This document provides information about several male Olympians including Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, Poseidon, and Apollo through images, descriptions, and myths. Ares is identified as the god of war through his symbols of a shield, helmet, and spear. Hephaestus is the smith of the gods and creator of armor. Hermes is known as the messenger god, identified by his winged hat and caduceus. Poseidon carries a trident. Stories describe Hephaestus catching Ares and Aphrodite in an affair, and Hermes giving Apollo his lyre.

1. Some Male
Olympians
But before we get to this, take the next two
slides together, as an updated version of a
Classical Myth. I’m merely planting a seed
here for a future assignment. This is a
modern take on Apollo and Hyacinth
throwing the discus…

4. Ares

5. If this m ale is an
O lym pian, then he can
only be Ares (M ars), son
of Zeus (J upiter) and Hera
(Juno). His iconographic
sym bols are the
paraphernalia of war:
shield , helm et, and spear
(bl figure vase)
ack

6. Quick FYI:
There are two types of art on
ancient Greek pottery, red figure
(below) and black figure (above).
To create a black figure the
artist would paint a silhouette on
clay (here, left, Ajax carrying the
dead Achilles from the Trojan
battlefield)

7. The artist, Kleitias
here (570-60 BCE),
would then incise the
detail before the
pottery is fired

9. This black-figure
amphora by Exekias
(540-530) is exquisite.
Achilles and Ajax
playing a board game.
Notice the symmetry:
Their spears point the
way up to the handles
which return on each
side at their shields; the
curvature of their backs
reflects the shape of the
amphora itself.

12. Back to Ares, but
not much else to
say about him
here

13. A m arble sculpture
(420 BC E) of Ares in
the Borghese, one of
the best m useum s in
Rom e

14. Okay—Ares on the right in this
famous painting reminds me of
the chap below, one member of
the band that sang the old (but
still popular) song ‘YMCA’
(sorry, couldn’t resist)

15. Finally, Phobos and Deimos (Greek for panic and fear) are
the names of two of the four children he had with
Aphrodite. Below are the moons of the planet Mars,
appropriately names Phobos and Deimos

16. Ares’ long-standing
affair with Aphrodite is
so well known that the
artist here has placed
not Hephaestus next to
his wife Aphrodite, but
Ares and their love
child, Cupid

17. Hephaestus
(Roman name Vulcan)

18. Here we have a young
Hephaestus (Vulcan) on the
ground at Lem nos, an isl and
in the Aegean Sea. He was
thrown from M t. O l pus
ym
by either Zeus or Hera when
he tried to com e between
them d uring one of their
m any spats. The Lem nian
wom en nursed him back to
health after he injured his l
eg
(hence ‘the d eform ed god ’—
but one version states that
he was born that way).
Lem nos becam e his favorite
pl and he retired there
ace
often.

19. LEM NO S

20. Hephaestus was the
sm ith of the god s, who,
along with the 3
C yclopes, m ad e Zeus’
thund erbolts, the god ’s
hom es, their thrones,
and arm or for certain
m ortals. Notice the
arm or and tools:
grieves, helm et, tools,
and shield .

21. This scene is from the Il which
iad
we’ll stud y in several weeks.
Thetis, Achilles’ m other, is sitting on
the right, seeing her refl ection in
the shiel hel by either
d d
Hephaestus or one of the
C yclopes. In this Rom an fresco,
notice the arm or in the foreground ,
the helm et bel left, and the foot
ow
rest below the feet of Thetis.

22. Henry Fuseli
Hephaestus, Bia and
Crato Securing
Prometheus on Mount
Caucasus
circa 1810
Pencil and watercolour
on paper, 359 x 302 mm

23. A painting by the Spanish artist Velazquez (1 630). Hel (GAH nam es him as Apolo)
ius l
visits the workshop of Hephaestus to tel him of the affair between his wife Aphrod ite
l
and Ares. Hephaestus is to the right of Hel folowed by the 3 C ycl
ius, l opes who are
m aking arm or for som eone. Helius is in the sky and in a position see everything.

25. Aphrod ite and
Ares are busted
with the help of
Hephaestus’ fine
net. Hephaestus
has his back to the
viewer (notice the
tool in his left
hand ), while the
other d ivinities are
recognizable
through their icon.
sym bols.

28. A d rawing from a M ed ieval m anuscript (look closely and you can see the
letters on the other sid e of the page). This d rawing d epicts two scenes
from the affair of Aph. and Ares. O n the left we see the pair on the bed
und er the net of Hephaestus. O n the right Helius, with his sun rays, talks
to Hephaestus in his workshop.

29. Saturn Jupiter M ercury Neptune Vul
can Hel
ius Vul
can

30. The following drawing is by
Nancy Farmer (no relation), one
of my favourite modern artists
who is often inspired by Classical
Myth

31. Busted

32. More by
Nancy
Farmer
Mrs.
Cyclops,
recently
widowed

33. The seven
deadly
sins go
clubbing
(unrelated
to myth)

34. Artists love to d epict this scene. French 1 677. Notice Ares’ arm or
hanging up to the right and Hephaestus about to throw his net upon the
pair (artists can certainly take som e license with the d etails of the story
when creating their art).

35. Sleeping with
Aphrodite
evidently
means the
(physical)
triumph over
Hephaestus

36. Hermes
(Roman Mercury)

37. The iconographic
symbols of Hermes
(Mercury), the
messenger of the gods,
are his winged cap,
winged sandals (usually
one of the other) and his
caduceus, his staff with
two snakes wound
around it.

38. The easiest of the
Olympians to
identify

39. Below is Hermes’
Caduceus. Left is Hermes
slaying the 100-eyed
Argus

40. (speakers on?)
Hermes had a brief affair with
Aphrodite, resulting in a male
child named Hermaphroditus
(conflation of both of their
names). Salmacis, a nymph,
saw him bathing in a pond one
day; she jumped into the water,
embraced the beautiful boy,
and prayed that they never be
parted…
A wish come true. Etiology for
a hermaphrodite
Spranger, 1546-1611

41. Josonia Palaitis’ (2007) modern
interpretation of Salmacis and
Hermaphroditus

42. Hermaphroditus at the Louvre

45. A statue of Herm es, call a Herm s, sim ilar to
ed
this one, was usual found in front of m ost
ly
resid ences in the city of Athens. The god
protected the resid ents from thieves and
burglars. O nce on the m orning of a big naval
exped ition to Sicily, the resid ents of Athens
awoke to find that m ost of the phalloi on their
Herm s had been broken off by vand als. There
was a huge d ebate on whether or not to send
the ships--was it a bad om en? The Athenians
sent the ships, and the naval exped ition was a
huge d isaster. Hard lesson.

46. A tortoise shell
replica of the lyre
that Hermes
constructed and
eventually gave to
Apollo as a gift of
friendship

47. Hermes driving the cattle of Apollo

48. A similar scene

49. Apollo pl ing his case
ead
before Zeus. The fem ale
is M aia and baby
Herm es is l ying on the
table before them

50. The reconciliation of Apol and Herm es
lo

51. Poseidon

52. Here we have Poseidon, the
Roman Neptune. His main
iconographic symbol is the
trident which he holds in his
left hand. Without
iconographic symbols, we
could not correctly identify
Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon,
who are all mature, muscular,
bearded males

53. Poseidon on a bull

54. Poseid on l eaning on
his trid ent (m issing).
Greek m arbl statue
e
2nd century BC E

55. “Q uos ego!” by
Peter Paul Rubens
(1 577-1 640), a
Flem ish m aster
painter. This
d epicts Neptune
cal ing the seas
m
and banishing
Aeol the god of
us,
the wind who
created a storm for
Juno in ord er to
sink the ships of
Aeneas, a Troj an
refugee of the
Troj War as tol
an d
by Virgil.

57. Finis