Chthonic gods

Sanctuary of the chthonic deities in Agrigento, Sicily; in the background a reconstructed part of the Dioskurentempel

Votive tablet for chthonic deities ( relief in the National Museum of Athens, location: Tegea )

Chthonic gods or Chthonioi ( ancient Greek Χθόνιοι θεοί, Χθόνιοι ; from chtonios "belonging to the earth") are in Greek mythology all gods who represent the underworld and those who give life and fertility (see also chthonism ).

Male deities often have the nickname Χθόνιος Chthonios (for example Zeus Chthonios , also called Hades , ruler of the underworld), female deities are followed by Χθονία Chthonia . The latter includes first of all Persephone , wife of Hades. The Erinyes are also classified here, and occasionally the nymphs , which often represent a certain landscape (compare also namesake of Chthonia and Chthonios ).

Hesiod uses the collective term Chthonioi as a name for the titans . In the case of the tragedy poets , the expression appears in connection with invocations of the Chthonoi Tyrannoi or in contrast to other collectives, such as the gods of the sea or the air - for example for Hermes , in a parodic form with Aristophanes . However, it is often not clear whether the invocation is addressed to the gods or to the community of the dead. Because these are also known as Chthonios .

First and foremost, Hades was referred to as the chthonic god; the epic Iliad already names him as a complementary god to the Olympian Zeus as the “subterranean” Zeus Katachthonios . With this name, however, it is often impossible to decide whether it is a synonym for Hades or whether Zeus himself was addressed in a chthonic form with the double name. So in Mykonos , in Corinth and in Olympia Zeus Chthonios was venerated together with Ge Chthonia ( Gaia ) and Dionysus Lenaios . The name Chtonia is attested to Gaia only in this cult .

The mother goddess Demeter is worshiped as Chthonia Thea under her surname Hermione . From the fifth century onwards, Hecate Chthonia , the goddess of the crossroads and guardian of the gates between the worlds, is increasingly encountered. Furthermore Typhon as Chthonios Daimon referred Chthonion is also particularly Dionysus as the god of vegetation and as Chthonia apply Phama , the Gorgon and Brimo , this being another name for Persephone and an epithet of Hecate as well as Ceres and Cybele may be .

To denote mythical people, Chthonios or Chtonia is used to emphasize their descent from the earth. Examples of this are the Theban division of Chthonios and Chthonia , the daughter of Erechtheus .

Chthonios and Chthonia have been used as proper names since the time of Hellenism , especially among mythographers and lexicographers . In the Roman Empire , dedications to chthonic deities appear on grave inscriptions and escape tablets .

See also

• Earth mother (mother earth)
• Earth goddess
• Chthonic animals (associated with the underworld)

literature

• Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Chthonios 5) . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1.1, Leipzig 1886, Col. 907 f. ( Digitized version ).
• A. Fairbanks: The Chthonic Gods of Greek Religion. In: American Journal of Philology . Volume 21, 1900, pp. 241-259 (English).
• Albert Henrichs : Namelessness and Euphemism. On the ambivalence of the chthonic powers in the Attic drama. In: Heinz Hofmann , Annette Harder (eds.): Fragmenta Dramatica. Contributions to the interpretation of the Greek tragic fragments and their history of impact. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1991, ISBN 3-525-25748-1 , pp. 161-201.
• R. Schlesier: Olympian versus Chthonian religion. In: Scripta Classica Israelica. Volume 11, 1991-1992, pp. 38-51 (English).
• S. Scullion: Olympian and Chthonian. In: Classical Antiquity. Volume 13, 1994, pp. 75-119 (English).

Web links

• Entry: Chthonii. In: Greek Myth Index. 2007, accessed on September 16, 2014 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Herodotus 6: 134, 1; 7, 153, 2.
2. ↑ Sophocles , Oedipus on Colonus.
3. ↑ Apollonios of Rhodes 4, 1322.
4. ^ Hesiod , Theogony 697.
5. ↑ Euripides , Hecuba 79.
6. ^ Aeschylus , Agamemnon 89.
7. ↑ Aeschylus, The Persians 628–629.
8. ↑ Euripides, fragment 27, 4.
9. ^ Aeschylus, Die Grabspenderinnen 124, 727.
10. ^ Sophocles, Aias 832.
11. ↑ Aristophanes , The Frogs 1126, 1138, 1145.
12. ↑ Aeschylus, Die Schutzflehenden 25, 399, 476.
13. ↑ Pindar , Pythien 4, 159.
14. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 767.
15. ↑ Euripides, The Phoenicians 1321.
16. ↑ Euripides, Alkestis 237.
17. ↑ Homer , Iliad 9,457.
18. ^ Pausanias 2: 2, 8.
19. ^ Pausanias 5:14 , 8.
20. ^ Wilhelm Dittenberger : Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum. Volume 1, Leipzig 1883, p. 373 ( side view in the Internet Archive ).
21. ^ Inscriptiones Graecae IV 683.
22. ^ Pausanias 2, 35, 5-10.
23. ^ Pausanias 3:13 , 5.
24. ↑ Euripides, Heracles 615.
25. ↑ Aristophanes, Fragment 515, 1 PCG.
26. ↑ Theocritus 2:12 .
27. ↑ Plutarch , Moralia 290d3.
28. ↑ Aeschylus, Seven against Thebes 522.
29. ^ Sophocles, Elektra 1066.
30. ↑ Euripides, Ion 1054.
31. ↑ Apollonios of Rhodes 3, 862.
32. ^ Aeschylus, fragment 488.
33. ↑ Euripides, Die Bacchen 538.
34. ^ Inscriptiones Graecae V 1, 1192, 1.