Chthonic in the context of "Atum"

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⭐ Core Definition: Chthonic

In Greek mythology, deities referred to as chthonic (/ˈθɒnɪk/) or chthonian (/ˈθniən/) were gods or spirits who inhabited the underworld or existed in or under the earth, and were typically associated with death or fertility. The terms chthonic and chthonian are derived from the Ancient Greek word χθών (khthṓn) meaning 'earth' or 'soil'. The Greek adjective χθόνιος (khthónios) means 'in, under, or beneath the earth', which can be differentiated from γῆ (), which refers to the living surface of land on the earth. In Greek, χθόνιος (khthónios) is a descriptive word for things relating to the underworld, which was in antiquity sometimes applied as an epithet to deities such as Hermes, Demeter, and Zeus.

The chthonic deities have been compared to the more commonly referred-to Olympic gods and their associated rites and cults. Olympic gods are understood to reference that which exists above the earth, particularly in the sky. Gods that are related to agriculture are also considered to have chthonic associations as planting and growing take place in part under the earth.

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Chthonic in the context of Dionysus

In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (/d.əˈn.səs/ ; Ancient Greek: Διόνυσος Diónysos) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus (/ˈbækəs/ or /ˈbɑːkəs/; Ancient Greek: Βάκχος Bacchos) by the Greeks (a name later adopted by the Romans) for a frenzy he is said to induce called baccheia. His wine, music, and ecstatic dance were considered to free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His thyrsus, a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself.

His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, others as Greek. In Orphism, he was variously a son of Zeus and Persephone; a chthonic or underworld aspect of Zeus; or the twice-born son of Zeus and the mortal Semele. The Eleusinian Mysteries identify him with Iacchus, the son or husband of Demeter. Most accounts say he was born in Thrace, traveled abroad, and arrived in Greece as a foreigner. His attribute of "foreignness" as an arriving outsider-god may be inherent and essential to his cults, as he is a god of epiphany, sometimes called "the god who comes".

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Chthonic in the context of Heracles

Heracles (/ˈhɛrəklz/ Ancient Greek: Ἡρακλῆς, lit.'glory/fame of Hera'), born Alcaeus (Ἀλκαῖος, Alkaios) or Alcides (Ἀλκείδης, Alkeidēs), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon. He was a descendant of Perseus, another son of Zeus.

He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, the ancestor of royal clans known as Heracleidae (Ἡρακλεῖδαι), and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well.

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Chthonic in the context of Serapis

Serapis or Sarapis is a Graeco-Egyptian god. A syncretic deity derived from the worship of the Egyptian Osiris and Apis, Serapis was extensively popularized in the third century BC on the orders of Greek Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter, as a means to unify the Greek and Egyptian subjects of the Ptolemaic Kingdom.

The cultus of Serapis was spread as a matter of deliberate policy by subsequent Ptolemaic kings. Serapis continued to increase in popularity during the Roman Empire, often replacing Osiris as the consort of Isis in temples outside Egypt.Alongside his Egyptian roots he gained attributes from other deities, such as chthonic powers linked to the Greek Hades and Demeter, and benevolence derived from associations with Dionysus.

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Chthonic in the context of Eileithyia

Eileithyia or Ilithyia (/ɪlɪˈθ.ə/; Ancient Greek: Εἰλείθυια; Ἐλεύθυια (Eleuthyia) in Crete, also Ἐλευθία (Eleuthia) or Ἐλυσία (Elysia) in Laconia and Messene, and Ἐλευθώ (Eleuthō) in literature) was the Greek goddess of childbirth and midwifery, and the daughter of Zeus and Hera. In the cave of Amnisos (Crete) she was related with the annual birth of the divine child, and her cult is connected with Enesidaon (the earth shaker), who was the chthonic aspect of the god Poseidon. It is possible that her cult is related with the cult of Eleusis. In his Seventh Nemean Ode, Pindar refers to her as the maid to or seated beside the Moirai (Fates) and responsible for the creation of offspring. Her son was Sosipolis, who was worshiped at Elis.

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Chthonic in the context of Apulu

Apulu (Etruscan: 𐌖𐌋𐌖𐌐𐌀), also syncopated as Aplu (Etruscan: 𐌖𐌋𐌐𐌀), is an epithet of the Etruscan fire god Śuri as chthonic sky god, roughly equivalent to the Greco-Roman god Apollo.Their names are associated on Pyrgi inscriptions too.The name Apulu or Aplu did not come directly from Greece but via a Latin center, probably Palestrina.

Under the name Apulu, he is known as god of the Sun and light, thunder and lightning, healing and plague, as well as the protector of divination, but he also has volcanic and infernal characteristics.

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Chthonic in the context of Underworld

The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld.

The concept of an underworld is found in almost every civilization and "may be as old as humanity itself". Common features of underworld myths are accounts of living people making journeys to the underworld, often for some heroic purpose. Other myths reinforce traditions that the entrance of souls to the underworld requires a proper observation of ceremony, such as the ancient Greek story of the recently dead Patroclus haunting Achilles until his body could be properly buried for this purpose. People with high social status were dressed and equipped in order to better navigate the underworld.

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Chthonic in the context of Aita

Aita (Etruscan: 𐌀𐌕𐌉𐌀), also spelled Eita (Etruscan: 𐌀𐌕𐌉𐌄), is an epithet of the Etruscan chthonic fire god Śuri as god of the underworld, roughly equivalent to the Greek god Hades (Epic Greek: Ἄϊδης, romanized: Áïdēs).

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Chthonic in the context of Dis Pater

Dis Pater (/ˌdɪs ˈptər/; Latin: [diːs patɛr]; genitive Ditis Patris, lit. the "Rich Patriarch"), otherwise known as Rex Infernus or Pluto, is a Roman god of the underworld. Dis was originally associated with fertile agricultural land and mineral wealth, and since those minerals came from underground, he was later equated with the chthonic deities Pluto (Hades) and Orcus.

Dis Pater's name was commonly shortened to Dis, and this name has since become an alternative name for the underworld or a part of the underworld, such as the City of Dis of Dante's The Divine Comedy, which comprises Lower Hell.

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