ... NO ONE WOULD BE LEFT TO WORSHIP THE GODS… CONSEQUENTLY, HE SENT THE GOD HERMES DOWN TO THE UNDERWORLD TO PLEAD FOR HER RETURN.

IN HOMER'S 2ND HYMN, HADES SAYS,

"Go now, Persephone, to your dark-robed mother ... go, yet feel kindly in your heart towards me. Be not cast down; for I shall be a fitting husband for you among the deathless gods ... And while you are here, you shall rule all that moves and shall have the greatest rights ... Those on the earth who do not appease you with offerings, reverently performing rites and paying gifts, shall be punished for evermore."

Ω

BUT HADES WASN'T PLAYING IT STRAIGHT...  AS HE PREPARED HIS CHARIOT TO RETURN THE GIRL, HE TRICKED HER. 

PERSEPHONE WAS UNAWARE THAT ANYONE WHO EATS WHILE UNDERGROUND ... CAN NEVER ESCAPE COMPLETELY.

HE GAVE HER A POMEGRANATE SEED, SAYING, "EAT THIS IF YOU GET HUNGRY." AND OF COURSE, SHE GOT HUNGRY. 

UNKNOWINGLY, SHE WAS NOW BOUND TO HADES & THE UNDERWORLD... DEMETER WAS FURIOUS, SO ZEUS WAS FORCED TO INTERVENE ONCE AGAIN & BROKER A DEAL.

THE DEAL WAS THAT PERSEPHONE WOULD SPEND 2/3s OF EVERY YEAR ABOVE GROUND ... BUT MUST FOREVER RETURN TO HADES FOR THE OTHER FOUR MONTHS.

IT WAS BELIEVED THAT DURING THIS TIME EVERY YEAR, WHILE SHE LIVES WITH THE DARK GOD HADES, THE EARTH EXPERIENCES WINTER. 

THIS “HALF A LOAF IS BETTER THAN NONE” RESULT ... WAS A WIN FOR HUMANITY ... IN THANKS FOR PERSEPHONE'S RETURN— 

WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE TOWN OF ELEUSIS NEAR ATHENS—HER MOTHER GAVE A GIFT KNOWN AS THE ELEUSIAN MYSTERIES. 

PARTICIPATING IN THESE MYSTERIES ... ASSURED MORTALS OF A GOOD SPOT IN THE UNDERWORLD. 

Ω

A LAST TAKE AWAY ABOUT HADES & DEATH:  HADES WAS SIMPLY THE LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD. ANOTHER GOD — THANATOS — WAS THE ACTUAL GOD OF DEATH.

THANATOS! ... NO ONE WANTED TO EVEN SAY HIS NAME ... HADES WAS FEARED, BUT THANATOS WAS HATED... HE WAS MERCILESS & INDISCRIMINATE. 

EVEN THE OTHER GODS ABHORRED HIS WORK. ONLY THE THREE GREEK FATES — LACHESIS, KLOTHO & AISA — NODDED KNOWINGLY, AS THEY ALONE KNEW THE PRECISE MOMENT OF EACH DEATH ...

THE FATES, BY THE WAY, ARE THE HEROINES OF MY FIRST NOVEL, THE WINNOWING ... THEY'RE DUPLICITOUS & WILLING TO DO ABOUT ANYTHING TO GET THEIR WAY.

UH-HUH ... YOU THINK YOU KNOW SOMEONE UNTIL ...  

Ω

BUT YOU'RE ASKING, WHAT BECAME OF POSEIDON? AND DID HADES DRIFT AWAY AS THE NEW RELIGION DENIED HIS VERY EXISTENCE?

INDEED, POSEIDON SLIPPED AWAY ... IT WAS EASY ... AS A MASTER OF WAVES & EARTHQUAKES, HIS EFFECTS WERE FELT FAR MORE FREQUENTLY THAN HIS FACE WAS SEEN ... 

TO THIS DAY, TRAGICALLY, HE REMINDS US OF HIS POWER ... EARTHQUAKES COME WITHOUT WARNING. MIGHTY TSUNAMIS CAN STRIKE WITH DEVASTATING EFFECTS… 

AND THE HORSE THAT HE CREATED FILLS THE STABLES OF THE WEALTHY & CARRIES TODAY’S COWBOY ON EVERY CONTINENT ....

Ω

AND HADES?

WHEN THE DEAD STOPPED ARRIVING ON THE BANKS OF THE STYX, DID HE ROLL SOME IMMENSE STONE ACROSS THE ENTRANCE TO THE UNDERWORLD & PUT UP A "CLOSED" SIGN?

NO... FOR THERE REMAINED THOSE WHOM THE CHRISTIANS CALLED PAGANS. THEY TOO  NEEDED A FINAL DESTINATION.

SO HADES MAINTAINS HIS DARK KINGDOM ... AS A GOD, HE WOULD NOT SIMPLY DISAPPEAR.

HIS FATE? ... THERE WAS NO "FATE." HIS LOVELY WIFE, PERSEPHONE, STILL JOINS HIM IN WINTER & EMERGES AT SPRINGTIME TO AWAKEN THE EARTH.

AND EVEN TODAY THE DARK LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD SITS ON HIS THRONE, SCRATCHING THE HEAD OF CERBERUS, HIS FEARSOME DOG ... & HIS DOORS REMAIN OPEN. 

Ω

IN OUR NEXT PODCAST, IT'S LADY'S NIGHT. 

APHRODITE AWAITS ...9 Z SHE'S THE GODDESS OF LOVE WHOM THE ROMANS RENAMED VENUS. I ASSURE YOU SHE'S FAR MORE FUN THAN POSEIDON, HADES — & CERTAINLY THE GOD OF DEATH, THANATOS ...

JOIN ME ... FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY. THIS IS YOUR HOST, PATRICK GARNER ...

And thanks for listening... Be sure to visit PatrickGarnerBooks-dot-com or find me on Amazon. My three novels are set in today’s world and feature Greek gods who meddle and maneuver as they always have ...