EP 57: How The Gods Began

For almost 60 episodes, I’ve talked about the glory of the Greeks during the golden years of ancient Greece. I’ve also talked about when worship of the gods ended. In this new episode we go back to the beginning, to the so-called Dark Ages of Greece, to the time when the gods first revealed themselves to humans. 

If you love this podcast, you'll also enjoy Garner's audible novel about the gods, Homo Divinitas, available on Amazon.com and Audible.com.

Transcript

EPISODE 57:  HOW THE GODS BEGAN

FOR ALMOST 60 EPISODES I'VE TALKED ABOUT THE OLYMPIC GODS  AND THEIR IMPACT ON  THE GOLDEN AGE OF GREECE. AND I’VE TALKED ABOUT THEIR END.

YOU REMEMBER — UNDER THE ROMAN HEEL, THE GREAT GREEK GODS WERE TRANSFORMED, RENAMED & OFTEN DRAINED OF ALL OF THEIR FASCINATION.

THE ROMANS, EMINENTLY PRACTICAL, STRIPPED THESE MAGICAL BEINGS OF THEIR MAGIC. USING THEM TO SIMPLY BOLSTER IMPERIAL AMBITIONS.

BY 400 A.D. THE GODS HAD TRULY BECOME MYTHOLOGICAL. CHRISTIANITY HAD TAKEN OVER THE ROMAN EMPIRE. AND AS A CONSEQUENCE, THE OLD GODS WERE SWEPT AWAY.

ONLY PAGANS CONSIDERED THEM TO HAVE BEEN REAL. AND SO, WORSHIP OF THESE BEINGS ENDED, THOUSANDS OF YEARS AFTER THEY HAD FIRST APPEARED. 

THEIR TIME WOUND UP WITH A WHIMPER, NOT A BANG. BUT IT WAS OKAY. AS I'VE MENTIONED REPEATEDLY, THE GREEK GODS  & GODDESSES HAD ALREADY MOVED ON.

AS WE LIKE TO SAY, THEY’D BEEN THERE. THEY’D DONE THAT. BEING PUSHED OUT BY A NEW RELIGION WASN’T SUCH A BAD THING.

EACH OF THEM HAD OTHER INTERESTS. AND AS I'VE STRESSED IN THESE EPISODES, THEY’VE GONE NOWHERE. THEY'RE HERE, NOW, AMONG US. 

WHAT WE HAVEN’T ESTABLISHED ON THESE PODCASTS IS WHEN THEY FIRST APPEARED. WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?

TO FIND OUT WE HAVE TO BACK INTO THE S0-CALLED DARK AGES OF GREECE.

LET’S DO IT NOW … WE'LL TRAVEL TO A TIME BEFORE HOMER, BEFORE THE TROJAN WAR & BEFORE MEN HAD INVENTED IRON.

WE’LL GO INTO THE BRONZE AGE, A PERIOD LONG, LONG BEFORE SPARTA & ATHENS & THE GLORIES THAT WOULD, IN TIME, MAKE THE GREEKS THEMSELVES IMMORTAL.

IT WAS IN THIS ARCHAIC AGE THAT THE MIGHTY GODS AS WE NOW KNOW THEM FIRST APPEARED.

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WELCOME TO EPISODE 57 OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY. WE HAVE LISTENERS FROM 181 COUNTRIES ... SO WELCOME TO EVERYONE, WHEREVER YOU ARE.

I'M YOUR HOST, MYTHOLOGIST PATRICK GARNER. REMEMBER TO VISIT AMAZON TO CHECK OUT MY FOUR BOOKS ABOUT THE GREEK GODS IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD. 

THEY ARE PART OF THE NAXOS QUARTET, AND INCLUDE THE WINNOWING, CYCLADIC GIRLS, HOMO DIVINITAS & ALL THAT LASTS. AS AN ASIDE, HOMO DIVINITAS IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO BOOK.

YOU CAN ALSO LEARN MORE ABOUT THEM & THIS PODCAST AT PATRICKGARNERBOOKS.COM.

MY NOVELS HAVE BEEN BEST SELLERS. THEY'RE GREAT ENTERTAINMENT & ECHO THE THEMES IN THESE PODCASTS.

WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS IN THESE BOOKS? YOUR FAVORITE GREEK GODS, OF COURSE ... 

SO VISIT MY WEBSITE AT PATRICKGARNERBOOKS.COM, THEN LINK OVER TO AMAZON & TREAT YOURSELF!

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THE BRONZE AGE IN GREECE — A TIME LONG BEFORE SOCRATES, PLATO & ARISTOTLE— LASTED OVER 2,000 YEARS. 

YES, IT CREATED HEROES & HEROINES, TRAGEDIES & GRAND ADVENTURE … 

BUT CHAOS WAS EVERYWHERE. NO ONE UNDERSTOOD THE NATURAL WORLD. MEN & WOMEN SOUGHT EXPLANATIONS. BUT THERE WERE FEW.

HUMANS COWERED BEFORE THUNDER & LIGHTNING. DEATH STRUCK WITHOUT WARNING. VOLCANOES WERE COMMON. EARTHQUAKES DESTROYED VILLAGES.

MEN WERE WEAK BEFORE THE FORCES OF NATURE ... 

OR WAS IT NATURE? AMIDST THE DARKNESS, HUMANS TREMBLED, WONDERING. 

BEARS & LIONS RAVAGED THE LAND. ECLIPSES OF THE SUN & MOON WERE TERRIFYING. NO ONE COULD EXPLAIN THE GREAT WAVES THAT FOLLOWED EVERY QUAKE.

WAS THERE SOMETHING GREATER THAN THEMSELVES, SOME INTELLIGENCE THAT BROUGHT THESE TERRIBLE THINGS DOWN UPON THEM? 

AS HUMANS SOUGHT EXPLANATIONS, BEINGS THAT WOULD LATER BE CALLED GODS WOULD OCCASIONALLY REVEAL THEMSELVES.

AT FIRST THESE REVELATIONS WERE SLIGHT. THEY WERE NO MORE DRAMATIC THAN THE GLINT OF SUNLIGHT ON A POLISHED ROCK. 

THE SIGHTINGS MIGHT LAST MERE SECONDS. "LOOK! HOW CAN THAT WOMAN BATHING IN THE SPRING BE SO BEAUTIFUL?!"

THE SHOCKING, SEEMINGLY RANDOM UNVEILINGS WERE UNEXPLAINABLE. WOULD ANYONE BELIEVE CLAIMS THAT A MAN HAD BEEN SEEN FLYING OVERHEAD?

THESE STRANGE DISCLOSURES BECAME MORE FREQUENT. A WOMAN WHO RUSHED DOWN A WOODED PATH TO GET HOME MIGHT SEE ANOTHER YOUNG WOMAN AT A DISTANCE.

THE WOMAN WOULD BE DRESSED WONDROUSLY. SHE MIGHT BE WEARING A SPARKLING GOWN, A GOLDEN NECKLACE & A GOLD CROWN ON HER HEAD.

PERHAPS HER SKIN GLOWED WITH HEALTH. PERHAPS HER EYES WERE LIKE POLISHED EMERALDS, GREEN & PIERCING.

ANY VILLAGER WHO SPOTTED THIS WONDROUS BEING WOULD FALL TO THEIR KNEES IN AMAZEMENT. 

THEN, TOO FREQUENTLY, THE WONDROUS BEING WOULD DISAPPEAR. YET, OVER & OVER, WITHIN WEEKS, ANOTHER VILLAGER WOULD REPORT A SIMILAR VISION.

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WOMEN WERE NOT ALONE IN COMING ACROSS THESE BEINGS. MEN SAW AND HEARD THEM IN BATTLE. THEY WOULD, AT TIMES, BE SEIZED IN TERROR. WHY?

BOTH SIDES MIGHT RAISE THEIR EYES OVERHEAD AT A SUDDEN MOTION & THEN RUN FROM THE BATTLEFIELD. WHAT THEY SAW WOULD ASTONISH THEM.

A BEING BATHED IN LIGHT MIGHT BE OVERHEAD, FLYING ERRATICALLY, SHRIEKING LIKE A DEMON & CAUSING THE MEN TO LOSE THEIR SENSES.

THEY’D COVER THEIR EARS. THEN, AS IF POSSESSED, THEY’D RETURN TO BATTLE, FILLED WITH A BLOOD LUST THAT SEEMED SUPERHUMAN.

THERE WERE OTHER INEXPLICABLE EVENTS. FOR INSTANCE, VENTURING OUT TO SEA BECAME … UNPREDICTABLE.

AT TIMES SAILORS — CLINGING AS THEY DID TO THE COASTLINES OF THEIR VILLAGES — WOULD RETURN, MAKING EXTRAORDINARY CLAIMS.

THEY WOULD SAY THEY SAW A MAN WITH A FLOWING BEARD RISE FROM THE VERY WAVES BEFORE THEIR SHIPS, HIS ARMS OUT AS IF TO STOP THEIR ADVANCE.

HE WOULD BALANCE ON THE WATER, CARRYING A THREE-PRONGED SPEAR. HIS BEARD WOULD BE SO LONG IT WOULD FLOW INTO THE WAVES.

THESE FISHERMEN, AS IF HALF-MAD, WOULD CLAIM THE BEING COULD CALM WAVES. OR EVEN SINK THEIR FRAGILE SHIPS WITH A FLICK OF HIS TRIDENT.

THE REPORTS INCREASED: EXTRAORDINARILY BEAUTIFUL WOMEN, SHRIEKING MEN FLYING OVERHEAD, BEINGS WHO COULD CONTROL THE SEAS ...

AT FIRST THESE CRAZY REPORTS WERE DISMISSED. IT WAS ABSURD TO CLAIM TO MAKE THESE CLAIMS.

SOME WOULD SAY THESE WERE THE RAVINGS OF WOMEN WHO HAD SPENT TOO MUCH TIME UNDER THE MOON. 

OR OF HOLLOWED-OUT MEN WHO HAD LOOKED INTO THE EYES OF DEATH, OR SAILORS WHO HAD COME TOO CLOSE TO DROWNING.

NONE OF THESE REPORTS WERE, AT FIRST, CONSIDERED CREDIBLE.

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YET, MORE & MORE HUMANS IN THOSE DARK, EARLY DAYS CLAIMED TO HAVE SEEN THESE BEINGS FOR THEMSELVES.

IT WAS AS IF IN TODAY'S WORLD, UFO REPORTS HAD BECOME AN EVERYDAY OCCURRENCE … AS IF ALL OF YOUR NEIGHBORS WERE SUDDENLY SEEING FLYING SAUCERS.

HOW COULD THIS HAVE BEEN?

GRADUALLY, THESE MYSTERIOUS, OTHER-WORLDLY BEINGS BEGAN TO APPEAR DELIBERATELY. IT WAS AS IF THEY WERE PURPOSELY ALLOWING THEMSELVES TO BE SEEN.

ONE NEVER KNEW WHAT TO EXPECT. TRY TO WALK FROM VILLAGE TO VILLAGE & WHO COULD PREDICT WHAT YOU MIGHT ENCOUNTER?

THERE IN A FIELD, ONE OF THESE EXTRAORDINARY BEINGS MIGHT APPEAR. AS YOU WATCHED, THE BEING MIGHT STRIKE THE GROUND WITH A STICK.

WINE OR SHEEP'S MILK WOULD FLOW FROM THE CREVICE. EAGLES IN PAIRS MIGHT FLY OVERHEAD EMITTING A PIERCING WHISTLE.

ONE NEVER KNEW, EVEN IF YOU WERE WITH OTHERS, WHEN YOU MIGHT CROSS PATHS WITH SUCH A BEING.

PERHAPS AS YOU WATCHED IN AWE, A MAN MERE PACES AWAY MIGHT MAKE GRAPES SPRING IN HUGE CLUMPS FROM VINES, OR CAUSES SAPLINGS TO GROW IN SECONDS INTO MIGHTY TREES.

SLOWLY, MARVEL AFTER MARVEL WAS REVEALED TO MORTALS. AND IN TURN, MEN & WOMEN BEGAN TO ACCEPT THE REALITY OF THESE BEINGS ...

THEY BEGAN TO BE VIEWED AS GODS & GODDESSES. AND AS THEY REVEALED THEIR GIFTS, THEY IN TURN MADE DEMANDS. 

FOR BLESSINGS SUCH AS CALM SEAS, FOOD & GOOD HEALTH, THEY DEMANDED WORSHIP ... "WORSHIP"? WHAT WAS THIS NEW THING? 

AT FIRST, WORSHIP MEANT HOLDING THESE DIVINITIES IN HIGH ESTEEM.

AND IN SO MANY WAYS DOING SO MADE SENSE. HUMANS COULD SEE THAT THESE GODS COMMANDED NATURE ITSELF.

THESE DIVINITIES DETERMINED THE ABUNDANCE OF FOOD, & WHETHER WOLVES WOULD ATTACK OR SLINK AWAY.

IT SEEMED THEY EVEN FIXED THE LIFE SPAN OF HUMANS. 

AND SUDDENLY, THE GODS WERE EVERYWHERE, EMBEDDED DEEPLY IN EVERYTHING.

MAKING SACRIFICE TO ENSURE ONE'S HAPPINESS WAS ... WELL, HOW SHOULD WE PUT THIS? — A SMALL PRICE TO PAY.

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LET'S PAUSE & CONSIDER AT THE WORLD AS IT WAS AT THAT TIME. THE BRONZE AGE BEGAN MORE THAN 4,000 YEARS AGO.

ALTHOUGH CITIES HAD BEGUN TO APPEAR IN SOME AREAS, MUCH OF THE POPULATION OF WHAT WE NOW CALL GREECE LIVED IN SMALL, SCATTERED GROUPS THAT  MOVED THROUGH THE LANDSCAPE. 

THESE SO-CALLED HUNTER-GATHERERS COMPETED WITH THE NEW FARMERS. THE POPULATION WAS INSIGNIFICANT & MUCH OF THE LANDSCAPE WAS WILD.

FARMS WERE SMALL, CULTIVATED ONLY WHEN WEATHER WAS FAVORABLE. FISH & GAME & FRUIT WERE EATEN AS FREQUENTLY AS GRAIN. 

YET THERE WAS, AMIDST THE PRIMITIVENESS, A CERTAIN SOPHISTICATION. CRAFTSMEN HAD LEARNED TO COMBINE COPPER & TIN INTO A HARD METAL CALLED BRONZE.

USING THIS NEW METAL, ARTISTS BEGAN MAKING STATUES THAT WERE REPRESENTATIONS OF THE DIVINE BEINGS THEY ENCOUNTERED.

AND MEN LEARNED TO MAKE SPEAR POINTS THAT WERE VASTLY SUPERIOR TO HAND-FLAKED STONE POINTS. 

IN SHORT ORDER, WARRIORS EVERYWHERE WERE ARMED WITH NEW WEAPONS. MEN COULD WAGE MORE BRUTAL WAR. 

AND THEY COULD CLAIM THAT THE GLORIOUS DIVINITIES — THE NEW GODS WHO HAD SHOWN THEM HOW TO MAKE THIS SHINING METAL — WERE ON THEIR SIDE.

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THE BRONZE-TIPPED WEAPONS CONTRIBUTED TO THE GROWTH OF VILLAGES, WHICH BECAME SMALL CITIES.

THESE SETTLEMENTS WERE INVARIABLY LED BY KINGS WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE DIVINE PROTECTION. DARINGLY, THE KINGS WOULD CLAIM THAT GODS SPOKE THROUGH THEM.

ROYALTY BECAME ASSOCIATED WITH DIVINITY. KINGS WOULD CLAIM THAT THEY WERE THE SON OF ONE GOD OR ANOTHER.

A VILLAGER WHO DEFIED THE KING WOULD BE DEFYING A GOD. AND KINGS IN THIS NEW DIVINE ALLIANCE GAVE THE GODS NAMES:

ZEUS, THE SKY GOD AND GREAT FATHER WHO MOST RESEMBLED THE KING WHO CLAIMED TO BE HIS SON. HERA, ZEUS’ WIFE WHO WAS SIMILAR TO THE KING'S OWN CONSORT.

THERE WAS ZEUS' BROTHER, POSEIDON, WHO RULED THE RIVERS & SEAS. AND ALL KNEW OF  ZEUS' DARK BROTHER, HADES, WHO WOULD SWEEP THE DEAD, LIKE SO MANY FALLEN ANTS, DOWN INTO HIS GLOOMY UNDERWORLD.

THERE WERE OTHER GODS. APOLLO & HIS SISTER, ARTEMIS, BOTH HUNTERS WHOSE BRONZE-TIPPED ARROWS COULD FLY FARTHER THAN ANY MORTAL’S.

ARES GAVE THE KING'S ARMIES POWER DURING WAR. Hephaistos WAS THE CRAFTSMAN WHO INSPIRED THOSE WHO MADE THE TOOLS OF WAR.

APHRODITE BEWITCHED ALL OF THOSE WHO FELL IN LOVE. AND ATHENE WAS THE CALM, GREY-EYED GODDESS WHO RARELY DISPLAYED EMOTION.

THERE WERE OTHERS, SUCH AS HEKATE, WHO FREQUENTED CROSSROADS & COULD BE FOUND ON MOONLESS NIGHTS.

EACH OF THESE DIVINITIES FIRST APPEARED IN THE BRONZE AGE. AND EACH PLAYED A ROLE IN FORMING THE EARLY CULTURES THERE.

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IN REALITY, HUMANS & GODS DEVELOPED AN ALLIANCE. THE GODS GAVE ... & IN RETURN, THE GODS EXPECTED RECIPROCITY.

BY RECIPROCITY, I MEAN THAT THE GODS EXPECTED GIFTS OF EQUAL VALUE. THEY DEMANDED THAT THIS NEW RELATIONSHIP BE OF MUTUAL BENEFIT.  

AND OF COURSE, IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT WHEN HUMANS ACKNOWLEDGED THEIR NEW BOND WITH THE GODS, LIFE WAS BETTER. 

THIS, AT LEAST, WAS WHAT RULERS CLAIMED. IT ALL WORKED TO THE ADVANTAGE OF THOSE IN POWER. AFTER ALL, A POPULATION IN FEAR WAS MORE MANAGEABLE.

FEAR OF ONE'S KING ENFORCED HIS AUTHORITY. AND FEAR OF THE GODS — WHO HAD IN TURN BLESSED THE KING — CONFIRMED THEIR SUPREMACY.

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BUT THE CHAOS THAT WAS SO TYPICAL OF THE BRONZE AGE CONTINUED, WITH OR WITHOUT THE GODS.

BETWEEN 1200 AND 1100 B.C., THOUSANDS OF CITIES THROUGHOUT THE Mediterranean REGION, INCLUDING PALACES & TEMPLES, WERE DESTROYED.

IN MANY INSTANCES THE DESTRUCTION WAS DUE TO ACTIVE VOLCANOES, WHICH WERE ACCOMPANIED BY EARTHQUAKES & TSUNAMIS.

NO AREA WAS SAFE. FROM EGYPT TO GREECE. CULTURE AFTER CULTURE FACED INCREASING CHAOS. 

AREAS THAT HAD GROWN FOR CENTURIES WERE SUDDENLY RAZED. MIGHTY KINGS WERE BROUGHT DOWN.

NOT ALL OF THE DESTRUCTION WAS DUE TO NATURE. A MYSTERIOUS INVASION OF THE REGION BY UNKNOWN MARAUDERS TOOK PLACE OVER A PERIOD OF DECADES.

HISTORIANS CALL THESE INVADERS THE "SEA PEOPLE," PARTLY BECAUSE THEY SEEMED TO SWEEP DOWN THE COASTS. THEY STOLD AND DESTROYED ALL THEY COULD.  

THE GRAND MYCENAEAN FORTRESSES OF GREECE WERE LEVELED. TURKEY, SAMARIA, SYRIA, PALESTINE, PERSIA — NO CULTURE SURVIVED.

EVEN THE PHARAOHS OF EGYPT HAD TO BATTLE THE INVADERS. ALTHOUGH THEY PREVAILED, PROGRESS HALTED. ADVANCEMENTS ENDED. CITIES BURNED.

REGIONAL TRADE COLLAPSED. A DARK AGES SEEMED TO ENVELOP THE WORLD. AND YET, THE GODS WERE NOT FORGOTTEN.

YES, THE KINGS THEY HAD BLESSED WERE GONE. THE TEMPLES THAT HAD BEEN ERECTED IN THEIR HONOR HAD BEEN BURNT.

THEIR PRIESTS & PRIESTESSES HAD BEEN KILLED OR DRIVEN AWAY. BUT ZEUS, HIS BROTHERS & SISTERS, & HIS MANY CHILDREN, LIVED ON.

THE GODS HAD WATCHED AS THE REGION WAS LEFT IN RUINS. BY ALL APPEARANCES THEY HAD NOT INTERVENED. THEY WERE, IT SEEMED, MERE SPECTATORS.

YET HOWEVER DISCONNECTED THEY APPEARED FROM THE HAVOC, THE MIGHTY DIVINITIES CONTINUED ON. 

AND AS THE ENTIRE REGION SLOWLY EMERGED FROM ITS ASHES, THE GREEKS ELEVATED THE OLYMPIC GODS TO EVEN GREATER HEIGHTS.

NEW TEMPLES WERE BUILT. CITIES AROSE UPON THE CINDERS & BROKEN STONES OF THE OLD TOWNS. NEW PRIESTESSES WERE RECRUITED.

GREECE, ALTHOUGH IT COULDN’T HAVE KNOWN, WAS PREPARING ITSELF FOR A GOLDEN AGE UNLIKE ANY THE WORLD HAD SEEN. 

THE GODS WOULD PLAY A KEY ROLE. THEIR FUNCTION WOULD BE TO INSPIRE, TO MOTIVATE & TO FIRE THE IMAGINATION OF POETS, PLAYWRIGHTS, ARTISTS & PHILOSOPHERS.

THESE ANCIENT DIVINITIES WOULD ALTERNATELY IGNITE A GRAND CREATIVITY, WHILE INFLUENCING THE FORMATION OF NEW GOVERNMENTS UNDER SOMETHING THE GREEKS CALLED DEMOCRACY.

THE DARK AGES WOULD END. WHAT AROSE FROM THEIR ASHES WOULD BECOME AN EXAMPLE TO FUTURE AGES, A BEACON OF WHAT WAS POSSIBLE.

AND THE GODS? 

ALTHOUGH TODAY MANY CONSIDER THEM TO BE NO MORE THAN MYTHOLOGY, THEY WORKED HAND IN HAND WITH THE ARCHITECTS & AGENTS OF THAT GOLDEN AGE.

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JOIN ME ... FOR A FUTURE EPISODE OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY.

AND ONE MORE THING, IF YOU HAVE LITTLE ONES IN YOUR LIFE, THERE'S A NEW CHILDREN'S BOOK THAT SHOULD BE ON YOUR BOOKSHELF.

IT'S CALLED READ-ALOUD STORIES FOR YOUNG LISTENERS, BY D.K. GARNER. THERE ARE NO GREEK GODS, BUT ANIMALS — ALWAYS PART OF GREEK LIFE — PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE.. 

JUST LIKE THE GREEK GODS, THEIR PRESENCE IS MAGICAL.

VISIT PATRICKGARNERBOOKS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION. 

AND THANKS FOR LISTENING ... THIS IS YOUR HOST, PATRICK GARNER.