Bulfinchs Mythology | Page 7

him to disgorge his children. Jupiter,
with his brothers and sisters, now rebelled against their father Saturn
and his brothers the Titans; vanquished them, and imprisoned some of
them in Tartarus, inflicting other penalties on others. Atlas was
condemned to bear up the heavens on his shoulders.
On the dethronement of Saturn, Jupiter with his brothers Neptune
(Poseidon) and Pluto (Dis) divided his dominions. Jupiter's portion was
the heavens, Neptune's the ocean, and Pluto's the realms of the dead.
Earth and Olympus were common property. Jupiter was king of gods

and men. The thunder was his weapon, and he bore a shield called
Aegis, made for him by Vulcan. The eagle was his favorite bird, and
bore his thunderbolts.
Juno (Hera) was the wife of Jupiter, and queen of the gods. Iris, the
goddess of the rainbow, was her attendant and messenger. The peacock
was her favorite bird.
Vulcan (Hephaestos), the celestial artist, was the son of Jupiter and
Juno. He was born lame, and his mother was so displeased at the sight
of him that she flung him out of heaven. Other accounts say that Jupiter
kicked him out for taking part with his mother in a quarrel which
occurred between them. Vulcan's lameness, according to this account,
was the consequence of his fall. He was a whole day falling, and at last
alighted in the island of Lemnos, which was thenceforth sacred to him.
Milton alludes to this story in "Paradise Lost," Book I.:
"... From morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A summer's
day; and with the setting sun Dropped from the zenith, like a falling
star, On Lemnos, the Aegean isle."
Mars (Ares), the god of war, was the son of Jupiter and Juno.
Phoebus Apollo, the god of archery, prophecy, and music, was the son
of Jupiter and Latona, and brother of Diana (Artemis). He was god of
the sun, as Diana, his sister, was the goddess of the moon.
Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of love and beauty, was the daughter of
Jupiter and Dione. Others say that Venus sprang from the foam of the
sea. The zephyr wafted her along the waves to the Isle of Cyprus,
where she was received and attired by the Seasons, and then led to the
assembly of the gods. All were charmed with her beauty, and each one
demanded her for his wife. Jupiter gave her to Vulcan, in gratitude for
the service he had rendered in forging thunderbolts. So the most
beautiful of the goddesses became the wife of the most ill-favored of
gods. Venus possessed an embroidered girdle called Cestus, which had
the power of inspiring love. Her favorite birds were swans and doves,
and the plants sacred to her were the rose and the myrtle.

Cupid (Eros), the god of love, was the son of Venus. He was her
constant companion; and, armed with bow and arrows, he shot the darts
of desire into the bosoms of both gods and men. There was a deity
named Anteros, who was sometimes represented as the avenger of
slighted love, and sometimes as the symbol of reciprocal affection. The
following legend is told of him:
Venus, complaining to Themis that her son Eros continued always a
child, was told by her that it was because he was solitary, and that if he
had a brother he would grow apace. Anteros was soon afterwards born,
and Eros immediately was seen to increase rapidly in size and strength.
Minerva (Pallas, Athene), the goddess of wisdom, was the offspring of
Jupiter, without a mother. She sprang forth from his head completely
armed. Her favorite bird was the owl, and the plant sacred to her the
olive.
Byron, in "Childe Harold," alludes to the birth of Minerva thus:
"Can tyrants but by tyrants conquered be, And Freedom find no
champion and no child, Such as Columbia saw arise, when she Sprang
forth a Pallas, armed and undefiled? Or must such minds be nourished
in the wild, Deep in the unpruned forest,'midst the roar Of cataracts,
where nursing Nature smiled On infant Washington? Has earth no more
Such seeds within her breast, or Europe no such shore?"
Mercury (Hermes) was the son of Jupiter and Maia. He presided over
commerce, wrestling, and other gymnastic exercises, even over
thieving, and everything, in short, which required skill and dexterity.
He was the messenger of Jupiter, and wore a winged cap and winged
shoes. He bore in his hand a rod entwined with two serpents, called the
caduceus.
Mercury is said to have invented the lyre. He found, one day, a tortoise,
of which he took the shell, made holes in the opposite edges of it, and
drew cords of linen through them, and the instrument was complete.
The cords were nine, in honor