Sometimes called the "Silent God," Vidar was the Norse god of vengeance and the second strongest god in all of Norse mythology, second only to Thor, as is stated in his entry in the Prose Edda: "One is called Vidar; he is the silent god. He has a thick shoe and is nearly as strong as Thor. The gods rely on him in all difficulties." To be clear, strength here is only physical strength, strength not used as a byword for power, for the most powerful god, when you factor in everything, not just battle prowess, is undoubtedly Odin, who, incidentally, was Vidar's father, siring him on the giantess Gridr. She at one time lent Thor a number of armaments, including her belt, staff, and iron gloves, which helped him ford a river and defeat the giant Geirrod. It isn't known for certain why Vidar was silent, but it has been posited that it is connected to ritual silence and other abstinent behavior in relation to vengeance, those committed to the path of vengeance refraining from speech and other indulgences until their quarry was killed. Another example comes from the god Vali, who stopped washing his hands and combing his hair until the body of the one he vowed to kill blackened on the funeral pyre. Unsurprisingly, Vidar's most important contribution to Norse mythology is a heroic act of vengeance, which is exactly what you would expect from the god of vengeance himself. Said most simply, he avenges his father by ripping a giant wolf's head apart. However, to understand how important this avenging was - that is, how death-defying and world-saving it was, Odin's honor being the least important aspect of this - a lot of information has to be layered on top, answering questions like: Who was this wolf? How was this wolf possibly powerful enough to kill the king of the Norse pantheon? Why Were Odin and this wolf even fighting? And how did Vidar, though a very powerful god, manage to kill the monster that killed Odin, the most powerful of the Norse gods? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this video we're going to discuss Chaos, who usually features in Greek mythology as the great void, the first entity to exist, but as we'll see, there were other versions, too, including: being the offspring of Chronos (Chronos the primordial personification of time, not Cronus the Titan king), being the undifferentiated agglomeration of matter and energy that was harnessed to shape the universe, and being the lower layer of air that encases the earth. The best known account of the Greek creation myth comes from Theogony, written by the poet Hesiod in the 8th century BC. Parts of Theogony are tinged with ambiguity, and the nuance in some of what it says is still debated today. What's unequivocal is that Chaos was the first entity to exist, but less clear is what came afterwards. Chaos is the great void that independently manifested itself and existed before anything else, but as for what happened next, different interpretations are spawned from vagueness and obscurity. The next three gods to emerge are Gaia, the earth, Tartarus, the abyss beneath the earth, and Eros, sexual love or attraction. As for how these three gods came to be, there are two views: one is that they also independently manifested themselves, able to do so in the endless expanse constituted by chaos; the other is that they are the children of chaos, begotten rather than bringing themselves forth. Therefore, some believe Chaos to be the ultimate source of everything, while others believe Chaos, Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros to be of equal standing, the four primordial pillars most fundamental and foundational to the universe From Chaos alone came Erebus, darkness, and Nyx, night, and from Gaia alone came Uranus, the sky, Ourea, mountains, and Pontus, the sea. Following the advent of these gods, there followed a time of divine coupling. Erebus and Nyx came together to produce Aether, the bright upper-atmosphere, and Hemera, day, and Gaia and Uranus came together to produce the 12 first-generation titans, the trio of Uranian Cyclopes, and the trio of Hecatonchires. There were yet more children to come, but here is where we're going to cut off the genealogy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

To tell the story of Buri is to tell of how the universe came to be in Norse mythology. In this, he plays but a small part, though one of paramount importance, to be sure. He was the first god to draw breath in all of Norse mythology, grand-father to Odin, who it was that created the world. In the beginning there was only Ginnungagap, the great void, something similar to the Waters of Nun in Egyptian mythology or to Chaos in Greek mythology. It was the empty space that presupposed creation. Next there was Niphlheim and Muspelheim. Niphlheim was a realm of ice and dark in the North, and Muspelheim was a realm of fire and light in the south. Both were equally desolate and inhospitable. Niflheim abounded with poisonous water, the bubbling of springs and roaring of rivers, and Muspelheim was a land closed off to those not born there; only those native to it could endure its burning terrain and choking air. Surtr, the black one, ruled over Muspelheim. He wields a great flaming sword; and come Ragnarok, the gods will be laid low and the world set ablaze. Eventually, the poisonous waters of the north flowed down into the void. Here's the passage: "High replied, 'When those rivers, which are called Elivagar [Storm Waves], came so far from their source, the poisonous flow hardened like a slag of cinders running from a furnace, and became ice. When this ice began to solidify and no longer ran, poisonous drops spewed out and froze into ice rime [hoar-frost]. Then layer by layer, the ice grew within Ginnungagap.' Then just-as-High said, That part of Ginnungagap, which reached into the northern regions, became filled with this ice and rime. Inside the gap there was mist and wind-whipped rain. But the southern part of Ginnungagap grew light because of sparks and glowing embers flowing from Muspelheim." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to dive into the Divine Comedy, focusing on the Empyrean, the place of pure light, love, and energy where God, angels, and the souls of the saved reside. Unlike the nine circles of Hell, the nine levels of Purgatory, and the nine spheres of Heaven, the empyrean exists outside the confines of the universe, transcending space and time. It is a place so far beyond what the human mind can comprehend that Dante, even while his perception was preternaturally augmented by the presence of the divine, could only bear witness to visions that imparted the roughest outline, unable to understand, let alone perceive, the finished work, the mastery and majesty of it. We're going to begin by quickly covering how Dante got to heaven, then going over how heaven is structured, then going over the Primum Mobile, the ninth sphere of heaven, and then going over the Empyrean: what it is and what Dante experienced while he was there. Alright, let's get into it. After braving the depths of hell, plunging ever deeper down through the infernal abyss, all nine of its circles, Dante and Virgil, our pair of intrepid poets, climb down Satan's body and pass through the center of the earth. When they come out the other side, they emerge a bit of the way up Mt. Purgatory, which towers up toward the heavens. Because of this, they are forced to go down so that a full ascent can be made, beginning at the very bottom. The purpose of Mt. Purgatory is purification, not punishment. In Hell, the souls of the sinful are tormented for all of eternity, and escape is prevented by demons and monsters. In Purgatory, on the other hand, there is suffering, but the intent of this suffering is to cleanse and is not a product of condemnation. The pinnacle of Mt. Purgatory is the Garden of Eden, and it is there that Virgil and Dante depart. As a virtuous pagan, Virgil's soul resides in Limbo, the first circle of hell, so he cannot accompany Dante on the final segment of his journey, precluded from entering the paradise of heaven. Beatrice, who it was that sent Virgil to guide Dante, appears and assumes the role as Dante's guide. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to dive into Egyptian Mythology, going over its 10 most powerful gods. I'll make another video for the goddesses later on. The order in which the gods are discussed in this video isn't based on power but on precedent, beginning with the creators. Alright, let's get into it. Starting us off is Ptah. One of ancient Egypt's many creator deities, Ptah was said to have created the world with his heart and tongue. According to the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, the heart was the center of thought and feeling. Because of this, Ptah first pictured and planned the creation of the world in his heart, visualizing the world as a craftsman visualizes his next project. With the idea conceived, it then passed to the tongue, which manifested the idea, bringing it to life. In addition to his role as the creator of the world, It was said that Ptah could fashion new bodies for the dead, furnishing them with new flesh. He was the patron of craftsmen, particularly sculptors and metalworkers. And the Greeks equated him with Hephaestus, their own divine smith. Most often Ptah was depicted as a bearded man, and among his most salient features are a skullcap and blue skin. The skullcap that covered his head was that of an artisan, and his blue skin was celestial blue, which is why he was known by the epithet, "he who is beautiful of face." The scepter he carried united the djed, the was, and the ankh. The djed is a pillar-like symbol representing stability; the was is a staff that represents power and dominion; and the ankh is a cross-shaped symbol with a loop that represents life. Egyptian pharaohs were commonly crowned in Ptah's temple at Memphis, and it was thought that the three attributes embodied by his scepter were bestowed on them at their inaugurations. Sekhmet, the goddess who at one time nearly exterminated the human race, was Ptah's consort. Together they had a son, Nefertem, the god of the primeval lotus, creator gods sometimes described as emerging from this lotus, signifying their engenderment and the commencement of their great work. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to dive into the Divine Comedy and discuss the 9th circle of hell: the circle reserved for traitors, the frozen heart of hell where Satan is torturously trapped, and the place in all of creation most sundered from the light and love and God. Here, we'll see Satan depicted in superlative fashion, virtually as massive, monstrous, and malevolent as can be, the horror of him beyond Dante's ability to fully describe. We're going to begin by quickly outlining how Hell is structured, then jumping into the story when Dante and Virgil enter the 8th circle, covering their entry into the 9th circle, their encounter with Satan, and their arrival at Mt. Purgatory. Alright, let's get into it. Dante Alighieri penned the "Divine Comedy" in the early 14th century. The story takes the reader on an allegorical journey through the three spiritual realms: Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Heaven (Paradiso). The narrative follows Dante, the protagonist and the fictional representation of the author, whom we first join while he's lost in a dark forest, symbolic of spiritual confusion. Guided by the Roman poet Virgil and later by his muse Beatrice, Dante embarks on a profoundly transformational odyssey. In "Inferno", he plunges into the depths of Hell, braving ever deeper into the depths of terror, torture and torment, journeying downwards through the nine circles of Hell. Hell is conceptualized as a descending funnel-shaped abyss composed of nine concentric circles, each containing a distinct category of sin and its corresponding punishment. Central to Dante's vision of punishment is the concept of 'contrapasso,' poetic justice, the punishments suffered by the sinners in Hell inspired by the nature of their sins in life. Beginning at the outermost circle, the nine circles of Hell are: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery, the ninth and final circle. Limbo is the place for unbaptized souls and virtuous pagans, neither good nor bad, and after it, the punishments of hell proper begin in the second circle where the lustful are condemned to be buffeted and battered by the winds of a violent storm that relentlessly rages. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Satan, whether or not he's trapped in hell. First, we're going to see how Satan, where he currently resides, is portrayed in fiction, looking at Dante's Inferno and then at Paradise Lost. Second, we're going to see what scripture has to say about where Satan is. And third, we're going to delve into various interpretations of scripture, here meaning the eschatological perspectives used to understand the bible, these different perspectives yielding different answers: Roaming the earth, locked away in the hearts of sinners, or imprisoned forever in hell. Alright, let's get into it. In Dante Alighieri's "Inferno," the Ninth Circle of Hell, the deepest, most desolate, and most despair-filled circle, is reserved for traitors, treachery deemed the most egregious of sins and those who perpetrate it the most wicked of sinners, the sanctity of special relationships defiled by the betrayals of these transgressors. The ninth circle is a vast, frozen lake named Cocytus, and it is divided into four concentric rings. The ice becomes progressively thicker and more torturous as one moves inward to the circle's center. The rings house different types of traitors: those who betrayed their kin, those who betrayed their countries, those who betrayed their guests, and those who betrayed their benefactors. At the very center of Cocytus, Satan is imprisoned in ice up to his waist, continuously chewing on Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius, the three greatest traitors in Dante's view. Judas betrayed Jesus, and Brutus and Cassius betrayed Julius Caesar. Satan is described as a monstrous giant with three heads and a great pair of bat's wings. Judas is perpetually devoured by the center head, Brutus and Cassius by the two outside ones. Though Satan participates in the punishment of, per the reckoning of Dante, the three most evil sinners in all of history, he himself is also condemned, torturously trapped in a state of physical and spiritual agony. One of the details that communicates this are the tears that incessantly stream from his six weeping eyes. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. Today, we're going to dive into Greek mythology, focusing on Hyperion, a primeval solar deity. He was the father of the sun, of the moon, and of the dawn, of the 12 first-generation Titans, one of the Titans who helped castrate Uranus, and one of the Titans cast down into the depths of Tartarus, battered and banished, following the victory of Zeus and the Olympian-led forces. Here's how this video is going to work: first we're going to go over Hyperion's sphere of influence, which is to say what he was associated with and what role he played in structuring and maintaining the universe; second, we're going to quickly go over who his three children were; and third, we're going to go over his rise and fall, beginning with his birth and ending with his imprisonment in Tartarus. Alright, let's get into it. 1 - SPHERE OF INFLUENCE. His name meaning "The One on High" or "He Who Walks Above", Hyperion was a primeval solar deity, though he was not the personification of the sun itself. Indeed, the matter of Greek mythology's sun god is a bit confusing because there are three of them: Hyperion, a primeval solar deity, Helios, the personification of the sun, and Apollo, whose own sphere of influence eventually subsumed the sun. All three of them were identified with each other and to an extent were conflated. One idea is that Hyperion's original role was orchestrating the cycle of celestial objects, ensuring that the symphony of heaven sang out harmoniously. This ties into who Hyperion's wife and children were. According to Hesiod's Theogony, his wife was Theia, another of the 12 first-generation Titans and his sister. She was a goddess associated with sight and was called "The One Who Sees". See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Moros, the Greek god of Doom, which is to say the inevitability of death. He is the divine personage who personifies adages like, "you can't cheat death" and "you can't escape your destiny." In the context of Greek mythology, everyone is doomed, meaning doomed to die. Just as every person is born, so too must every person die; and when a person dies, this isn't something that was dictated by the moment. How a person dies isn't contingent on chance and isn't a permutation of events that, if a person's life was run over and over again in a simulation, could have been ordered differently, played out differently, and culminated to produce different results. In Greek mythology, how each and every person dies is already indelibly written by the fates in the proverbial ledger of destiny. Death, everything about it, is determined even before birth, and Moros, the god of Doom, is the personification of the power that uncompromisingly and unyieldingly ensures everyone meets their fated end. In short, doom drives destiny; doom is the guardrails that makes sure people don't veer off the road and arrive at their death destination. Here's how this video is going to work: First we're going to quickly go over Moros' family: who his parents were, who his siblings were, and generally, how he fits, in a structural sense, into Greek mythology. Second, we're going to see how his power and purview are complementary to those of his siblings. If you think of death as a process that begins before birth when a person's destiny is decided and ends when a person arrives in the underworld, achieving this requires the efforts of many gods working in concert, beginning with the fates and ending with Charon, the ferryman who conveys the souls of the dead across the River Styx. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss whether Demons can renounce their wicked ways, reform themselves, and return to God, becoming angels again and reentering the blessed and beatific realm of Heaven. At the core of Christianity is the salvation of the human soul. A person who strays from the righteous path and succumbs to sin can, through the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, be guided back to a virtuous and faith-filled existence. Based on what's written in the bible, and based on the discourse of scholars and theologians, it looks like there is no sin that is truly unforgivable. God's love is boundless, and it is his greatest desire that the soul of each and every person join him in eternal exaltation; so not matter how terrible the transgression, insidious the infraction, odious the offense, or cruel and corrupt the crime, if a person - any person - genuinely repents, let's God into their heart, turns over a new leaf, and lives out their remaining time in a way that is consistent with the teachings of Christianity, they can be saved and go to Heaven and live in perpetual paradise. While this is all well and good for humanity, does this also apply to Demons? Can Demons, as is the case for even the most disgusting and depraved people, find salvation and once again bask in the light of God as they did before they rebelled and were subsequently expelled from Heaven? To be clear, if someone is truly evil, they can't just insincerely go through the motions and end up in heaven. An evil person can't just pretend to repent and be good. Well, they can, but it won't work. Maybe they feign repentance, keep up the facade for the rest of their days, and trick some people, but God can't be duped, deluded, or defrauded. He's omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Every person's inner thoughts and motivations are laid bare before him. A profound, paradigm-shifting change has to occur in which a person genuinely comes to feel remorse about their past wrongs, genuinely wishes to reestablish their connection with God, and genuinely wishes to live out their lives virtuously in keeping with the Christian creed. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Erebus, one of the primordial deities and the personification of darkness in Greek Mythology. Alright, let's get into it. As the personification of darkness, it isn't surprising that Erebus became synonymous with the underworld, even becoming a byword for it, as can be seen in Hesiod's Theogony ("Zeus struck him [the Titan Menoetius] with a lurid thunderbolt and sent him down to Erebus"), and in the Homeric Hymns, ("[Hermes came] bidding me [Persephone] come back from Erebus.), and many other works. Similarly, Hades name was also used as an appellation for the underworld; however, there were differences between the two. Erebus more so pertained to the dark and shadow of the underworld, while Hades invariably pertained to the totality of the underworld itself. Here's a passage from Edith Hamilton's book Mythology A to Z that elaborates on this: "As the darkness under the earth, he was sometimes called Erebus, the personification of darkness and shadow, and sometimes the chasm or pit that separated the world of the living from the underworld. He was a god, but he had no cult, no following. He was simply there, the personification of something that is always there, a part of the underworld and of the world above it, like the atmosphere around the earth" Though Erebus' name was used on occasion, Hades' name was the true name of the underworld, and because of this, Hades' name would transcend Greek Mythology and find its way into Jewish and Christian scripture. The Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible), is the holy text from which the Old Testament is derived. It was originally written in Hebrew, of course, but the first language it was translated to was Ancient Greek in the 3rd century BC. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Isis, the mistress of magic, the might of her magical mastery making her one of the most powerful gods in all of Egyptian mythology. As Weret-Hekau (meaning 'the Great of Magic'), she was sometimes depicted as a cobra who suckled and safeguarded the pharaoh, and with respect to defending Egypt's borders, she was said to be greater "than a million soldiers." She was the sister-wife of Osiris, ruling alongside her husband as the queen of creation; she was the mother and protector of Horus, the rightful king who would win back his father's crown from the usurper Set; she was the symbolic mother of every pharaoh, the pharaohs themselves symbolic incarnations of Horus; and she was the griever, preserver, and guardian of the dead. Her magical escapades and exploits include: poisoning the sun god and stealing his power, materializing appendages, reincarnating the king of the gods, taking the form of animals and of other people, transforming into a flint statue after being decapitated to preserve herself, conjuring up weapons that listen to her and respond to her bidding, and countless other examples - these named hitherto but a mere glimpse into the spells, sorcery, necromancy, and enchantment that were at her disposal. Alright, let's get into it. The cult of Isis had really risen to prominence by the first millennium BC, and in the fullness of time, she would become the most widely worshiped goddess in all of Egyptian mythology, a fact shown empirically by evidence of her cult having been found in places as far as Britain, this from when it was a Roman province. As her popularity spread, so did her sphere of influence, including more and more. She became a sea goddess of sorts, the protective power that was at her core helping ships survive treacherous waters and make it home safely. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Oceanus, the very first Titan and, if allusion and shallow references are anything to go off of, perhaps, generally speaking, the very first god - including Primordials, Titans, and Olympians - in all of Greek mythology. This, in a broader sense, is indicative how complex Greek mythology was, there having been, the accounts that remain popular today notwithstanding, different versions of the creation myth, something evidenced by a multitude of allusions to Oceanus as a creator across an array of works, and by offshoots of what could be called 'orthodox Greek mythology', such as orphism, a religious movement that centered on the hero Orpheus, who was thought of as the seed from which Orphism grew, him having brought back secret knowledge when he returned from the underworld to the land of the living. Oceanus was the personification of the great river that encircled the world, and in the context of his family (the other 11 first-generation Titans), he was somewhat of an aberration, partial to pacifism as he was. He eschewed conflict, neither joining in the castration of his father nor fighting in the Titanomachy, the 10 year war between the Olympians and the Titans. I was going to say, "though he was undoubtedly one of the most powerful gods in Greek mythology, he seldom surfaces in any of its myths, more often existing as a piece of the stage on which Greek mythology unfolds than as an actor in the production", but after delving into his mythology more deeply, he actually does a have a nice little niche. He's mentioned a handful of times by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. In Aeschylus's "Prometheus Bound", he visits Prometheus, now chained to a rock by Zeus, and offers the condemned god succor. One of the Orphic Hymns is dedicated to him, and generally, he is either mentioned or makes brief appearances in a number of other works. As well, the Iliad features several allusions to Oceanus, not Chaos, being the first god and thus the ultimate source of creation in Greek mythology. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss one of the most intriguing events from the life of Jesus Christ -- His temptation in the desert. We'll begin by unpacking the gospel accounts, illuminating the dramatic encounter between Jesus and Satan in the wilderness. From there, we'll venture into more contentious territory beyond the cartography of consensus and the compass of convention, intrepidly sailing with no regard for our own survival into the treacherous waters of conjecture, there delving into questions like: what motivated Satan to tempt Jesus, and did he truly believe he could sway the Son of God to sin; was Jesus, given his divine nature, even susceptible to sin or was he intrinsically impervious to the wicked wiles of evil, more so making the temptation akin to the enacting of a play rather than an engagement with peril; and had Satan succeeded, what could that have meant for the course of human history and salvation? Would it have precipitated a catastrophic shift in the cosmic balance, turning Jesus to the side of evil? If yes, what would this have meant for humanity and the universe at large? Alright, let's get into it. The four Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament in the Christian Bible. They are named after their traditional authors: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These books are unique in their focus on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, together considered the primary source of information about the life and teachings of the Son of God. While all four Gospels share this common focus, they each present a distinct perspective. The Gospel of Matthew, for example, emphasizes Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, presenting him as the long-awaited Messiah. Mark's Gospel, thought to be the first written of the four, portrays Jesus as a powerful yet suffering servant. Luke, the only Gospel written by a Gentile (meaning non-Jewish person), emphasizes Jesus's compassion for the poor and marginalized. John's Gospel, the most theological of the four, highlights Jesus's divine identity, presenting him as the incarnation of the Word, or Logos, of God. The four Gospels coalesce, conglomerating the individuality of each, to paint a comprehensive portrait of the life and teachings of Jesus. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Set, the Egyptian god of foreign lands, the desert, disasters, strength, storms, protective power, cunning, violence, war, confusion, and chaos, chaos being something he both embodied and combated. He was invoked by pharaohs and warriors so as to emulate him in battle and channel his strength; he murdered Osiris, the king of the gods, and usurped the throne, later vying with his Nephew Horus, the rightful king, in a decades long struggle for supremacy; and he was the Sun God's greatest protector, journeying with Ra each night through the underworld, fighting and felling, on a nightly-basis, the terrible serpent Apophis, the personification of chaos, thus ensuring the sun prevailed over the perils of the chthonic depths and survived to rise again each morning and bathe the world in life giving light. Alright, let's get into it. In ancient Egyptian iconography, Set (also spelled Seth) is depicted in a unique and unmistakable manner. Unlike many Egyptian deities whose appearances are recognizable from the natural world, Set's appearance (either zoomorphic, full-animal, or partly zoomorphic and partly anthropomorphic, human-animal hybrid) is based on an animal, usually referred to as the 'Set animal', that doesn't correspond to any known creature that actually exists. It is a composite creature with a curved snout, squared-off ears, and a forked tail. Some suggest it might be an amalgamation, possibly including elements of aardvarks, donkeys, jackals, or fennec foxes. Others have proposed more fantastical creatures like the griffin. Furthermore, while other features can be conceivably connected to other animals, the forked, tapering tail doesn't clearly match any known animal, adding even more to the mystery of Set's Iconography. He is often shown as this creature or as a man with the head of this creature. In terms of color, Set is often painted red, a color that has dual connotations in ancient Egyptian culture. It could be associated with chaos, storms, and the desert--elements that Set is the god of--but also with vitality and protection. His coloring, what it signifies, marks him as a deity of ambiguity, embodying both the power of disorder and the necessary force to quell that disorder. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Michael, unequivocally the most famous angel and widely regarded as the most powerful angel in Christianity, one of the few angels actually named in the bible and one of the only angels who features on every archangel list, of which there are many. Most notable are his martial triumphs, personally duelling the demon who presided over the Persian Empire, and leading the host of heaven against Satan and his rebel angels, the result of which was the precipitous expulsion of the insurgents down from heaven to earth, where prior to subsequent defeats, they would wreak havoc in the years leading up to God's final judgement. We're going to begin with a miscellaneous assortment of information, then focusing on Michael's role in the bible, and finally, examining how he fits into the angelic hierarchy - this last discussing how he's considered the most powerful angel when the archangel choir is one of the lowest ranked angelic choirs in the celestial hierarchy. Alright, let's get into it. Discussed in either secular or religious works, in any of the three Abrahamic religions (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity), Michael is generally viewed as the greatest of the angels. His honours, titles, and offices include: prince of the presence, head of the archangels, principal of the order of virtues, and angel of mercy, sanctification, righteousness, and repentance. Furthermore, he is the angelic prince of Israel, sovereign over the 4th heaven, the protector of Jacob, and the angel who leads the forces of heaven against Satan and his rebel angels, banishing Satan and those who follow him from heaven. In 2 Kings, the Assyrian army is described as mounting a campaign against the Jewish people, capturing city after city. When Jerusalem was finally assailed, becoming encircled and besieged, Hezekiah prayed to God for divine intervention. In answer, an angel later entered the Assyrian camp in the dead of night, smiting the army with his holy power. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss the eradicating exploits of Zeus, perhaps the greatest monster slayer in all of mythology. We're going to begin with the Cosmology, delving into how the Greeks conceptualized the creation of the world and the emergence of the gods, and with that done, the fundamental framework of Greek mythology delineated to a basic degree, we're going to go over, in chronological order, the cataclysmic conflicts that begin with Zeus' ascension and end with Zeus supremacy over the universe, which will see him kill Campe, defeat the Titans, destroy the Giants, and finally, lay low Typhon, the most powerful monster in all of Greek mythology. Alright let's get into it. First there was Chaos, the great void, then emerged Gaia, earth, Tartarus, the abyss beneath the earth, and eros, sexual desire. Following these four, came a time of independent procreation: Chaos producing Nyx, night, and Erebus, darkness, and Gaia producing Uranus, the sky, Ourea, the mountains, and Pontus, the sea. And many more primordial deities were brought forth into creation that we will not name. The primordial deities, the first gods in Greek mythology, were the material manifestations of the universe, the very regions later gods would rule over. For example, Uranus was the sky itself while Zeus later came to rule the sky, and Pontus was the sea itself while Poseidon later came to rule the sea. Gaia took Uranus as her consort, and together they had many children, first the three Hecatonchires, then the three Uranian Cyclopes, and then the 12 Titans. Here's the passage from 'The Library of Greek Mythology' that describes this: See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Apophis, the chaos serpent, the baleful bane of life itself, the most powerful monster in all of Egyptian mythology. So great was his power that it took the combined strength of many gods to overcome him, and so great was the threat he posed that his victory would unleash absolute destruction, bringing about the end of the Egyptian gods and, more broadly, of the universe itself, returning every mote of matter and particle of energy back to the infinite chaos from whence everything first came. Alright, let's get into it. Apophis was depicted as a great serpent and sometimes as a colossal crocodile. He was an incarnation of disorder and destruction - the supreme incarnation of disorder and destruction - and the arch-nemesis of Ra, whom Apophis fought ad nauseam, the two of them meeting in the underworld each night and battling for the fate of all creation. The eyes of Apophis were especially perilous, and his terrible roar was said to be deafening, able to resound throughout the entire underworld. The movement of his body shook the earth, causing earthquakes, and the hidden sandbanks in the Nile that were so treacherous to ships were equated with his coils. Medieval dragons are thought to perhaps be modeled after a hybrid representation of Apophis that conflated both his snake and crocodile forms, and the python, which could unhinge its jaw to swallow large prey whole, is thought to have been a principal inspiration for Apophis, in terms of both appearance and action, the latter being to symbolically swallow and destroy the world by killing Ra. There was a plethora of fierce and frightening phenomena associated with Apophis, including thunder, earthquakes, darkness, disorder, storms of every kind, and chaos. Depictions of Apophis varied, sometimes shown as a coiled serpent, but most often shown under attack by Ra and his supporters. Mau, the divine cat, the guardian of the tree of life, and one of the manifestations of Ra, was commonly shown, knife in paw, cutting Apophis to pieces. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss the 14 presidents of hell. Alright, let's get into it. The "Lesser Key of Solomon" is an anonymous grimoire on demonology. It was compiled in the mid-17th century, primarily from materials created and circulated in the two centuries preceding its publication. It is divided into five books, and by far the most popular of the five is the first, the Ars Goetia, which contains descriptions of the 72 demons that Solomon is said to have evoked and confined in a bronze vessel sealed by magic symbols, and that he compelled to work for him. Each demon is described in detail, including its appearance, its rank, the powers it can confer upon the conjurer, and the ritual instructions for summoning it. Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (often shortened to S.L.M. Mathers) lived from 1854-1918 and was a prominent figure in late 19th and early 20th century occultism. He was a co-founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secretive organization dedicated to the study and practice of the occult, metaphysics, and paranormal activities. Mathers translated the 'Lesser Key of Solomon into English in 1904, making him the first person to do so. His translation was significant as it made one of the most famous grimoires accessible to English-speaking audiences for the first time. Before this, such works were typically only available to scholars or to lay enthusiasts well versed in Latin. Mathers' translation thus democratized access to the "Lesser Key of Solomon," significantly influencing Western occultism by contributing to the dissemination and development of magical practices in the English-speaking world. In the Ars Goetia, as said before, there are 72 demons, each one ascribed a rank. There are 9 kings, 23 Dukes, 7 princes, 15 marquis, 14 presidents, 10 earls, or counts, and 1 knight. (The reason that the number totaled by adding all of these ranks is greater than 72 is that some demons hold more than one rank.) We will now, for the rest of the video, read directly from the 'Lesser Key of Solomon' (specifically, from Mather's English Translation of the Ars Goetia), going over each of the 14 entries that discuss the 14 demonic presidents. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In Today's video, we'll be discussing Tiamat, the primordial goddess of chaos who waged a war against the gods, a goddess so powerful that she brought an entire pantheon to its knees. Beyond her own incredible innate power, she fleshed out her forces by spawning a brood of terrible monsters, and she raised up a captain to lead her unholy host, taking him as her consort and giving him the Tablet of Destiny, which endowed him with mastery over destiny, thus making him virtually unstoppable. Alright, let's get into it. Most of what we know about Tiamat comes from the Enuma Elish, an ancient creation myth of Babylonian origin that describes the genesis of the world and the rise of the gods. It tells the story of how the god Marduk establishes his supremacy by defeating the primordial goddess Tiamat and creating the cosmos from her body. The text is written in the form of an epic poem and is one of the oldest recorded creation myths in human history. From here, we're going to go through the Enuma Elish, beginning with Chaos and the emergence of the gods and focusing on Tiamat throughout. The Babylonians conceptualized chaos as a primordial body of water, made up of two primordial gods: Apsu, the god of freshwater, and Tiamat, the goddess of saltwater. They existed before anything else and are the ultimate source of everything in Babylonian mythology. Here's the passage from the Enuma Elish that describes this: "When on high heaven was not yet named, nor was the hard ground below called by name - there was nothing but primordial Apsu, the begetter, and Mother Tiamat, she who gave birth to everything. The waters of Tiamat and Apsu were mingled together as a single body... It was a time before the gods had come into being, or were called by name, or their destinies determined - this was when the gods took form within them" See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the four of them sent forth by God to unleash conquest, war, famine, and death upon the world. Alright, let's get into it. The Four Horsemen make their appearance in the Book of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament, a book that gives an account of the cataclysmic events that will transpire during the Apocalypse, a word derived from the Greek word apokalypsis, meaning to 'reveal' or uncover'. Scholars generally agree that the Book of Revelation was written towards the end of the first century AD, a time fraught with persecution for Christians under the hegemony of the Roman Empire. At this time, John, a Christian and thus a victim of said persecution, was living in exile in the Aegean Sea on the island of Patmos, and here, on this island, is where God reached out and imparted to him the revelation of the events that were to come. To John, God revealed the future, all the death and destruction prophesied to afflict the world leading up to the final judgement, which will more or less be a divine sifting event in which the wheat will be winnowed from the chaff, basically an event where all the people of the world and all the spirits of the dead will be judged, the good forever living in God's light and the bad consigned to the lake of fire. John was commanded to write down what he's shown and then to send what he's written to seven churches located in Asia Minor, a land we know today as Turkey. Jesus imparted a bespoke message for each church, which, without going into specifics, can be summed up as messages that caution against falling into moral pitfalls and encourage the mustering of fortitude and resilience to endure the adverse circumstances pervading that time. Afterwards, John continues by recounting what he bears witness to in the vision revealed to him by God. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Mammon, a demon Lord and the demon who rules over the deadly sin of greed. We'll start with his portrayal in John Milton's epic poem, 'Paradise Lost', before transitioning into an exploration of the historical and linguistic origins of the term 'Mammon' in the Biblical canon. We'll investigate how this term evolved from abstraction to personification, from a word denoting greed into a demonic entity, tracing this development from its Aramaic roots, then to Greek, Latin, and English. Following this, we'll examine the teachings on Mammon in the New Testament, specifically the Gospel of Matthew, illuminating how this term was initially used. Finally, we'll delve into notable historical texts that link Mammon to the seven deadly sins, showing him to be the deadly demon who presides over the deadly sin of Greed. Alright, let's get into it. "Paradise Lost' is an epic poem by John Milton, first published in 1667. This monumental work of literature is hailed as one of the greatest in the English language and is considered one of the crown jewels of the Western canon. It reimagines the Biblical story of humanity's fall, portraying the rebellion of Satan and his cohort of fallen angels, their banishment from Heaven, and their subsequent schemes to corrupt and ruin mankind. Through its exploration of profound themes such as free will, temptation, the nature of evil, and the consequences of defying the divine, 'Paradise Lost' delves into the complexities of human existence, the nature of God, and the eternal battle between good and evil. Milton's poetic genius paints a vivid picture of the sublime celestial realms, the desolate depths of Hell, the untouched beauty of Eden, and the catastrophic consequences of human transgression. The grandeur of his verse, its rich symbolism, and vivid imagery lend depth to the narrative and its underlying themes. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss the Powers, God's warrior angels who work to maintain order in the universe and, when needed, who are sent forth as the tip of the spear to combat evil, defending God's flock and destroying demons. Alright, let's get into it Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is a pseudonymous author whose works had a profound influence on Christian mysticism and theology from the Middle Ages all the way through to today. While the angelic hierarchy isn't delineated in the bible, instead expounded in various forms by various theologians in extra-biblical works, these predicated on and extrapolated from scripture, it's fair to say that the angelic hierarchy put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius was widely embraced by Christianity and is probably the most influential version developed and disseminated to date. The true identity of Pseudo-Dionysius is unknown, but his works are thought to have been written around the late 5th to early 6th century. His pseudonym suggests he was trying to be identified with Dionysius the Areopagite, a convert of Saint Paul mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, but scholarly consensus holds that he was not the historical Dionysius, hence the 'Pseudo' that precedes the name of this unknown author. "The Celestial Hierarchy," Pseudo-Dionysius's most seminal work, is a treatise that discusses the angelic hierarchy. In it, the angelic hierarchy is described as being made up of three angelic orders, and these three angelic orders, in turn, each comprise three angelic choirs; so, per his conceptualization, there are three groups of three, making for a total of nine angelic choirs. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Belial, a demonic prince and one of the chief demons of Hell. Alright, let's get into it. Where the name Belial came from isn't known for certain, shrouded in ambiguity as it is, but a couple of possibilities do stand above the rest. One theory suggests that the term Belial is derived from the Hebrew words beli-ya'al, which means "without worth" or "worthlessness." This interpretation is supported by the use of the term "sons of Belial" in the Book of Judges, where it is used to describe a group of wicked and lawless men. In this context, the term may be seen as a descriptor for folk wanting in the scruple and virtue departments - this name then accreting a more profound meaning, in time becoming the name of an archdemon and a name synonymous with wickedness. Of the 27 or so times the name Belial is used in the Masoretic Text, the authoritative version of the Hebrew Bible, 15 instances are used to describe 'worthless people', here, usually meaning people disposed to idolatry and wickedness - thought I'm sure they weren't paragons of productivity, either Another theory suggests that the term Belial may have originated in pre-judaic Canaan, perhaps derived, at least in part, from an ancient pagan deity, later adopted into Jewish and Christian traditions as a symbol of evil or wickedness. This was certainly the case for Baal, a Canaanite storm and weather god; however, the evidence in support of this theory with respect to Belial is dubious by comparison. concerning his power and influence, Belial never reaches the pinnacle of the demonic hierarchy, not really on par with the likes of Satan, Lucifer, and Beelzebub, but he is still a prominent figure, very much so, among Hell's legions. If we were going to express his eminence with the corporate structure of a company, I'd say he misses the C-suite while still being comfortably established in the upper-echelon of management, perhaps belonging to a cadre of vice presidents. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Anubis, the jackal-headed god, the chthonic patron of embalming and mummification, the shepherd of souls, the original god of the dead (before the cult of Osiris rose to prominence and displaced him from this role), and the fastidious tinkerer who ensured the scales of judgment accurately weighed the hearts of the deceased, a process that either catapulted people to paradise or condemned them to oblivion. Alright, let's get into it. Anubis is perhaps most recognized for his distinct depiction as a black jackal or as a man with a black jackal head. The color black held symbolic importance in ancient Egypt, associated with the fertile silt of the Nile and, by extension, rebirth and resurrection - both of these themes of paramount importance to Anubis' role as a funerary god. The jackal, specifically the African golden jackal (now reclassified as the African wolf), was chosen to represent Anubis due to its common presence in the necropolises and desert margins, where people were often buried, around ancient Egyptian settlements. The scavenging nature of jackals led them to unearth human remains, which likely influenced their association with death and the afterlife. Thus, Anubis, in the form of a jackal, was seen as the protector of graves and cemeteries. There are two main traditions regarding Anubis' parentage. The most well-known, found in Plutarch's "Isis and Osiris", states that Anubis is the illegitimate child of Osiris and Nephthys. Nephthys, married to Set, bearing the dark god no children and thus thought barren, disguised herself as Isis to seduce Osiris, resulting in her becoming pregnant with Anubis. In other sources, like the Pyramid Texts, Anubis is considered the son of Ra, the sun god. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.