Antinous: Greek God of Homosexuality

Antinous (also Antinoüs or Antinoös; was a Bithynian Greek youth and a favourite of the Roman emperor Hadrian. He was divinized after his death, being worshiped in both the Greek East and Latin West, sometimes as a god (theos) and sometimes merely as a divinized mortal.

Little is known of Antinous' life, although it is known that he was born in Claudiopolis, in the Roman province of Bithynia. He likely was introduced to Hadrian in 123, before being taken to Italy for a higher education. He had become the favourite of Hadrian by 128, when he was taken on a tour of the Empire as part of Hadrian's personal retinue. Antinous accompanied Hadrian during his attendance of the annual Eleusinian Mysteries in Athens, and was with him when he killed the Marousian lion in Libya. In October 130, as they were part of a flotilla going along the Nile, Antinous died amid mysterious circumstances. Various suggestions have been put forward for how he died, ranging from an accidental drowning to an intentional human sacrifice.

Following his death, Hadrian deified Antinous and founded an organised cult devoted to his worship that spread throughout the Empire. Hadrian founded the city of Antinopolis close to Antinous' place of death, which became a cultic centre for the worship of Osiris-Antinous. Hadrian also founded games in commemoration of Antinous to take place in both Antinopolis and Athens, with Antinous becoming a symbol of Hadrian's dreams of pan-Hellenism.

Antinous became associated with homosexuality in Western culture, appearing in the work of Oscar Wilde and Fernando Pessoa.

The Legend of the Gay God

He was deified and worshiped as a god because he had been the beautiful lover of Hadrian, Emperor of Rome. Many other attributes of divinity were attributed to Antinous, but the foundation of his divine nature was based on his homosexual beauty.

In his short life, Antinous affected the course of human history in that he became the first historical person to be declared a god because of his beauty and homosexuality, the first and last for whom a Roman Religion was declared and implemented, which lasted for several hundred years.

There are very few gods in history that have been worshiped as gods of homosexuality, the most important being the beautiful boy Ganymede, whom Jupiter loved. But Ganymede was never widely worshiped, no powers were attributed to him, he was identified rather as the archetype of men who loved men. In Latin the Romans pronounced his name Catamitus, and over time all effeminate men who engaged in the receptive role of gay sex were called Catamites. Antinous was compared to Ganymede because of his relationship with Hadrian and was later denounced as a Catamite by later writers, and the Star of Antinous was located within the Constellation of the Eagle, thereby demonstrating that the divinity of Antinous was as though Ganymede had come into being in the form of Antinous. Antinous was endowed with sublime power over homosexuals, He is neither myth nor legend. He is one of us, and he was understood to be so in antiquity and was worshiped as essentially the God of Homosexuals.

He was born of a woman, lived, and died in a time and in a place of historical reality, Antinous exceeds many other gods who are revered as the benefactors of homosexuality, because Antinous is neither a myth nor a fantasy, but a beautiful boy who really lived and really brought about an era of peace and sacredness for homosexuals throughout the Roman empire and by extension for all people...Antinous was the Spirit of Peace for the whole world, which was Hadrian's dream, a dream that was realized during the high point of the ancient cult of Antinous. Antinous is the essence of Homosexuality.

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Asteria: Greek Goddess of the Stars

(art by: http://www.emilybalivet.com/)

In Greek mythology, Asteria ("of the stars, starry one") was a name attributed to the following eleven individuals: the daughter of Coeus, an Amazon woman, Heliad, Danaid, Alkyonides, the Consort of Phocus, the consort of Bellerophon, the daughter of Coronus, the daughter of Teucer, an Athenian maiden, and a character in the opera "Telemaco".

The Titan Asteria was the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe and sister of Leto. According to Hesiod, by Perses she had a daughter Hecate. The Titan goddess of nocturnal oracles and falling stars, Asteria flung herself into the Aegean Sea in the form of a quail in order to escape the advances of Zeus. She became the "quail island" of Ortygia. which became identified with Delos, which was the only piece of earth to give refuge to the fugitive Leto when, pregnant with Zeus's children, she was pursued by vengeful Hera.

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Athena: Greek goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice, and skill

She was the favorite child of Zeus. She had sprung fully grown out of her father's head. Her mother was Metis, goddess of wisdom and Zeus' first wife. In fear that Metis would bear a son mightier than himself. Zeus swallowed her and she began to make a robe and helmet for her daughter. The hammering of the helmet caused Zeus great pain in the form of headaches and he cried out in agony. Skilled Hephaestus ran to his father and split his skull open and from it emerged Athena, fully grown and wearing her mother's robe and helmet. She is the virgin mother of Erichthnonius.

Athena and her uncle Poseidon were both very fond of a certain city in Greece. Both of them claimed the city and it was decided that the one that could give the finest gift should have it. Leading a procession of citizens, the two gods mounted the Acropolis. Poseidon struck the side of the cliff with his trident and a spring welled up. The people marveled, but the water was as salty as Poseidon's sea and it was not very useful. Athena's gift was an olive tree, which was better because it gave the people food, oil and wood. Athena named her city Athens.

Athena's companion was the goddess of victory, Nike, and her usual attribute is the owl. Athena possessed the Aegis.

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Myth of the Unicorn

The unicorn is a legendary animal that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. The unicorn was depicted in ancient seals of the Indus Valley Civilization and was mentioned by the ancient Greeks in accounts of natural history by various writers, including Ctesias, Strabo, Pliny the Younger, and Aelian. The Bible also describes an animal, the re'em, which some translations have erroneously rendered with the word unicorn.

In European folklore, the unicorn is often depicted as a white horse-like or goat-like animal with a long horn and cloven hooves (sometimes a goat's beard). In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was commonly described as an extremely wild woodland creature, a symbol of purity and grace, which could only be captured by a virgin. In the encyclopedias its horn was said to have the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness. In medieval and Renaissance times, the horn of the narwhal was sometimes sold as unicorn horn.

Unicorns are not found in Greek mythology, but rather in accounts of natural history, for Greek writers of natural history were convinced of the reality of the unicorn, which they located in India, a distant and fabulous realm for them. The earliest description is from Ctesias who, in his book Indika ("On India"), described them as wild asses, fleet of foot, having a horn a cubit and a half (27 inches) in length, and colored white, red and black.

The horn itself and the substance it was made of was called alicorn, and it was believed that the horn holds magical and medicinal properties. The Danish physician Ole Worm determined in 1638 that the alleged alicorns were the tusks of narwhals. False alicorn powder, made from the tusks of narwhals or horns of various animals, has been sold in Europe for medicinal purposes as late as 1741. The alicorn was thought to cure many diseases and have the ability to detect poisons, and many physicians would make "cures" and sell them. Cups were made from alicorn for kings and given as a gift; these were usually made of ivory or walrus ivory. Entire horns were very precious in the Middle Ages and were often really the tusks of narwhals.

One traditional method of hunting unicorns involved entrapment by a virgin.

In one of his notebooks, Leonardo da Vinci wrote:

"The unicorn, through its intemperance and not knowing how to control itself, for the love it bears to fair maidens forgets its ferocity and wildness; and laying aside all fear it will go up to a seated damsel and go to sleep in her lap, and thus the hunters take it."

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Cerberus: Greek Guardian of the Underworld

Cerberus was a vicious beast that guarded the entrance to Hades and kept the living from entering the world of the dead. According to Apollodorus, Cerberus was a strange mixture of creatures: he had three heads of wild dogs, a dragon or serpent for a tail, and heads of snakes all over his back. Hesiod, though, says that Cerberus had fifty heads and devoured raw flesh.

Cerberus' parents were the monster Echinda (half-woman, half-serpent) and Typhon (a fire-breathing giant covered with dragons and serpents). Even the gods of Olympus were afraid of Typhon.

There are only a couple of myths in Greek mythology where a hero gets the better of Cerberus. The first is when Orpheus (Greek mythology), the famed musician, sneaks into Hades by lulling the usually unstoppable Cerberus to sleep with his beautiful music.

The second myth is when Hercules (Greek mythology), with the approval of Hades (Greek mythology), the god of the Underworld, gets Cerberus in a choke hold, knocks him out, and kidnaps him. He is eventually returned to his post where he remains to this day. Cerberus, Guardian of Hades Other than these myths, the three-headed hound of Hell is an unmatched force for anyone trying to get in or out of Hades without express permission.

Some believe that due to his unmatched dedication to the gods of ancient Greece, Cerberus was eventually released by Hades and was able to join the gods in a more human immortal form, thereafter being known by the name Naberius.

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Gaia: Greek Goddess of the Earth (Mother Nature)

The first Greek god was actually a goddess. She is Gaia, or Mother Earth, who created herself out of primordial chaos. From her fertile womb all life sprang, and unto Mother Earth all living things must return after their allotted span of life is over.

Gaia, as Mother Nature, personifies the entire ecosystem of Planet Earth. Mother Nature is always working to achieve and maintain harmony, wholeness and balance within the environment. Mother Nature heals, nurtures and supports all life on this planet, and ultimately all life and health depend on Her. In time, Nature heals all ills.

The way of Mother Gaia is the passive, feminine, Yin way of healing. All we need to do to regain our health is to return to the bosom of Mother Nature and live in accordance with Her laws. The Gaia archetype underlies all notions of the Nature Cure. Mother Nature is a healing goddess.

In the 1960s, James Lovelock formulated the Gaia hypothesis. It states that all life, and all living things on this planet, are part of a single, all-encompassing global entity or consciousness which he named Gaia. It is this global consciousness, Mother Gaia, that makes our planet capable of supporting life, while our near neighbors in the solar system are barren and lifeless.

Through the global consciousness of Mother Gaia, all living things on this planet, from their most primordial instincts, are constantly interacting with their environment to ensure the harmony, balance and continuity of Life. Live in abalance with Mother Nature and health and healing are yours; violate Her laws and get out of balance, and you pay the price in suffering and disease. In this sense, all medicine and healing can be seen as a system of ecology.

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Lore of Wood Nymphs & Dryads

Tales of Nymphs in Greek mythology and religion abound, there were revered as the spirits of specific natural features - and often were identified with the part of nature in which they dwelt, The Oreads, were mountain nymphs. Others were associated with a particular function of nature, the Hamadryads, or tree nymphs, whose lives began and ended with that of a particular tree.

The name "nymph" comes from the Greek word that means "young woman", and so naturally these beings were considered to be female. Indeed, they were represented as young, beautiful, musical, amorous, and gentle youthful creatures. And while there is some question about whether they were immortal or not - Hamadryads in particular were linked with the lives of their chosen trees - it is believed that they were extremely long lived.

A beautiful, ever-young creature that inhabits the loveliest of all wilderness places including clear lakes, streams, and crystalline caverns. They do not like any form of intrusion but there is a 100% that a nymph will be friendly if approached by another good creature. Nymphs are exceptionally intelligent and are very rarely found.

Dryads and Hamadryads are two types of wood nymphs in Greek mythology. These female nature spirits were thought to inhabit trees and forests, and they were especially fond of oak trees. Dryads were often depicted in myth and art accompanied - or being pursued by - their male counterparts, the satyrs.

There are many stories of dryads in myth and legend. One famous dryad was Eurydice, the beautiful but ill-fated wife of Orpheus. According to the tale, Eurydice was killed by a snake when she tried to escape from the unwelcome amorous advances of Aristaeus. The fact that a dryad such as Eurydice could die demonstrates the idea that these nymphs were not immortal. And indeed, the hamadryads were even more vulnerable, for it was believed that their lives depended on the health and well-being of the trees they inhabited.

Dryads can be found in the secluded places such as oak trees. They are very shy and non-violent so they are never more than a few feet away from their individual tree. Unless they are surprised, dryads can disappear by stepping into a tree.

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Persephone: Goddess of Spring, Queen of the Underworld

Persephone: Goddess of Spring, Queen of the Underworld

PERSEPHONE was the goddess queen of the underworld, wife of the god Haides. She was also the goddess of spring growth, who was worshipped alongside her mother Demeter in the Eleusinian Mysteries. This agricultural-based cult promised its initiates passage to a blessed afterlife.

Persephone was titled Kore (the Maiden) as the goddess of spring's bounty. Once upon a time when she was playing in a flowery meadow with her Nymph companions, Kore was seized by Haides and carried off to the underworld as his bride. Her mother Demeter despaired at her dissappearance and searched for her the throughout the world accompanied by the goddess Hekate bearing torches. When she learned that Zeus had conspired in her daughter's abduction she was furious, and refused to let the earth fruit until Persephone was returned. Zeus consented, but because the girl had tasted of the food of Haides--a handful of pomegranate seeds--she was forced to forever spend a part of the year with her husband in the underworld. Her annual return to the earth in spring was marked by the flowering of the meadows and the sudden growth of the new grain. Her return to the underworld in winter, conversely, saw the dying down of plants and the halting of growth.

In other myths, Persephone appears exclusively as the queen of the underworld, receiving the likes of Herakles and Orpheus at her court.

Persephone was usually depicted as a young goddess holding sheafs of grain and a flaming torch. Sometimes she was shown in the company of her mother Demeter, and the hero Triptolemos, the teacher of agriculture. At other times she appears enthroned beside Haides.

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Aphrodite: Greek Goddess of Love & Beauty

Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus.

As with many ancient Greek deities, there is more than one story about her origins. According to Hesiod's Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranus's genitals and threw them into the sea, and she arose from the sea foam (aphros). According to Homer's Iliad, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. According to Plato, the two were entirely separate entities: Aphrodite Ourania and Aphrodite Pandemos.

Because of her beauty, other gods feared that their rivalry over her would interrupt the peace among them and lead to war, so Zeus married her to Hephaestus, who, because of his ugliness and deformity, was not seen as a threat. Aphrodite had many lovers—both gods, such as Ares, and men, such as Anchises. She played a role in the Eros and Psyche legend, and later was both Adonis's lover and his surrogate mother. Many lesser beings were said to be children of Aphrodite.

Aphrodite is also known as Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus) after the two cult sites, Cythera and Cyprus, which claimed to be her place of birth. Myrtle, doves, sparrows, horses, and swans were said to be sacred to her. The ancient Greeks identified her with the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor.

Aphrodite had many other names, such as Acidalia, Cytherea and Cerigo, each used by a different local cult of the goddess in Greece. The Greeks recognized all of these names as referring to the single goddess Aphrodite, despite the slight differences in what these local cults believed the goddess demanded of them. The Attic philosophers of the 4th century, however, drew a distinction between a celestial Aphrodite (Aprodite Urania) of transcendent principles, and a separate, "common" Aphrodite who was the goddess of the people (Aphrodite Pandemos).

Aphrodite is usually said to have been born near her chief center of worship, Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, which is why she is sometimes called "Cyprian", especially in the poetic works of Sappho. However, other versions of her myth have her born near the island of Cythera, hence another of her names, "Cytherea"

Cythera was a stopping place for trade and culture between Crete and the Peloponesus, so these stories may preserve traces of the migration of Aphrodite's cult from the Middle East to mainland Greece.

In the most famous version of her myth, her birth was the consequence of a castration: Cronus severed Uranus' genitals and threw them behind him into the sea. The foam from his genitals gave rise to Aphrodite (hence her name, meaning "foam-arisen"), while the Erinyes (furies), and the Meliae emerged from the drops of his blood. Hesiod states that the genitals "were carried over the sea a long time, and white foam arose from the immortal flesh; with it a girl grew." The girl, Aphrodite, floated ashore on a scallop shell. This iconic representation of Aphrodite as a mature "Venus rising from the sea" (Venus Anadyomene) was made famous in a much-admired painting by Apelles, now lost, but described in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder.
Petra tou Romiou ("The rock of the Greek"), Aphrodite's legendary birthplace in Paphos, Cyprus.

In another version of her origin, she was considered a daughter of Zeus and Dione, the mother goddess whose oracle was at Dodona. Aphrodite herself was sometimes also referred to as "Dione". "Dione" seems to be a feminine form of "Dios", the genitive form case of Zeus, and could be taken to mean simply "the goddess" in a generic sense. Aphrodite might, then, be an equivalent of Rhea, the Earth Mother, whom Homer relocated to Olympus.

In Homer, Aphrodite ventures into battle to protect her son, Aeneas, is wounded by Diomedesk and returns to her mother to sink down at her knee and be comforted.

Aphrodite is consistently portrayed, in every image and story, as having had no childhood, and instead being born as a nubile, infinitely desirable adult. She is often depicted nude. In many of the later myths, she is portrayed as vain, ill-tempered and easily offended. Although she is married—she is one of the few gods in the Greek Pantheon who is—she is frequently unfaithful to her husband.

Aphrodite's husband Hephaestus is one of the most even-tempered of the Hellenic deities, but in the Odyssey she is portrayed as preferring Ares, the volatile god of war because she is attracted to his violent nature. Aphrodite is one of a few characters in the Odyssey whose actions are a major contributing cause of the Trojan War: she offers Helen of Troy to Paris, and as the goddess of desire, she is responsible for Paris becoming so inflamed with desire for Helen at first sight that he is moved to abduct her.

According to one version of Aphrodite's story, because of her immense beauty Zeus fears that the other gods will become violent with each other in their rivalry to possess her. To forestall this, he forces her to marry Hephaestus, the dour, humorless god of smithing. In another version of the story, Aphrodite marries Hephaestus after his mother, Hera casts him off Olympus, deeming him too ugly and deformed to inhabit the home of the gods. His revenge is to trap his mother in a magic throne. In return for her release, he demands to be given Aphrodite's hand in marriage.

Hephaestus is overjoyed to be married to the goddess of beauty, and forges her beautiful jewelry, including the cestus, a girdle that makes her even more irresistible to men. Her unhappiness with her marriage causes Aphrodite to seek other male companionship, most often Ares, but also sometimes Adonis.

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Hebe: Greek Goddess of Youth, forgiveness, immortality, & spring

Hebe is the goddess of youth, and she is the daughter of Zeus and Hera. She is married to Heracles, the protector of Olympus, and was the cupbearer of the gods.

Hebe is mainly seen as the goddess of youth. She is also the keeper of the Fountain of Youth and she is (or in other myths, was) the cupbearer of the gods. She is sometimes said to be the patron of brides, as well as the goddess of forgiveness and immortality.

Hebe is always seen as a young goddess because she is the goddess (and sometimes the personification) of youth. In most other depictions of her, she is either wearing a sleeveless dress or she doesn't even have a top on. She is sometimes shown with wings. She is said to be uncharismatic and clumsy.

She was also the patron goddess of the young bride and an attendant of the goddess Aphrodite. Herakles received Hebe in marriage upon his ascension to Olympos, a wedding which reconciled the hero with Hebe's mother Hera.

Hebe's male counterpart was the boy Ganymedes and her opposite number was Geras (Old Age). She may have been equated with Selene's daughter Pandeia.

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Gaia: Greek Goddess of All

Gaia was the great mother of all: the primal Greek Mother Goddess; creator and giver of birth to the Earth and all the Universe; the heavenly gods, the Titans, and the Giants were born to her.

Gaia or Gaea, known as Earth or Mother Earth (the Greek common noun for "land" is ge or ga). She was an early earth goddess and it is written that Gaia was born from Chaos, the great void of emptiness within the universe, and with her came Eros. She gave birth to Pontus (the Sea) and Uranus (the Sky). This was achieved parthenogenetically (without male intervention). Other versions say that Gaia had as siblings Tartarus (the lowest part of the earth, below Hades itself) and Eros, and without a mate, gave birth to Uranus (Sky), Ourea (Mountains) and Pontus (Sea).

Gaia took as her husband Uranus, who was also her son, and their offspring included the Titans, six sons and six daughters. She gave birth to the Cyclopes and to three monsters that became known as the "Hecatonchires". The spirits of punishment known as the Erinyes were also offspring of Gaia and Uranus. The Gigantes, finally, were conceived after Uranus had been castrated by his son Cronus, and his blood fell to earth from the open wound.

To protect her children from her husband, (the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires, as he was fearful of their great strength), Gaia hid them all within herself. One version says that Uranus was aghast at the sight of his offspring so he hid them away in Tartarus, which are the bowels of the earth. Gaia herself found her offspring uncomfortable and at times painful, when the discomfort became to much to bear she asked her youngest son Cronus to help her. She asked him to castrate Uranus, thus severing the union between the Earth and Sky, and also to prevent more monstrous offspring. To help Cronus achieve his goal Gaia produced an adamantine sickle to serve as the weapon. Cronus hid until Uranus came to lay with Gaia and as Uranus drew near, Cronus struck with the sickle, cutting the genitalia from Uranus. Blood fell from the severed genitals and came in contact with the earth and from that union was born the Erinyes (Furies), the Giants and the Meliae (Nymphs of the manna ash trees).

After the separation of the Earth from the Sky, Gaia gave birth to other offspring, these being fathered by Pontus. Their names were the sea-god Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia. In other versions Gaia had offspring to her brother Tartarus; they were Echidna and Typhon, the later being an enemy of Zeus. Apollo killed Typhon when he took control of the oracle at Delphi, which Gaia originally provided, and then the "Sibyl" sang the oracle in Gaia's shrine.

It was Gaia who saved Zeus from being swallowed by Cronus, after Zeus had been born, Gaia helped Rhea to wrap a stone in swaddling clothes, this was to trick Cronus in to thinking it was Zeus, because Cronus had been informed that one of his children would depose him, and so to get rid of his children he had swallowed them, Gaia's trick worked and Zeus was then taken to Crete.

Gaia being the primordial element from which all the gods originated was worshiped throughout Greece, but later she went into decline and was supplanted by other gods. In Roman mythology she was known as Tellus or Terra.

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Maia: Greek Goddess of Spring

Maia: Greek Goddess of Spring

MAIA was the eldest of the Pleiades, the seven nymphs of the constellation Pleiades. She was a shy goddess who dwelt alone in a cave near the peaks of Mount Kyllene (Cyllene0 in Arkadia where she secretly gave birth to a son by Zeus, the god Hermes. She also raised the boy Arkas in her cave, whose mother Kallisto had been transformed into a bear.

Aiskhylos apparently idenifies Maia "the nursing mother" with Gaia "the Earth." On several occassions he calls the earth-goddess Gaia Maia (Mother Earth) and pairs her with Hermes Khthonios ("of the Earth")

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Flora/Chloris: Greek Goddess of Flowering Plants

Flora is the Roman Goddess (She's called Chloris in Greek lore) of flowering plants, especially those that bear fruit. Spring, of course, is Her season, and She has elements of a Love-Goddess, with its attendant attributes of fertility, sex, and blossoming. She is quite ancient; the Sabines are said to have named a month for Her (which corresponds to our and the Roman April), and She was known among the Samnites as well as the Oscans, where She was called Flusia. She was originally the Goddess specifically of the flowering crops, such as the grain or fruit-trees, and Her function was to make the grain, vegetables and trees bloom so that autumn's harvest would be good. She was invoked to avert rust, a nasty fungal disease of plants that causes orange growths the exact color of rusting iron, and which was (is) an especial problem affecting wheat. Hers is the beginning of the process that finds its completion with Pomona, the Goddess of Fruit and the Harvest; and like Pomona, Flora had Her own flamen, one of a small number of priests each in service to a specific Deity. The flamens were said to have been instituted by Numa, the legendary second King of Rome who succeeded Romulus; and whether Numa really existed or not, the flamens were undoubtedly of ancient origin, as were the Deities they served.

In later times Flora became the Goddess of all flowering plants, including the ornamental varieties. Her name is related to Latin floris, meaning naturally enough "a flower", with the additional meaning of "[something] in its prime"; other related words have meanings like "prospering", "flourishing", "abounding", and "fresh or blooming". In one story, Flora was said to have provided Juno with a magic flower that would allow Her to conceive with no help from a man; from this virgin-birth Mars was born. A late tale calls Flora a courtesan and gives Her a story similar to Acca Larentia: Flora was said to have made a fortune as a courtesan, which She bequeathed to Rome upon Her death, and for which She was honored with the festival of the Floralia. As Flora was originally a Sabine Goddess, and as the Sabines were a neighboring tribe whom the Romans conquered and assimilated into Rome, perhaps this is an acknowledgement of the land so acquired, put into legendary terms.

Flora had two temples in Rome, one near the Circus Maximus, the great "stadium" of Rome where chariot races were held, and another on the slopes of the Quirinal Hill. The temple on the Quirinal was most likely built on the site of an earlier altar to Her said to have been dedicated by Titus Tatius, King of the Sabines, who ruled alongside Romulus for a time in the very early (hence legendary) days of Rome. Her other temple was built quite near to the Circus Maximus, though its exact site has not been found, and was associated with a neighboring temple dedicated to the triad of Ceres (the Grain Goddess) and Liber and Libera (God and Goddess of the Vine). These Deities and Flora were all concerned with the fertility and health of the crops. Flora's temple by the Circus was dedicated on the 28th of April in 241 (or 248) BCE in response to a great drought at the command of the Sybilline books, and this day became the starting date of Her great festival, the Floralia. In Imperial times (1st century CE) this temple was rededicated (I assume after some restorations were made) on the 13th of August, and this date was given to a second festival of Flora, coinciding with the ripening of the grain, whose flowers She had set forth.

The Floralia of April was originally a moveable feast to coincide with the blossoming of the plants, later becoming fixed with the dedication of Her temple on the 28th (or 27th, before the calendar was reformed--I mention this because holidays were almost always held on odd-numbered days as it was considered unlucky to start a festival on an even-numbered day), though ludi or "games"--horse-races or athletic contests--were not held every year. By the Empire the festival had grown (or should I say, blossomed) to seven days, and included chariot-races and theatrical performances, some of which were notoriously bawdy. It was given over to merriment and celebrations of an amorous nature, much like that northern flower-and-sex festival Beltaine whose date neatly coincides. Prostitutes considered it their own special time, and the Floralia gained a reputation as being more licentious and abandoned than the Saturnalia of December, whose name is legendary even now.

At the chariot-races and circus games of the Floralia it was traditional to let goats and hares loose, and lupines, bean-flowers and vetch (all of which have similarly-shaped blossoms and are a sort of showier version of wheat in bloom) were scattered, symbolic of fertility. Brightly colored clothes were a must, as were wreaths of flowers, especially roses; and the celebrations drew great crowds. Of the two nationalized chariot-teams who shared a deep rivalry, the Greens and the Blues, the Greens (of course) were Hers, and She had been invoked at chariot-races from ancient times. The last day of the festival, May 3rd, was called Florae; it may be a special name for the closing day of the Floralia, or it may refer to a separate ceremony conducted in Her temple on the Quirinal.

Flora was depicted by the Romans wearing light spring clothing, holding small bouquets of flowers, sometimes crowned with blossoms. Honey, made from flowers, is one of Her gifts, and Her name is said to be one of the secret (holy) names of Rome. She is sometimes called the handmaiden of Ceres. Ovid identifies Her with the Greek flower-nymph Chloris, whose name means "yellow or pale green", the color of Spring. The word flora is still used as a general name for the plants of a region.

Alternate names/epithets: Flora Rustica, "Flora the Countrywoman" or "Flora of the Countryside", and Flora Mater, or "Flora the Mother", in respect to Her ancient origins. Among the Oscans She was known as Flusia.

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Antinous: Greek God of Homosexuality

Antinous (also Antinoüs or Antinoös; was a Bithynian Greek youth and a favourite of the Roman emperor Hadrian. He was divinized after his death, being worshiped in both the Greek East and Latin West, sometimes as a god (theos) and sometimes merely as a divinized mortal.

Little is known of Antinous' life, although it is known that he was born in Claudiopolis, in the Roman province of Bithynia. He likely was introduced to Hadrian in 123, before being taken to Italy for a higher education. He had become the favourite of Hadrian by 128, when he was taken on a tour of the Empire as part of Hadrian's personal retinue. Antinous accompanied Hadrian during his attendance of the annual Eleusinian Mysteries in Athens, and was with him when he killed the Marousian lion in Libya. In October 130, as they were part of a flotilla going along the Nile, Antinous died amid mysterious circumstances. Various suggestions have been put forward for how he died, ranging from an accidental drowning to an intentional human sacrifice.

Following his death, Hadrian deified Antinous and founded an organised cult devoted to his worship that spread throughout the Empire. Hadrian founded the city of Antinopolis close to Antinous' place of death, which became a cultic centre for the worship of Osiris-Antinous. Hadrian also founded games in commemoration of Antinous to take place in both Antinopolis and Athens, with Antinous becoming a symbol of Hadrian's dreams of pan-Hellenism.

He was deified and worshiped as a god because he had been the beautiful lover of Hadrian, Emperor of Rome. Many other attributes of divinity were attributed to Antinous, but the foundation of his divine nature was based on his homosexual beauty.

In his short life, Antinous affected the course of human history in that he became the first historical person to be declared a god because of his beauty and homosexuality, the first and last for whom a Roman Religion was declared and implemented, which lasted for several hundred years.

There are very few gods in history that have been worshiped as gods of homosexuality, the most important being the beautiful boy Ganymede, whom Jupiter loved. But Ganymede was never widely worshiped, no powers were attributed to him, he was identified rather as the archetype of men who loved men. In Latin the Romans pronounced his name Catamitus, and over time all effeminate men who engaged in the receptive role of gay sex were called Catamites. Antinous was compared to Ganymede because of his relationship with Hadrian and was later denounced as a Catamite by later writers, and the Star of Antinous was located within the Constellation of the Eagle, thereby demonstrating that the divinity of Antinous was as though Ganymede had come into being in the form of Antinous. Antinous was endowed with sublime power over homosexuals, He is neither myth nor legend. He is one of us, and he was understood to be so in antiquity and was worshiped as essentially the God of Homosexuals.

He was born of a woman, lived, and died in a time and in a place of historical reality, Antinous exceeds many other gods who are revered as the benefactors of homosexuality, because Antinous is neither a myth nor a fantasy, but a beautiful boy who really lived and really brought about an era of peace and sacredness for homosexuals throughout the Roman empire and by extension for all people...Antinous was the Spirit of Peace for the whole world, which was Hadrian's dream, a dream that was realized during the high point of the ancient cult of Antinous. Antinous is the essence of Homosexuality.

Artemis Goddess of the Hunt, the Moon, Childbirth, Virginity

Artemis was the offspring of Zeus and titan Leto as per Homeric hymns. She was called the goddess of moon and hunt and childbirth. She has a twin brother named Apollo. And, similar to Apollo, Artemis was also connected with many divine attributes.

As she was a huntress, she is symbolized using along with a bow and arrows. She hunts animals but she also protects them in the forests. Artemis also respected chastity and she was a divine virgin. She was angry with the mortals who seduced her to relieve her virginity. Once a Theban hunter saw her taking bath and when Artemis saw him, she made him into stag and felled by his hounds.

Artemis is a goddess who is self made. She asked her daddy to help her in becoming the goddess of hunt and to stay in mountains. She also asked for a 69 year old Oceanides to be her followers and 20 nymphs from Amnisos River. She also helped the women and female animals during the labor. She also bought the Cyclops made for her in silver and spectacular.

There are many names for Artemis in the Greek mythology. She was called the Agrotera, the goddess who protected the hunters and also gifted them with endeavors. She was also called the protector of the wild creatures known as Potnia Theron. She was also called as Locheia sometimes as the goddess of childbirth. And she was made offerings by the expectant mothers. She is also called the phoebe which is the alternative nickname of Apollo.

Pan to Artemis (photo manipulation and poem addition by Cu'Anam)

Greek Goddess Artemis Info

Pan and Echo by lychen

http://lychen.deviantart.com/

The god Pan spotted Echo one day and fell madly in love. But Echo would have nothing to do with him. This made Pan so angry that he used his powers to panic his shepherds. They went mad, and tore Echo to pieces. Pieces of Echo were carried by the wind all over the world.

Gaia, the Earth mother, who had always like Echo, could not change what Pan had done. She could not change what Hera had done. But she could let the pieces of Echo keep what voice remained to them.

Thanks to Gaia, even today, you can sometimes hear a piece of Echo repeating the sounds around her - the howl of a dog, the toot of a train, or the last few words that people say.

Artemis: Greek Goddess of the Hunt, Virginity, the Moon

In Greek mythology Artemis (also known as the Roman goddess Diana) was the daughter of Zeus, the mighty ruler of the Olympian gods. After an affair and secretly impregnating Leto, Leto had to give birth to Aretmis while being chased by the Python sent by Hera. Fortunately for Leto her first child, Artemis, was birthed without any pain. However Leto had twins so her labor continued, and as weak as she was the newborn Artemis quickly took the roll as midwife and helped birth her twin brother Apollo. You could say that, of all the Greek goddesses, the goddess Artemis was literally born to serve as a nurturer and protector! It looks like though both twins had young knacks for things.
On her birthday Artemis asked for Six wishes from Zeus, his father. These wishes were.
1. To be able to live life chaste.
2. To be able to be a lifelong bachelorette and never marry.
3. A bow and arrow like that of Artemis’s
4. Hunting dogs to assist her hunting.
5. Stags to lead her chariot.
6. And 80 virgin nymphs to be her hunting companions.

Zeus was amused by wishes and being the good father granted her each wish she asked for. Artemis would never marry, and would be chaste for all eternity. She roamed with her hunting dogs, nymphs, and her stags, hunting all throughout the mountains where she resided.
Artemis was very protective of the chastity of her nymphs and was angered when they didn’t keep their purity. In the case of Callisto, Zeus had disguised himself as Artemis and took advantage and impregnated Callisto, Artemis was furious that she was no longer chaste and blamed her loss of purity on her. Artemis then immediately irrevocably turned her into a bear. However before Artemis killed Callisto in bear form Zeus intervened turning Callisto into constellation in the stars, as Callisto the Bear, also known as Ursa Major.

The Greek goddess Artemis was frequently called upon to nurture her needy and somewhat ineffectual mother. Many times she came to the aid of her mother healing her from sickness. Artemis very naturally became the patron saint of childbirth, the protector of children, and the goddess who especially heard the appeals of women. Helping women in childbirth by relieving them of the pain they suffer on several occasions.
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Artemis is unsurprisingly associated with the wilderness and the natural world. She symbolizes the untamed spirit, never being tied down by things such as love, being the eternal huntress of the forests.The Greek goddess Artemis was famous for her hunting skills, especially with her bow and arrow. She had unerring aim that never missed her target. She was a very able hunter taking down some of the most terrifying beasts with ease and grace.
Artemis was also very protective of the animals in her domain. Once the King Agamemnon slaughtered one of Artemis’s sacred stags and boasted that he was a superior hunter to Artemis. In vengeance while Agamemnon and his forces were sailing to Troy for the Trojan War Artemis becalmed the ships so they were stuck in the middle of the sea with no wind. Artemis then demanded Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter and then Artemis would restore the wind. In the end Artemis herself swaps the sacrifice of
Artemis was a goddess very comfortable with her female companions and rarely ever had male companions excepting her twin brother. She often bathed and danced with her nymphs and womanly companions. Once the hunter Actaeon saw Artemis bathing with her nymphs and was paralyzed in wonderment staring at all the women bathing in the river. Artemis, was none too pleased at the peeping tom and so she turned him into a stag and made his own dogs attack and kill him.

Artemis never had any love affairs, but one. That was with the mortal Orion. Artemis was in love with Orion. However, upset that his sister's time and attentions had been diverted away from him, the God Apollo, her twin, became very jealou. So when Orion was swimming far into the ocean Apollo made a wager with Artemis that she couldn’t hit the floating object on the horizon.
Artemis being the prideful archer she was took the wager gladly and proudly drew her bow and shot the object on the horizon winning the wager. However once she won she realized that the “floating object” was actually her only lover Orion. In her great grief the Goddess Artemis turned Orion into various stars and shot him into the night sky, making him a constellation in the night sky forevermore.
The Greek goddess Artemis was often associated with the moon, especially the crescent or "new" moon. Phoebe was one of the many names she was called. The name Phoebe means the "light one" or "bright one".
Artemis "Goddess of Light" had the divine duty of illuminating the darkness. Artemis was often depicted carrying a candle or torch, lighting the way for others, leading them through territories yet uncharted.
In Greek mythology Artemis, despite her "wildness" (her refusal to conform to conventional ways or tradition) and her fierce independence, was depicted as one of the compassionate, healing goddesses. Of all the Greek goddesses, she was the most self-sufficient, living life on her own terms, comfortable both in solitude and in holding the reins of leadership.
The Greek goddess Artemis gives us courage. Like her counterpart, the Roman goddess Diana, she illuminates those places that terrify us and lends us her strength to bring us safely through our fears.

(Source: http://www.godandgoddess.com)

The Man and the Satyr by himmapaan

http://himmapaan.deviantart.com/