Adonis and Venus

Venus wounded in the breast by her son Cupid, fell in love with the beautiful Adonis. Her influence was far from benign as she encouraged his cowardice, and a boar gored him to death. That part is usually ignored. A strange story and neither Venus nor Adonis can be considered admirable representations of love and beauty. Two cases of vain beauty.

Narcissus

The son of a river god and a nymph he was the most beautiful in the land but forbidden to see himself. Arrogantly he rejected all as unsuitable. One day his neighbour, Ameinias  asked him to be his lover. Narcissus sent a servant to deliver a dagger in response. Ameinias understood and took his own life, cursing him to ever meet in love the same disdain that he had for others. When Narcissus stumbled across his reflection in a pool he fell in love with the beautiful youth he saw and his vain entreaties to the image, came to naught, so rejected by his own unspeaking self, he waited and died.

Athene

Having sprung fully armed from Zeus's head,after he swallowed her mother, she was the Goddess of wisdom, war, arts and the protector of Athens. What a woman. Strange choice of the  male dominated Athenians as their number one protector. The destruction of her Temple - The Partheneon is another of the great tragedies of civilisation.

Cupid   -  Eros  -  Love

The winged son of Venus and mischievous manipulator of the loves of gods and man. His arrows wounded many and caused unwanted loves and often the pain we all know so well. Protecting Hera, the wife of Zeus,with his arrows he nearly had her raped. Venus used him to impart vengence on those who appeared more beautiful, like Psyche. Death, revenge, jealousy and all the wonders of lust and love have often found this impish boy hovering in the background.

Mars   -  Ares

The god of war and agriculture and thought by the Romans as the father of Romulus. His sacred statue stood in the place where youths exercised. Son of Jupiter and Juno. Along with Venus he sided with the Trojans. Astrology and the naming of the planets after the gods came to Greece from Babylonian and Palastinian origins. The astrological deities of the seven day planetary week of the Canaanites was abandoned in favour of the twelve zodiac signs. Mars was growth.

Bacchus  -  Dionysus

The son of Jupiter and Semele. When she saw the god in his glory she turned to ash. Bacchus was raised by nymphs. Driven out and made mad by the ever jealous Juno he recovered,then discovered and spread the cultivation of the vine throughout the world.As god of wine he represented both the intoxication and the benefits of the grape. He promoted civilisation, law and peace. When Ariadne was abandoned on Naxos, the favourite island of Bacchus, he, after a promise to her from Venus, married her At her death, he threw her crown into the sky and it became a constellation in the heavens. Women were said to celebrate the god in drunken, private rituals where they were known to tear any male intruder to pieces.

Medusa

Once a beautiful girl whose rniglets were changed to snakes when she chalenged the goddess Minerva's beauty. So hideous and cruel was she, that anyone who looked at her directly was transformed into stone. Perseus who was the son of Jupiter and Damae had set his wife and daughter adrift to protect himself from an oracle that said his daughter would be the cause of his death. They found protection with King Polydectes who many years later sent Perseus to kill the gorgon. Having favour with Minerva and Mercury Perseus was given their shield and winged shoes. He used the shield to see the reflected image of Medusa and cut off her head and gave it to Minerva.