PHOBOS

PHOBOS

"Ares and his train have gone forth with the madness of Gods, and have returned, Deimos and Phobos glutted with unnatural delight."

H.P. Lovecraft & Anna Helen Crofts, Poetry and the Gods 

"DEIMOS was the god  of fear, dread and terror, and his twin-brother PHOBOS of panic fear, flight and battlefield rout. They were sons of the god Ares, who accompanied their father into battle, driving his chariot and spreading fear in their wake."

"In classical art the two were usually represented as youths. Phobos was sometimes depicted with a lion or lion-like head."

Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology

"Here Phobos and Ares there stirred up the hosts: hard after followed Deimos with slaughter's gore besprent, that in one host might men see, and be strong, in the other fear."
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall Of Troy

"On the shield of Agamemnon is Phobos, whose head is a lion's."
 Pausanias, Description Of Greece

"Just before the entrance, even within the very jaws of Hades, Luctus and avenging Curae have set their bed; there pale Morbi dwell, sad Senectus, and Phobos, and Fames, temptress to sin, and loathly Egestas, shapes terrible to view." 
Virgil, Aeneid

 

DIS/HADES

DIS/HADES

 "Liv'd there such a thing as bliss; 

Skies that now are dark were beaming 

Gold and azure, splendid seeming 

Till I learn'd it all was dreaming- 

Deadly drowsiness of Dis" 

H.P. Lovecraft, Despair

 "HAIDES was the King of the Underworld, the god of death and the dead. He presided over funeral rites and defended the right of the dead to due burial. Haides was also the god of the hidden wealth of the earth."

"Haides was depicted as a dark-bearded, regal god. He was depicted enthroned in the underworld, holding a bird-tipped sceptre."

Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology

We possess few representations of this divinity, but in those which still exist, he resembles his brothers Zeus and Poseidon, except that his hair falls down his forehead, and that the majesty of his appearance is dark and gloomy. His ordinary attributes are the key of Hades and Cerberus. 

Sir William Smith, Dictionary Of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

 "Hades, lord of the dead, was a gloomy god of few words. Mortals feared him so much that they did not dare mention his name, for they might attract his attention and he might send for them."

Ingri & Edgar D'Aulaire, Book Of Greek Myths

DIONYSUS/BACCHUS

DIONYSUS/BACCHUS

"The strange dark men danced in the rear, and the whole column skipped and leaped with Dionysiac fury. Malone staggered after them a few steps, delirious and hazy, and doubtful of his place in this or in any world. Then he turned, faltered, and sank down on the cold damp stone, gasping and shivering as the daemon organ croaked on, and the howling and drumming and tinkling of the mad procession grew fainter and fainter."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Horror At Red Hook

"Here Laurell'd Muses all their arts reheards, 

And ivy'd Bacchus waves his budding thyrse" 

H.P. Lovecraft, Simplicity: A Poem

"DIONYSOS, the youthful, beautiful, but effeminate god of wine. He is also called both by Greeks and Romans Bacchus (Bakchos), that is, the noisy or riotous god, which was originally a mere epithet or surname of Dionysus, but does not occur till after the time of Herodotus."

"Bacchus with horns, either those of a ram or of a bull. This representation 

occurs chiefly on coins."

Sir William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 

"But she, foaming at the mouth and twisting her eyes all about, not thinking as she ought, was possessed by Bakkhos, and he did not persuade her. Seizing his left arm at the elbow and propping her foot against the unfortunate man's side, she tore out his shoulder, not by her own strength, but the god gave facility to her hands." 

Euripides, The Bacchae

"That the Bacchanalia have for some time been going on throughout Italy and are now practiced in many parts of the City you have, I am sure, learnt not only by report, but also by the nightly noises and yells which resound all over the City; but I do not think you know what it all means."

"In the first place, then, women form the great majority, and this was the source of all the mischief. Then there are the males, the very counterparts of the women, committing and submitting to the foulest uncleanness, frantic and frenzied, driven out of their senses by sleepless nights, by wine, by nocturnal shouting and uproar."

"When once the mysteries had assumed this promiscuous character, and men were mingled with women with all the licence of nocturnal orgies, there was no crime, no deed of shame, wanting. More uncleanness was wrought by men with men than with women. Whoever would not submit to defilement, or shrank from violating others, was sacrificed as a victim. To regard nothing as impious or criminal was the very sum of their religion."
Livy, History Of Rome; Book 39

"DIONYSOS (or Dionysus) was the great Olympian god of wine, vegetation, pleasure and festivity. He was depicted as either an older bearded god or a pretty effeminate, long-haired youth. His attributes included the thyrsos (a pine-cone tipped staff) and fruiting vine. 

Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology 

 

ATYS

ATYS

"The reference to Atys made me shiver, for I had read Catullus and knew something of the hideous rites of the Eastern god, whose worship was so mixed with that of Cybele."

"Shall a Norrys hold the lands of a de la Poer? . . . It’s voodoo, I tell you . . . that spotted snake . . . Curse you, Thornton, I’ll teach you to faint at what my family do! . . . ’Sblood, thou stinkard, I’ll learn ye how to gust . . . wolde ye swynke me thilke wys? . . . Magna Mater! MagnaMater! . . . Atys . . . Dia ad aghaidh ’s ad aodann . . . agus bas dunach ort! Dhonas ’s dholas ort, agus leat-sa! . . . Ungl . . . ungl . . . rrrlh . . . chchch . . ."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Rats In the Walls

"His story is related in different ways. According to Ovid (Fast. iv. 221), Cybele loved the beautiful shepherd, and made him her own priest on condition that he should preserve his chastity inviolate. Atys broke the covenant with a nymph, the daughter of the river-god Sangarius, and was thrown by the goddess into a state of madness, in which he unmanned himself."

Sir William Smith, Dictionary Of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

"ATTIS was a Phrygian vegetation god, the consort of the great Mother Kybele (Cybele). He was forced by the goddess to castrate himself in a mad frenzy as punishment for his infidelity. Initiates into the eunuch priesthood of Kybele, called the Gallai, re-enacted the myth with their self-castration."

 Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology 

 

SCYLLA

SCYLLA

"Now Scylla's necks menace his decks 

Charybdis threats his ships 

Six men are lost-O! dreadful cost 

But he through danger slips"

H.P. Lovecraft, The Poem Of Ulysses

"Scylla, whose name is derived from skulle, meaning "bitch", is portrayed variously as a beautiful female from the waist up but from the waist down had the heads of six ferocious dogs sprouting from her above twelve dogs' legs' or as an amorphous, tentacled mass with as many as six heads each with three sets of teeth and twelve sets of legs and feet."

"During the Middle Ages, Scylla was often portrayed in bestiaries as a marine monster, described as having the tail of a dolphin on the body of a wolf and from the waist up a young woman."
Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons 

"Homer describes Skylla as a creature with twelve dangling feet, six long necks and grisly heads lined with a triple row of sharp teeth."

"Skylla is probably derived from the imagery of words associated with her name : namely, "hermit-crab" (Greek skyllaros), "dog" and "dog-shark" (skylax), and "to rend" (skyllô). In classical art she was depicted as a fish-tailed sea-goddess"
Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology

"She was once a beautiful maiden and was changed into a snaky monster by Circe. She dwelt in a cave high up on the cliff, from whence she was accustomed to thrust forth her long necks, and in each of her mouths seize one of the crew of every 
vessel passing within reach."
Thomas Bullfinch, Bullfinch's Mythology 



 

CHARYBDIS

CHARYBDIS

"Now Scylla's necks menace his decks 

Charybdis threats his ships 

Six men are lost-O! dreaful cost 

But he through danger slips"

H.P. Lovecraft, The Poem Of Ulysses

"The opposite rock, which was much lower, contained an immense fig-tree, under which there dwelt Charybdis, who thrice every day swallowed down the waters of the sea, and thrice threw them up again."

William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

"Scylla's fellow monsters lurking beneath the opposite cliff was Charybdis, a mythical whirlpool and daughter of Gaia and Poseidon."

Malcolm Day, 100 Characters From Classical Mythology

"There she assumed a new form, that of a disembodied mouth gaping at the surface, sucking in air and sea, and spewing them back out in an enormous 
vortex three times a day."
Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons

NEPTUNE/POSEIDON

 NEPTUNE/POSEIDON

"And the day wore on, and still Olney listened to rumours of old times and far places, and heard how the Kings of Atlantis fought with the slippery blasphemies that wriggled out of rifts in ocean’s floor, and how the pillared and weedy temple of Poseidonis is still glimpsed at midnight by lost ships, who know by its sight that they are lost."

"Trident-bearing Neptune was there, and sportive tritons and fantastic nereids, and upon dolphins’ backs was balanced a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Strange High House In the Mist

"The symbol of Poseidon's power was the trident, or a spear with three points, with which he used to shatter rocks, to call forth or subdue storms, to shake the earth, and the like."

"His figure does not present the majestic calm which characterises his brother Zeus; but as the state of the sea is varying, so also is the god represented sometimes in violent agitation, and sometimes in a state of repose. It must be observed that the Romans identified Poseidon with their own Neptunus, and that accordingly the attributes belonging to the former are constantly transferred by the Latin poets to the latter."

William Smith, Dictionary Of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology  

"Highest of the gods, lord of the sea, Poseidon of the golden trident, earth-shaker in the swelling brine, around thee the finny monsters in a ring swim and dance, with nimble flingings of their feet leaping lightly, snub-nosed hounds with bristling neck, swift runners, music-loving dolphins, sea-nurslings of the Nereis (Nereid) maids divine, whom Amphitrite bore, even they that carried me, a wanderer on the Sikelian main, to the headland of Tainarion in Pelops' land, mounting me upon their humped backs as they clove the furrow of Nereus' plain, a path untrodden, when deceitful men had cast me from their sea-faring hollow ship in to the purple swell of sea."

Aelian, On Animals  

NODENS

NODENS

"Trident-bearing Neptune was there, and sportive tritons and fantastic nereids, and upon dolphins’ backs was balanced a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss. And the conches of the tritons gave weird blasts, and the nereids made strange sounds by striking on the grotesque resonant shells of unknown lurkers in black sea-caves. Then hoary Nodens reached forth a wizened hand and helped Olney and his host into the vast shell, whereat the conches and the gongs set up a wild and awesome clamour."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Strange High House In the Mist 

"Its former importance in British tradition has, however, been confirmed by the discovery at Lydney Park in Gloucestershire of the remains of a Romano-British temple containing dedications to a god Nodons (or Nodens), whos name correspondes etymologically to Nuadha and Nudd."

"The obvious syncretism of the Lydney Park cult makes it difficult to asses the significance of the objects found there. Thus some of them would suggest that the god has strong aquatic associations, and yet these are not noticeably reflected."
Proinsias Mac Cana, Celtic Mythology

"No physical depiction of Nodons survives, but votive plaques at the shrine appear to show a man hooking a fish."
James MacKillop, Dictionary Of Celtic Mythology

"During the Roman era, a large Romano-Celtic temple was built to honor Nodons on the banks of the Severn river. The temple was situated at the site of an ancient earthwork, and the symbolism inside it-which included the sun, water and dogs-seems to underscore his role as a healer."
Sharon Paice Macleod, Celtic Myth and Religion

AGNI

AGNI

"It was as though his body had been suddenly transformed into one of those many-limbed and many-headed effigies sculptured in Indian temples, and he contemplated the aggregation in a bewildered attempt to discern which was the original and which the additions—if indeed (supremely monstrous thought) there were any original as distinguished from other embodiments."

H.P. Lovecraft & E. Hoffman Price, Through the Gates Of the Silver Key 

"Apart from such individual preferences, the god Agni can perhaps be identified as one of the first gods to acquire a human form. Even in pre-Vedic time the sacrificial fire was an important religious practice, and this survived into the Vedic period with its many sacrificial rituals. This sacrificial fire was embodied in Agni, who lived among mortals as an immortal god and served as a messenger between man and the gods by 
carrying the sacrifices to heaven."

 "Agni is depicted with two arms, two heads and three legs. In each head he has seven fierty tongues with which he licks up the sacrificial butter. His attributes are an axe, torch, prayer beads and flaming spear, although he is also depicted with other attributes."

Eva Jansen, The Book of Hindu Imagery: Gods, Manifestations and Their Meaning

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