Mythical Creatures: Biblical Giants

Resting giant by merl1ncz

There were giants on the earth in those days...

Giants can be found within mythology in many different countries and within many different cultures around the world.  A giant is an imaginary or mythical being of human form but superhuman size.  Generally, giants have differing characteristics depending on the culture, region, and purpose of their existence.  In this post we will look at the giants of the Bible and, while I am not trying to prove or disprove the idea that giants once existed, we will take the accounts written at face value.

Nephilim by ertacaltinoz.

The Nephilim

The Nephilim are touched upon in the Hebrew scriptures as well as in the Old Testament.  They were said to have lived in the Hebron Valley in Canaan before the time of the Flood and are described as being vast in size.  The Nephilim were the sons of Anak and may also be referred to as the Anakim.  According to Hugh of St. Cler's Opera, after the Flood, these giant sons of Anak had been born in the Hebron valley, had traversed in Egypt , and were known as the Titans.

There were giants io the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Genesis 6:4

For those that believe giants once walked the earth, this verse is one of the most important.  However, it is not a direct translation from Hebrew into English.

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of the 'Elohiym (Powers))' come to the daughters of the human and they brought forth to them, they are the courageous ones which are from a distant time, men of the title.

Before we look for other passages within the Bible that may make mention of giants, we need to look at the etymology of the word Nephilim to see if there might be a reason for it having been translated to giants.  It is generally agreed that Nephilim is derived from the word nephal.  The most common meanings for the word nephal are:

Nephilim by JoelWhite

1. To fall (to the ground)
2. To fall (as in battle)
3. To be cast down
4. To desert a location
5. To fail

So, the direct translation from Nephilim' to giants is a misinterpretation which was first used in the King James Version of the Bible.  The most common translation used is the Fallen Ones which is, probably closer to the mark.  The Septuagint translation uses the term giantes' or 'earth-born' and this is the big reason our modern English translations translate the word giants for the Hebrew word Nephilim.  Another term used was Hag Gibborim which means the mighty ones.

Genesis 6:4 is not the only passage to mention the Nephilim and, although they are not necessarily referred to as giants, the following verse does give the impression that the Nephilim were in fact giants. 

And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.
Numbers 13:33

Nephilim by erenarik

This verse may provide an additional reason for the view that the Nephilim were giants.  Why else would those sent to Canaan to spy for Moses feel like grasshoppers in comparison to the Nephilim?  Another passage which provides reason for the perception that the Nephilim were giants and, perhaps, fallen ones comes from the Book of Enoch, where it states:

And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisition of men.  And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind.  And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood.  Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.

These verses make it clear that the offspring of the sons of god, here being some two hundred angels who descended [in the days] of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon', were giants and, in devouring 'mankind... one another's flesh, and drink[ing] the blood they could also be considered as fallen ones. 

We also have the measurement of 3,000 ells to help give us an idea of the height of these giants.  One ell was equivalent to six handbreadths, which equals 57.185375cm.  This means that the Nephilim were around 5628ft tall - the size of mountains.  It's hardly a surprise that one might feel like a grasshopper when stood next to a being the size of a mountain.

Og, The King of Bashan

Og’s bed (engraving) by Johann Balthasar Probst

Og, the king of Bashan, was nothing close to the 3,000 ells tall giants from the Book of Enoch, but would still be considered a giant.  King Og was 'also known as a Hapalit, meaning the 'Escapee' (i.e., from his delivery from the Flood).  He is 'described as having multiple fingers and toes and being such an immense being that the waters only lapped by his ankles.'  Some accounts have Og persuade Noah to 'allow him to sit astride the roof of the Ark.'  He is said to have been exiled after attempting to seduce Noah's wife, Sarah.  Og was later defeated by Moses, who chopped him 'at the ankles', and he 'became the mountain range from which they viewed the Promised Land.'  Here, the verse of particular interest is the size of Og's bed.

(For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim.  Behold, his bed was a bed of iron...  Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth according to the common cubit.)
Deuteronomy 3:11

The first thing to take into account, when taking this story at face value, is that rephaim can be translated directly as giants.  Next we have to look at the size of Og's bed.  Nine cubits is equal to 16ft 4in and four cubits is equal to 7ft 3in.  Now, if Og were the length and breadth of this bed, he could definitely be called giant.  However, it is worth noting that he was a king and it might be considered normal for a bed to be larger than the person occupying it, especially a king. 

While most accounts make Og around nine feet in height, ‘in some accounts he is said to have been taller, and according to the ‘Targum,’ he was ‘several miles’ in height.’

Goliath by Kilandranet

David and Goliath

Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle.  And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.  And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in a line of battle against the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.  And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.  He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.  And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.  The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron.  And his shield-bearer went before him.  He stood and shouted at the ranks of Israel, ‘Why have you come out to draw up for battle?  Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul?  Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.  If he is able to fight with me, then we will be your servants.  But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.’  And Philistine said, ‘I defy the ranks of Israel this day.  Give me a man, that we may fight together.’  When Saul and all Israel heard these words of Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons.  In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years.  The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to battle.  And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadah, and the third Shammah.  David was the youngest.  The three eldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.  For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.

David WIP by tomato-bird

And Jesse said to David his son, ‘Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers.  Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand.  See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.
Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.  And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him.  And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry.  And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army.  And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers.  As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before.  And David heard him.
All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.  And the men of Israel said, ‘Have you seen this man who has come up?  Surely he has come up to defy Israel.’  Andd David said to the men who stood by him, ‘What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?  For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?’  And the people answered him in the same way, ‘So shall it be done to the man who kills him.’
No Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men.  And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, ‘Why have you come down?  And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?  I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come to see the battle.’  And David said, ‘What have I done now?  Was it not but a word?’  And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke the same way, and the people answered him again as before.

Paw of the Bear by DouglasRamsey

When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him.  And David said to Saul, ‘Let no man’s heart fail because of him.  Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.’  And Sail said to David, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.’  But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father.  And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth.  And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.  Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.’  And David said, ‘The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.’  And Saul said to David, ‘Go, and the Lord be with you!’
Then Saul clothed David with his armor.  He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor.  And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them.  Then David said to Saul, ‘I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.’  So David put them off.  Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch.  His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.

Goliath by SoldatNordsken

And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him.  And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.  And the Philistine said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?’  And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.  The Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.’  Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head.  And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear.  For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.’

David and Goliath by ErikBragalyan

When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.  And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead.  The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him.  There was no sword in the hand of David.  Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it.  When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.  And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.  And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp.  And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.

David and Goliath by blindphoenix

And soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, ‘Abner, whose son is this youth?’  And Abner said, ‘As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.’  And the king said, ‘Inquire whose son the boy is.’  And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.  And Saul said to him, ‘Whose son are you, young man?’  And David answered, ‘I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.’

The story tells us that Goliath of Gath was six cubits and a span in height.  Now, while this is nothing close to the height of the Nephilim, Goliath would and still is considered to be a giant.  Six cubits and a span is six and a half cubits, which is equal to 11ft 9in - not quite as large as Og was said to be, but definitely taller than the average human.

The final thing I want to cover here are the dates that these accounts were written.  While I cannot claim that the following dates are 100% accurate, they are the dates most accepted by the majority of scholars.

The Biblical Flood - 24th century BC
The Book of Numbers - 15th century BC
The Book of Samuel - 8th to 7th century BC
The Book of Deuteronomy - 7th century BC
Book of Genesis - 5th century BC
Book of Enoch - 2nd century BC

As with many other myths and legends, the accounts of giants in the Bible may well be older, the stories having been passed down over the generations.  Regardless, the accounts of the Nephilim, King Og, and Goliath of Gath are among the oldest written accounts in existence. 

Next time we will learn about the giants of Greek mythology, from the hundred-handed giants of Gaia to the Titans.


Useful Resources
English Standard Version Bible
King James Version Bible
The Book of Enoch
Weights and Measurements
Timeline of the Flood
A Mechanical Translation of the Book of Genesis by Jeff A. Benner
Gateway to the Gods by Craig Hines
The Nephilim Question: Biblical Answers by Steve McGee
A Hitchhiker's Guide to Armageddon by David Hatcher Childress
Giants, Monsters & Dragons by Carol Rose

Pre-Classical, Classical and Biblical Origins of Witchcraft

Enuma Elish

Aspu, the First Begetter, and Tiamat, the First Mother, made a generation of dragons from Chaos.  Some time later, another generation rose, one of which was Ea, the god of wisdom.  Ea soon killed Aspu, and Tiamat, wishing to avenge his death, with the help of one of her sons, Kingu, made another race - scorpion-tailed monsters.  Tiamat, with eleven of these monsters, went to do battle with Ea's son, Marduk.  However, Marduk was armed with seven winds, a storm chariot, and a strong coat of mail.  He wore upon his lips a red paste and, on his wrist, a herb protecting him from poison, and his head was crowned with flames.

When the two met, Marduk captured Tiamat in a net, sending the wind into her belly which tore her open.  Then Marduk shot her full of arrows and beat her about the head until she was dead.  Following this, he bound Tiamat's body and stood on it, before shackling the eleven monsters which he imprisoned beneath the ground.  These monsters became the gods of the underworld.

The battle between Tiamat and Marduk (Original)

Marduk then split Tiamat's corpse in two, using one half to hold back the waters from above, and using the other half as a foundation for the earth and the sea.  He made the sun, moon, constellations and planets, going on to kill Kingu, whose blood he used to create the human race.

The Sumerian-Babylonian hero Gilgamesh  was one of the first of the humans to encounter the underworld gods.  He sought a magical herb which would make him immortal, only to find his way blocked by two fearsome monsters, one male, one female.  These monsters, which were part human, part dragon and bore scorpion-like tails, recognized that Gilgamesh was part divine and allowed him to pass.  Gilgamesh soon found himself in a heavenly garden, where he met a woman who was making wine.  However, he didn't find the herb of immortality.

So, Gilgamesh spoke with Utnapishtim, the Sumerian Noah, who himself had already attained immortality.  At last, he learned that the herb could be found beneath the sea and went to retrieve it.  Now that he had the herb in his possession, Gilgamesh believed that he no longer needed to fear death.  Unfortunately, a serpent stole the herb and Gilgamesh was forced to accept the inevitability of death. 

 Gilgamesh, 8th century (Original)

Enuma Elish is one of the earliest creation myths, dating from around 2000 BC and being Babylonia-Assyrian in origin.  Many of the themes found in this myth - scorpion-tailed dragon monsters, the underworld, a heavenly garden, magical plants, and women bringing mischief into the world - are seen consistently through 4000 years of occult belief.  For example, Aztec mythology echoes Sumerian themes when describing a heavenly garden which is guarded by a serpent, and the Norse beliefs tell of a great snake which coils around the world tree, Ygdrasil.  The role of the serpent in Eden is another well known similarity to these ancient beliefs, as well as the weakness of Eve, who brought suffering to the world.

Less well known is the Jewish teaching where Eve is created from Adam's barbed tail, rather than Adam's rib, showing us how the demonic element of Adam is converted into the female form.  This is probably the first evidence of misogyny, which presents itself in late medieval portrayals of the serpent in Eden, which was given the face of a woman.

Adam and Eve (Original)

While Eve brought suffering, she was considered an improvement on the Jewish Lilith, Adam's first wife.  Lilith was the original loose woman.  First she objected to her supine role in intercourse, asking Adam, ''Why must I lie beneath you?''  Adam tried to force her, so she left him to live beside the Red Sea with the more compatible wanton demons.  Before leaving Adam, Lilith bore Asmodeus and other demons, with some saying that she went on to be the queen of Zmargad and Sheba.  Apparently King Solomon believed that the Queen of Sheba was a night-demon as she had hairy legs.  Lilith can also be found as the Babylonian-Assyrian wind-demoness Lilitu, and in Sumerian writings as Lillake.  She was believed to strangle children and was also a succubus which preyed on sleeping men.

Famous relief from the Old Babylonian period, believed to be Lilitu or Lilith (Original)

In Isaiah 24:11-15 Lilith, who is referred to as ''screech-owl'' in the King James Bible, was believed to suck the blood of children, and was related to striga, a word meaning witch.  She was simply a ''night-demon'' in the Hebrew Bible, and lived in the ruined desert of Edom.  Lilith was believed to keep company with pelicans, hedgehogs, owls, ravens, jackals, ostriches, kites, wildcats, hyenas, vipers, and satyrs, many of which were attributed to ''Devil worshippers'' in later times.  Lilith can also be found in the book of Job 18:13-15, where she is seen as domestic, but she also kept company with what sounds like the Devil.
He [the wicked man] is torn from the shelter of his tent, and dragged before the King of Terrors.
Then Lilith makes her home under his roof, while people scatter brimstone on his holding.

Satan identifying with the serpent of Eden and with Lucifer was not established until the end of the first century AD, with the Book of Revelations telling us:
The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had deceived all the world, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him.
From this point on, the scaly-tailed, claw footed, bat or dragon-winged representation of Satan becomes an important point of Christianity and develops as a fundamental  preoccupation of those hunting witches. 

Yahweh made sorcery and divination something which should by punishable by death, with Exodus 22:18 telling us, ''You shall not allow a sorceress to live.''  The Greek Septuagint translates ''sorceress'' to ''pharmakos,'' meaning ''poisoner.''  Leviticus 20:27 tells us, ''Any man or woman who is a necromancer or magician must be put to death by stoning; their blood shall be on their own heads.''  And Deuteronomy 18:10-11 tells us, ''There must never be anyone among you... who practices divination, who is a soothsayer, augur or sorcerer, who uses charms, consults ghosts or spirits, or calls up the dead.''

However, the Egyptian Exodus could not have been achieved if not for numerous acts of authorised magic.  The most famous of these acts involved a contest with Egyptian magicians, and can be found in Exodus 7:9-13:
Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, ''If Pharaoh says to you, 'Produce some marvel,' you must say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and let it turn into a serpent.'
To Pharaoh then Moses and Aaron duly went, and they did as Yahweh commanded.  Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh, and it turned into a serpent.
Then Pharaoh in his turn called for the sages and the sorcerers, and with their witchcraft the magicians of Egypt did the same.
Each threw his staff down and these turned into serpents.  But Aaron's staff swallowed up the staffs of the magicians.
Yet Pharaoh's heart was stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold, he would not listen to Moses and Aaron.
Moses and Aaron follow further instructions given by Yahweh, using the staffs to impose plague upon Egypt.  Pharaoh's magicians match this, turning the rivers into blood and creating a plague of frogs.  But they find themselves outdone when Moses and Aaron bring plagues of mosquitoes and gadflies, the death of livestock, an affliction of boils, locusts, darkness and the death of Egypt first-born children.  Moses later uses his staff to make water flow from a desert rock and during the Israelites battle with the Amalekites they would prevail as long as Moses held his staff aloft.

In critical situations it was extremely important that freelance diviners and magicians not be allowed to obstruct legitimate policies.  When King Saul were pushed by the Philistines, he enforced the ban on necromancy and expelled the sorcerers.  He then asked Yahweh for advice but, when Yahweh didn't answer, he was forced to find himself a witch, who raised the ghost of Samuel.  Samuell then correctly predicted Saul's approaching death. 

Apart from necromancy and wand-power, other magical practices were well known in the ancient middle east, including the interpretation of dreams, the casting of lots (urim and thummin), and forms of sympathetic magic involving magical models, the ''poppets'' that are traditionally part of the witch's armoury.

One of the most influential and successful magicians found in the ancient world was the pharaoh Nekhtanebt II, who was said to have protected his kingdom with witchcraft from 359 to 342 BC.  He did this in the following way.  News of an attack comes : an invading fleet is standing off the Nile delta.  The King is unconcerned, soon going to his secret room where he practices magic.  He pours water into a huge bowl.  On its surface floats small wax ships of his own and the enemy fleet.  He says the magical words to summon demons of the wind and other elements.  The waxen fleets begin to move, meeting one another on the surface of the wave roughened water.  Soon the enemy's wax fleet begin to founder and, as they do, their counterparts also founder and sink in the Mediterranean, and Egypt is once again saved.
However, a day comes when a Persian army gather against Egypt.  The pharaoh again goes to his secret room and tries the magical words, but finds that his power is insufficient.  He foresees his army's defeat, sees Egypt taken by Artaxerxes Ochus, the butcher.  Nekhtanebt has no further choices, so he puts on a disguise, packs up his gold and books of magic and runs away.  In time he crosses the Mediterranean, settling in Macedonia.  Here his reputation as a seer and a doctor spreads.  He has brought the Egyptian art of magic and divination to Greece.

God Horus Protecting King Nekhtanebt II (Original)

This story includes three elements which are seen throughout the subject's history- political crisis, the use of supernatural powers, and an exploitation of a mystical connection between things which are similar yet different - in this case , the wax models and the real ships they represent.

The basic political element of ancient witchcraft was divination, with state oracles being well established throughout the classical world.  Among the Mesopotamians, haruspication, or the study of the internal organs of sacrificed animals, seems to have been the most common method of prophecy.  However, abnormal births of both a human and animal nature, were also closely examined by entrail specialists known as baruas.  Dreams were also studied for their predictive power.  And so the earliest method of divination required either ritual sacrifice or the invocation of supernatural beings.

In China, amongst other places, similar techniques were used to predict future events.  They would do this by reading the lines on tortoise shells, the flight of birds, the cracks appearing in burned bones or the way in which a handful of sticks and stones fell.  We can see this technique used today when we have our tea-leaves or playing cards read.  In all methods of divination, either a connection with the cosmological or with some superior being is assumed.

All major oracles of Ancient Greece had enduring political or social weight behind them.  The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi is probably the most famous today, but there were others which were equally notable.  What is now Libya was once known as the temple of Ammon, in the territory known as Nubia.  This was one of the most famed.  The oak grove at Dodona was sacred to Zeus and was just as acclaimed.  Every oracle had their own priests and, while these were open to the public for a fee, they were also subsidised to some degree by the state.  Their methods of divination varied.  At Dodona, the most popular form was kleromancy, in which a question would be asked and a stripe of lead would be chosen, on which a yes or no answer would be written.  An Ammon, the movements of the god's statues would be interpreted by a priest for an answer.

At Delphi, where the god of light, Apollo, is said to have defeated a great serpent, oracular statements were given by the Pythia, a priestess.  In some accounts, the Pythia sat on a tripod above a crack in the ground, where she would inhale the volcanic fumes and the smoke from a burning mixture of barley, marijuana and chopped bay leaves.  She would speak in verse and her words would be interpreted by a priest.  During the fourth and fifth centuries BC, private citizens would pay a fee equal to two days' wages for the average Athenian for a consultation. The state could pay anywhere up to ten times as much.  An emergency consultation could be arranged for a premium amount.

Odysseus and Circe (Original)

Non-institutional advice on hidden things was available, although the psychic risk was believed to be higher, with the witch or necromancer's procedures being dangerous.  When the hero Odysseus needed prophetic advice, he was forced to go to the enchantress Circe who had turned several of his soldiers into pigs because the great seer Teriesias had died.  Circe tells him that, if he wished to find Teiresias he first had to visit Persephone's groves of willow and black poplar which skirted the House of Hades.  Odysseus followed Circe's advice, digging a pit one cubit square, before pouring a concoction of honey, milk, wine and water into it.  Next he sprinkled white barley meal on top before filling the pit with the blood of a ram and ewe which had been sacrificed to Hades and Persephone.

The oracles of Apollo and Zeus were relatively typical of established Greek religion.  However, another impulse, this one being personal, chaotic and elated, was expressed in the worship of Dionysus, the horned god of wine and fertility.  Dionysus was as important to Greek religion as Hecate, the patron of necromancers.  During this religious worship, rather than the careful removal of animal entrails, devotees tore living creatures, including humans, to pieces with their teeth and hands.

Dionysus (Original)

Dionysus was god of the earth, specifically of the vine.  His name means ''sprout (or shoot) of god, with his main festivals taking place at the end of a harvest.  Dionysus was half human, half divine, having a mortal mother, Semele, and a divine father, Zeus.  In all of the myths about Dionysus, we again find recurrent themes - this time of a god with strong connections to humans, who experiences violent outbursts and who goes through great suffering (he is dismembered and resurrected, like the crops whose fertility he oversees).  He is usually horned and is followed by horned familiars, with his main follows being wild women, worshipping the fields, woods and ravines instead of the temple.

In the Eleusinian mysteries, which were dedicated to Dionysus and Demeter, a mystifying religion was established which gave its followers faith and confidence in the afterlife.  As late as 80 BC, Plutarch the historian wrote soothing words to his wife when their daughter passed away:
About that which you have heard, dear heart, that the soul once departed from the body vanishes and feels nothing, I know that you give no belief to such assertions because of those sacred and faithful promises given in the mysteries of Bacchus (the Roman name for Dionysus) which we who are of that religious brotherhood know.  We hold it firmly for an undoubted truth that our soul is incorruptible and immortal.  We are to think that they pass into a better place and a happier condition.  Let us behave ourselves accordingly, outwardly ordering our lives, while within all shall be purer, wiser, incorruptible.

Dionysus, unlike many other ancient gods, was powerful and popular enough to survive until modern times, although only in rural and unfamiliar fragments, as a type of horned, anarchic god, much like Satan.

As you can see, many of the factors found in ancient myths have found their way into modern religion, although perhaps not in the form they were once known as.  The themes that we have seen here have been twisted and changed throughout history to fit in with newer religions, such as Christianity.

Next time: I will tell you about the Burning Times.