Amaltheia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Painting by Jacob Jordaens (around 1640). On the left the little Zeus; it is unclear whether the milking nymph or the goat represents Amaltheia.
The feeding of the boy Zeus by a nymph. The female figure can Amaltheia and Adrasteia represent

In Greek mythology , Amaltheia ( ancient Greek Ἀμάλθεια Amáltheia ) or Amalthea is a nymph who raised the god Zeus with the milk of a goat; according to other sources it was the goat itself. It is also called under the name Aiga or Aix ( Greek αἴξ aíx , German 'goat' ; see wet nurses of Zeus ).

Her broken horn is considered the symbol of rich abundance, it is also known as the cornucopia . In some versions, Amaltheia is the wife of the shepherd god Pan .

background

Painting by Nicolas Poussin
Ida Mountains in Crete

The Titan Kronos had been prophesied that one of his children would oust him from the throne. So he ate up all the children his wife Rhea bore him. Rhea was very sad about this, but she did not want to part with Kronos and kept getting pregnant. Their children were immortal gods who live forever. So Rhea's children continued to live in their father Kronos' womb. One day Rhea realized she was pregnant again and decided to go into hiding. She fled to the island of Crete . There she hid in a cave on Mount Ida . Kronos quickly became suspicious and looked everywhere for her.

Rhea gave birth to the child Zeus, but after a few days Kronos stood in front of the cave and demanded that Rhea deliver the child to him. Rhea handed him a stone wrapped in bloody diapers, which Kronos immediately devoured. Then he asked Rhea to come with him immediately. She went with him for a while, then pretended to be weak from birth, let Kronos go ahead and ran back. Near the cave, nymphs were playing by a stream, who heard the child cry and immediately went into the cave. A nymph was holding the child when Rhea returned. She asked the nymph to take care of her son Zeus and turned her into a divine goat so that she could feed the child with milk, ambrosia and nectar.

She called the beautiful white goat Amaltheia, which means “divine white goat” in Greek. The goat nursed the child with its milk. Zeus drank nectar and ambrosia from their horns . A swarm of bees also brought him mountain honey.

So that Kronos couldn't hear the baby when he was crying, Rhea sent little ghosts who made noise by beating pots and pans with wooden spoons (according to Apollodorus, it was the curetes who drowned out the baby's screams with their wild war songs and the clink of arms ). Nevertheless, Kronos became suspicious and wanted to know who was making this noise in the cave. But it didn't get in because it was too big. He could only stick his head in the cave opening. But before his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, the goat jumped up and gave him a tremendous thrust with its horns. Amalthea lost one of her horns in this thrust. This horn became known as the cornucopia . It was always filled with what its owner wanted.

Thanks to Amalthea's care, Zeus soon grew so strong that he decided to overthrow the mighty Kronos from his throne. He needed allies for this and met secretly with his mother Rhea, who explained to him that his best allies were his siblings, whom Kronos had devoured. The titan Metis gave Kronos an emetic at a festive meal, so that he vomited and all siblings were freed.

Trivia

In the novel The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle and in the film of the same name , the unicorn is called "Lady Amalthea" after it has been transformed into a person.

See also

Stalagmite in the so-called Zeus Cave (Psychro Cave)

literature

Web links

Commons : Amaltheia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hygin , De astronomia 2.13.
  2. ↑ Georg Wentzel : Aix. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 1130.