Essays Archives - Tom Billinge

Seven Against Thebes

The story of the Seven Against Thebes and the subsequent saga of their sons is the bridge that links the earlier, rougher generation of heroes, with the later one in the Iliad and Odyssey.

The Age of Heroes was really divided into three generations. Primordial heroes like Kadmos, Perseus and Bellerophon are of the earliest period. Following them, Theseus, Herakles and the Argonauts are the middle group, and the Homeric heroes form the final set of Greek heroes.

Many of the Argonauts were the fathers of the heroes of the Trojan War, with the brothers Peleus and Telamon standing out in particular as the respective fathers of Akhilleus and Aias. The best bridge between the three generations, however, is the tale of the Seven Against Thebes. Seven heroes set out to wage war on the city of Thebes, which was founded by Kadmos.

Thebes was seemingly cursed from the outset, yet a pivotal place in Greek mythology. Founded by Kadmos, as laid out in Undying Glory, it was the birth place of Herakles and the setting for the patricidal tale of Oidipous. The story that sets the premise for the Seven Against Thebes is that of Oidipous’ sons Polyneikes and Eteokles. The blind king curses his sons in a fit of rage and dooms them to fight over the kingship of the city.

This is where the tale of the Seven picks up the thread. Polyneikes leaves the city upon his father’s death, but he intends on returning and seizing the crown from his younger brother Eteokles. He arrives in Argos at the same time as another exiled hero, Tydeus. The pair do battle, but the king of Argos, Adrastos, stops their fight and reconciles them. He marries them to his daughters and promises to install Polyneikes as king of Thebes.

Tydeus, a short statured, but fierce and brutal warrior, is the template for the knight errant. He loves high adventure, but has a ferocious temper. He fights under the emblem of the boar, which will later be the totem of his son, Diomedes.

Polyneikes and Tydeus gather the heroes Kapaneus, Eteoklos, Hippomedon, Parthenopaios and Amphiaraos and head out to Thebes with Adrastos as the commander. These Seven, plus one, lay siege to the city. They ultimately fail, all meeting their end aside from Adrastos who retreats to Argos. Kapaneus is struck down from the walls by Zeus due to his hubris. Tydeus, fatally wounded, is about to be granted immortality by Athena, who is his patroness, when he gnaws on the brains of the man who dealt him his fatal blow. Disgusted by this act, Athena does not confer immortality upon him, but is convinced to give it to Tydeus’ son Diomedes when his time comes.

Later, the sons of the Seven Against Thebes sack the city and enact revenge for their fathers. Most of them set out for Troy when the heroes are called to fight by Agamemnon. Of these, Diomedes is a stand out hero of the Iliad, glorying in battle and sending the gods running back to Olympos with Athena by his side. Sthenelos, son of Kapaneus, is his comrade throughout.

The Theban Cycle of myths is intricately connected to the Trojan Cycle and the story of the Seven and their sons in the pin that holds them together. In my upcoming work, Age of Heroes, I explore this more deeply and draw further lessons from the Greek heroic mythos for men of today.

Herakles and Kyknos

by tombillinge

Herakles and Kyknos – Apollo’s Wrath

The mythical battle between Herakles and Kyknos pits the forces of Apollonian light against those of Dionysian chaos

A popular theme in Attic black figure and early red figure vase-painting is the battle between Herakles and Kyknos. The use of the scene is less prevalent after 500 BCE, indicating the ancient myth fell out of favour compared to the more major components of the Herakles mythos. The myth is touched upon by the likes of Pindar, Apollodorus, Hyginus, Pausanias and Diodoros, as well as by Euripides. All of these provide very fragmentary retellings, some based on the lost poem “Kyknos” by Stesichoros from the early 6th century BCE. The fullest account is the Hesiodic poem “The Shield of Herakles.”

The Shield of Herakles

While no longer attributed to Hesiod by many scholars, the Shield of Herakles certainly is in the Hesiodic style. The poem tells of the battle between Herakles and Kyknos near Apollon’s sanctuary at Pegasai in Thessaly, with a lengthy description of the shield of Herakles, much like that of Achilles’ shield in the Iliad. What really draws our attention is the conflict between Dionysian and Apollonian forces, as laid out in Undying Glory: The Solar Path of Greek Heroes.

Herakles and Kyknos

Kyknos, according to Pausanias, was a bloodthirsty rogue who killed all of his houseguests, angering Zeus. Kyknos was the son of the war god Ares and his manner reflected that of the god who personified frenzied bloodlust. Kyknos preyed upon pilgrims to Apollon’s sanctuary at Delphoi, angering the god.

As Herakles and his nephew Iolaos are driving on their chariot to Trachis, they encounter Kyknos and his charioteers, Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Dread) – divine sons of Ares. The encounter takes place just outside Apollon’s sanctuary in Pegasai, and the Light Bringer riles Herakles up against Kyknos, who eagerly accepts the son of Ares’ challenge to single combat. Pegasai is also the port where Jason built the Argo.

Proxy Battle

Several vases depict the scene with various gods present. Aside from Athena and Ares, Zeus, or his thunderbolt are often portrayed in the middle of the fighters, while Apollo and Dionysos are also found on many of the black figure ceramics. The battle is a proxy fight between Apollo and Dionysos, particularly as one ancient tradition holds that the ecstatic Dionysos sat on the tripod at Delphoi before orderly Apollon, though both share the sanctuary there. It is also a conflict between Athena, the goddess of battle wisdom and Ares, the frenzied god of war.

Before the battle, Athena advises Herakles to be ready for Ares’ attack, should he kill Kyknos, and not to strip his armour until after the threat of the war god’s reprisal has passed. Kyknos is the first to throw his spear, which fails to penetrate the shield of Herakles. After a peal of thunder is sent by Zeus to encourage his son, Herakles thrusts his spear through the throat of Kyknos, killing him in a particularly Homeric manner. Ares, true to form, charges towards Herakles in a rage. Athena attempts to convince him to stop, but the battle frenzy is upon him. He hurls his spear at Herakles, but Athena deflects it from the hero’s shield. Ares draws his sword and leaps at Herakles, who thrusts his spear into the thigh of the war god, who is taken by Phobos and Deimos back to Olympos to recover.

Burial of Kyknos

Herakles strips Kyknos of his armour and leaves the body, which is retrieved by Keux, his father-in-law. Keux buries Kyknos with a royal funeral, but soon after his interment, Apollon makes the Anauros River flood, washing the mound and the body away.

What we see in this story is the continual struggle between Dionysos and Apollon, Ares and Athena. This is seen through the lens of a skirmish between to heroes. Kyknos represents the bloodthirsty, chaotic lunar forces, while Herakles fights on the side of the ordered, controlled solar. The battle between Herakles and Kyknos ultimately sees the solar masculine winning the day.

Herakles is the only hero in Greek mythology to reach the ultimate state of Solar Man, above the gods. To find out more, read Undying Glory: The Solar Path of Greek Heroes.

Ares and Athena

by tombillinge

Ares and Athena: Chaos and Order

While Ares and Athena are opposite sides of the same coin in many ways, they are almost always fundamentally opposed to one another in the Greek tradition.

The story of Ares and Athena begins with the birth of goddess of wisdom. Metis was an early wife of Zeus. The Sky Father discovered that one of her offspring would be more powerful than him. He swallowed his bride and after several months, the goddess Athena was born from his head, making her the child of the father alone. In anger at this birth, Hera (his new wife and queen of the gods) said she too would have a child alone. She made an oath to her grandmother Gaia (Earth Mother) and went to Thrace where she bore Ares without a father. This telling contradicts Hesiod (who says Ares is the son of both Zeus and Hera) and is not mentioned at all in Homer, aside from the fact that Zeus (and to some extent Hera) hate Ares. Later tradition has the war god as the son of Hera alone.

Daughter of the Father

Athena embodies the finest masculine elements, borne from the cranium of the Lord of Olympos. She stands for skilful action, honour in battle and life, subtle craft, loyalty, battle tactics, wisdom and bravery. She is the hero’s friend, a masculine virgin goddess who is there by the side of the Solar Hero at the moment of decisive action. Unlike the fierce virgin Artemis, who is violent towards suitors, Athena invokes only feelings of fellowship and patronage from those who she is closest to. She is the patroness of the heroes she chooses, abandoning them if they act with dishonour. Athena is part of the most powerful trinity in the Greek pantheon with Zeus and Apollon.

Son of the Mother

Ares on the other hand embodies the wrathful, angry and violent tendencies reflected in Hera at her worst. Conceived with anger, he is the god of frenzied bloodlust. He is the violent abandon that takes over the warrior in the heat of battle and drives him to commit inhuman acts. In the Greek tradition he is reviled in many ways, as evidenced in the Iliad where he is invoked as a terrible chaotic force that needs to be quelled. That he is born in Thrace, a non-Greek territory in the mythological era, tells us that the Greeks considered him foreign in some regard.

Olympians

The difficulty arises in the modern mind that sees this as pure dualism. The Greeks, while fearing and loathing Ares in many ways, and revering and loving Athena, place them both in the Olympian pantheon. The two forces do not fully oppose each other in the ancient mind. Both occur in the warrior in the heat of action. The mature warrior can rein in his bloodlust and frenzy, while still making use of it. The immature violence of the youth is reined in and focussed by the wisdom and council of Athena.

The two represent Dionysian (Ares) and Apollonian (Athena) forces, which, as I state in Undying Glory, are not fundamentally opposed, but two sides of the same coin. The Apollonian order controls the Dionysian abandon, allowing it to be used when necessary in order to further that hero’s journey on the Solar Path.

Kheiron – Apollo’s Centaur

by tombillinge

The Noble Centaur Kheiron

In my book Undying Glory, I talk of the centaurs as being chthonic creatures. There are two who stand above the rest: Pholos and Kheiron. While Pholos is noble, he is still earthly and mortal, while Kheiron is a a very special exception to the world of centaurs.

Centaurs are a remnant of a pre-Olympian Greek religion. They have the body of a horse, but the torso, arms and head of a man with pointed ears and other facial features that define them as being of the chthonic realm. These earthly daimons are nature spirits who represent the untamed animalistic side of both the wild and of men. This is reflected in their untameable nature that is exacerbated with wine and the temptation of women. Their instinct is base and they are driven by their emotions and desires.

Kheiron

Kheiron is not like other centaurs. First, he is immortal, which makes him a god. His attribute as a teacher of medicine and music, put him into the realm of Apollo.

Through the works of Hesiod and Pindar, we can make this connection more explicit, particularly with the legend of the birth of Asklepios, the healer god and son of Apollo. Apollo impregnated Koronis, who was then unfaithful to him with Ischys, the son of the centaur Elatos. The goddess Artemis then killed Koronis on behalf of her brother Apollo. As Koronis died, she gave birth to Asklepios who was then placed in the care of Kheiron by Apollo.

Dark Apollo

This legend hails from the region of Thessaly, where Kheiron’s home of Most Pelion is located. Elatos means “pine” and the northern pine trees meet the southern cypress trees on the mountain. The cypress is the tree of Apollo and in the god’s mythos, every eight years the Light Bringer visited the mountain in the form of a boy to become the “true Phoibos” once again. This meeting of north and south is also the meeting of the the darker aspect of Apollo with the lighter one. The centaur Elatos became the rival of Apollo in the mythological record, but the “strong pine” is essentially Kheiron. In this context he represents the dark/nocturnal side of Apollo, as the god is not only the deity of the light, but of the shadows cast by it.

In the Herakles mythos, the hero chases the centaurs, and particularly Elatos, to Mount Pelion, where accidentally wounds Kheiron with his poison arrow. The noble centaur is mortally wounded, but cannot die, making him the wounded divine physician, the role played by Asklepios, son of Apollo. Asklepios is killed by Zeus’ thunderbolt for bringing a man back from the dead. Here, both centaur and Apollo’s son are given the role of the dead healer god. In the ancient record, Asklepios and Apollo are essentially two sides of the same god. If Kheiron and Asklepios are interchangeable, then the centaur becomes the other side of Apollo.

Nocturnal God of Healing

The nocturnal nature of the healer Kheiron is clear from the remains of the temple of Zeus Akraios (Zeus of the Mountain Peaks and Sky) on Mount Pelion. The southern section of the temple is dedicated to Zeus and faces the sun as a diurnal portion of the sanctuary. On the northern side is the nocturnal Kheironion: the Cave of Kheiron. In the archaic mythos, Kheiron is a son of Kronos, which makes him a brother of Zeus. On Mount Pelion, he shared the world with the god of the daylight sky, ruling over the nocturnal world. Beneath the Kheironion is the valley of Pelethronion, which was known for its bounty of medicinal herbs, including the Kentaureion plant that cured snakebites. The centaur’s medicine could have cured the wound inflicted by Herakles’ poison arrow.

Kheiron must be regarded as the darker aspect of Apollo, a precursor to Asklepios. He is the healer who rules over the shadows of earth he shared with his brother Zeus. This is why he is noble and set above the other centaurs. He rose from the darkness of the ancient pre-Olympian religion and became a part of the pantheon as a “dead god” who did not die.

The Delphic Maxims

by tombillinge

Delphic Maxims – Lessons for the Solar Seeker

An ancient visitor to the holy sanctuary of Apollon at Delphoi was greeted by the 147 Delphic Maxims. These lessons were given to men by Apollon, who spoke through his oracle, the Pythia.

Oracle

Seated on a tripod above a fissure in the ground, the female Pythia entered into a trance and spoke in riddles that were interpreted by the priests of Delphoi. Men came from across the Greek world to ask the Oracle questions in the hope that they could make the correct decision. The answers, given by the Phythia, were the words of Apollon, whose mantic messages were the will of Zeus. In the Homeric Hymn to Apollon, this role is expressed by the god himself: “I will declare to mankind great Zeus’ infallible purpose. The Delphic Maxims, therefore, were lessons from the Lord of Olympos himself, transmitted to mortal men so that they could bring order to the chaos of existence.

Solar Path

In my book, Undying Glory, I advance the Apollonian Solar Path as a way for men to become exceptional versions of themselves. It is a path that leads to ascension and to the rebirth of the Golden Age. These Delphic Maxims contain lessons that hold the budding Solar Hero in good stead. Cling to discipline, pursue honour, test your character and act from knowledge – these timeless aphorisms are powerful prompts for those seeking to rise higher and cut ties with a life of Dionysian abandon.

Know Thyself

Of the 147 Delphic Maxims preserved through the Cult of Apollon, one was upheld above all others: Σαυτὸν ἴσθι (or γνῶθι σεαυτόν) – Know Thyself. This maxim can be interpreted in several ways, but in essence, it means to “know thy measure.” To inquire deeply into your own nature and plumb the depths of your very being is not a task undertaken lightly. Self exploration has been pursued by many over time, notably in the Indo-European tradition by Gautama Siddhartha – the Buddha. Simply to know your true self is one part of the equation. You must also be true to yourself. No matter what the external pressure, you must be yourself. You may be able to trick others, but you can never fool yourself.

This is not a license to engage in all sorts of morally questionable behaviour in the name of being oneself. While knowing your measure and being true to yourself, you still need to “struggle for glory” – another of the Delphic Maxims. To place this most important maxim in the context of the Solar Path: know thyself, know who you are now, know your potential and reach for it.

The Greeks had a follow up to “know thyself” – “know that thou art man.” This gives us a warning from the gods not to try and become more than man. In Undying Glory, I say that the gods do not want us to ascend, that we need to work against them while honouring them. A story that embodies this struggle is Herakles stealing the Delphic Tripod and vying with Apollon for it. When looked at from this perspective, we can see “know thyself” as a veiled threat. A threat that we must take seriously, but at the same time see as a challenge to overcome. Know you are man, but know that you can also ascend higher than the gods, but that they do not want you to do so.

Ages of Men in Hesiod

by tombillinge

Golden to Iron: the Ages of Men

In Hesiod’s Works and Days, a poem from the 8th century BCE, five ages of men are set out. This journey through the ages of men is an eternal cyclical time frame that goes through five distinct ages: Golden, Silver, Bronze, Heroes, Iron. We are currently in the Age of Iron, the most degenerated era of mankind. However, as I say in my book, Undying Glory: The Solar Path of Greek Heroes, we will begin the cycle anew, first going through another Age of Heroes before entering into a new Golden Age.

Indo-European Connection

The ages of men are not confined solely to the Greeks. The immediately post-Vedic Indians also used the concept and it has been passed down into modern Hinduism too. The ages synchronise with the Greek ages, but with a slight difference. The Indian ages of men are the Satya Yuga (Golden Age), Treta Yuga (Silver Age), Dvapara Yuga (Bronze Age) and Kali Yuga (Iron Age). These are not the exact translations, but the concept is the same. There is no separate “Age of Heroes,” but between each yuga are two shorter periods of time known as Sandhyas and Sandhyansas. These “dawns” and “dusks” that lie on either side of each yuga are cognate to the Greek Age of Heroes.

Great Year

The Platonic “Great Year” has the celestial bodies beginning their cycles again every 36,000 years. In this system, a Great Year is a cycle through all the ages of men. Hesiod does not refer to his ages of men as being perpetual, but taking the Indian yugas into consideration, alongside the Greek concepts of cosmic circularity and cyclical time, we can presume that the early Greeks also considered these Eras to be cyclical.

Golden Age

The men of the Golden Era lived in a time when the Titan Kronos was the ruler of the heavens, before his son Zeus wrested power from him. The gods created a “golden race of mortal men” who lived like gods. They lived carefree lives without pain, misery and old age. They remained vigorous until they died in a sheeplike manner. They never toiled on the land, as it provided its fruits without the need for labour. They “lived in peace and abundance as lords of their lands, rich in flocks and dear to the blessed gods.” Hesiod simply says that the earth covered this race and that they became benevolent spirits that walk the earth and watch over mortals.

Silver Age

Men of the race of silver were almost the opposite of the golden men. They were nurtured as children by their mothers for 100 years and when they reached adolescence, did not live long. They were violent against one another and refused to honour the gods. Zeus grew weary of them and buried them under the earth. They too became chthonic spirits, living under the earth.

Bronze Age

The race of bronze in Hesiod were fashioned from ash trees. In other accounts, they were the children of the Meliai ash tree nymphs, who were in turn children of the Earth Mother Gaia. These men were dreadful and mighty. They worked with bronze, using it for their weapons and houses, They had hearts of steel and were strong and violent, killing each other off until only Talos remained. This last bronze man was killed by Medeia when the Argonauts landed on Crete.

Age of Heroes

The next race were the demigods and heroes who I talk about in Undying Glory. Solar heroes like Kadmos, Bellerophon, Theseus and Herakles. The heroes who stormed Troy and laid siege to seven-gated Thebes. These were the last glimmer of the possibilities of man. With the exception of Herakles, who completed the Solar Path, these heroes all live in the Isles of the Blessed, where they live in bliss with others who lived and died heroically. Also known as Elysion, these Isles are ruled over by Kronos, the father of Zeus.

Age of Iron

Hesiod laments that he is born in the Age of Iron. This is our age. Our lot is a blend of good and bad. A life of toil and pain. This is the passage from Athanassakis’ superb translation:

“Zeus will destroy this race of mortals when children are born grey at the temples. Children will not resemble their fathers, and there will be no affection between guest and host and no love between friends or brothers as in the past. Sons and daughters will be quick to offend their ageing parents and rebuke them and speak to them with rudeness and cruelty, not knowing about divine retribution; they will not even repay their parents for their keep – these law-breakers – and they will sack one another’s city. The man who keeps his oath, or is just and good, will not be favored, but the evildoers and scoundrels will be honoured, for might will make right and shame will vanish. Base men will harm their betters with words that are crooked and then swear they are fair. And all toiling humanity will be blighted with envy, grim and strident envy that takes its joy in the ruin of others.”
Hesiod, Works and days – Apostolos N. Athanakis, JHU Press

This is our place among the ages of men. Not all is lost. We are on the cusp of another Age of Heroes. Those of us who are capable must walk the Solar Path and make ourselves into heroes through our sweat and blood and tears. After the battles are fought and the dust settles, we will find ourselves once more in the Golden Age.