ancient Greek religion Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and Greek mythology, mythology, in the form of both popular public religion and Cult (religious practice), cult practices. The application of the modern concept ...

and

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

, the Tritopatores () are three benevolent wind gods worshipped in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

as deities of marriage, childbirth and the household. They are mentioned in the ''

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

'' lexicon, a Byzantine work of the tenth century AD, and several other Greek inscriptions.

Mythology

The Tritopatores are mentioned in the tenth-century Byzantine lexicon known as the ''

'', whose author states that they are Athenian wind gods (or guardians of the winds) to whom the Athenians pray and offer sacrifices when they are about to marry or wish to conceive children. He says that some authors make them the firstborn beings of them all, while others make them the offspring of the earth-goddess

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...

by the sun-god

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...

(often identified with

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

). He gives their names as Amalceides, Protocles and Protocleon (in , and ), but also says that alternatively they are Cottus, Briareon and Gyges (mixing them up with the Hecatoncheires, a set of offspring of Gaia by the sky-god

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...

Worship

The Tritopatores's worship was a type of the ancestor-worshipping cult of a particular group, in this case the Athenians. Cults and festivals in honour of the three are attested in the wider

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

region and the Athens-influenced

Delos Delos (; ; ''Dêlos'', ''Dâlos''), is a small Greek island near Mykonos, close to the centre of the Cyclades archipelago. Though only in area, it is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. ...

, Selinus,

Troezen Troezen (; ancient Greek: Τροιζήν, modern Greek: Τροιζήνα ) is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the munic ...

and Cyrene. Furtwangler suggested that the three-bodied figure from the pediment of the Hekatompedon in the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens (; ) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several Ancient Greek architecture, ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, ...

is supposed to depict the Tritopatores, based on the tri- ("three") prefix of their name; that being said, there is no evidence that the Tritopatores were ever thought to be three bodies with a single tail, as they are three separate beings.

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Marriage gods Childhood gods Wind gods Greek gods Kourotrophoi Attic mythology Religion in ancient Athens Children of Gaia Children of Helios Veneration of the dead Household deities Sky and weather gods

Mythology

Worship

See also

References

Bibliography