Greek Gods

mary whalen · 15 Jul 1998, 17:15 · from urth-v0017.mbox · original

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From: mary whalen <marewhalen at yahoo.com>
Subject: (urth) Greek Gods
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 17:15:27
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This is Sean Whalen (prion).

Rostrum, I'm always happy to elaborate.

All the gods/monsters from Greek mythology which I said had names that
aren't Greek words had their names borrowed from the names of other
gods who were not Greek, or else the origin of their name is unknown
but doesn't seem to come from a Greek word.  Tartaros is probably
comes from a word that the people who lived in Greece before the
Greeks came had.  Thyone and her older name Semele are apparently the
names of non-Greek gods who came to be worshipped by the Greeks.=20
Catamitus is how the Romans pronounced Ganymedes (in English Ganymede)
which is not a Greek word either, and it's origin is unknown.

When I say that a monster is the child of Typhon and Echidna or
others, I mean that in the Greek legends it is uncertain because some
legends say one thing that others disagree with.  All of the people
who are children of T and E on the Whorl have the names of
monsters/gods who were said to be the children of the Greek T and E in
at least one source, though there is disagreement concerning every
single one of them.  It is even uncertain if in the Greek myths T and
E were brother and sister, if Typhon and Typhoeus are two different
people, and if Typhon is Typhoeus' father, or vice versa.

Yes, much of the Whorl religion is based directly on Greek sources.

Tartaros being blind.  Yes; and it is possible that this is a problem
of his brain, rather than his eyes, which would fit in with the rest
of his family.  It certainly would be odd for his eyes to be
irreplaceable, especially since Typhon wouldn't have minded using any
available source for replacements.

I think I have some new thoughts on Pas' name.  In Greek pas if the
masculine form of the word "all."  The neuter form of this word is
pan.  Wolfe said he once thought that the Greek god Pan was the word
for all, and that he used to be the main god that the Greeks
worshipped.  He was corrected by someone who wrote a letter to him.=20
Actually, Pan's name is a masculine word, just like the names of all
male Greek gods.  It would be odd for him to be the only male with a
neuter name.  Pan comes from a shortening of the older form Paon,
which comes from the word for "feeder" and is related to his Roman
equivalent Faunus.  Wolfe probably had Typhon use this name because he
is also not the god of all, as his name is taken by everyone else.

prion
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