Edith Hamilton says that Pan "was Hermes' son: a noisy, merry god, the Homeric Hymn in his honor calls him; but he was part animal too, with a goat's horns, and goat's hoofs instead of feet" (41).
Hamilton gives this characterization of Phobes Apollo: "He was a beautiful figure in Greek poetry, the master musician who delights Olympus as he plays on his golden lyre; the lord too of the silver bow, the Archer-god, far-shooting; the Healer, as well, who first taught men the healing art" (30).
Hamilton notes that the god of wine, Dionysus, represents both the joy that wine can bring, but also the savagery and brutality that it can incite:
| Wine is bad as well as good. It cheers and warms men's hearts; it also makes them drunk. The Greeks were a people who saw facts very clearly. They could not shut their eyes to the ugly and degrading side of wine-drinking and see only the delightful side. Dionysus was the God of the Vine; therefore he was a power which sometimes make men commit frightful and atrocious crimes. (61) |
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