According to the myth told by Ovid, when Aphrodite met the
infant Adonis, she was immediately smitten with him. She
decided to take care of him by hiding him in a chest, and
asked Persephone, the queen of the underworld, to educate
him. However, Persephone also fell in Love with Adonis.
On the day Aphrodite descended into the underworld to
retrieve the young Adonis, Persephone refused to return the
boy, who had become her lover. The two women turned to
Zeus to judge who should have Adonis, and Zeus asked the
muse Kalliope to make the decision.
In the end, it was decided that Adonis would spend fourth
months with Aphrodite, four with Persephone, and four alone
to rest. However, Adonis decided - either on his own or
through Aphrodite's magical influence - to spend his four
months of “rest” with Aphrodite.
Aphrodite and Adonis continued their passionate relationship
until one day, Adonis was mortally wounded while hunting a
boar. Aphrodite heard her lover's moans of pain from her
flying chariot, but by the time she arrived by his side, it was
too late to save him. The goddess cried tears of blood that fell
onto the ground, and from them sprouted either the purple
anemone flower or the rose, depending on the version of the
story.
In mythology, Aphrodite was the wife of Hephaistos, the god of
metallurgy. However, she also had an affair with Ares, the god
of war.
One night, after spending too long together, Ares and
Aphrodite were caught by Helios, who informed Hephaistos of
his wife's infidelity. In a fit of rage, Hephaistos captured Ares
and Aphrodite in an unbreakable net, then summoned the rest
of the gods to bear witness to his dishonor.
Afterwards, Aphrodite went to Paphos to renew her virginity in
the sea. This virginity did not last, however, as she later had a
relationship with Hermes which resulted in the birth of
Hermaphroditos, a being of two sexes.
Eurystheas asked Herakles to bring him the belt of Hippolyta
for the ninth labor; it would be offered to his daughter
Admete.
The belt was a gift from the god Ares to his daughter
Hippolyta, the queen of Amazons - a tribe of women-warriors.
With a group of companions, Herakles reached Themiskyra,
the city in the Black Sea were Hippolyta lived, and convinced
the Amazon to give him the belt. However, Hera had spread
rumors amongst the Amazons, so they attacked him. Herakles
had no choice but to kill Hippolyta. He then brought the belt
back to Eurystheas.
The banner of Korinthia was inspired by the coinage of
Korinth, which depicts Pegasos.
Pegasos, the mythical winged horse, was captured in Korinth
by Bellerophon near the Peirene fountain. The hero then rode
him to defeat the monstrous creature Chimera. When
Bellerophon fell from Pegasos while trying to reach Mount
Olympos, Zeus gave Pegasos the task of carrying
thunderbolts. The god later granted Pegasos the honor of
becoming a constellation.
(Under the scenes)
"To produce our Merchant Boat, we were really pleased to be
able to use as reference the remains of the very well
preserved “Kyrenia Ship” found in 1965. Having this boat
replicated with the highest historic fidelity helped us to give
life to our beautiful world and to show that there was not only
war ships sailing in the great ancient Greek Sea." - David
Therrien
Four methods were used to harvest olives. Picking the fallen
fruits on the ground was the easiest, and could be sufficient to
meet the needs of a small household.
Another method was to have men shake the branches, while
others collected the olives in wide baskets.
Handpicking was preferable for preserves since it does not
damage the fruits, but it was a long process.
A less labor-intensive method was to beat the branches with
long sticks to make the olives fall on the ground or onto
pieces of cloth. However, this method damaged the branches
and a rough beating could hinder the following year's
production.
Olives were a widespread and traditional food staple, often
consumed with bread and onions. They could be bought in
almost every city from street peddlers.
Olive production was an important feature of the ancient
Greek agrarian economy. Both olives and olive oil were used
on many significant occasions.
Olive trees generally only produce a crop every other year,
and production is very variable from harvest to harvest. This
unpredictability was a reason against farmers becoming
exclusive olive producers, so mixed farming remained the
norm.
Planting olive trees was one of the most important means of
increasing the productivity of land and its long-term value. It
allowed landowners to create usable farmland from slopes
and other marginal land that would otherwise have been left
for grazing.
While an olive tree might produce a small return after eight to
ten years, it may take twenty or thirty years to come into full
production.
But, olive trees live for a very long time. If a landowner
planted olives on his land, it was his children and
grandchildren that would harvest the fruit.
Greece is known for its monuments, temples, and statues,
some of which still exist today. But even in 431 BCE, Greece
had ruins of even older civilizations. In Phokis, thought of as
the Land of the Gods and center of the world, stands the
Sanctuary of Delphi, sitting on the slopes of Mount Parnassos,
along with other temples and structures from the pre-
classical Greek age. While drawing on real-life examples,
historical research, plus popular culture in the form of movies
and comics, the art team also had to construct some
monuments from nothing but myth, and to give life to these
magnificent structures.
Greek Mythology is a fascinating and enduring collection of
fantastical stories, ones that the art team had great fun
recreating for Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Drawing on the
myths, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and representations in
classic artwork and popular culture, the mythological world
becomes real for the Hero.
The myths are instantly recognizable in the artwork on these
pages. The Titan Tityos, who attempted to violate Leto, the
daughter of Titan Coeus and Phoebe, was punished for his
transgression by being tied to a rock in Tartarus. His liver was
eaten each day by two vultures, only to regrow overnight to
begin the torment again.
Oedipus was son of Laius and lokasta of Thebes. His father
was terrified of a prophecy from Delphi predicting that
Oedipus would end up killing him and marrying his wife, so he
banished his newborn to the mountains to die.
The baby was saved by a shepherd, who gave him to King
Polybos and Queen Merope of Korinth to raise him as their
own. As he grew, Oedipus heard of the Delphic prophecy, and,
believing that it was related to Polybos and Merope, fled
Korinth and directed himself to Thebes.
Laius had died by then - killed by Oedipus, who did not yet
know the king was his father - and the city was at the mercy
of a monster, the Sphinx, with a human head and a body of a
lion. She consumed those who couldn't solve her riddle:
“Which creature has one voice and yet becomes four-footed
and two-footed and three-footed?” It was Oedipus who replied
that the creature was man: they crawl on all fours as a baby,
walk with two feet as they age, and use a cane for support
when they grow old.
Oedipus solved the riddle, and the defeated Sphinx either fell
from a high rock or ate herself and perished, depending on
the legend. Oedipus became king of Thebes and married none
other than lokasta, his mother. He unknowingly fulfilled the
prophecy and became one of the most tragic figures in Greek
mythology.
The main buildings where athletes trained were the
gymnasion and the palaistra.
In the gymnasion, athletes trained for races and pentathlon
events. In the palaistra, they trained for wrestling and boxing.
Wrestlers and boxers could train in the Korykeion room,
where a suspended leather bag full of sand [korykos] served
as a sort of punching bag.
All athletes competed and trained nude. The reason for the
introduction of athletic nudity is not immediately clear. The
etymology of gymnasion pointed to nudity, as the Greek word
gymnos means “nude”. According to Thucydides, this
innovation came from Sparta. He says that Lakedaimonians
were the first to practice sports naked. Tradition says that
Acanthos of Sparta, who won the diaulos and the dolichos
races in the Olympic Games of 720 BCE, would have been the
first to do this.
But Pausanias had another version of the story. He tells that
the first to run naked in Olympia was Orhippos of Megaris in
720 BCE. He supposedly did this believing that nudity would
help him run faster.