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Bellum - The Myths

IRA

Ira was the Roman equivalent of Lyssa, Goddess or spirit personified of furious anger, fury, frenzy gone mad in Greek mythology. She was one of the nannies of Eros and is the daughter of Nix, who became pregnant with drops of blood of Uranus when he was castrated. She represents a rather ruthless and many faceted character, above all of cruelty which, however, while representing pure madness is characterized by a part of reason, as becomes all demons.

 

HECATONCHEIRES

The Hecatoncheires or Centimanes were figures of Greek mythology. They were sons of Uranus and Gaia. The Hecatoncheires were giants and there were three of them, named Cottus, Briareus and Gyges. Each of them had one hundred arms and fifty heads that spit fire. Their father, who feared their strength, threw them into Tartarus, the most remote and dark part of the underworld, together with the Cyclopes, their brothers. From here they were freed by Zeus to fight the rebel Titans, other sons of Uranus and Gaia. With their hundred hands they each took a hundred stones and threw them at the Titans. With such a shower of stones from above and with the help of the Cyclopes the Titans were defeated.

 

URANUS

Uranus combined with Gaia by throwing raindrops at her and giving birth to monsters, the Hecatoncheires. After that, their further children were the Cyclopes. Uranus was terrified that his children might take power in his place, so he threw them as they were born, in Tartarus, the deepest part of Hades.

 

MITHRA

In the Iranian world, Mithra is the protector of truth and the enemy of error. In the Avestã, Mithra stands out among the beings created, earning the title of “Judge of Souls”. Avestã (“The Fundamental” or “The Commandment” by Zarathuštra) is the overall title of the sacred texts of ancient Iran, belonging to the Mazi religion. The Avestã has a predominantly religious character, but also includes elements of cosmogony, astronomy, astrology, as well as traditions and family norms.

 

VAYU

Vayu is a Hindu deity, personification of the wind. One day, furious because Indra, king of Deva, struck and wounded his son with lightning, Vayu declared a strike and brought with him the atmosphere. When all living beings were in danger of asphyxiation, Indra, in order to make peace with Vayu, canceled the effects of his lightning.

 

HARPOCRATES

Harpocrates comes from the Greek Har-pe-chrod, that is the Egyptian god Horus who was depicted as a child and in this way with a finger in his mouth. The Greeks mistook the gesture for a clear order to silence and since in their Olympus they did not have such a god, they gladly accepted Harpocrates for this task.

 

CRONUS

Cronus in Greek mythology was a famous Titan, son of Gaia and Uranus. Shortly after his birth, his father Uranus decided to plunge him and his brothers into the depths of the earth because he was obsessed with the idea that they could deprive him of the dominion of the universe. At Gaia's instigation, Cronus confronted his father, castrated him with a sickle that his mother had given him and took his place in the domain of the universe.

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IXTAB

 Ixtab, literally “The lady of the rope”, is the goddess of suicide and hanging in Mayan and Toltec mythology. She was generally associated with Hunakau, Ah Puch and other gods of death. She collected and guided directly to paradise the souls of sacrificial victims, hanged people, suicides, killed warriors, priests and women who died in childbirth.

 

MNEMOSYNE

 Mnemosyne is a figure of Greek mythology, the personification of memory. Diodorus Siculus tells us that Mnemosyne had discovered the power of memory and that he had given names to many objects and abstract things that served to understand them in conversation. Moreover, this goddess was given the power to make people remember, from which she derives her name.

 

AHOEITU

 The god Eitumatupua descended from the sky through a large tree to take as his wife Ilaheva, a worm that crawled along the trunk. Returning to the sky, he left his wife and child on earth. This child was called Ahoeitu and when he grew up he decided to visit his father in the sky. Ahoeitu climbed up the tree and met his father, and their mutual joy was great. Unfortunately, Eitumatupua's other offspring, children in the sky, were jealous and ambushed Ahoeitu, killing him and shredding his body and then cooking and eating him. When the father discovered the murder, he ordered his children to vomit all the pieces of Ahoeitu's flesh they had consumed, and with the help of magic herbs he reconstructed the boy's body, resurrecting him and sending him back to earth as king of Tonga. The children who had been guilty of the crime were instead punished to live forever not in the sky but on the big tree, even if Eitumatupua, moved, freed them almost immediately.

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