   chthonic  or , from greek ÏÎ¸ÏÎ½Î¹Î¿Ï khthonios, "in, under, or beneath the earth", from ÏÎ¸ÏÎ½ khthÅn "earth"chthonios, henry george liddell, robert scott, a greekâenglish lexicon, at perseus.. the literal translation is 'subterranean'. the translation of meaning discusses deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in greek religion. the greek word khthon is one of several for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the land (as gaia or ge does) or the land as territory (as khora (ÏÏÏÎ±) does). it evokes at once abundance and the grave. some dictionaries, such as the oed, state that the first two letters should be pronounced (as ), , while others, such as the ahd, record these letters as silent, . the classical greek pronunciation of "ÏÎ¸ÏÎ½Î¹Î¿Ï" would have been . ==chthonic and olympian== while terms such as "earth deity" or earth mother have sweeping implications in english, the words khthonie and khthonios had a more precise and technical meaning in greek, referring primarily to the manner of offering sacrifices to the deity in question. some chthonic cults practised ritual sacrifice, which often happened at night time. when the sacrifice was a living creature, the animal was placed in a bothros (Î²ÏÎ¸ÏÎ¿Ï, "pit") or megaron (Î¼Î­Î³Î±ÏÎ¿Î½, "sunken chamber"). in some greek chthonic cults, the animal was sacrificed on a raised bomos (Î²ÏÎ¼ÏÏ, "altar"). offerings usually were burned whole or buried rather than being cooked and shared among the worshippers."the sacrifice for gods of the dead and for heroes was called enagisma, in contradistinction to thysia, which was the portion especially of the celestial deities. it was offered on altars of a peculiar shape: they were lower than the ordinary altar bomos, and their name was ischara, 'hearth'. through them the blood of the victims, and also libations, were to flow into the sacrificial trench. therefore they were funnel-shaped and open at the bottom. for this kind of sacrifice did not lead up to a joyous feast in which the gods and men took part. the victim was held over the trench with its head down, not, as for the celestial gods, with its neck ben
Chthonic_beings