Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss the Lamassu, spirits who functioned as protectors and guardians in Ancient Mesopotamia. They aren't a direct antecedent of the angels found in the Abrahamic religions, but there are certainly several parallels to be drawn, namely: having wings, functioning as the protectors of humanity, being spiritual entities who serve the gods, and possessing the ability to move between worlds, specifically, the realm of mortality and the realm of divinity. And to start us off, here's a passage from The Assyrian Winged Bull: "The image of the Assyrian winged bull or lion is one of the most familiar and enduring symbols of the ancient Near East. These protective spirits... were typically placed at the entrances of important buildings such as palaces, temples, and other significant structures, to serve as guardians. The Lamassu, as they were known, were associated with the gods and goddesses of Mesopotamian mythology, and were believed to possess the power to protect people and their property from harm. They were often depicted in ancient art as powerful, winged creatures with a human head and the body of a bull or lion, conveying their ability to move between the earthly and spiritual realms, and to serve as protectors and guides for those who invoked their power." The Lamassu are composite creatures of Mesopotamian mythology, and their origins can be traced back to the late 4th millennium BC. While it is difficult to determine exactly which ancient Mesopotamian culture first engendered the Lamassu, it is generally believed that the Sumerians played a significant role in their development. 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 Nephele, a cloud nymph whom Zeus created in the likeness of Hera to seduce Ixion, a man infatuated with Hera. This was contrived as a test Ixion failed spectacularly, and his lust and lack of scruples earned him a permanent vacation in Tartarus, bound to a spinning flaming wheel for all of eternity. Let's get into it. In Greek mythology, Nephele was a cloud nymph who played a significant role in the story of Ixion and the creation of the centaurs. Ixion was a mortal king who had attempted to seduce Hera, the wife of Zeus. In order to punish Ixion for his hubris and unbridled hedonism, Zeus decided to create a decoy doppelganger of Hera, which he called Nephele. Nephele was a cloud nymph, and Zeus created her in the image of Hera so that she would look and act like the real goddess. When Ixion saw Nephele, he was immediately taken with her beauty and so uncannily similar was she in manner and appearance that he believed her to be the goddess in the flesh, the queen of the gods herself. He attempted to seduce her, but Zeus, who had been watching the entire time, closed the jaws of his trap. He was outraged, understandably so - the man actually had the audacity to make a play for the queen of the gods, wife of Zeus, aegis bearer, whose wrath was the black-clouded sky wreathed with lightning. An example was to be made, and Zeus' thought process must have been akin to a torturer running the tips of his fingers over his instruments of pain, deliberating over which one he'd use. 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 seven heavenly virtues. What virtues constituted the seven heavenly virtues changed over time, so we're going to begin with the first iteration and continue on through to the version that's still predominant today in Christianity. Let's get into it. The seven heavenly virtues can be broken down into two groups: the four cardinal virtues, which are rooted in ancient philosophy and come from man, and the the three theological virtues, which are rooted in religion and come from God. The dividing line between these two groups is the boundary between mortality and divinity. The four cardinal virtues (temperance, justice, prudence, and fortitude) are innate to humanity. On the other hand, the three theological virtues (faith, hope, and love, love being the greatest of the three) are not accessible to humanity by themselves, requiring the assistance of God. Pertaining to Christianity, the four cardinal virtues were grouped together by Ambrose, a 4th century theologian, and were subsequently adopted by the church. These four virtues stem from a much older philosophical tradition that can be traced back to ancient Greece, beginning to coalesce in the pre-socratic era, then becoming more concrete through the works of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.The three Theological virtues, by contrast, are enshrined in scripture, named by Paul the Apostle in Corinthians 13: "So faith, hope, and love remain, but the greatest of these is love 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 all 12 of the elder Titans, the 12 first-generation Titans born to Gaia and Uranus Let's get into it. Starting us off is Cronus In Hesiod's theogony, the 12 first-generation Titans are the eldest children of Gaia, the personification of the earth, and of Uranus, the personification of the sky. After them were born the trio of Uranian cyclopes, god-like except for having a single eye, and the trio of Hecatonchires, monstrous behemoths with 100 arms and 50 heads. Uranus tolerated the Titans, but he despised his younger children, especially the Hecatonchires, whom he thought abominations and kept imprisoned within the earth. They were unsurpassed in size and unassailable in strength, and having them trapped inside of her subjected Gaia to constant anguish. Cronus, who detested his lusty father, rose up to be his mother's champion. He ambushed his father and castrated him with a sickle of adamant, this act separating earth and sky, two planes previously conjoined, and marking his ascendancy to the throne, deposing his emasculated father. Cronus learnt of a prophecy that told of his usurpation by one of his children. He endeavored to preempt prophecy by swallowing each of his children the moment they were born, but he was deceived by Rhea, his wife, who gave him a stone to swallow in Zeus' stead. Zeus was raised in secret, and when he was a man grown, he came out of hiding, freed his siblings, and waged war against the Titans; and the result of this cataclysmic conflict was the imprisonment of Cronus and many of the other Titans in the depths of Tartarus. At number 2 we have Rhea Rhea is a Titan who can be categorized by the earth-mother archetype. Life and fertility certainly constituted the majority of her purview, but, less intuitively, so was death, in implicit and secondary fashion, within her sphere of influence, because, while antithetical, it was also complementary, punctuating the end of the life cycle so that subsequent new life could begin. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

00:00 - start 01:16 - Mesopotamia 05:39 - Egypt 07:50 - Noah's Ark 09:50 - Greek & Norse 10:41 - Ancient Mesopotamian Flood Myths Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video we're going to discuss the Great Flood, tracking down its origin and looking at several versions of it manifest in various mythologies and religions. We're going to begin with ancient Mesopotamia, at why the great flood myth originated from this region - at least, why the oldest extant version of the great flood myth originated from there - then moving on to ancient Egypt to showcase that ancient civilizations founded around rivers had a habit of incorporating flooding into their mythology. After this, we're going to cover the story of Noah's Ark, the biblical flood, then paying a cursory glance to the great floods that appear in both Greek and Norse mythology. Finally, we're going to wrap the video up by delving into two versions of the great flood myth that came out of Mesopotamia: one that centers on Ziusudra, who survived a world-destroying flood by building a boat - this version being the oldest in existence - and a second that centers on Atrahasis, who also survived a world-destroying flood by building a boat. I've include timestamps in the description so that you can skip ahead if you're only interested in certain segments. Let's get into it. Mesopotamia, which means something like 'between two rivers', is compounded from two Greek words: meso, the Greek word for 'between', and potamos, the Greek word for 'river'. It was an ancient region that spanned over what is today Iraq, as well as parts of Turkey, Kuwait, Syria, and Iran. The two rivers indicated by the word Mesopotamia are called the Tigris river and the Euphrates river. They originate in Turkey, enter Iraq via the Northwest, run the length of Iraq, and end in the Southeast, where they flow into the Persian gulf. Mesopotamia was the ancient region that existed between and around these two rivers. The phrase ''cradle of civilization' is used to describe Mesopotamia. The reason for this is that our oldest archeological evidence for many of the most seminal innovations that helped drive-forward human civilization were first conceived of and put into use there, including: cities, schools, laws, mathematics, writing, the wheel, mass-produced bricks and ceramics, the sail, and time-keeping. The Tigris and the Euphrates rivers are the reason our earliest record of the great flood myth is from Mesopotamia, both for developmental and narrative reasons. 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 Tithonus, a man cursed with immortality, but not with agelessness, so that there was no limit to how frail and feeble he could become, deteriorating endlessly. Let's get into it. Barring people condemned to unending torture in Tartarus, perhaps no one, with the exception of Prometheus, suffered more greatly than Tithonus - be they man, monster, or god - and if he wasn't the person that endured the most suffering, he's certainly on a short list of top contenders. Life should have been joyous for him, as he started out with every advantage a person could hope for, being of well-bred stock, both royal and divine. Indeed, his pedigree was impeccable. Laomedon, king of Troy, was his father, and Strymo, daughter of the river Scamander, was his mother. You might remember Scamander from the Iliad. Achilles provoked Scamander's ire by clogging his waters with corpses, which culminated into a morbid, sodden dam that impeded his flow. Scamander then unleashed his might against Achilles, and were it not for other gods intervening, the hero would have been battered and drowned, left dead after the raging rapids had ceased their attack and receded. Another tie in with the Iliad was that Priam, who ruled as king of Troy, was Tithonus' younger brother. Now, you might think that Tithonus' plight was connected to the Trojan war, but this wasn't the case. He became ensnared in his predicament before the drums of war announced the imminent arrival of a 1,000 Greek ships slicing through the surf, set to punch their hulls into the sands of the Trojan coast. Tithonus caught the eye of a goddess. She was called Eos - Aurora to the Romans - goddess of the dawn. Tithonus was said to have been exceptionally handsome, and his lean-muscled body and comely countenance caught Eos' eye. And since Greek mythology is absolutely rife with instances of beautiful women noticed by lecherous gods, peppering in a few mortal men to be preyed on seems only fair. Eos had garnered a wanton reputation, setting her sights on, then stalking, seizing, and whisking away handsome men. She abducted Cephalus, who desperately desired to be returned to his wife, but this enraged Eos, precipitating a series of events that led to the death of his wife at his own hands. Orion, the giant hunter, a character was also taken by Eos. 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 three sons of Zeus who, had they reached adulthood, would have become more powerful than their father, who would have succeeded Zeus, either claiming the crown by force or ascending to the throne with their father's blessing. Let's get into it. In Greek mythology, from the beginning creation when Chaos, the great void, came into being, to the time of the Olympian gods and the rule of Zeus, there was a series of usurpations in which the son supplanted the father. Uranus, the personification of the sky, was the first king. His son, Cronus, ambushed and castrated him, seizing supremacy of the cosmos and becoming the second king. And Cronus' son, Zeus, led the Gods in the war against the Titans, a cataclysmic 10 year conflict that resulted in the defeat of the Titans, their imprisonment in Tartarus, and Zeus becoming the new king, the third king, of the cosmos. With Zeus as the king of creation, it was almost as if the cosmos, its divine hierarchy, once plastic and prone to upheaval, had crystallised, satisfied with Zeus on the throne and no longer wishing for the cycle of son supplanting father to perpetuate. Giving credence to this is the fact that Zeus had three sons destined to be as or more powerful than himself and none of them survived past childhood: two of them prevented from being born and the third ripped to pieces by the Titans when he was just a boy. We're going to spend the rest of the video going over the story of each of the three children who would have been more powerful than Zeus, these stories being those of the unnamed son nearly born to Thetis, the unnamed son nearly born to Metis, and Zagreus, whose life was brief and whose end was brutal. 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 Geb, the god of who personified the earth in Egyptian mythology, the Egyptian counterpart of Gaia, the goddess of the earth in Greek mythology. Let's get into it. Geb was one of the most important and one of the most powerful gods in Egyptian mythology. Geb's iconography almost always has him depicted in human form, his green skin symbolising all the plants that grew along his surface. The fields of grain that stretched across the land were said to sprout from his ribs, and in general, the vegetation that carpeted the earth was said to grow on his back. Because of this, he was deeply connected to fertility - that of the earth, of course, but also of livestock. He was thought to be the ultimate source of all freshwater and so maintained a close friendship with Hapy the god of Nile inundation, cyclical flooding keeping the banks of the Nile extraordinarily fertile. As the personification of the earth, Geb was a chthonic deity. It was thought that he swallowed up the dead and that he was the master of all the snakes of the earth. By turn, he could be life giving or life taking, for he could sustain life through the bounty of the earth or could bring death through various disastrous phenomena, such as earthquakes. He often presided over divine disputes, as was the case when Horus and Set vied against each other for the throne. And once the kingship finally passed from the gods to humanity, the pharaohs were said to sit on the throne of Geb. 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 Asclepius, the greatest healer in all of Greek mythology. He was the son of Apollo, the god of healing, trained in the healing arts by the immortal centaur Chiron, and though he brought much good into the world with his restorative power, he would eventually be killed by Zeus, who believed that the powers Asclepius had cultivated - specifically, his power to bring the dead back to life - were too potent to be wielded by mortal hands, that unless Asclepius' life was put to an end, the crystalline divide that separated the realm of mortality from the realm of divinity would be eroded, upsetting the natural order; Zeus' execution of Asclepius precipitating a cascading sequence of events that resulted in the the death of the cyclopes who forged Zeus' thunderbolts and resulted in Apollo becoming the slave of a mortal man for one year. Let's get into it. Asclepius was a man renowned for his miraculous healing ability, later attaining his apotheosis when he became deified as a god of healing and medicine. There are many versions of his parentage, each one with Apollo as the father. Arsinoe was the mother in one, but more commonly it was Coronis, a Thessalian princess, who was the mother; and with her there are multiple versions of Aslcepius' birth. In one, after having intercourse with Apollo, she later lay with another, a mortal man, whom she actually favoured over the god. This enraged Apollo, so he killed her (another telling says that it was the golden arrows of Artemis that Killed Cornis). Before her body was consumed by the fire of the funeral pyre it was laid on, either he or Hermes cut open her belly and pulled the child free from her body, making for one of the more gruesome and unconventional births 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 the 12 Olympians gods, the 12 greatest gods who lived in Olympus, the abode of the gods, which was located in Thessaly atop Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in all of Greece. (There's also some information that suggests Olympus was suspended in the sky high above the earth and its mountains.) The entrance of Olympus was a gate made of clouds that was watched over by the seasons, and beyond were the magnificent palaces of the gods, made by Hephaestus himself - a place of paradise where its divine denizens feasted on nectar and ambrosia, where the winds never blew, rain never poured, and snow never fell. A couple of comments before we get going: first, though he was among the most powerful gods in Greek mythology, Hades wasn't counted among the 12 Olympians because his residence was in the underworld; second, though the 12 Olympians were the greatest of the gods who lived atop Olympus, they weren't the only gods who called Olympus home; others included: Hebe, the goddess of youth, Iris, the goddess of rainbows, the three graces, the nine muses, and many others. Third, while 11 of the 12 Olypians (Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, Athena, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, and Hermes) are chiselled in stone, Dionysus and Hestia sort of shared that 12th spot, different listings featuring one or the other. I've decided to honour both, meaning our list of Olympians actually comprises 13 gods. Let's get into it. 1- Zeus Also called Ombrios ("Rainmaker"), Keraunios ("Thunderer"), Nephelgeretes ("Cloud-Gatherer"), and Agoraios ("of Mount Olympus"), and known as Jupiter to the Romans, Zeus was the supreme deity of Greek mythology. He was the god of the sky and its various atmospheric phenomena, including: lighting, thunder, rain, and cloud cover. Beyond the celestial domain where he held absolute mastery, matters of state and gouvernance also fell within his purview. Furthermore, as the highest authority in all of creation, maintaining the rule of law was also of paramount importance to him, with the keeping of oaths, honouring the rules of hospitality, and the protecting of supplicants chief among his concerns. 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 Hecatonchires, a monstrous trio of giants boasting superlative size and strength, each of them with 50 heads and 100 arms. Their names were Briareus ("The Mighty One"), Cottus ("Wrathful One"), and Gyges ("Son of the Earth"). They were imprisoned deep within Gaia for an age, were instrumental in bringing about the defeat of the Titans, and became the guardians of Tartarus. Let's get into it. Beyond their father imprisoning them and their fighting alongside Zeus to defeat the Titans, both of which we'll get to shortly, the Hecatonchires seldom feature in Greek mythology. One of the only occasions any of them make an appearance is recounted in the Iliad. Thetis, the mother of Achilles, stumbled upon a coup. Hera, Poseidon, and Athena joined their strength to supplant Zeus. Thetis came upon them while they were shackling him, so she went and fetched Briareus, one of the hundred-handers, here said to be the Sea-god's son. No fighting ensued, for the mere presence of the Hecatonchires was enough to cow the gods and have them abandon their play for power; even Poseidon, the sovereign of the sea, was intimidated into inaction, utterly overcome by the air of power that emanated from the giant. Here's the passage: "That day the Olympians tried to chain him down, Hera, Poseidon lord of the sea, and Pallas Athena... [You] quickly ordered the hundred-hander to steep Olympus, that monster whom the immortals call Briareus but every mortal calls the Sea-god's son, Aegeon, though he's stronger than his father. Down he sat, flanking Cronus' son, gargantuan in the glory of it all, and the blessed gods were struck with terror then, they stopped shackling Zeus." Briareus, called Aegaeon by hu manity, was the only Hecatonchires to have a personal mythology that went beyond the tragedy and triumph of the Hecatonchires as a group, this evidenced in part by him coming alone to rescue Zeus. As time went on, passing from the Greek era to the Roman era, he became confused and conflated by later writers. Ovid described him as a sea deity, perhaps a characterization derived from the Iliad calling him "the Sea-god's son", and Virgil made him a fire-breathing monster of the same ilk as the race of giants who assailed Olympus. There is also a story In which Briareus acts as arbiter in settling a land dispute between Poseidon and Helios. 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 Asmodeus: one of the most nefarious and notorious demons in Hell's hierarchy, a malevolent entity that blights marriages, killing husbands or compelling husbands into the arms of other women, and robs virgins of their beauty and chastity, one of the seven princes of hell who personify the seven deadly sins, him embodying the deadly sin of lust, and one of the nine kings of hell. Let's get into it. The prophet Zarathustra, also called Zoroaster, lived sometime between the years 1500 and 1000 BC. He founded Zoroastrianism, the ancient pre-Islamic religion of Iran. There is still some remnant of it there today, though it was widely suppressed and scoured when Islam superseded it. Many religious refugees fled to India to escape Muslim persecution; as a result, the Parsees, who today are descended from the Iranian Zoroastrians who fled to India, are considered to be the principal stewards of the Avesta, which is the sacred text of Zoroastrianism. One of the demons of Zoroastrianism is called Aeshma Daeva, meaning 'raging demon', and he is thought to be the antecedent Asmodeus, meaning Asmodeus is of ancient Iranian origin, later being incorporated into Jewish lore and becoming one of the most fearsome and formidable demons of Christianity. Other names for Asmodeus include, Asmodai and Asmoday, which takes us to The Lesser Key of Solomon, a grimoire that codifies 72 demonic entities of Hell's hierarchy. There is an individual entry for each of the 72 entities in which their rank, appearance, and power is outlined, as well as how to invoke them through summoning and binding. The 32nd spirit, Asmoday is described as a king characterised by greatness, strength, and power. He has three heads: that of a bull, that of a man, and that of a ram. He has the treacherous tail of a serpent. Gouts of flame shoot from his mouth. And his feet are webbed like those of a goose. He rides a hellish dragon and wields a lance with a banner than billowes beneath the blade. 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 Antichrist. We're going to dive into a treatise written in the 10th century that details that Antichrist's entire life; it was a seminal work, and though short, it's packed with information, taking from scripture, of course, but also many other works written by philosophers and theologians in previous centuries. Let's get into it. In the 10th century, Adso of Montier-en-Der, a monk and abbot, wrote a treatise on the Antichrist in a letter he sent to Queen Gerberga of France. It became the standard mediaeval reference work on the Antichrist, and it's the perfect work to explore in this video because it covers the Antichrist's entire life, drawing on a number of other works: scripture, of course, but also other exegesis still extant from centuries past. The Antichrist will be the antithesis of Christ, diametrically opposed in every way. Effectively, the two form an intricate and elaborate dichotomy in which each is the opposite reflection of the other. Where Christ is humble, the Antichrist will be proud. Where Christ champions the lowly and judges sinners, the Antichrist will persecute the lowly and exalt sinners. Christ is the incarnation of virtue, and the Antichrist will be the incarnation of vice, something he will blight the masses with, a sickness of the mind that spreads like the plague. His coming will destroy the law of the gospel and drive people to worship demons. And he will seek to glorify himself as only God should be. In the time of his rule, he will endeavour, wielding every wickedness at his disposal, to destroy the human race, but ultimately, though his evil will be great, he will not survive the last judgement, destroyed by Christ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

0:00 2:30 Nyx's House 5:00 Nyx's Children 6:02 Nyx in the Iliad 9:59 Nyx Vs Zeus Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Nyx, a primordial deity and the personification of night, one of the most powerful goddesses, if not the most powerful goddess, in all of Greek mythology. First, we're going to look at what Greek mythology has to say about Nyx, which can be broken down into three parts: Nyx's role in the creation myth given in Hesiod's Theogony, Nyx's dark and shadowy house at the edge of creation, and some information about the Trojan War that dovetails into Nyx's near confrontation with Zeus in which she protects her son Hypnos and basically scares the king of the gods away. After covering Nyx's mythology, we're going to wrap the video up by comparing Nyx and Zeus to see which of the two is more powerful, to see whether one passage from the Iliad that says "Night that can overpower all gods and mortal men" holds any water. I've included a couple of time stamps in the description, so if you're not interested in hearing about the creation myth, a topic already covered by this channel, or if you just clicked for the Nyx vs Zeus comparison, you can skip ahead. Let's get into it. Chaos, the great void, was the first deity to come into existence, self created and emerging from literally nothing. Chaos was all the empty space that necessarily had to exist for creation to begin. Subsequently, a series of self-created deities then materialised. These were: Gaia, the earth, Tartarus, the abyssal chasm beneath the earth, a great pit existing as a sort of mirrored reflection of the sky - though the sky was yet to be born - and Eros, the personification of sexual desire, the power that permeated the universe and permitted the phenomenon of procreation, whether from a union between two gods, as would happen later, or from independent procreation, also called parthenogenesis, derived from the Greek word for virgin birth, a mode of reproduction that applied to chaos, who independently produced two primordial deities, Nyx and Erebus, as well as to Gaia, who independently produced various physical aspects of the world, namely: Ourea, mountains, Pontus, the Sea, and Uranus, the sky. 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 five races (gold, silver, bronze, heroic, and iron) of humanity as they are laid out in one of the myths of Greek mythology. Let's get into it. In Greek mythology, there are 3 myths about the creation of humanity: one where the Titan Prometheus is the creator, one involving a man and a woman who throw stones over their shoulders, and one in which there are five races created in succession through divine experimentation. We're going to quickly summarise the first two before spending the majority of the video covering the five races. In the first version, Prometheus and Epimetheus were tasked with the creation of humanity by Zeus. Prometheus, the intelligent brother, was hindered in this because Epimetheus, characterised by impulsivity and simplemindedness, apportioned all of the survival traits to other animals, leaving humans without a defence mechanism when it was their time to be created. To compensate for this, Prometheus bestowed them with noble form, giving them the upright appearance of the gods, and he went up to heaven and used the sun to light a torch, bringing it back down to the mortal plane and gifting fire to humanity. In the second version, mankind had grown so wicked that Zeus and Poseidon used their powers in concert to flood the world. Brought to the brink of extermination, humanity was saved by Prometheus, who warned his son Deucalion of the impending disaster. Together with his wife, Pyrrah, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, Deucalion found salvation aboard a boat, allowing the pair to ride out the seas rising up and consuming the continents. Eventually, Zeus relented and the water receded, and Deucalion and Pyrrha became the progenitors of the human race, but in unconventional fashion. The two of them threw stones over their shoulders, and each stone thrown in this way became a person, Deucalion's becoming men and Pyrrha's becoming women. 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 who Cratos really is in Greek mythology. We're going to start off with a quick overview of the video game character who shares the same name for those unfamiliar with him, and then we're going to cover virtually everything there is to say about Cratos, the Greek god of strength, which is far more feasible than it sounds, for he plays a smaller role in Greek mythology than most other gods. Our discussion about Cratos can be broken down into three segments: his role as one of the guardians of Zeus' citadel, his betrayal of the Titans, and his chaining of the Titan Prometheus. Let's get into it. The protagonist of the beloved God of War Franchise, Kratos is one of the most popular video game characters of all time. Before he moved North to begin a new life of anonymity in a stark land ruled over by Norse gods, Kratos destroyed Olympus and exterminated the Greek pantheon. So complete was the destruction he unleashed that even the realm over which the Greek gods ruled was literally unmade, reduced to a place of chaos and cataclysm once devoid of the godly power needed to keep the elements in order. For example: when Helios was killed, the sun was extinguished, darkened by the black shroud of an opaque ceiling of cloud cover; when Poseidon was killed, the seas rose and flooded the land, and when Zeus was killed, the sky became a great tempest - all wind, lightning, and tornadoes. The Greek saga is punctuated by kratos running himself through with the blade of Olympus, a grievous, self-inflicted wound that, while not a mortal blow, does succeed in destroying, intentionally so, a great power that existed with him, the power of hope, which he became imbued with when he opened Pandora's Box near the end of the original God of war game. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to Mythology Explained. Today, we're going to be discussing the Goddess that served as the inspiration behind the name for the popular sporting brand- NIKE. When we hear the name 'Nike' the first image that pops in to the minds of most is the symbolic 'swoosh' that so effectively represents Nike's brand. But what if I told you that some people picture something completely different- they picture a woman- a goddess. In Greek Mythology, Nike was the winged goddess of victory- representative of victory both in war and in peaceful competition. Nike's parentage in Greek Mythology is a little unclear. Hesiod's theogony claims that Nike is the daughter of the eldest Oceanid Styx- Goddess of the river that flowed on the boundary between Gaia (earth) and the underworld- and the Titan Pallas- god of battle and warcraft. However, the Homeric Hymns suggest that Nike was the daughter of Ares. For consistencies sake, we're going to run with Hesiod's version of events. Now, It seems only fitting that the goddess of victory should come from the same lineage as the god of battle. But as it turns out, Nike's siblings were similarly representative of subjects that pertained to battle and war. Nike's sister BIA was the goddess of force, power, might, bodily strength and compulsion. One of her brother's, Kratos, was the god of strength, might, power and sovereign rule. And her other brother, Zelos, was the god of rivalry, emulation, jealousy, envy and zeal. What a family. 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 nine Kings of Hell. We're going to examine each king one at a time, but before we dive into these nine malignant, maleficent, and malevolent masters, we're going to start off with a quick preface that speaks to the source on which this video is based, and to the many conceptualizations that define the demonic hierarchy given by various sources over the centuries. Let's get into it. The video is based on 'The Lesser Key of Solomon', which is a grimoire on demonology that was put together in the 17th century. Though the author is unknown and the book seems to be based on information already compiled and circulated in previous centuries, it has remained a seminal work of demonology. In 'The Lesser Key of Solomon, about half the pages are dedicated to codifying 72 demonic entities of Hell's hierarchy. There is an individual entry for each of the 72 entities in which their rank, appearance, and power is outlined, as well as how to invoke them through summoning and binding. The hierarchy comprises seven tiers: nine kings, 23 Dukes, seven princes, 15 marquises, 14 presidents, 10 earls, and one knight. Some demonic entities occupy more than one rank, which is why the hierarchy in the aggregate features more than 72 entries, the number of demonic entities discussed in the book. Concerning the number of demonic kings, you may be familiar with a different number, likely seven, and with different demons. This is because there are many, many sources that define the upper echelons of Hell's hierarchy. For example, in the 'Treatise on confessions by Evildoers and Witches', a classification prepared by Peter Binsfels, a German theologian, near the end of the 16th century, there are seven princes, or kings, of hell, each of them associated with one of the seven deadly sins. They are: Lucifer, pride, Mammon, greed, Asmodeus, lust, Leviathan, envy, Beelzebub, gluttony, Satan, wrath, and Belphegor, sloth. 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 Yggdrasil, the World Tree: all the animals and monsters who live in it, how it's kept alive, how it fits into the grand structure of the universe, what it is, and what it represents. Let's get into it. Yggdrasil, the name of the World Tree, is a compound word. 'Ygg', means something like 'terrible one', one of Odin's epithets, and 'drasill' is an ancient word for horse; so putting them together, you get 'Odin's Horse' or 'Odin's Steed'. This etymology connects to the myth in which Odin impaled himself with a spear and, thus transfixed, hanged himself from the World Tree for nine days, the result of this torturous experience being his attainment of runic magic. As described in the appendix of the Prose Edda, the interpretation of the name Yggdrasil as 'Odin's Horse' in conjunction with the myth in which Odin hanged himself from the World Tree possibly implies that ancient scandinavians perceived a similarity between how a hanged person writhed and how a person bobbed while riding a horse. The World tree is an ash tree of cosmic size located in the centre of the universe, and its branches, trunk, and roots connect all the realms of creation. Three roots support the World tree: one in Asgard, where the gods dwell, one in Jotunheim, the rugged wilderness of the giants, and one in Niflheim, the realm of ice where Hel has dominion. Each root has a well next to it: the well of Urd, where the three principal Norns are, is located in Asgard; the well of Mimir, where Odin sacrificed his eye in exchange for its mystic knowledge, is located in Jotunheim, and the well Hvergelmir, which is the source of a multitude of rivers, is located in Niflheim. The wellbeing of the World tree is under constant threat, the cause of which is a veritable menagerie of animals and monsters that gnaw at its roots and eat its leaves, as well as the decay of time. 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 Eye of Ra: the most powerful force in Egyptian Mythology in terms of destructive power and the goddess from whose tears humanity was created. Let's get into it. In the time of the Ancient Egyptians, the word for eye was 'irt', and it was a homophone for the word meaning 'doing' or 'acting', quite appropriate as the eye served as the divine enforcer on many occasions, intervening in drastic fashion on behalf of the gods. As the word 'irt' was feminine, so too were the goddesses who personified the Eye of Ra, a complex entity. She was an aspect of Atum-Ra, the syncretic fusion of the creator god Atum and the sun god Ra, but she was also a goddess. As a goddess separate from Ra, she could operate independently, as was in the case when Atum sent her to find his children in the waters of Nun before the world was created. More often, though, when removed from Ra, she would manifest herself through another goddess, becoming a compound deity, which is what happened when she merged with Sekhmet to unleash destruction upon humanity. In this way, she was almost like an awesome weapon who possessed and worked through other goddesses, including: Tefnut, Bastet, Mut, Hathor, and Sekhmet. The Eye was depicted as a red sun disk. Portrayals of Ra usually have the sun disk positioned just above his head, and when goddesses fused with the Eye of Ra, they were often portrayed with a red sun disk just above their heads. Depending on the circumstances, the Eye was associated with a number of celestial objects, such as the morning star, the full moon, and of course, the sun. The eye of Ra, as well as the eyes of other deities, could be portrayed by the Wedjat eye, in appearance an amalgamation of a hawk eye and a human eye. The eye of Ra was both an aspect of Ra and a goddess who was Ra's daughter and protector. Both fire and water were associated with the Eye: fire representing divine wrath and water representing the power of creation, an example of the latter being when her tears created humanity. Sometimes the destructive and creative aspects of the Eye were each thought of as a distinct eye: the eye of Ra representing the destructive power of the sun, and the eye of Atum representing creative power, the pupil symbolizing the womb from which gods and humans emerged. 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 Norns, the Norse Fates, a group of entities quite similar to the Moirai, the three Greek goddesses of fate. The Norns determined the fate of each person at the moment of their birth, and they dutifully nourished one of the three roots of the world tree with well water, keeping its trunk, branches, and leaves healthy, thereby combating the damage inflicted by the many animals who gnawed at its roots and ate its leaves. Let's get into it. Yggdrasil, the World Tree, is supported by three roots: the lowest of the three reaches down to Niflheim and is incessantly gnawed at by the Nidhogg, a malevolent monster, in appearance either a serpent or dragon; the second root is found in Jotunheim, the land of the giants, and underneath it is the well of Mimir, where Odin sacrificed his eye for a drink of its waters, endowing him with its mystic knowledge; and the third root is located in Asgard among the Aesir gods, and underneath it is the well of Urd. Beside this well was a handsome hall, and within it dwelt the three principal Norns. With a mixture of the well's water and of mud from the ground that surrounded the root, they nourished the root, this care making them stewards of a sort, their effort helping to keep the branches strong and the canopy thick and verdant with leaves. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thumbnail photo by KELLEPICS https://pixabay.com/users/kellepics-4893063/ Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Ymir: the first person to draw breath in all of Norse mythology, no other god, giant, monster, or creature of any sort existing before him; a giant so colossal in size that the blood that gushed from his wounds nearly drowned the entire frost giant race, so colossal in size that his body, ripped apart after he was killed, provided all the material used to create the world. Let's get into it. In the beginning there was Ginnungagap, the great void, and within it were two primordial worlds: Niflheim, a realm of ice, and Museplheim, a realm of fire. Ice flowed from the North and sparks emanated from the south, fire and frost meeting in the middle of the void, causing some of the ice to melt; and there was a quickening within the droplets, and from them was born Ymir, the first giant, a being of staggering size. He was called Aurgelmir by the giants, and he was the ultimate progenitor of the frost giants. While he slept, he began to sweat profusely, two giants, one male and one female, propagating in his left armpit, and at the same time, his legs came together in a sort of union, their coupling producing a third giant. Formed in similar fashion as Ymir, another quickening within droplets of melted ice, Audhumbla, the cosmic cow, came into being. Four rivulets of milk streamed from her udders, and it was on these rivulets Ymir subsisted; Audhumbla, in turn, nourished herself by licking the salty ice that was all around; and interestingly, this was both life giving and life taking for Ymir: life giving because it allowed Audhumbla to produce the milk from which Ymir fed, and life taking because her licking would unearth the harbinger of Ymir's doom. Audhumbla fed incessantly, and at some point, a man's hair became visible. 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 an interesting story that features in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a work produced in the 14th century that compiles a multitude of apocryphal works, culminating in an extensive biblical history that spans from the creation of the universe by God to the death of Judas Maccabee. One of the stories tells of heaven being assailed by two Egyptian sorcerers, two of the sorcerers who opposed Moses when he returned to Egypt to demand of the Pharaoh that he release the Israelites from bondage. We're going to start off with a quick summary of Moses' return to Egypt, his contest against the sorcerers of the Pharaoh, and the affliction of the 10 plagues upon Egypt. Following that, we're going to go through the story that tells of the two sorcerers who take to the air - their witchcraft granting them the power of flight - and fly to heaven, there doing battle against the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. Let's get into it After fleeing Egypt, travelling to Midian, and marrying Zipporah, Moses became a shepherd. One day while watching over his father-in-law's flock, he came across a burning bush, a most peculiar sight because, while the bush was on fire, it wasn't being consumed by the fire. A voice projecting from the bush spoke to Moses, saying that he had been chosen to deliver the Israelites from bondage. Initially, Moses was resistant to this, producing an array of reasons that explain why he was either certain to fail in this task or was ill-suited to this task. These reasons were overcome, and God assured Moses that He, his divine presence and power, would be with Moses in this great task appointed to him. Moses returned to Egypt, convinced the Israelites that God was with them, and, with Aaron at his side, went before the Pharaoh. What followed was a sort of wizard's duel between Moses, backed by the power of God, and the wise men, sorcerers, and magicians of the Pharaoh, their number armed with all manner of trick and enchantment. Aaron placed his staff before the Pharaoh and it transfigured into a serpent, but this was not to impress the pharaoh; for likewise, his servants also turned their staves into serpents. 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 10 most Powerful goddesses in Greek mythology. Let us know in the comments if you agree with the selection, and if you don't, tell us who you would have included instead. Let's get into it. Starting us off is Nyx. Nyx was the Personification of night and one of the first-generation primordial deities. Like Gaia, she was a prolific producer of children. Coupled with Erebus, the personification of Darkness, she produced Aether, Light, and Hemera, Day. She then went on to independently Produce a great number of children, all of whom we won't name, but here's a few: The Moirai, The Fates, Thanatos, Death, Eris, Strife, and Hypnos, Sleep. In and of itself, the fact that she was a first-generation primordial deity would likely earn her a place on this list. Her powers as a creator outsrip every god in Greek mythology except for Gaia. But the instance that truly showcased her power was a confrontation - or rather lack thereof - she had with Zeus. In the Iliad, there's a conversation between Hypnos and Hera in which they discuss what happened the last time Hypnos was persuaded to use his sleep-inducing powers against Zeus, who woke up in a rage when his mind ceased to be ensnared. He searched for Hypnos, but relented when the pursuit took him to Nyx, whom Hypnos was hiding behind. Such was Nyx' power that Zeus was struck with awe and was unwilling to arouse her anger Up next we have Hestia The first born child of Cronus and Rhea, and the sister of Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, and Demeter, Hestia was the goddess of the hearth. She makes the list for being deemed the most important of all goddesses. Both Poseidon and Apollo pursued her, but their efforts were in vain; for she rejected their advances, deciding instead to remain a virgin goddess. This decision was conducive to maintaining a peaceful dynamic amongst the gods on Olympus, so Zeus rewarded her with a position of unparalleled primacy. The hearth, what she personified, was made central to each home, and through it, she received the choicest portions of sacrifices made to the gods; and this honour went even further, for she was also a recipient of the sacrifices dedicated at the various temples of all the other gods worshipped throughout Greece. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to Mythology Explained. Today, we're going to discuss Rasputin: certainly a historical personage, not a figment of mythology, but his life was so strange and sordid that he has become something of a modern mythological figure, especially as a perennial feature of popular culture through a tide of books written and movies made after his death. He rose from humble beginnings, a lowly illiterate peasant in a remote backwater of Siberia, to become one of the most powerful people in all of Russia, wielding incredible influence over the royal family. He became a man of God, allowing him to garner prominence through ecclesiastical channels, and in this capacity, appeared to have magical healing abilities, using prayer to heal the tsar's son, a hemophiliac, on numerous occasions, many of these proving miraculous recoveries that baffled royal physicians. One of these times was in 1908, after being summoned to the royal palace to help with one of Alexei's episodes. Rasputin managed to lessen the boy's pain (perhaps through hypnosis); however, the most remarkable detail of this visit occurred while he was leaving the palace: he prophesied that the fate of of the Romanov dynasty was inextricably linked to him, and in large part, his words that night truly did come true; for only a short time after his death, a mere few months, the autocracy of Russia was undone, overwhelmed and overthrown by revolution, a paradigm shift punctuated by Nicholas II's abdication on March 15, 1917. And the circumstances of his death, his seeming imperviousness to poison, as well as his reported resiliency to gunshot wounds, more than anything else, made him a person of interest, his durability linking him with dark powers and the supernatural. Let's get into it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.