Re: [tied] Neptune, Poseidon, Danu, etc.

The Greek gods and goddesses had enough attributes, myths, and so on
to relate them to just about anyone you want.

It seems to me, though, that Eurynome has the closest connection to
the Near Eastern 'cosmic ocean' goddess and her serpentine consort.
According to one source, Hera was the parthenogenic mother of Typhon,
which would also associate her with this Near Eastern role. As has
been already noted, Athena was connected with the serpent-god, but
this also works as its slayer - first supporting Zeus against Typhon
and then Perseus against the snake-haired Medusa.

PS: Cadmus and Apollo were both serpent slayers - probably versions
of the same god and myth, IMO. Strangely, Apollo's image was as a
dragon in his temple on Delos. This serpent/dragon slayer having this
beast as his totemic animal is also found quite commonly in the IE
religions, with clans adorning their coats of arms with it, claiming
descent from a dragon slayer. The Welsh have one on their national
flag. The Vikings carved them on their ships, Anglo-Saxons painted
them on their shields.

The aegis of Zeus and Athena had Medusa's head, which was probably
derived from Medusa as a dragon/serpent. The aegis was emblematic of
storms, with Athena and Zeus both storm deities.

--- In cybalist@..., "João S. Lopes Filho" <jodan99@...> wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <MrCaws@...>
> To: <cybalist@...>
> Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 4:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [tied] Neptune, Poseidon, Danu, etc.
>
>
> > 1: I agree, but is this necessarily just PIE? Sumerian Lord of
> > Underground waters Enki is pretty old,
> > 2: So a grafting on of an IE deity to a non-IE or at least
different
> > IE Lord of Waters perhaps?
>
> Like all main great Greek gods, Poseidon is a very complex deity.
It's hard
> to distinguish IE and non-IE traits. There's a large amount of
> superpositions.
>
> > 4:Enki was sometimes depicted as a serpent, other times as a
fish. He
> > seemed to be at the head of the Sumerian pantheon at one point(In
my
> > opinion, anyway). Heads of the pantheon are often consorts of the
> > goddess and often have serpent attributes.
> > I am interested in the Hephaistos comparison-What traits do you
see
> > in common?
>
> I think Hephaistos had a role as a sort of consort of Athena (at
least in
> Athens). His role of a consort of the Great Goddess, but he bother
her and
> she cast him below. This myth has many counterparts across Greece
and
> Western Asia. I think
> it's the main source of legends of quarrels between a god and
goddess (the
> god is allways defeated) : Poseidon x Hera in Argos; Poseidon x
Athena in
> Athens. I'd also include some interesting couples:
> Ares (father of the Kadmus serpent) and Aphrodite in Thebas.
> Kekrops/Erikhthonios and Athenas in Athens (Hephaistos is
considered the
> father of snake-bodied Erikhthonios)
> Python and Leto in Delphi and Delos.
> Eden's Snake and Eva.
>
>
>
> > 5. The consort of the goddess is often a Lord of the Wilderness
> > figure such as this. I definetly think there are reasons to
connect
> > Poseidon to this archetype/role as well. I wonder if this
reflects an
> > earlier role he played in old Mediterranean/Near Eastern myth?
> > 6.Hmmm. I will have to get back to you on that one too.
>
> Yes, the Lord of Wilderness was the Goddess's consort in Old
European myths.
> I'd like to add to the trais of Poseidon his relation to Ugaritic
Yam, the
> Serpentlike God of Sea. His consort was the beautiful Athtart (I
think she's
> the source of Greek Amphitrite)
>
> > Mr. Caws
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >