Elements

The Elements section describes the objects and substances of Greek myth: the armour, treasures, food and poisons that gods and heroes carry or consume. Some are weapons with a story of their own, and some mark a turning point in a hero’s life.

Divine objects

The Aegis is the tasselled shield of Zeus. In the Iliad Athena throws it about her shoulders when she arms for battle, and on it are set Rout, Strife, Valour, Onset and the head of the Gorgon (Iliad 5.738–742); Apollo carries it too, and the poet says that Hephaestus made it for Zeus to put warriors to flight (Iliad 15.308–310). Apollodorus adds how the Gorgon’s head came to be there: Perseus gave it to Athena, who set it in the middle of her shield (Apollodorus 2.4.3). Hyginus explains the name differently: Zeus, preparing for war on the Titans, was told by an oracle to cover himself with the skin of the goat Aex, his nurse, and with the Gorgon’s head, and “the Greeks called it the aegis” (Astronomica 2.13). Ambrosia and Nectar are the food and drink of the gods; Calypso sets a table of ambrosia before Hermes and mixes him red nectar (Odyssey 5.92–94). Because the gods eat no bread and drink no wine, Ichor rather than blood flows from Aphrodite’s wound when Diomedes strikes her (Iliad 5.339–342).

Heroic treasures

The Golden Fleece is the object of the voyage of the Argonauts: Pelias, king of Iolcus, sent Jason to fetch it from Colchis (Apollodorus 1.9.16), where it hung on an oak in the grove of Ares, guarded by a sleepless serpent that Medea charmed to sleep so that Jason could snatch it down (Apollonius, Argonautica 4.123–166). The Necklace of Harmonia was wrought by Hephaestus and given by Cadmus to his bride at their wedding in Thebes; Apollodorus (3.4.2) notes that some said Hephaestus gave it to Cadmus, while Pherecydes said Europa had received it from Zeus. The Shield of Achilles was forged for the hero by Hephaestus at the request of his mother Thetis (Iliad 18.478–608); it shows the earth, sky and sea, and two cities, one at peace and one at war.

The poisoned gift

The Shirt of Nessus was smeared by Deianira with the dying centaur’s blood, which carried the venom of the Hydra from Heracles’ arrow; when Heracles put it on, the poison ate into his skin and brought on his death (Apollodorus 2.7.6–7; Sophocles, Women of Trachis 555–581, 749–806).

See Also: Aegis, Golden Fleece, Shield of Achilles, Shirt of Nessus, Necklace of Harmonia, Ambrosia, Nectar, Ichor