30 March 2012

Imagining the Gods

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Apollo, God of light and the sun, healing (or disease), music (especially stringed instruments), poetry, archery and prophecy
"Apollo" by Mengs (18th century)

Bacchus (Dionysus), God of grapes, fruitfulness, vegetation, wine, ecstasy and madness
"Young sick Bacchus" (1594) by M da Carravaggio

Castor and Pollux (Dioscuri) Twin Gods of sailors and horsemanship; associated with camaraderie 
"Abduction of the daughters of Leucippus" (c. 1617) by P P Rubens

Ceres (Demeter), Goddess of agriculture, plant growth and crop fertility
"Ceres, Goddess of the Harvest" (17th century) by S Vouet 

Diana (Artemis), chaste Goddess of the hunt, animals (esp. wild), woodlands, childbirth and the moon 

"Diana the Huntress" by G Saint-Pierre (b. 1833)

Faunus (Pan), woodland God who brings fertility to fields and flocks; associated with pleasure-seeking
"Nymph and Satyr after Rubens" (before 1844)

Flora (Chloris), Goddess of flowering plants; associated with spring, fertility and sexual licentiousness
Detail of "Flora and the Zephyrs" (1897) by J W Waterhouse 

Fortuna (Tyche), Goddess of increasing prosperity, good fortune, ill fortune, chance and luck
"Fortuna" (c. 1670) by H Gascar

Freyja (similar to Venus) Germanic Goddess of love, life and fertility*
"Freja" (1910) by J Bauer

Freyr (similar to Faunus) Germanic fertility God associated with good times, peace and plenty
"Frey and Freyja" by Donn Crane (circa 1920)

Hercules (Herakles), God of heroism, strength and perseverance
"Hercules and Prometheus" (1656) by M Preti

Janus, God of beginnings, transitions, openings, closings and entrance-ways
Bust of Janus, Capitoline Museums

Juno (Hera), Goddess of women, marriage and motherhood

"Juno and Argus" (c. 1617) by O Riminaldi

Jupiter (Zeus), protecting God of the sky and weather, esp. rain and storms; associated with oaths
"Jupiter and Thetis" (1811) by J Ingres

Magna Mater (Cybele), Earth Goddess, great mother of the Gods and all beings

"Cybele" (c. 1675) Tredegar House 

Mars (Ares), God of war, valour and virility
Mars Ultor, Palazzo Altemps, Rome

Mercury (Hermes), God of financial gain, trade, travel, writing, language, communication, cunning and psychopomp

"Mercury" (1780) by A Pajou

Minerva (Athena), Goddess of wisdom, skilled workmanship and strategy

"Minerva (and the Centaur)" by S Botticelli (d. 1510)

Neptune (Poseidon), God of water, the sea and horses

"Neptune's Horses" by W Crane (1893)

Odin 
(similar to Mercury) Germanic God of writing, 
eloquence, wisdom, cunning and prosperity
"Odin the wanderer" (1886) by G von Rosen

Hades (Hades) & Proserpina (Persephone), Deities of death, the underworld and mineral wealth

"The Rape of Proserpina" (1622) by G L Bernini

Salus (Hygeia), Goddess of safety, good health and well-being
"Hygeia" (circa 1615 CE) by P P Rubens 

Saturn (Kronos), God of agricultural abundance, sowing, seeds; ruler of a past golden age
"The Temple of Saturn" (19th century), Villa Torlonia, Rome

Thor 
(similar to Jupiter) protecting Germanic God of the sky, thunder, lightning and rain

"Thor battering the Midgard Serpent" (1790) by H Fuseli

Trivia (Hekate), Goddess of crossroads (usually three-way), ghosts, the undead and witchcraft

"Hekate" (1795) by W Blake

Tyr (similar to Mars) Germanic God of war and bravery
Tyr losing his hand to the bound wolf Fenrir; from an 18th century Icelandic manuscript (Royal Library, Copenhagen)

Venus (Aphrodite), Goddess of sexual love, relationships, passion, pleasure, beauty, charm and fertility
"Venus of Urbino" (1538) by Titian

Vesta (Hestia), Goddess of the hearth-fire and home; associated with purity and virginity

"Herm of a Vestal Virgin" (1822) by A Canova 

Victoria (Nike), Goddess of victory, especially military victory

"Triumph of Victoria" (c. 1614) by P Rubens

Vulcan (Hephaestus), God of potent fire, the forge and blacksmithing
"Vulcan forging the thunderbolts of love" (1638) by P Rubens


By M' Sentia Figula (aka Freki), find me at neo polytheist 

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