Inô - Leukothea | Ινω - Λευκοθεα

I Call Leucothea, of great Cadmus born,
And Bacchus' nurse, whom ivy leaves adorn.
Hear, pow'rful Goddess, in the mighty deep
Wide and profound, thy Ration doom'd to keep:
In waves rejoicing, guardian of mankind; 5
For ships from thee alone deliv'rance find
Amidst the fury of th' unstable main,
When art no more avail, and strength is vain;
When rushing billows with tempestuous ire
O'erwhelm the mariner in ruin dire, 10
Thou hear'st, with pity touch'd, his suppliant pray'r,
Resolv'd his life to succour and to spare.
Be ever present, Goddess! in distress,
Waft ships along with prosperous success:
Thy mystics thro' the stormy sea defend, 15
And safe conduct them to their destin'd end.

Orphic Hymn, LXXIII: To Leucothea

In Greek mythology, Leucothea (Greek: Leukothea (Λευκοθέα), "white goddess") was one of the aspects under which an ancient sea goddess was recognized, in this case as a transformed nymph.


In the more familiar variant, Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, sister of Semele, and queen of Athamas, became a goddess after Hera drove her insane as a punishment for caring for the newborn Dionysus. She leapt into the sea with her son Melicertes in her arms, and out of pity, the Hellenes asserted, the Olympian gods turned them both into sea-gods, transforming Melicertes into Palaemon, the patron of the Isthmian games, and Ino into Leucothea.


In the version sited at Rhodes, a much earlier mythic level is reflected in the genealogy: there, the woman who plunged into the sea and became Leucothea was Halia ("of the sea", a personification of the saltiness of the sea) whose parents were from the ancient generation, Thalassa and Pontus or Uranus. She was a local nymph and one of the aboriginal Telchines of the island. Halia became Poseidon's wife and bore him Rhodos/Rhode and six sons; the sons were maddened by Aphrodite in retaliation for an impious affront, assaulted their sister and were confined beneath the Earth by Poseidon. Thus the Rhodians traced their mythic descent from Rhode and the Sun god Helios.[1]


In the Odyssey (5.333 ff.) Leucothea makes a dramatic appearance as a gannet who tells the shipwrecked Odysseus to discard his cloak and raft and offers him a veil (κρήδεμνον, kredemnon) to wind round himself to save his life and reach land. Homer makes her the transfiguration of Ino. In Laconia, she has a sanctuary, where she answers people's questions about dreams. This is her form of the oracle.

From: Wiki

LEUKOTHEA (or Leucothea) was a sea goddess who aided sailors in distress. She was once a mortal princess named Ino, a daughter of King Kadmos (Cadmus) of Thebes. She and her husband Athamas incurred the wrath of Hera when they fostered the infant god Dionysos. As punishment Hera drove Athamas into a murderous rage and he slew his eldest child. Ino grapped the other, and in her flight leapt off a cliff into the sea. The pair were welcomed into the company of the marine gods and renamed Leukothea (the White Goddess) and Palaimon. Leukothea later came to the aid of Odysseus when his raft had been destroyed by Poseidon, and wrapped him in the safety of her buoyant shawl.


The Romans identified her with the goddess Mater Matuta.

(...)

LEUCOTHEA THE SEA GODDESS, MISCELLANY


Pindar, Pythian Ode 11. 1 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"Daughter of Kadmos (Cadmus), Semele from your high place amidst the queens of heaven, and Ino Leukothea (Leucothea), you who dwell by the immortal sea-nymphai, Nereus' daughters, come with the noble mother of Herakles (Heracles) to the shrine of Melia, to the treasure-house of golden tripods, the temple that above all others Apollon held in honour, and he named it the Ismenion, the seat of prophecy that known no lie. Daughters of Harmonia, the god now summons to assemble here that band of heroine women who dwelt within this land, that you may sing in praise of holy Themis and Pytho, and the centre-stone of earth, whose word is justice--here as evening's shadows fall."


Alcman, Fragment 50 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric II) (Greek lyric C7th B.C.) :
"Ino Thalassomedoisa (Queen of the Sea)."


Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 28 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Now she [Ino] is called Leukothea (Leucothea), and her son is Palaimon (Palaemon): these names they receive from those who sail, for they help sailors beset by storms."


Orphic Hymn 74 to Leucothea (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"To Leukothea (Leucothea), Fumigation from Aromatics. I call, Leukothea, of great Kadmos (Cadmus) born, and Dionysos' nurse, who ivy leaves adorn. Hear, powerful Goddess, in the mighty deep vast-bosomed, destined thy domain to keep: in waves rejoicing, guardian of mankind; for ships from thee alone deliverance find, amidst the fury of the unstable main, when art no more avails, and strength is vain. When rushing billows with tempestuous ire overwhelm the mariner in ruin dire, thou hearest with pity touched his suppliant prayer, resolved his life to succour and to spare. Be ever present, Goddess! In distress, waft ships along with prosperous success: thy mystics through the stormy sea defend, and safe conduct them to their destined end."


Ovid, Heroides 19. 123 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"With what great waves the shores [of the Hellespontos] are beaten, and what dark clouds envelop and hide the day! It may be the loving mother [Nephele the Cloud] of Helle has come to the sea, and is lamenting in downpouring tears the drowning of her child--or is the step-dame [Ino], turned to a goddess of the waters [Leukothea], vexing the sea that is called by her step-child's hated name?"


Virgil, Georgics 1. 432 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) :
"If at her [the moon's] fourth rising she pass through the sky clear and with undimmed horns, then all that day, and the days born of it to the month's end, shall be free from rain and wind; and the sailors, safe in port, shall pay their vows on the shore to Glaucus, and to Panopea, and to Melicerta, Ino's son."


Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2. 585 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"This realm [the Hellespont] the father of the deep [Poseidon] himself awarded me [Helle, stepdaughter of Ino, also transformed into a sea-goddess], willing justly, and our gulf envies not Ino's sea [the Gulf of Corinth]."


Propertius, Elegies 2. 26 (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) :
"How I feared lest the sea perchance should take you name and mariners sailing your waters should weep for you. What vows did I then make to Neptunus [Poseidon], to Castor and his brother [the Dioskouroi], and to you, Leucothoe, a goddess now!"


Propertius, Elegies 2. 28 :
"Ino also in early life wandered over the earth: now she is invoked as Leucothoe by sailors in distress."


Seneca, Oedipus 444 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :
"Cadmean Ino, foster-mother of shining Bacchus [Dionysos], holds the realms of the deep, encircled by bands of Nereides dancing; over the waves of the mighty deep a boy holds sway, new come, the kinsman of Bacchus, no common god, Palaemon."


Statius, Thebaid 1. 120 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"[The] Isthmus scarce withstood the waves on either side. With her own hand his mother [Leukothea] snatched Palaemon from the curved back of his straying dolphin steed and pressed him to her bosom."


Statius, Silvae 3. 2. 1 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) :
"But above all others thou, Palaemon, with the goddess mother [Leukothea], be favourable [on this sea-voyage], if 'tis thy desire that I [the poet Statius] should tell of thine own Thebes, and sing of Amphion, bard of Phoebus, with no unworthy quill."


Nonnus, Dionysiaca 9. 59 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"You [Ino] shall ever live with Melikertes (Melicertes) your immortal son as Leukothea, holding the key of calm waters, mistress of good voyage next to Aiolos (Aeolus) [god of the winds]. The merchant seaman trusting in you shall have a fineweather voyage over the brine; he shall set up one altar for the Earthshaker and Melikertes, and do sacrifice to both together."


Nonnus, Dionysiaca 20. 350 ff :
"Lykourgos (Lycurgus) indignant [that Dionysos had escaped him by fleeing into the sea] shouted aloud to the water--‘I wish my father [Ares] had taught me not war alone, but how to deal with the sea! . . . But since I have not learnt the work of seafaring fishers, and know nothing of the tricks of hunting in the deep with a cunning mesh of nets, you may have Leukothea's house in the watery deep, until I can dislodge both you and Melikertes (Melicertes) as they call him, another of your kin . . .
‘Ho Fishermen! Searchers of the haunts of Nereus! Spread not your nets for the denizens of the deep, but haul out Dionysos in the meshes! Let Leukothea (Leucothea) be caught along with Lyaios, and let her come back to the land.’"


Nonnus, Dionysiaca 21. 170 ff :
"In the Erythraian (Red) Sea, the daughters of Nereus [Nereides] cherished Dionysos [driven to refuge in the sea by Lykourgos] at their table, in their halls deep down under the waves. Mermaid Ino threw off her jealousy of [her sister] Semele's bed divine, and struck up a brave hymn for winepouring Lyaios [Dionysos]. Ino the nurse of Dionysos made music; and Melikertes his foster-brother ladled out nectar from the bowl, and poured the sweet cups for his agemate. So he remained in the hall deep down in the waves under the waters, and he lay sprawled among the seaweed in Thetis' bosom; he embraced never satisfied Kadmos' (Cadmus') daughter, Ino his nurse, mother of a noble son, sister of his own mother, and often he held in the loving prison of his arms Palaimon (Palaemon) his yearsmate, his foster-brother."


Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 253 ff :
"[When Poseidon led the sea-gods into battle against Dionysos and his allies in the Indian War:] The tribes of Nereides sounded for their sire the cry of battle-triumph: unshod, half hidden in the brine, the company rushed raging to combat over the sea. Restless Ino [Leukothea] speeding unarmed into strife with the Satyroi, fell again into her old madness spitting white foam from her maddened lips."

(...)

CULT & CULT IMAGES OF LEUCOTHEA


Alcman, Fragment 4a (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric II) (Greek lyric C7th B.C.) :
"I came to the lovely sanctuary of Leukothea (Leucothea)."


Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 15 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :
"In Greece they worship a number of deified human beings . . . Leucothea, formerly Ino, and her son Palaemon [worshipped] throughout the whole of Greece."


Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 19 :
"Ino is to be deemed divine, under the title Leucothea in Greece and Matuta at Rome, she is the daughter of Cadmus."


I) CULT IN MEGARIS (SOUTHERN GREECE)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 44. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"There are legends about these rocks [the Molourian Rocks on the coast of Megara] . . . it is said that from it Ino flung herself into the sea with Melikertes (Melicertes) . . . The Molourian Rock they though sacred to Leukothea (Leucothea) and Palaimon (Palaemon)."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 42. 7 :
"On the road to the town-hall [of Megara] is the shrine of the heroine Ino, about which is a fencing of stones, and beside it grows olives. The Megarians are the only Greeks who say that the corpse of Ino was cast up on their coast, that Kleos (Cleos) and Tauropolis, the daughters of Kleson (Cleson), son of Lelex, found and buried it, and they say that among them first was she nnamed Leukothea (Leucothea), and that every year they offer her sacrifice."


II) CULT IN KORINTHOS (CORINTH) (SOUTHERN GREECE)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 2. 1 :
"Within the enclosure [of Poseidon at Korinthos] is on the left a temple of Palaimon (Palaemon), with images in it of Poseidon, Leukothea (Leucothea) and Palaimon himself."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 3. 4 :
"After the image of Hermes [on the road from Korinthos (Corinth) to its port of Lekhaion] come Poseidon, Leukothea, and Palaimon on a dolphin."


Statius, Silvae 2. 2. 34 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) :
"The lofty height of Bacchic Ephyre [Corinth], is the covered way that leads from Lechaeum, of Ino's fame."
[N.B. Lechaeum was the Corinthian port connected with teh cult of Ino and Palaimon.]


III) CULT IN LAKEDAIMONIA (SOUTHERN GREECE)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 23. 8 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"About two stades to the right [of Epidauros Limera in Lakedaimon] is the water of Ino, as it is called, in extent like a small lake, but going deeper into the earth. Into this water they throw cakes of barley meal at the festival of Ino. If good luck is portended to the thrower, the water keeps them under. But if it brings them to the surface, it is judged a bad sign."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 26. 1 :
"On [the road from Oitylos to Thalamai in Lakonia] is a sanctuary of Ino and an oracle. They consult the oracle in sleep, and the goddess reveals whatever they wish to learn, in dreams. Bronze statues of Pasiphae and of Helios (the Sun) stand in the unroofed part of the sanctuary [of Ino at Thalamai]. It was not possible to see the one within the temple clearly, owing to the garlands, but they say this too is of bronze. Water, sweet to drink, flows from a sacred spring. Pasiphae is a title of Selene, and is not a local goddess of the people of Thalamai (Thalamae)."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 19. 3 - 5 :
"On the altar [of Apollon at Amyklai in Lakonia] are wrought in relief . . . Zeus and Hermes are conversing; near stand Dionysos and Semele, with Ino by her side."


Lycophron, Alexandra 105 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"On the beach she [Helene in Sparta] burns the firstling of the flocks to the Thysad Nympha and the goddess Byne [Leukothea]."


IV) CULT IN KOLKHIS (BLACK SEA)


Strabo, Geography 11. 2. 17 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Above the aforesaid rivers [the Phasis] in the Moskhian country [Kolkhis (Colchis), at the Eastern end of the Black Sea] lies the temple of Leukothea, founded by Phrixos [her step-son], and the oracle of Phrixos, where a ram is never sacrificed; it was once rich, but it was robbed in our time by Pharnakes, and a little later by Mithridates of Pergamon."


V) CULT IN TYRRHENIA (CENTRAL ITALY)


Aelian, Historical Miscellany 1. 20 (trans. Wilson) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to 3rd A.D.) :
"Dionysios [Sicilian tyrant, ca. 430-367 B.C.] stole objects from all the temples of Syrakousa (Syracuse) . . . He [also] sailed to Tyrrhenia [Etruria] and stole all the property of Apollon and Leukothea (Leucothea)."

For more see her THEOI page

Ino is the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. She was the sister of Agave, Semele, and Autonoe. This is important because all of Cadmus and Haromonia's children have some kind of tragedy to happen to them. Semele, Dionysus' mother, was killed when a thunderbolt from Zeus burned her to ashes; Agave killed her son Pentheus when she was afflicted with Dionysic madness; and Acteon, Autonoe's son, was killed by his own hunting dogs when he accidentally saw Artemis naked. Therefor, it would be a safe bet that Ino will also have a tragic ending.


Ino married King Athamas of Orchomenus on the western shore of Lake Copais, capital of Boetia. Athamas married Ino after tiring of his first wife Nephele. Upon hearing that Athamas was taking another wife, Nephele complained bitterly to Hera about Athamas' infidelity.


One year the crops went bad and the famine hit Orchomenus hard, so Athamas sent messengers to the Delphi Oracle to see what could be done to stop the famine. Ino secretly bribed the messenger to come back with the message that Athamas must sacrifice his son by Nephele, Phrixes. Ino did this out of her selfish desire to see one of her two sons with Athamas, Learchus or Melicertes, receive the kingdom at Athamas' death. Athamas had Phrixes on the altar and was about to sacrifice him when a golden ram appeared by the altar. Phrixes and his sister Helle climbed on the ram's back and they flew towards the east. As the ram was going over the straits between the northern Aegean and the Propontis, Helle fell off of the rams back into the straits below and that is why that spot is still called Hellespont. The ram kept flying until it reached Colchis in the land of Aea at the eastern end of the Black Sea. Here, Phrixes sacrificed the ram to Zeus to show his appreciation for being delivered from Ino's vengeance. Phrixes gave the skin to Aeetes, the king of Aea. This is one story of the origins of the Golden Fleece that Jason is sent to retrieve for Pelias.


As revenge for Nephele and for Ino raising Dionysus, Hera struck Athamas. Athamas, thinking that Learchus was a ram, shot an arrow through Learchus then tore his body to pieces. Ino, like any frightened mother, took her other son, Melicertes and fled the castle. With Athamas in hot pursuit, Ino ran to the Molurian Rock where she desperately jumped into the river below, drowning herself as well as Melicertes. Zeus, not wanting Ino's ghost to go to Tartus for she did raise his son Dionysus, turned Ino into the sea deity, Leucotha (white goddess) and Melicertes into Palaemon.


Another version of the story has Hera afflicting both Ino and Athamas with madness. Ino boils Melicertes in a cauldron, than picks up the cauldron and flees. Then she jumps over the cliff with the cauldron still in her arms.


The madness caused within Ino's house can be attributed to her association with Dionysus. It seems that no one can escape the effects of being around Dionysus. People who resist him are turned mad in fits of Bacchae madness, and people who follow him are also afflicted with the madness.

From: Here

"The White Goddess", the name of Ino as a marine deity, which she became when she threw herself into the sea with her son Melicertes. However, Dionysus would not let her die, and she was transformed into Leucothea.

From: Here

DIONYSOS FAVOUR: INO & MELIKERTES
LOCALE: Thebes & Mt Nysa, Boiotia (Central Greece)


I) INO ESCAPES THE WRATH OF HER HUSBAND


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 4 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Athamas, King in Thessaly, thought that his wife Ino . . . had perished, and so he married Themisto . . . Later he discovered that Ino was on Parnassus, where she had gone for Bacchic revels. He sent someone to bring her home."


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 2 :
"He [Phrixos] was led to the altar, wearing fillets of sacrifice, but he servant, out of pity for the youth revealed Ino's plans [an elaborate deception contrived to do away with her stepchildren] to Athamas. The king, informed of the crime, gave over his wife Ino and her son Melicertes to be put to death, but Father Liber [Dionysos] cast mist around her, and saved Ino his nurse."


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 3 :
"While Phrixus and Helle [the stepchildren of his nurse Ino] under madness sent by Liber [Dionysos] were wandering in a forest, Nebula [Nephele] their mother is said to have come there bringing a gilded ram . . . She bade her children mount it, and journey to Colchis."


Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 416 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Bacchus' [Dionysos'] divinity was hymned through all Thebae, and Ino everywhere told of the god’s (her nephew’s) mighty power. Of all the sisters she alone was spared sorrow except her sorrow for her sake. Her pride was high, pride in her children, pride in Athamas, her husband and the god, her foster-child."


II) THE APOTHEOSIS OF INO & MELIKERTES


Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 26-29 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"At the proper time Zeus loosened the stitches and gave birth to Dionysos, whom he entrusted to Hermes. Hermes took him to Ino and Athamas, and persuaded them to bring him up as a girl. Incensed, Hera inflicted madness on them, that Athamas stalked and slew his elder son Learkhos on the conviction that he was a dear, while Ino threw Melikertes into a basin of boiling water, and then, carrying both the basin and the corpse of the boy, she jumped to the bottom of the sea. Now she is called Leukothea, and her son is Palaimon: these names they receive from those who sail, for they help sailors beset by storms. Also, the Isthmian games were established by Sisyphos in honor of Melikertes."


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 2 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Later, Athamas, driven mad by Jove [an error, should read Juno, Hera], slew his son Learchus. But Ino, with Melicertes her son, threw herself into the sea. Liber [Dionysos] would have her called Leucothea, and Melicertes, her son the god Palaemon, but we call her Mater Matuta, and him Portunus. In his honour every fifth year gymnastic contests are held, which are called Isthmian."


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 224 :
"Mortals who were made immortal . . . Ino, daughter of Cadmus, into Leucothea, whom we call Mater Matuta; Melicertes, son of Athamas, into the god Palaemon."

From: Theoi, Dionysos Favor page

In Greek mythology Ino (/ˈaɪnoʊ/ Greek: Ἰνώ [iː'nɔː][1]) was a mortal queen of Thebes, who after her death and transfiguration was worshiped as a goddess under her epithet Leucothea, the "white goddess." Alcman called her "Queen of the Sea" (θαλασσομέδουσα),[2] which, if not hyperbole, would make her a doublet of Amphitrite.


In her mortal self, Ino, the second wife of the Minyan king Athamas, the mother of Learches and Melicertes, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia[3] and stepmother of Phrixus and Helle, was one of the three sisters of Semele, the mortal woman of the house of Cadmus who gave birth to Dionysus. The three sisters were Agave, Autonoë and Ino, who was a surrogate for the divine nurses of Dionysus: "Ino was a primordial Dionysian woman, nurse to the god and a divine maenad" (Kerenyi 1976:246).


Maenads were reputed to tear their own children limb from limb in their madness. In the back-story to the heroic tale of Jason and the Golden Fleece, Phrixus and Helle, twin children of Athamas and Nephele, were hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the crop seeds of Boeotia so they would not grow.[4] The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Athamas reluctantly agreed. Before he was killed though, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Helle fell off the ram into the Hellespont (which was named after her, meaning Sea of Helle) and drowned, but Phrixus survived all the way to Colchis, where King Aeetes took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter, Chalciope, in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the golden fleece of the ram, which Aeetes hung in a tree in his kingdom.


Later, Ino raised Dionysus, her nephew, son of her sister Semele,[5] causing Hera's intense jealousy. In vengeance, Hera struck Athamas with insanity. Athamas went mad, slew one of his sons, Learchus, thinking he was a ram, and set out in frenzied pursuit of Ino. To escape him Ino threw herself into the sea with her son Melicertes. Both were afterwards worshipped as marine divinities, Ino as Leucothea ("the white goddess"), Melicertes as Palaemon. Alternatively, Ino was also stricken with insanity and killed Melicertes by boiling him in a cauldron, then took the cauldron and jumped into the sea with it. A sympathetic Zeus didn't want Ino to die, and transfigured her and Melicertes as Leucothea and Palaemon.


The story of Ino, Athamas and Melicertes is relevant also in the context of two larger themes. Ino, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, had an end just as tragic as her siblings: Semele died while pregnant with Zeus' child, killed by her own pride and lack of trust in her lover; Agave killed her own son, King Pentheus, while struck with Dionysian madness, and Actaeon, son of Autonoe, the third sibling, was torn apart by his own hunting dogs. Also, the insanity of Ino and Athamas, who hunted his own son Learchos as a stag and slew him, can be explained as a result of their contact with Dionysus, whose presence can cause insanity. None can escape the powers of Dionysus, the god of wine. Euripides took up the tale in The Bacchae, explaining their madness in Dionysiac terms, as a result of their having initially resisted belief in the god's divinity.


When Athamas returned to his second wife, Ino, Themisto (his third wife) sought revenge by dressing her children in white clothing and Ino's in black and directing the murder of the children in black. Ino switched their clothes without Themisto knowing and she killed her own children.


Transformed into the goddess Leucothea, Ino also represents one of the many sources of divine aid to Odysseus in the Odyssey (5:333ff), her earliest appearance in literature. Homer calls her "Ino-Leocothea of the beautiful ankles [καλλίσφυρος], daughter of Cadmus, who was once a mortal speaking with the tongue of men, but now in the salt sea-waters has received honor at the hands of the gods". Providing Odysseus with a veil and telling him to discard his cloak and raft, she instructs him how he can entrust himself to the waves and succeed in reaching land and eventually Ithaca.


In historical times, a sisterhood of maenads of Thebes in the service of Dionysus traced their descent in the female line from Ino; we know this because an inscription at Magnesia on the Maeander summoned three maenads from Thebes, from the house of Ino, to direct the new mysteries of Dionysus at Magnesia (Burkert 1992:44).

From: Wiki

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Ino

Kheiron/Chiron - Χειρων

Teaching the young Achilles:


As a constellation:

KHEIRON (or Chiron) was the eldest and wisest of the Centaurs, a tribe of half-horse men. But unlike the rest of this tribe he was an immortal god, a son of the Titan Kronos and half-brother of Zeus. Kheiron's mother was the nymph Philyra who was coupling with Kronos when his wife suddenly appeared on the scene. To escape notice he transformed himself into a horse, and in this way sired a half-equine son. Some time later when a tribe of Kentauroi (or Centaurs) were spawned on Mount Pelion by the cloud nymph Nephele, Kheiron and his daughters took them into their care and raised them as their own.


The Kentauros was a great teacher who mentored many of the great heroes of myth including Jason, Peleus, Asklepios, Aristaios and Akhilleus. Eventually, however, he passed away from the earth, after accidentally being wounded by Herakles with an arrow coated in Hydra-venom. The wound was incurable, and unbearably painfall, so Kheiron voluntarily relinquished his immortality and died. However, instead of being consigned to Haides, he was given a place amongst the stars by Zeus as the constellation Saggitarius or Centaurus.


Kheiron's name was derived from the Greek word for hand (kheir), which also meant "skilled with the hands." The name was also closely associated in myth with kheirourgos or surgeon. In Athenian vase painting Kheiron was depicted with the full-body of a man, from head to foot, clothed in chiton and boots, with a horse-body attached to the human rump. The image probably reflected his appearance in Greek drama, where costume-limitations reduced his centaurine-form somewhat. By contrast the other Kentauroi, who do not appear in Athenian drama, were depicted unclothed with fully equine forms below the waist.

(snip)

CHIRON INVENTOR OF MEDICINE & SURGERY


Homer, Iliad 11. 832 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
"[Eurypylos addresses Patroklos in the Trojan War:] ‘Cut the arrow out of my thigh . . . and put kind medicines on it, good ones, which they say you have been told of by Akhilleus, since Kheiron (Chiron), most righteous of the Kentauroi (Centaurs), told him about them.’"


Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 175 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Phoinix had been blinded by his father . . . Peleus led Phoinix to Kheiron (Chiron), who healed his eyes."


Aelian, On Animals 2. 18 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) :
"In Homer skill in treating the wounded and persons in need of medicine goes back as far as the third generation of pupil and master [see Iliad 11. 832 above]. Thus Patroklos, son of Mentoitios, is taught the healing art by Akhilleus (Achilles), and Akhilleus, son of Peleus, is taught by Kheiron (Chiron), son of Kronos (Cronus). And heroes and children of the gods learnt about the nature of roots, the use of different herbs, the concocting of drugs, spells to reduce inflammations, the way to staunch blood, and everything else that they knew."


Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 1 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) (trans. Pearse) (Greek mythographer C1st to C2nd A.D.) :
"Kokytos was the name of a pupil to whom Kheiron (Chiron) had taught medicine and who cared for Adonis when he was wounded by the wild boar."


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 274 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Inventors and their inventions . . . Chiron, son of Saturnus [Kronos, Cronus], first used herbs in the medical art of surgery."


Virgil, Georgics 3. 549 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) :
"[A great dearth is followed by hunger and disease:] On this land from the sickened sky there once came a piteous season that glowed with autumn's full heat . . . masters in the art [of medicine] fail, Chiron Phyllyrides (son of Phillyra), and Melampus, Amythaon's son."


Propertius, Elegies 2. 1 (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) :
"Medicine can cure all human pains . . . Chiron, son of Phillyra, healed the blindness of Phoenix."


Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7. 197 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) :
"[On inventions:] The science of herbs and drugs was discovered by Chiron the son of Saturnus [Kronos] and Philyra."


Statius, Silvae 1. 4. 98 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) :
"If there be any herb [to cure this illness] in twy-formed Chiron's health-giving cave."


Nonnus, Dionysiaca 35. 60 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"What ridge of the paturing woodlands must I traverse to summon old lifebringing Kheiron (Chiron) to help your wound? Or where can I find medicines, the secrets of Paieon the Healer's [Asklepios] painassuaging art? Would that I had what they call the herb Kentaurida (of the Centaur), that I might bind the flower of no-pain upon your limbs, and bring you back safe and living from Haides whence none returns! What magic hymn have I, or song from the stars, that I may chant the ditty with Euian voice divine, and stay the flow of blood from your wounded side? Would I had here beside me the fountain of life, that I might pour on your limbs that painstilling water and assuage your adorable wound, to bring back even your soul to you again!"

For the rest, see THEOI entry

Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild and lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents. Chiron, by contrast, was intelligent, civilized and kind, but he was not related directly to the other centaurs.[2] He was known for his knowledge and skill with medicine. According to an archaic myth[3] he was sired by Cronus when he had taken the form of a horse[4] and impregnated the nymph Philyra,[5] Chiron's lineage was different from other centaurs, who were born of sun and raincloud, rendered by Greeks of the Classic period as from the union of the king Ixion, consigned to a fiery wheel, and Nephele ("cloud"), which in the Olympian telling Zeus invented to look like Hera. Myths in the Olympian tradition attributed Chiron's uniquely peaceful character and intelligence to teaching by Apollo and Artemis in his younger days.


Chiron frequented Mount Pelion; there he married the nymph Chariclo who bore him three daughters, Hippe (also known as Melanippe (also the name of her daughter), the "Black Mare" or Euippe, "truly a mare"), Endeis, and Ocyrhoe, and one son Carystus.


A great healer, astrologer, and respected oracle, Chiron was said to be the first among centaurs and highly revered as a teacher and tutor. Among his pupils were many culture heroes: Asclepius, Aristaeus, Ajax, Aeneas, Actaeon, Caeneus, Theseus, Achilles, Jason, Peleus, Telamon, Perseus, sometimes Heracles, Oileus, Phoenix, and in one Byzantine tradition, even Dionysus: according to Ptolemaeus Chennus of Alexandria, "Dionysius was loved by Chiron, from whom he learned chants and dances, the bacchic rites and initiations."[6]

(...)

From: Wiki

Chiron (or Cheiron) was a noble centaur, half-man and half-horse, the son of the Titan Cronos (Cronus). Chiron was unique among the centaurs, because the others, who are descended from Ixion, were badly behaved. Chiron taught (music, medicine, horses, hunting, and martial arts*) several Greek heroes: Achilles, Asclepius (Asculapius), Herakles (Hercules), Jason, Aeneas, and Peleus.


Chiron is credited with inventing medicine, a topic in which he instructed the heroes -- a good thing too since the athletic heroes must have made ample use of a short course in sports medicine. In the story of Phineus and the Harpies, Jason uses this received instruction to remove the curse of blindness from the king's eyes.


During a fight with the Ixion-sired Centaurs, Herakles accidentally wounded Chiron with a poisoned arrow. Chiron willingly gave up his immortality in order to die. Hyginus (2.3 says he was placed among the stars as either the constellation Centaurus or Sagittarius.

From: Here

Cheiron (Χείρων) was the most famous Centaur. Not only was Cheiron immortal, but he was one of the wisest beings on earth. Cheiron was the son of the Titan Cronus and Philyra, who was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.


Cronus had raped Philyra, while he was in the form of a stallion. When she gave birth to the Centaur, she was so ashamed that the gods had taken pity on her and had transformed her into a linden tree.


Cheiron had married Chariclo and they had several daughters – Endeis, Ocyrrhoe (Menalippe) and Theia. Endeis had married Aeacus, king of Aegina. This would make Peleus, his grandson, while Achilles would be his great-grandson.


Cheiron befriended many heroes, including Heracles and Peleus. Some heroes were even brought up by the wise Centaur, like Jason and Achilles. Cheiron taught these heroes how to hunt, and fight.


Cheiron was also a famous healer, who had taught Asclepius, son of Apollo, and later his Asclepius' two sons – Machaon and Podalirius, in the art of healing. He was also responsible for rearing and educating Aristaeüs, the agricultural god.


He even gave advice or prophecy to Apollo, in regarding to the heroine, Cyrene, foretelling how a city in Libya would be named after her. So even the god of prophecy listen to the wise Centaur.


His friendship with Heracles brought about his own death. As Heracles fought against the Centaurs during his fourth labour, the hero accidentally wounded his Centaur friend. Heracles' arrows were smeared with the venom of the monster Hydra. Cheiron had to live in great agony from the venom.


Later, during the eleventh labour, Heracles freed the Titan Prometheus from his chain; Cheiron found release from his torment. The gods allowed Cheiron to give up his immortality to Prometheus, to end his agony. The gods probably placed among the stars, as the constellation of the Centaurus.

From: Timeless Myths

The mythology of the Southern Centaur is believed to be of Greek origin, developing later than that of the more warlike Sagittarius, whose imagery is known to be Mesopotamian. Centaurus barely featured in the 4th century BC text of Aratus, but according to Eratosthenes, who wrote of the constellations in the 2nd century BC, the star group depicts the mythological figure of Cheiron: a half-man, half-horse creature who was remarkable amongst his wild and lawless race because of his wisdom, gentility and love of humanity.


Tales of the centaurs describe them as aggressive and brutal. That Cheiron was different proclaims his ability to rise above, rather than be pulled into, the expectations of his environment. He was proficient in many arts - astronomy, philosophy, botany, music, divination and medicine - and he was also a great teacher under whom many Greek heroes studied. As the son of Chronos and the ocean nymph Philyra he was immortal, but he received a terrible, poisonous wound from an arrow which was shot (in error) by Hercules. His own incurable injury gave him the empathy to understand the pain of others, and earned him a reputation as the healer who could not, himself, be healed. His place in the heavens was awarded in honour of his selfless renunciation of his immortality in favour of the Titan Prometheus.

From: Here

To the Greeks CENTAURUS represented Chiron, the leader of the Centaurs. These creatures - half-man, half-horse were aggressive and warlike, Chiron being the one exception. The only immortal Centaur, he was exceedingly wise and kind. His story is closely connected with the Fourth Labour of Hercules who, on his way to capture the rampaging Erymanthian boar, called on the Centaur Pholus. After eating a good meal, and despite warnings from Pholus, Hercules opened a cask of wine belonging to all of the Centaurs. They were incensed at such a liberty and furiously attacked Hercules but he managed to overcome them and chased them to Malea, the home of Chiron. Sadly, the kindly creature was accidentally struck on the knee by one of Hercules' poisoned arrows. In spite of Hercules' desperate efforts to help his friend, the wound would not heal, and Chiron seemed doomed to an eternal life of suffering. However fate, in the form of Prometheus, intervened. Zeus agreed that Prometheus should take over Chiron's immortality, thus allowing the stricken Centaur to be freed from his agony. He was then placed by Zeus in the heavens.

From: Here

Also see:
Theoi - THE KENTAUROI (or Centaurs)

Constellation: Centaurus lore/myth --
StarLore page
Centaurus - detailed
LacusCurtius • Allen's Star Names — Centaurus - another good site
Wiki page

Zephyros/Zephyrus - Ζέφυρος

LXXX. TO THE WEST WIND [ZEPHYROS]The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Sea-born, aerial, blowing from the west, sweet gales [Aurai], who give to weary'd labour rest:
Vernal and grassy, and of gentle found, to ships delightful, thro' the sea profound;
For these, impell'd by you with gentle force, pursue with prosp'rous Fate their destin'd course.
With blameless gales regard my suppliant pray'r, Zephyrs unseen, light-wing'd, and form'd from air.

ZEPHYROS (or Zephyrus) was the god of the west wind, one of the four directional Anemoi (Wind-Gods). He was also the god of spring, husband of Khloris (Greenery), and father of Karpos (Fruit).

Zephyros' most famous myth told the story of his rivalry with the god Apollon for the love of Hyakinthos. One day he spied the pair playing a game of quoits in a meadow, and in a jealous rage, struck the disc with a gust of wind, causing it to veer off course and strike the boy in the head, killing him instantly. Apollon in his grief, then transformed the dying boy into a larkspur flower.

Zephyros was portrayed in classical art as a handsome, winged youth. In Greek vase painting, the unlabelled figures of a winged god embracing a youth are sometimes identified as Zephyros and Hyakinthos--although other commentators interpret them as Eros (Love) with a generic youth. In Greco-Roman mosaic the god usually appears in the guise of spring personified carrying a basket of unripe fruit.

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CULT OF ZEPHYROS

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1. 188 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"[The Argonauts prepae to depart on their voyage :] Next in joy they pile altars; chiefly unto thee, lord of the waters [Poseidon], is reverence paid, unto thee, unto Zephyros (the West Wind) [for a favourable sailing wind] and unto Glaucus upon the shore Ancaeus sacrifices an ox decked with dark blue fillets, unto Thetis a heifer."


I) RHODES Island (Greek Aegean)
Bacchylides, Epigrams 1 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"Eudemos [of Rhodes] dedicated this temple on his land to Zephyros, richest of all winds; for in answer to his prayer he came to help him, so that he might winnow most speedily the grain from the ripe ears."

II) LAKIADAI Town in Attika (Southern Greece)
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 37. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"[At Lakiadai, Attika :] There is also an altar of Zephyros."

For the rest, see THEOI PAGE.

Zephyrus, or just Zephyr (Greek: Ζέφυρος, Zéphuros, "the west wind"), in Latin Favonius, is the Greek god of the west wind. The gentlest of the winds, Zephyrus is known as the fructifying wind, the messenger of spring. It was thought that Zephyrus lived in a cave in Thrace.

Zephyrus was reported as having several wives in different stories. He was said to be the husband of his sister Iris, the goddess of the rainbow. He abducted another of his sisters, the goddess Chloris, and gave her the domain of flowers. With Chloris, he fathered Carpus ("fruit"). He is said to have vied for Chloris's love with his brother Boreas, eventually winning her devotion. Additionally, with yet another sister and lover, the harpy Podarge (also known as Celaeno), Zephyrus was said to be the father of Balius and Xanthus, Achilles' horses.

One of the surviving myths in which Zephyrus features most prominently is that of Hyacinth. Hyacinth was a very handsome and athletic Spartan prince. Zephyrus fell in love with him and courted him, and so did Apollo. The two competed for the boy's love, but he chose Apollo, driving Zephyrus mad with jealousy. Later, catching Apollo and Hyacinth throwing a discus, Zephyrus blew a gust of wind at them, striking the boy in the head with the falling discus. When Hyacinth died, Apollo created the hyacinth flower from his blood.[2]

In the story of Cupid and Psyche, Zephyrus served Cupid by transporting Psyche to his cave.

From: Wiki

Zephyr was the Greek god of the west wind, which was considered the gentlest wind, especially if compared to the colder north wind, Boreas. The warm west wind brought the spring season. Even today the name of the god means a warm and light breeze.
Zephyr was the father of two immortal horses, Xanthus and Balius. Their mother was the Harpy, Podarge. The Harpies were terrifying and greedy monsters with the head and trunk of a woman and the tail, wings, legs and talons of a huge bird.

Zephyr was attracted to the Harpy Podarge while she was grazing beside the Ocean after having transformed herself into a splendid young female horse. The gods gave the two horses, as a wedding present, to Peleus, the father of the famous hero Achille. Xanthus and Balius became the loyal companions of Achille helping him in numerous battles.

From: Here

Zephyrus is the Greek god of the West Wind, believed to live in a cave on Thrace. He is the son of Eos and Astraeus and the brother of Boreas, Eurus and Notus. Some consider him and Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, as the parents of Eros, the god of love, and of Pothos (Longing) who was an attendant of Aphrodite.

The West Wind had fallen in love with a handsome youth named Hyacinthus, who also was a favorite of Apollo, the god of light. One day Apollo was teaching Hyacinthus how to throw the discus, when the insanely jealous Zephyrus caught it in mid-air and blew it at Hyacinthus, striking the young man on the head and killing him. From his blood sprang the hyacinth flower.

Zephyrus also abducted the goddess Chloris (Flora in Roman) and gave her dominion over flowers. In Roman myth, he is Favonius, the protector of flowers and plants.

With Podarge, one of the Harpies, Zephyrus fathered the famous horses Xanthus and Balius, who are the Trojan War hero Achilles' immortal horses. Hera endowed the horses with human speech. They served Poseidon first, and next Peleus, Achilles and Neoptolemus.

The union of Zephyrus and Podarge produced also Arion, a horse given by Heracles (Hercules) to Adrastus. Arion saved the life of Adrastus during the war of the Seven Against Thebes.

From: Here

Also see:
Theoi: Anemoi
Theoi: Khloris

Nikê - Νικη

Orphic Hymn 33 to Nike (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"To Nike (Victory), Fumigation from Manna. O powerful Nike, by men desired, with adverse breasts to dreadful fury fired, thee I invoke, whose might alone can quell contending rage and molestation fell. 'Tis thine in battle to confer the crown, the victor's prize, the mark of sweet renown; for thou rulest all things, Nike divine! And glorious strife, and joyful shouts are thine. Come, mighty Goddess, and thy suppliant bless, with sparkling eyes, elated with success; may deeds illustrious thy protection claim, and find, led on by thee, immortal fame."

Nike's Appearance: A fit young woman with wings.

Symbol or Attributes of Nike:Her wings; often depicted with a wreath of victory or a staff; the chariot.

Nike's Strengths: A very fast runner, swift flyer, able charioteer.

Nike's Weaknesses: Can be capricious (inconsistent) in doling out victory.

Nike's Parents:Daughter of Styx, called a nymph but actually the presiding spirit over the major river of the Underworld, and Pallas, a Titan. She has three brothers - Zelos, Kratos, and Bia, which are, respectively, rivalry, strength, and force.

Nike's Spouse: None.

Children: None.

Some Major Temple Sites for Nike: She is depicted multiple times at the Acropolis of Athens. The Parthenon there is dedicated to the goddess Athena, known for wisdom and skill in war, and a close friend to Nike. Nike, as Athena Nike, also presided over a temple on the acropolis of Megara.

Nike's Basic Story: Despite being half-Titan by her father Pallas, Nike fought against the Titans on the side of the Olympians.

Frequent Misspellings and Alternate Spellings: Niki, Nyke, Nykie, Nice

Interesting Facts about Nike: Some sources give her father as Ares, the God of War. The most famous statue of Nike is the Nike of Samothrace, a Greek island in the northern Aegean, now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. In Roman myth, she was known as Victoria.

From: Here

In Greek mythology, Nike (Greek: Νίκη, "Victory", pronounced [nǐːkɛː]) was a goddess who personified victory, also known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent was Victoria. Depending upon the time of various myths, she was described as the daughter of Pallas (Titan) and Styx (Water)[1][2] and the sister of Kratos (Strength), Bia (Force), and Zelus (Zeal).[1]


Nike and her siblings were close companions of Zeus, the dominant deity of the Greek pantheon. According to classical (later) myth, Styx brought them to Zeus when the god was assembling allies for the Titan War against the older deities. Nike assumed the role of the divine charioteer, a role in which she often is portrayed in Classical Greek art. Nike flew around battlefields rewarding the victors with glory and fame.


Nike is seen with wings in most statues and paintings. Most other winged deities in the Greek pantheon had shed their wings by Classical times. Nike is the goddess of strength, speed, and victory. Nike was a very close acquaintance of Athena, and is thought to have stood in Athena's outstretched hand in the statue of Athena located in the Parthenon.[3] Nike is one of the most commonly portrayed figures on Greek coins.[4]


Names stemming from Nike include amongst others: Nicholas, Nicola, Nick, Nicolai, Nikolai, Nicolae, Nils, Klaas, Nicole, Ike, Niki, Nikita, Nika, Niketas, and Nico.

From: Wiki

NIKE (or Nicé) was the winged goddess or spirit (daimon) of victory, both in battle and peaceful competition. When Zeus was gathering allies at the start of the Titan War, Styx brought her four children, Nike (Victory), Zelos (Rivalry), Kratos (Strength) and Bia (Force) into the service of the god. Nike was appointed his charioteer, and all four were appointed as sentinels standing beside the throne of the god. Beyond this Nike never acquired any distinctive mythology of her own.


Nike was depicted in ancient Greek vase painting with a variety of attributes including a wreath or sash to crown a victor, an oinochoe and phiale (bowl and cup) for libations, a thymiaterion (incense burner), an altar, and a lyre for the celebration of victory in song.


In scenes of the Gigantomachia (War of the Giants) she often appears driving the chariot of Zeus. In mosaic art and coins Nike isoften shown holding a palm branch as a symbol of victory.


Nike was closely identified with the goddess Athena, sometimes appearing merely as an attribute of the goddess. Sometimes the goddess was pluralised into Nikai.

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CULT & ARTISTIC REPRESENTATIONS OF NIKE


I) ATHENS Chief City of Attika (Southern Greece)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 22. 4 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"On the right of the gateway [of the Akropolis in Athens] is a temple of Nike Apteron (Wingless)."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 24. 7 :
"The statue of Athena [on the Akropolis in Athens] is upright with a tunic reaching to her feet . . . She holds a statue of Nike (Victory) about four cubits high, and in the other hand a spear."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 15. 7 :
"[At Sparta in Lakonia] is an old image of Enyalios in fetter. The idea the Lakedaimonians express by this image is the same as the Athenians express by their Wingless Nike; the former think that Enyalios will never run away from them, being bound in the fetters, while the Athenians think that Nike, having no wings, will always remain where she is. In this fashion, and with such a belief, have these cities set up the wooden images."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 4. 36. 6 :
"The Athenians dedicated a bronze statue of Nike also on the acropolis as a memorial of the events of Sphakteria [their victory over the Spartans]."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 26. 6 :
"The wooden image at Athens called Nike Apteron (Wingless Victory)."


Suidas s.v. Nike Athena (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.) :
"Nike Athena: Lykourgos (Lycurgus) in the [speech] On the Priestess [mentions her]. That the xoanon of Nike, wingless, holding a pomegranate in her right hand and a helmet in her left, was worshipped by the Athenians Heliodoros the Periegete has shown in the first book of his On the Akropolis. Alternatively [she stands] allegorically for the notion that even winning is completely dependent on thought; for thought contributes to victory, but being thoughtless and impetuous while fighting leads to defeat. When she has wings she symbolizes that aspect of the mind that is sharp and, so to speak, swift-winged; but when she is depicted without wings she represents that aspect of it that is peaceful and quiet and civil, that by which the things of the earth flourish, a boon of which the pomegranate in her right hand is a representation. Just as the helmet in her left [is a representation] of battle. Thus she has the same capability as Athena."


II) PEIRAIOS Town of Attika (Southern Greece)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 1. 3 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"[In the temple of Zeus at Peiraios in Attika:] The images are of bronze; Zeus holds a staff and a Nike."


III) TITANE Town of the Argolis (Southern Greece)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 11. 8 :
"In the gable [of the temple of Asklepios at Titane in Argolis] at the ends are figures of Herakles and of Nikai (Victories)."


IV) SPARTA Chief City of Lakonia (Southern Greece)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 17. 4 :
"The west portico [of the temple of Athene in Sparta in Lakonia] has two eagles, and upon them are two Nikai. Lysander dedicated them to commemorate both his exploits [war victories]."


V) OLYMPIA Sanctuary in Elis (Southern Greece)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 11. 1 :
"In his [the statue of Zeus in his temple at Olympia] right hand he carried a Nike, which, like the statue, is of ivory and gold; she wears a ribbon and--on her head--a garland . . . There are four Nikai (Victories), represented as dancing women, one at each foot of the throne, and two others at the base of each foot."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 10. 4 :
"At Olympia . . . a Nike, also gilt, is set in about the middle of the pediment [of the temple of Zeus]."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 14. 8 :
"[At Olympia] is an altar of . . . . Zeus Purifier, one of Nike."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 17. 3 :
"[In the temple of Hera at Olympia :] Here too have been dedicted [statues of] Leto, Tykhe, Dionysos and a winged Nike."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 26. 1 :
"The Dorian Messenians who received Naupaktos [in a victory in war] from the Athenians dedicated at Olympia the image of Nike (Victory) upon the pillar."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 26. 6 - 7 :
"Beside the Athena [statue at Olympia] has been set up a Nike. The Mantineans [of Arkadia] dedicated it, but they do not mention the ware in the inscription. Kalamis is said to have made it without wings in imitation of the wooden image at Athens called Nike Apteron (Wingless Victory)."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 6. 18. 1 :
"There is also a bronze statue of Kratisthenes of Kyrene [at Olympia], on the chariot stand Nike and Kratisthenes himself. It is thus plain that his victory was in the chariot-race."


VI) THESPIAE Town in Boiotia (Central Greece)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 27. 5 :
"Not far from the marketplace [at Thespiae, Boiotia] is a Nike of bronze and a small temple of the Mousai. In it are small images made of stone."


VII) SYRAKOUSA Town in Sikelia (Sicily) (Southern Italy)


Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 34 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :
"Also he [the historic Sicilian tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse] have no scruples in removing the little gold images of Nike (Victory) and the gold cups and crowns carried in the outstretched hands of statues [of the gods]."

For the Rest, see THEOI's PAGE.

Goddess of victory. Nike (Victory) and her brothers – Zelus (Emulation), Cratus (Strength) and Bia (Force), were the children of the Titan Pallas and the Oceanid Styx. Sometimes, her name just appeared as Victory.


Of the four children, Nike appeared to be more than just an abstract personification of victory. Nike was often depicted as a winged goddess. Though, Strength (Cratus) appeared with Violence, in Aeschylus' play, titled Prometheus Bound.


When war broke out between the Titans and the Olympians, Zeus had offered any Titan and or children of Titans honoured places, if they sided with him. So it was that Styx and her children, who were the first to come and aid the new gods, against the Titans.


When the war ended, Styx's children lived in Olympus with Zeus, and he rewarded Styx, one of the highest honours: any god who swore an oath by her name, that oath would be inviolable.


The attributes of Nike and her brothers actually became the attributes of Zeus. Zeus was sometimes called Zeus Nike, which is the Victorious Zeus. Sometimes, the name Nike was also attached to Athena's name.


In the Homeric Hymns to Ares, there is another goddess named Victory, but she is the daughter of Ares.

From: TimelessMyths

Also see:
The Goddess Nike -- This site has tons of pages about Nike, her symbols, role, history, etc. Worth a look!
Wiki: Winged Victory of Samothrace

Helios - Ἥλιος

Homeric Hymn 31 to Helius (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th - 4th B.C.) :
"And now, O Mousa Kalliope, daughter of Zeus, begin to sing of glowing Helios (the Sun) whom mild-eyed Euryphaessa (Wide Shining), the far-shining one, bare to the son of Gaia (Earth) and starry Ouranos (Heaven). For Hyperion wedded glorious Euryphaessa, his own sister, who bare him lovely children, rosy-armed Eos (Dawn) and rich-tressed Selene (Moon) and tireless Helios (Sun) who is like the deathless gods. As he rides in his chariot, he shines upon men and deathless gods, and piercingly he gazes with his eyes from his golden helmet. Bright rays beam dazzlingly from him, and his bright locks streaming form the temples of his head gracefully enclose his far-seen face: a rich, fine-spun garment glows upon his body and flutters in the wind: and stallions carry him. Then, when he has stayed his golden-yoked chariot and horses, he rests there upon the highest point of heaven, until he marvellously drives them down again through heaven to Okeanos (the Ocean-Stream). Hail to you, lord! Freely bestow on me substance that cheers the heart. And now that I have begun with you, I will celebrate the race of mortal men half-divine whose deeds the Mousai have showed to mankind."


Orphic Hymn 8 to Helius (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"To Helios (Sun), Fumigation from Frankincense and Manna. Hear, golden Titan, whose eternal eye with matchless sight illumines all the sky. Native, unwearied in diffusing light, and to all eyes the object of delight: Lord of the seasons, beaming light from far, sonorous, dancing in thy four-yoked car. With thy right hand the source of morning light, and with thy left the father of the night. Agile and vigorous, venerable Sun, fiery and bright around the heavens you run, foe to the wicked, but the good man’s guide, over all his steps propitious you preside. With various-sounding golden lyre ‘tis thine to fill the world with harmony divine. Father of ages, guide of prosperous deeds, the world’s commander, borne by lucid steeds. Immortal Zeus, flute-playing , bearing light, source of existence, pure and fiery bright; bearer of fruit, almighty lord or years, agile and warm, whom every power reveres. Bright eye, that round the world incessant flies, doomed with fair fulgid rays to set and rise; dispensing justice, lover of the stream, the world’s great master, and over all supreme. Faithful defender, and the eye of right, of steeds the ruler, and of life the light: with sounding whip four fiery steeds you guide, when in the glittering car of day you ride, propitious on these mystic labour shine, and bless thy suppliants with a life divine."

Helios' Appearance: Often represented as a handsome youth with a rayed headdress indicating his solar attributes.

Symbol or Attributes of Helios: Rayed headdress, his chariot pulled by the four horses Pyrois, Eos, Aethon and Phlegon, the whip he drives them with, and a globe.

Helios' Strengths: Powerful, fiery, bright, tireless

Helios' Weaknesses: His intense fire can burn

Birthplace of Helios:The Greek island of Rhodes

Parents:Usually said to be Hyperion, supposedly a still-earlier sun god, and Theia

Spouse: Perse

Children:By Perse, Aeëtes, Circe, and Pasiphae. He is also the father of Phaethusa, Phaeton, and Lampeta.

Some Major Temple Sites:The island of Rhodes, where the famous huge statue "The Colossus of Rhodes" probably depicted Helios. Also, the island of Thrinacia was said by Homer to be Helios' special territory, but its actual location is unknown.

Basic Story:Helios rises from a golden palace beneath the sea and drives his fiery chariot across the sky every day, providing daylight. Once he let his son Phaeton drive his chariot, but Phaeton lost control of the vehicle and plunged to his death or, alternately, set the earth on fire and was killed by Zeus to keep him from burning up all of mankind.

Interesting Fact: Helios is a Titan, a member of the earlier order of gods and goddesses which preceded the later Olympians. Whenever we encounter the "os" ending in a name, it usually indicates an earlier, pre-Greek origin.

In modern Greece, many hilltop chapels are dedicated to "Saint" Ilios, and are likely to mark ancient temple sites for Helios.

Alternate Spellings:Helius, Ilius, Ilios.

From: here

HELIOS (or Helius) was the Titan god of the sun. He was also the guardian of oaths and the god of gift of sight. Helios dwelt in a golden palace located in the River Okeanos at the eastern ends of the earth. From there he emerged each dawn driving a chariot drawn by four, fiery winged steeds and crowned with the aureole of the sun. When he reached the the land of the Hesperides (Evenings) in the West he descended into a golden cup which carried him around the northern streams of Okeanos back to his rising place in the East. Once his son Phaethon attempted to drive the chariot of the sun, but losing control, set the earth on fire. Zeus then struck him down with a thunderbolt.

Helios was depicted as a handsome, and usually beardless, man clothed in purple robes and crowned with the shining aureole of the sun. His sun-chariot was drawn by four steeds, sometimes winged. Helios was identified with several gods including fiery Hephaistos and light-bringing Apollon.

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HE′LIOS (Hêlios or Êelios), that is, the sun, or the god of the sun. He is described as the son of Hyperion and Theia, and as a brother of Selene and Eos. (Hom. Od. xii. 176, 322, Hymn. in Min. 9, 13; Hes. Theog. 371, &c.) From his father, he is frequently called Hyperionides, or Hyperion, the latter of which is an abridged form of the patronymic, Hyperionion. (Hom. Od. xii. 176, Hymn. in Cer. 74; Hes. Theog. 1011; Hom. Od. i. 24, ii. 19, 398, Hymn. in Apoll. Pyth. 191.) In the Homeric hymn on Helios, he is called a son of Hyperion and Euryphaëssa. Homer describes Helios as giving light both to gods and men: he rises in the east from Oceanus, though not from the river, but from some lake or bog (limnê) formed by Oceanus, rises up into heaven, where he reaches the highest point at noon time, and then he descends, arriving in the evening in the darkness of the west, and in Oceanus. (Il. vii. 422, Od. iii. 1, &c., 335, iv. 400, x. 191, xi. 18, xii. 380.) Later poets have marvellously embellished this simple notion: they tell of a most magnificent palace of Helios in the east, containing a throne occupied by the god, and surrounded by personifications of the different divisions of time (Ov. Met. ii. 1, &c.); and while Homer speaks only of the gates of Helios in the west, later writers assign to him a second palace in the west, and describe his horses as feeding upon herbs growing in the islands of the blessed. (Nonn. Dionys. xii. 1, &c.; Athen. vii. 296; Stat. Theb. iii. 407.) The points at which Helios rises and descends into the ocean are of course different at the different seasons of the year; and the extreme points in the north and south, between which the rising and setting take place, are the tropai êelioio. (Od. xv. 403; Hes. Op. et Dies, 449, 525.) The manner in which Helios during the night passes front the western into the eastern ocean is not mentioned either by Homer or Hesiod, but later poets make him sail in a golden boat round one-half of the earth, and thus arrive in the east at the point from which he has to rise again. This golden boat is the work of Hephaestus. (Athen. xi. 469; Apollod. ii. 5. § 10; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1632.) Others represent him as making his nightly voyage while slumbering in a golden bed. (Athen. xi. 470.) The horses and chariot with which Helios makes his daily career are not mentioned in the Iliad and Odyssey, but first occur in the Homeric hymn on Helios (9, 15; comp. in Merc. 69, in Cer. 88), and both are described minutely by later poets. (Ov. Met. ii. 106, &c.; Hygin. Fab. 183; Schol. ad Eurip. Pholen. 3 ; Pind. Ol. vii. 71.)

Helios is described even in the Homeric poems as the god who sees and hears every thing, but, notwithstanding this, he is unaware of the fact that the companions of Odysseus robbed his oxen, until he was informed of it by Lampetia. (Od. xii. 375.) But, owing to his omniscience, he was able to betray to Hephaestus the faithlessness of Aphrodite, and to reveal to Demeter the carrying off of her daughter. (Od. viii. 271, Hymn. in Cer. 75, &c., in Sol. 10; comp. Soph. Ajax, 847, &c.) This idea of Helios knowing every thing, which also contains the elements of his ethical and prophetic nature, seems to have been the cause of Helios being confounded and identified with Apollo, though they were originally quite distinct; and the identification was, in fact, never carried out completely, for no Greek poet ever made Apollo ride in the chariot of Helios through the heavens, and among the Romans we find this idea only after the time of Virgil. The representations of Apollo with rays around his head, to characterise him as identical with the sun, belong to the time of the Roman empire.

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HELIOS was the Titan god of the sun who predided over the various facets of the solar body, from the measurement and divisions of the day, the year and the seasons, to the powers of heat and fire, and the gift of sight.

ALTERNATE NAMES, TITLES & EPITHETS OF HELIOS
The name Helios takes a number of forms in the different Greek dialects, such as the Doric form of the name Halios.

Greek Name Transliteration Latin Spelling Translation
Ἁλιος Halios Halius Sun (Doric spelling)

Helios had a large number of poetic epithets and by-names.
Greek Name Transliteration Latin Spelling Translation
Ὑπεριων Hyperiôn Hyperion He Who Goes Above (hyper, iôn)
Ὑπεριονιδες Hyperionides Hyperionides Son of Hyperion, He Who Goes Above
Τιταν Titan Titan Titan God, The Straining God
Ηλεκτωρ Êlektôr Elector The Beaming (êlektôr)
Ελευθεριος Eleutherios Eleutherius Of Freedom (eleutherios)
Σωτηρ Sôtêr Soter Saviour (sôtêr)

From: Theoi (see additional links for tons more info)

Helios (play /ˈhiːli.ɒs/; Greek: Ἥλιος "Sun", Latinized as Helius) was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod (Theogony 371) and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia (Hesiod) or Euryphaessa (Homeric Hymn) and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn. The names of these three were also the common Greek words for Sun, Moon and dawn. Ovid also calls him Titan, in fact "lumina Titan".[1] The Emperor Julian the Apostate, forsook to show Romans that Helios was the only true god, and that the other Roman gods were just an image or manifestations of the supreme solar divinity, during that time the solar monotheism was the official religion of the Roman Empire, and Sol Invictus, was recognized as the supreme god.

Helios was imagined as a handsome god crowned with the shining aureole of the Sun, who drove the chariot of the sun across the sky each day to earth-circling Oceanus and through the world-ocean returned to the East at night. Homer described Helios's chariot as drawn by solar steeds (Iliad xvi.779); later Pindar described it as drawn by "fire-darting steeds" (Olympian Ode 7.71). Still later, the horses were given fiery names: Pyrois, Aeos, Aethon, and Phlegon.

As time passed, Helios was increasingly identified with the god of light, Apollo. However, in spite of their syncretism, they were also often viewed as two distinct gods (Helios was a Titan, whereas Apollo was an Olympian). The equivalent of Helios in Roman mythology was Sol, specifically Sol Invictus.

The best known story involving Helios is that of his son Phaëton, who attempted to drive his father's chariot but lost control and set the earth on fire.

Helios was sometimes characterized with the epithet Helios Panoptes ("the all-seeing"). In the story told in the hall of Alcinous in the Odyssey (viii.300ff), Aphrodite, the consort of Hephaestus, secretly beds Ares, but all-seeing Helios spies on them and tells Hephaestus, who ensnares the two lovers in nets invisibly fine, to punish them.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his surviving crew land on Thrinacia, an island sacred to the sun god, whom Circe names Hyperion rather than Helios. There, the sacred red cattle of the Sun were kept:

You will now come to the Thrinacian island, and here you will see many herds of cattle and flocks of sheep belonging to the sun-god. There will be seven herds of cattle and seven flocks of sheep, with fifty heads in each flock. They do not breed, nor do they become fewer in number, and they are tended by the goddesses Phaethusa and Lampetia, who are children of the sun-god Hyperion by Neaera. Their mother when she had borne them and had done suckling them sent them to the Thrinacian island, which was a long way off, to live there and look after their father's flocks and herds.[3]

Though Odysseus warns his men, when supplies run short they impiously kill and eat some of the cattle of the Sun. The guardians of the island, Helios' daughter, tell their father about this. Helios appeals to Zeus telling them to dispose of Odysseus' men or he will take the Sun and shine it in the Underworld. Zeus destroys the ship with his lightning bolt, killing all the men except for Odysseus.
Solar Apollo with the radiant halo of Helios in a Roman floor mosaic, El Djem, Tunisia, late 2nd century

In one Greek vase painting, Helios appears riding across the sea in the cup of the Delphic tripod which appears to be a solar reference. Athenaeus in Deipnosophistae relates that, at the hour of sunset, Helios climbed into a great golden cup in which he passes from the Hesperides in the farthest west to the land of the Ethiops, with whom he passes the dark hours. While Heracles traveled to Erytheia to retrieve the cattle of Geryon, he crossed the Libyan desert and was so frustrated at the heat that he shot an arrow at Helios, the Sun. Almost immediately, Heracles realized his mistake and apologized profusely, in turn and equally courteous, Helios granted Heracles the golden cup which he used to sail across the sea every night, from the west to the east because he found Heracles' actions immensely bold. Heracles used this golden cup to reach Erytheia.[4]

By the Oceanid Perse, Helios became the father of Aeëtes, Circe, and Pasiphaë. His other children are Phaethusa ("radiant") and Lampetia ("shining").[5]

From: Wiki

Also see:
Theoi -- has tons of info!
Helios Index & General Myths
Helios & Phaethon Myth
Helios God of
Helios Loves
Helios Estate & Attendants
Helios Cult

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Helios
Sun God Helios and his son Phaethon
Helios summary
Helios - Shadow of Olympus
Helios - Sun God and Cattle Man
Helios
Helios info

Modern festivals -- Heliogenna (Winter Solstice)
Some prayers and info
Some info
Info
Introduction

His sisters --
Deity of the Week: Eos - Ἠώς
Σεληνη - Selene