Curated playlist
Deities in the Aeneid
- HeraThe Greek goddess Hera renewed her virginity every year in a spring near Nauplia. The rites were not to be spoken of.
- Jupiter (god)Rome's high priest of Jupiter could not swear an oath. He also could not ride a horse or touch raw meat.
- ArtemisNo ancient Greek records describe the goddess Artemis as a moon deity. Romans linked her to the moon through Diana.
- Juno (mythology)The words money and mint trace back to a Roman goddess, Juno. Her title Moneta named the place where coins were made.
- Mercury (mythology)Two Roman consuls fought over who could dedicate the god Mercury's temple in 495 BC.
- Venus (mythology)The Roman goddess Venus was once shown with a beard in Cyprus. Her worshippers there cross-dressed.
- HadesBy around the 5th century BC, the Greeks had largely stopped saying Hades's name aloud.
- Mars (mythology)Mars, the Roman god of war, also guarded crops and cattle. Farmers asked him to drive off "rust" from the harvest.
- EosEos got her lover Tithonus immortality but forgot eternal youth. In the end she turned him into a cicada.
- HeliosHeracles once aimed his bow at Helios, the Greek sun god, for scorching him. Helios then lent him a golden cup.
- Iris (mythology)Iris, the Greek personification of the rainbow, has no temple, no shrine and no festival that anyone can name. Yet she turns up everywhere in ancient storytelling. She appears in epic poems, in tragedies, and even in a comedy about birds…
- HecateIn the 1st century CE, Ovid wrote of Hecate: "Look at Hecate, standing guard at the crossroads, one face looking in each direction." Hecate belonged to ancient Greek religion and mythology. Artists usually showed her with torches, a key,…
- CirceCirce, the enchantress of Greek mythology, is called by Homer "a dreadful goddess with lovely hair and human speech." The phrase captures the trouble with her. She is a witch, yet she is sometimes treated as a goddess and sometimes as a…