There
are, to our knowledge, only three divinities for whom a marriage feast is
described in literature and on vases. All three are goddesses married to
fulfill the will of Zeus. And all three are given to males of mortal origin.
 |
Copyright © 1997 Carlos Parada
and Maicar Förlag.
Source; .
Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Göttingen, 1845
|
The “wedding
of Cadmus and Harmonia was the first, we are told, for which the gods provided
the marriage-feast.” (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5.
48. 2) Harmonia was the Olympus-born daughter of
Aphrodite and Ares. She wed the hero Cadmus
who “by high design won sage Harmonia, as
his wedded wife, who obeyed the voice of Zeus, and became the mother of Semele
famed among men." (Pindar,
Dithyrambs Heracles the Bold) In
case you don’t know, Zeus wed Cadmus’ sister Europa who bore the god several
sons. Harmonia was Zeus grand-daughter
and bore to Cadmus several goddesses.
At the end of their time in Thebes their grandson, the god Dionysus
promised them (Euripides, Bacchae 1346) “You shall transmute your nature, and become
a serpent. Your wife Harmonia, whom her father Ares gave to you, a mortal,
likewise shall assume the nature of beasts, and live a snake. The oracle of
Zeus foretells that you, at the head of a barbaric horde, shall with your wife
drive forth pair of heifers yoked and with your countless army destroy many
cities… Ares shall at last deliver both you and Harmonia, and grant you
immortal life among the blessed gods.’"
 |
| Image courtesy of Wikipedia |
The
second divine bride is of course Thetis.
Hesiod say; “four times blessed
son of Aiakos, happy Peleus! For far-seeing Olympian Zeus has given you a wife
with many gifts and the blessed gods have brought your marriage fully to pass.” (Hesiod Catalogues of Women Fragment 58)
They, of course, were the parents of
Achilles, hero of the Iliad. At the end
of Peleus life after the early deaths of his sole son and sole grandson, Thetis
promises to fetch him down to her father Nereus’ immortal halls. (Euripides, Andromache 1265)
"Heracles achieved immortality, and
when Hera's enmity changed to friendship, he married her daughter Hebe…” (Pseudo-Apollodorus,
Bibliotheca 2. 158) So Hebe in being made Heracles' wife achieved
a purpose of Zeus, like the two brides before her. She was lucky, however. We
do not hear of any disaster resulting from her marriage. Heracles is another one of the gods of royal
Theban blood just like Cadmus. Maya M
and WilliamMoulton2 agree that Hebe and Harmonia's weddings were a hostage
exchange and nothing more.
Though
less pronounced in art and literature to our list of divine wedding ceremonies you
can add Dionysus and his mortal wife (and cousin) Adriane. "And golden-haired Dionysus made
blonde-haired Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, his buxom wife: and the son of Cronus
made her deathless and unaging” (Hesiod,
Theogony 947) After
which Dionysus pretty much stormed Olympus with dead mother now called Thyone. (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 38) Not necessary by the will of Zeus.
We
can add Hades and Persephone, oddly enough.
The scene of Hades in chariot snatching up Persephone from the midst of
her girlfriends foreshadows the groom arriving at the bride’s home and leading
her to the wedding. The scene of Hades
returning Persephone to Olympus is just them arriving at the wedding
feast. Admittedly that throw a curve
into Maya’s theory that only misalliances
are honored in ancient Greek art, but not really for though the groom is
not a mortal doomed to death, he is Death himself.
The
above paper evolved from a conversation by WilliamMoulton2 and Maya M.
