New publication by Georgia Aristodemou
Our member Georgia Aristodemou has published a very interesting paper: ‘Mapping river gods. Highlighting the importance of rivers as gods, as seen through their representations in art during the Roman period in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace’. We recommend reading this book.
The personification of local water bodies (rivers, or lakes) and their worship as divinities was widespread in the ancient Greek and Roman world. Homer (Iliad 21. 195) regards rivers as gods and narrates that Oceanos is the source of all rivers, all springs and all wells of the universe. Hesiod (Theogony 337–370) as well, informs us that all rivers are offspring of Oceanos and Tethys. As early as the Homeric poems, rivers in human form were considered immortal, divine figures and temples, or altars were built for them, some even with their own priests. Hesiod (Erga kai Emerai 737–741) states that when a person needed to cross a river, they had to make an offer to the river and wash their hands. In relation to this, river gods were quite often among the divinities invoked in various oaths.
New publication by Georgia Aristodemou
Our member Georgia Aristodemou has published a very interesting paper: ‘Mapping river gods. Highlighting the importance of rivers as gods, as seen through their representations in art during the Roman period in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace’. We recommend reading this book.
The personification of local water bodies (rivers, or lakes) and their worship as divinities was widespread in the ancient Greek and Roman world. Homer (Iliad 21. 195) regards rivers as gods and narrates that Oceanos is the source of all rivers, all springs and all wells of the universe. Hesiod (Theogony 337–370) as well, informs us that all rivers are offspring of Oceanos and Tethys. As early as the Homeric poems, rivers in human form were considered immortal, divine figures and temples, or altars were built for them, some even with their own priests. Hesiod (Erga kai Emerai 737–741) states that when a person needed to cross a river, they had to make an offer to the river and wash their hands. In relation to this, river gods were quite often among the divinities invoked in various oaths.