Sunday 5 May 2013

Minor Gods

Comus/Komos- god of festivity, revelry, jokes, and dalliances at night.

A son of Dionysus, he was also his cupbearer. John Milton made Circe/Kirke his mother.

He was depicted as a winged youth, usually drunk, crowned in flowers and carrying a torch, or as a satyr with donkey ears.

Socus/Sokos- rustic god of Euboea/Euboia, an island.

With Combe/Kombe, a nymph and daughter of the river god Asopus, he fathered the seven Corybantes/Korybantes- Prymneus, Mimas, Acmon, Damneus, Ocythous, Idaeus, and Melisseus, who guarded the infant Dionysus on Euboea. Melisseus was also the name of the god of honey and beekeeping and may have been the same as the Corybante, or a Titan son of Ouranos and Gaia. He was father to the nymphs Adrastea and Ida who were said to have minded the infant Zeus.


According to Nonnus, Socus expelled Combe and the Corybantes from Euboea and they sought refuge with Cecrops, who may have even killed Socus. Cecrops was king of Athens and he picked Athena to be its patron.

Thaumas- a god of the wonders of the sea.

A son of Pontus and Gaia, with his wife Electra/Elektra/Ozomene, an Okeanid, he fathered the Harpies (Okypete, Aello, Podarge, Podarce, Nicothoe, and Celaeno), Iris the goddess of the rainbow and messenger to Hera, Hydaspes a river god, and Arce/Arke, Iris' twin who was messenger to the Titans and who was stripped of her wings by Zeus and cast down into Tartarus.


He may have been overthrown by Poseidon.

Proteus- a god of the changes in the sea. Known as the 'Old Man of the Sea'.

A son of Poseidon, he was herdsman to his seals. With Psamathe, the Nereid goddess of sand and beaches, he fathered Eidothea/Idothea who was a prophetic nymph, she told Menelaus to capture her father to learn how to get home, and sons Polygonus and Telegonus who were killed by Heracles.
He was also father to Cabeiro/Kabeiro a Haliad (nymph of the sea), who was mother to the Cabeiri/Kabeiri, and Cadmilus/Kadmilos, a demigod, with Hephaestus.

He was a shapeshifter and when he was captured by people wishing to hear his prophecies they had to hold him whilst he shifted in an attempt to escape from them. Homer says when Menelaus captured him he took the forms of a lion, a serpent, a leopard, a pig, and even of water or a tree.
Aristaeus seized him on his mother's advice to learn why his bees had died, he shifted before relenting and telling Aristaeus how to protect his bees.

He predicted that Thetis would bear a child greater than its father and for this reason she was wed to Peleus. Achilles was born to them and was indeed greater than Peleus.

He was sometimes called a king of Egypt.

Triton- a sea god, he was the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite and messenger to Poseidon.

He was father to Calliste/Kalliste, a Haliad given to the Argonaut Euphemos as a lump of earth that became an island when washed overboard, Triteia, a Haliad and priestess to Athena who had a son, Melanippos, with Ares, Pallas, a nymph who was friends with Athena and accidentally killed by her, and the Tritonides, nymphs who were handmaidens to Galateia, the Nereid loved by the Cyclopes Polyphemos.
Sometimes he was father to Scylla, with Lamia, but sometimes she was a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. Scylla was a naiad or nymph desired by Poseidon or Glaucus and cursed by waters poisoned by a jealous Amphitrite or Circe, which turned her into a monster with tentacle legs and dog heads at her waist. Lamia was a queen of Libya cursed by Hera into devouring her children and to never being able to close her eyes, Zeus gave her the ability to remove her eyes. She then became a devourer of children, and was sometimes thought to have the lower body of a serpent.
He may have been a foster father to Athena.

He could still the waves by blowing a conch shell. The sound could also make giants flee.

When the Argonauts were lost in a river or lake he guided them back to the sea.

He was depicted as a merman, sometimes bearded, usually handsome, and with a trident.

Carmanor/Karmanor- a demigod of the harvest and consort to Demeter. With Demeter he had a son, Eubuleus/Euboleus, demigod of swine, ploughing and planting seeds, and two daughters, Khrysothemis/Chrysothemis, demigoddess of the harvest who had daughters with Apollo, Molpadia and Parthenos and Rhoio, and Acacallis/Akakallis, a nymph with whom Apollo had two sons, Phylacides and Phylander.

He purified Apollo after he killed Pytho/Pytho, the dragon that had chased his mother Leto when she was pregnant, and it was said that is how Apollo met Carmanor's daughters.

He may simply have been another version of Iasion/Iasus/Eetion, a son of Zeus and the Titaness of day Hemera, or the Pleiad, Electra, or the Italian king Corythus, and Electra. He lay with Demeter and with her had the twins Ploutos and Phiolmelus, and a son Korybas and possibly a son, Bootes. They had intercourse during Cadmus and Harmonia's wedding and seeing the mud on Demeter's back, a jealous Zeus guessed what had happened and killed Iasion with a thunderbolt.

Eubuleus/Euboleus/Eubolos/Euboulos/Eubouleos- a demigod of ploughing, sacred swine and planting seeds, son of Demeter and Carmanor, or Trokhilos/Trochilus, demigod of the mill-wheel, and Eleusis, demigoddess of of Eleusis who attended Demeter, or Dysaules, demigod of the sacred field of Rharos, and son of Gaia.

His brother was Triptolemus demigod of farming, milling and the Eleusian Mysteries.

His daughter was Carme/Karme, a demigoddess of the harvest who attended Demeter, who became mother to Britomartis with Zeus. Britomartis was a virgin huntress who escaped Minos by jumping into nets held by sailors.

Eubuleus was depicted as a long haired torch bearer like his half-sibling Iacchus, a son of Demeter and Zeus.

In myth he was tending to his swine near Persephone and when she abducted his swine were taken with her.

Triptolemus- a demigod of farming, milling and the Eleusian Mysteries. Son of Trokhilos/Trochilus and Eleusis, or Dysaules, or Okeanos and Gaia, or King Celeus/Keleus of Eleusis and his wife Metanira/Meganeira.

When Demeter was wandering the earth looking for Persephone she found hospitality with King Celeus when she took the guise of an old woman, Doso. Celeus asked her to mind his youngest son Demophon, and in thanks for the hospitality Demeter started to make Demophon immortal by bathing him in fire each night. When Metanira walked in on Demeter doing this she screamed and the ritual was ruined, and in some versions Demophon was killed. So Demeter chose to gift Celeus' other son, Triptolemus, instead. She taught him how to grow and rear crops and he passed these gifts on to the rest of Greece whilst travelling in a winged chariot gifted to him by Demeter.

When he tried to teach King Lyncus of the Scythians the king refused to learn and tried to kill him and was turned into a lynx by Demeter.

With his father Celeus; King Diocles/Diokles of Megara, who was overthrown by Theseus resulting in Eleusis independence from Megara; Eumolpus, son of Poseidon and Chione, goddess of snow and daughter of Boreas, who fled Thrace to Eleusis after it was discovered he had plans to overthrow the Thracian king Tegyrios, and Polyxenus, he was he one of the first priests of Demeter.

He was depicted as young with a branch or diadem in his hair and grain, wheat and barley were all sacred to him. He was frequently shown in his chariot, which was winged and pulled by serpents.

Plutus/Ploutos- a god of wealth and son to Demeter and Iasion, or to Tyche/Tykhe, the goddess of fortune and chance, daughter of Zeus, or Prometheus, or Okeanos and Tethys, and possibly a companion of Persephone.

His twin was Philomelus, and Korybas may have been another brother.

Zeus blinded him so he would distribute wealth fairly and without favour.

He was depicted as young and bearing a cornucopia, and also sometimes lame and/or winged. As an infant he was shown in the arms of Tyche or Eirene/Irene a goddess of peace and spring of one of the three Horae/Horai.

Philomelus/Bootes- demigod of ploughs and the wagon, son of Iasion and Demeter, twin to Ploutos, and brother to Korybas.

His brother Ploutos was wealthy but would not share his fortune so out of necessity, Philomelus attached two oxen to a cart and thus invented the plough. He then supported himself in this fashion, and was turned into the constellation Bootes, the ploughman, by Demeter as she was so impressed by this.

He had a son, Parias, founder of the town Parion.

Palaemon/Melicertes/Palaimon/Melecertes- Originally a mortal known as Melicertes, he was the son of Ino and Athamas, grandson of the Greek hero Cadmus/Kadmus and the goddess Harmonia. When Athamas was driven mad by Hera for fostering Dionysus, he pursued Ino forcing her to jump off a cliff with the infant Melicertes in her arms. The gods took pity on them and turned them both into marine gods- the goddess Leucothea, and the god Palaemon.

Alternatively, Melicertes was killed and his body was taken to shore by dolphins and found by his uncle Sisyphus he had it carried to Corinth and deified, and under the command of the Nereids he held the Isthmian Games in Palaemon's honour. 

He was invoked along with his mother to help those in distress at sea.

Depicted as a boy riding a dolphin or a boy with a fish tail.

His Roman counterpart was Portunes/Portumnes/Portunus, a god of keys, doors and livestock, a guardian of warehouses and a god of ports and harbors. He was linked to the god of doors, beginnings, passages and time Janus and like him was depicted as a god with two heads facing in opposite directions.

Hecaterus/Hekateros- a god of the rustic dance involving fast moving hands known as the hekateris. He had five daughters known as the Hecaterides/Hekaterides, and five sons called the Daktyloi/Dactys. He was grandfather to the Kuretes, Oread Nymphs and the Satyrs.

His wife is sometimes given as Anchiale/Ankhiale, possibly a Titan of the warmth of fire, and either a daughter of the Titan Iapetus/Japetus and sister to the Titans Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius. Alternatively, she was a daughter of Phoroneus, a primordial king of Argos who taught people how to use fire. She was sometimes said to be a mother to Cydnos/Kydnos as well.