The Naming of the Days: Part One

This one is going to be split up into at least a two-part blog due to the amount of information that has to be given. To start us off a brief overview of the Greek gods and their Roman equivalents who are involved in the weekdays. Remember while the Greeks used names for their gods, the Romans used planets.

Apollo, the sun god, rode his fiery chariot every morning and pulled the sun into the sky. Every night, he would ride that same chariot and pull the sun out of the sky so that the world could rest. Apart from pulling the sun Apollo was also know for his talents in healing, prophecies and the use of the oracle. He was also known to be like his father, Zeus, in character, often chasing nymphs and sometimes even mortals. His Roman equivalent was the Sun, odd coincidence, right?

Artemis is the goddess of the hunt and is often associated with animals and woodlands. Unlike her fellow Greek gods, she has more than one Roman name. She is known as both Diana and the Moon. She is the twin sister of Apollo, who we know as the Sun god. Besides being excellent with a bow, Artemis was also wonderful with words when it came to poetry and an athlete on the field.

Ares is the Greek god of war. He was known to be fierce and merciless on the battle field. When going to war, the Greeks, or any other civilization that had an Ares-like god, would pray to him. They would pray for victory, honor, courage and death to all of their enemies. Often before battles, they would hold a great feast in his honor. His alter ego is Mars, who lives the Roman life.

Hermes is the gods’ favorite messenger. This however was not his only job. He also dealt with travel, trade, animal husbandry, writing, astrology and even thievery. Often he was depicted as a handsome youth with winged boots or as an old man dressed in a travelers cloak. The Roman version of this jack-of-all-trades, in a manner of speaking, is Mercury.

The great Zeus is the king of all the gods. He is the thrower of lightning bolts and the Olympian hypocrite. One of his jobs as a ruler is to punish those who lie and break oaths. This is highly entertaining, considering the amount of times he himself has broken oaths and told lies. Zeus was famous for his many affairs with the nymphs and often mortals, something that his wife Hera did not look kindly on. You do remember the story of Echo and Narcissus, right?

Many wonder how it is that Zeus became the ruler and not his brother Hades. I shall tell you the great secret: They drew lots and whomever’s was longest won the right to be king. By chance Zeus happened to pull the right one and won. This is something that Hades has yet to get over. His other self is that Roman god Jupiter.

Before I leave you to digest all of this information and to wait in nail-biting suspense for my next post, notice how the Roman gods are named. They are all named after planets in the sky. The word “planet” means “wanderer” in Greek. I wonder if the Romans knew that …

Until next time, keep these gods straight. Next week, I will introduce you to the last two gods involved and share how the names of the days of the week were given … as soon as I find my astronomy notes, that is …

Danielle Patterson

(photo credit: mc5)

April 15th, 2009 by admin | Posted in History | (0)