Greek mythology

**Greek mythology** is the body of
myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning
their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and
significance of their own cult and ritual practices. It was a part of
the religion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars refer to and study
the myths in an attempt to shed light on the religious and political
institutions of ancient Greece and its civilization, and to gain
understanding of the nature of myth-making itself. Greek religion was
later a major influence on the roman religion, with many of the roman
gods being considered analogues to greek gods. Roman influence from greece was so high that it is often hard to distinguish much of them as different figures.

Many ancient Greeks recognized the twelve major (Olympian) gods
and goddesses (Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, Athena, Ares,
Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or
Dionysus), although philosophies such as Stoicism and some forms of
Platonism also added to this a single transcendent deity. Different cities often worshiped the same deities, sometimes
with epithets that distinguished them and specified their local
nature.

Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days,
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Pindar's Odes are included as sacred
texts as are other works of classical antiquity, although there were
no texts canonized or universally declared as sacred by the ancient
Greeks. These are the core texts that were considered inspired and
usually include an invocation to the Muses for inspiration at the
beginning of the work. Such texts, however, were not considered
inspired in the sense that they had to be believed by everyone. Plato
even wanted to exclude the myths from his ideal state described in
the Republic because of their low moral tone, since he believed that the gods would be perfect, or should be represented as such as an ideal.

## General info

Persona 3 is based heavily on primordial greek
figures, and has nyx as the end boss. And persona 2 likewise has a large greek aspect. But as for mainline, although the religions themselves in megaten are
more based on major surviving religions that exist today, especially
abrahamic reigions, there are aspects which are based on the beliefs
of ancient polytheisms like the greek and norse religions. One of the
most major aspects is the fact that mem aleph from strange journey is
meant to be the “gaia” of gaianism, and gaia is an archaic greek
godess. Making that an aspect of the in-game religion, since it
means the greek figure is an aspect of her base. In contrast, in
SMTI, yhvh is depicted as a composite figure who also somewhat fills the role
of zeus (expressed directly in the conversation with Echidna). And their relationship to eachother implied over time is somewhat related to that of zeus and gaia, who wanted revenge that zeus banished her children the titans. Another relation is is that in many mainline games, the path to the
afterlife is over the river styx, and is watched over by charon from
greek myth.

There's more examples that follow a similar trend. In SMTII gimmel is based on appollo and presides over arcadia, which is named after a greek concept of a paradise-like early place that is comparable to the concept of eden. And pluto also shows up as a being created by the angels in IV, which is the roman name derived from another greek term for hades. And some of the aesthetics in the center have a subtly greek tone.

This creates an interesting trend. Even though direct greek gods rarely show up in plot roles, when you combine all the above facts, you do get a little bit of a highly abstracted greek tone. Which reflects the real life fact that while greek philosophy developed in the context of the greek religion, it was appropriated more by christianity, which is the cultural context in which most of its concepts survived. For instance, the stoics equated the logos with zeus, but the logos became a christian concept in the book of john, which is what it is known as today. So appropriating aspects of a more monotheistic zeus interpretation into yahweh actually happened. And this ties in with the interview insistence that law is more western themed. Since much of it reflects the focus on more static categories and universal focus of the greek philosophical tradition, in contrast with the more dynamic and particularist focus of the east.

Despite this, In
the remake of strange journey some greek figures do appear, including zeus. One
reason being given for why they did not do so more explicitly being that they are an overused pantheon, and not a favorite of the designers.

## Practices

The lack of a unified priestly class
meant that a unified, canonic form of the religious texts or
practices never existed; just as there was no unified, common sacred
text for the Greek belief system, there was no standardization of
practices. Instead, religious practices were organized on local
levels, with priests normally being magistrates for the city or
village, or gaining authority from one of the many sanctuaries. Some
priestly functions, like the care for a particular local festival,
could be given by tradition to a certain family. Priests generally served a
specific god, but were not considered religious experts. Often, but
not always, the priest was the same sex as the god they represented.

Note how in megaten, it treats being able to specifically hold
different gods as your own ideal is preferable, with nozomi depicting
them as different ideals or endpoints. Notice also in Iv, isabeau
using female gods and demons, in keeping with this trend of more
affiliation with the same sex.
Greek ceremonies and rituals were
mainly performed at altars. These were typically devoted to one or a
few gods, and supported a statue of the particular deity. Votive
deposits would be left at the altar, such as food, drinks, as well as
precious objects. Sometimes animal sacrifices would be performed
here, with most of the flesh eaten, and the offal burnt as an
offering to the gods. Libations, often of wine, would be offered to
the gods as well.

At first, sacred sites were merely a
simple altar in a designated area, but over time massive temples came
to be built in honour of a particular god and these usually housed a
cult statue of the deity, most famously the huge statue of Athena in
the Parthenon of Athens or Zeus at Olympia. In time, a whole complex
of temples to lesser gods could spring up around the main temple,
creating a large sacred complex, often built on an acropolis
dominating a city or surrounding area. This sacred area (temenos) was
separated from the rest of the community by a symbolic gate or
propylon, and in fact it was believed that this area belonged to the
particular deity in question. The temple itself, though, was not
generally used during religious practices as these were carried out
at a designated altar outside the temple.

In addition to the formal and public
religious ceremonies there were also many rites which were open to
and known only by the initiated who performed them, the most famous
example being the Mysteries of Eleusis. In these closed groups,
members believed that certain activities gave spiritual benefits,
amongst them a better after-life. The later greek philosophy schools
could also be considered smaller trends within the religion, due to
that its members would have considered themselves loosely part of the
same beliefs at the time. The stoics called their god zeus for
example, despite it being very different from the normal greek zeus. The more obscure religions were more likely to openly include gods from other cultures.

**Greek hero cults** refer to religious practices that referred to the veneration of a heroic person who due to their fame during life or unusual manner of death gave them power to support
and protect the living. A hero was more than human but less than a god,
 and various kinds of supernatural figures came to be assimilated to
the class of heroes. Ultimately, the distinction between a hero and a god was less
than certain, especially in the case of Heracles, the most prominent, but atypical hero, who was sometimes seen as having became a god outright after death.

Specific figures being seen as becoming protective spirits who are venerated in their own right is common to many religions. In megaten, the figure of masakado is seen as one of these, though the reason for this is based more on the eastern practices of such.

**Mystery religions**. Those who were not satisfied by the
public cult of the gods could turn to various mystery religions which
operated as cults into which members had to be initiated in order to
learn their secrets. Here, they could find religious consolations
that traditional religion could not provide: a chance at mystical
awakening, a systematic religious doctrine, a map to the afterlife,
a communal worship, and a band of spiritual fellowship. Some of these
mysteries, like the mysteries of Eleusis and Samothrace, were ancient
and local. Others were spread from place to place, like the mysteries
of Dionysus. During the Hellenistic period and the Roman
Empire, exotic mystery religions became widespread, not only in
Greece, but all across the empire. Some of these were new creations,
such as Mithras (inspired by zoroastrian influence), while others had been practiced for hundreds of
years before, like the Egyptian mysteries of Osiris.

**Ethics**. Ethical theory in Greek
religion predates philosophical reflection. The main ethical category
for ancient Greeks was aretē, which is usually translated into
English as "virtue" but sometimes as "excellence,"
or “character” which is closer in meaning. Aretē means an
excellence of strength or ability, and is ultimately bound up with
the notion of the fulfillment of purpose or function: the act of
living up to one's full potential. The objective of a successful life
was attaining honor. Also an important concept in Greek culture was
that of trying to go beyond one's possibilities. The literary source
of this folk ethical theory can be seen in Homer, Greek tragedy and
also Aesop's fables. Note the large theme in megaten, especially in
neutral of humans surpassing their limits.

An important thing to note when trying to assess the morality of early cultures is to realize that at the time no direct word for what we now call "morality" existed. Virtue is not really a synonym, since it referred to internal good qualities, but may have had connotations that vary slightly, especially since without the word morality even if virtue was seen as an equivalent it would not have been easy to express in a modern sense. Which is why various early people will be using indirect ways to refer to morality, some of which might seem vague to a modern audience. And overlapped more with what me might now call value theory.

As such, some of the myths have to be understood in this light. To the early people, they would have had little reason to depict the gods as perfect, often since they had no concept of perfection either. And would have been more casual with the fact that people in a leadership position who should be respected themselves have many vices, which for gods may also have large scale consequences. Gods represented and controlled natural forces in the world, and so one has to see even their negatives in terms of them being a natural unfolding of the events and people. Since their scale was so large, people did not really see it as their ow place to criticize them.

One of the most important
concepts to the Greeks was the fear of committing hubris. Hubris
constituted many things, from rape to desecration of a corpse, and
was a crime in the city-state of Athens. Although pride and vanity
were not considered sins themselves, the Greeks emphasized
moderation. Pride only became hubris when it went to extremes, like
any other vice. The same was thought of eating and drinking. Anything
done to excess was not considered proper. Ancient Greeks placed, for
example, importance on athletics and intellect equally. In fact many
of their competitions included both. Pride was not evil until it
became all-consuming or hurtful to others.

Greeks had a large amount of formalized
hierarchy, including slavery, with the presumption that lower classes
were necessary in order to allow higher ones the ability to do things
they considered administrative tasks. It also tended to consider
homosexual relationships normal, albeit the bottom was generally
younger and of a lower class, and these were not considered an
alternative to heterosexual ones, with the assumption that you would
still seek a wife. It did have many restrictions in terms of how it
should be done however. Some point out that many of these
relationships would have been somewhat predatory in nature.

## Cosmology

**Chaos** was, according to Greek
mythology, the origin of everything, and the first thing that ever
existed. It was the primordial void, the source out of which
everything was created, including the universe and the gods. The
first primordial deities that emerged out of Chaos were Gaea (earth),
Tartarus (underworld) and Eros (love), while later Erebus (darkness)
and Nyx (night) also came out. Whether chaos is a being or merely a
force is left ambiguous, but it is more often treated as the latter.

Note here that many religions depict
the primal state of the earth as void or chaos. And as existing in an
archaic state before there were any gods. Monotheism in contrast
tends to hold the first existing thing as God himself. So a vague
association is drawn between chaos, and the order of divinity in
terms of polytheistic and monotheistic beliefs. Which ties to their
associations somewhat in megaten.

**Mount Olympus** was the dwelling
of the Olympian Gods and it was created after the Titanomachy, the
battle during which the Olympians defeated their predecessors, the
Titans. The peak Mytikas was then called Pantheon and was the venue
where all the fiery discussions among the deities took place. There
was also a place where the Throne of Zeus was located. The twelve
Olympians that resided at Mount Olympus were Zeus, Hera, Poseidon,
Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hestia, Demeter, Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares and
Hephaestus. Apart from the gods, the foot of the mountain was also
the place where the nine Muses lived. Note that hades does not live
here, since he lives in the underworld. There are many real mountains equated with and referred to as olympus.

Although mount olympus was generally
seen as a realm only for the gods, there were a few cases where
humans were brought there and immortalized to live forever with the
gods. Note how in megaten most humans die and undergo reincarnation,
but a few achieve apotheosis and become immortals.

**Arcadia**. According to Greek
mythology, Arcadia of Peloponnesus was the domain of Pan, seen as a
vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. of the forest and his
court of dryads, nymphs and other spirits of nature. It was one
version of paradise, though only in the sense of being the abode of
supernatural entities, not an afterlife for deceased mortals. The
word later developed into a poetic term for an ideal vision of
unspoiled wilderness. All the gods did not live here, but certain
ones visited from time to time. Although commonly thought of as being
in line with Utopian ideals, Arcadia differs from that tradition in
that it is more often specifically regarded as unattainable.
Furthermore, it is seen as a lost, Edenic form of life, contrasting
to the forward thinking nature of Utopian desires.

Note that in megaten, the term arcadia
shows up multiple times used by the law side, first in SMTII, as a
test for the thousand year kingdom, and later as a name for the
messian city in imagine. In SMTII, gimmel the leader of arcadia looks
notably inspired by greek aesthetics, and is said to be based on
apollo, a greek god. So this gives them a very greek tone. Although
at first glance it might not be obvious why greek things are thrown
in with the messians, greek culture and philosophy was a heavy
inspiration on christianity. And in an interview they said that law
was more western themed and chaos was more eastern. (though not
exclusively). So it is another aspect of the west that shows up in
their aesthetics.

In-game, obviously the term arcadia is
used to call to mind that it is a plan used for a paradise they are
designing. Since arcadia, like eden, calls to mind an original
paradise that was lost, there is some association there between the
concepts, especially since later in the game, the term eden is used
for the meggido ark. Notably, in arcadia, the plan for the future
world, it looks mostly greek, with little overt christian design
aside from a few angel statues.

**Erebus** is a primordial deity,
but is also used as a region of the Greek underworld where the dead
pass immediately after dying. (information about erebus as a being
below).

**Hades**, in mythology, is an
otherworld where souls go after death. This is the original Greek
idea of afterlife. At the moment of death, the soul is separated from
the corpse, taking on the shape of the former person, and is
transported to the entrance of the Underworld. The Underworld itself
is described as being either at the outer bounds of the ocean or
beneath the depths or ends of the earth. It is considered the dark
counterpart to the brightness of Mount Olympus and is the kingdom of
the dead that corresponds to the kingdom of the gods. Hades is a
realm invisible to the living, made solely for the dead. In the early
Mycenean religion all the dead simply went to Hades, but the rise of
mystery cults in the Archaic age led to the development of places
such as Tartarus and Elysium.

Although in most games, the term used
to refer to a location is never used, in the remake of MTI and II, it
is used to refer to the underworld, which gives some small context
for its existence. There are a few comparisons between the abyss in
the games, and the concept of hades, though a greek tone is not
really used to contextualize it. For starters, in the abyss in the
games, it is presented not merely as a hell, but a place for both
positive and negative existence, despite contrasting the existence of
the gods. It is also a place of imprisonment of the children of mem
aleph (who in game corresponds to gaia, who gave birth to the titans,
imprisoned in hades) The river styx also shows up in the games,
although the dead when passing it do not seem to go to the abyss, but
rather return to the axiom. Some may later reincarnate into the
abyss, however. But the abyss is more associated with eastern concepts of makai.

**Rivers**.
There are five main rivers that are visible both in the living world
and the underworld. Their names were meant to reflect the emotions
associated with death.

**1: The Styx** is generally considered to be one of the most
prominent and central rivers of the Underworld and is also the most
widely known out of all the rivers. It's known as the river of hatred
and is named after the goddess Styx. This river circles the
underworld seven times. In game it shows up in many game over screens
as a place the dead cross on their way to returning to the axiom.

**2: The Acheron** is the river of pain. It's the one that
Charon, also known as the Ferryman, rows the dead over according to
many mythological accounts, though sometimes it is the river Styx or
both. In majin tensei, it is a river in the demon world.

**3: The Lethe** is the river of forgetfulness. It is
associated with the goddess Lethe, the goddess of forgetfulness and
oblivion. In later accounts, a poplar branch dripping with water of
the Lethe became the symbol of Hypnos, the god of sleep. In imagine,
an item shows up called lethe's water that allows you to lower an
expertise by one rank, implying it is water of forgetfulness from the
river.

**4: The Phlegethon** is the river of fire. According to Plato,
this river leads to the depths of Tartarus. In imagine, a spear of
fire exists called phlegethon, saying that it is named after the
river.

**5: The Cocytus** is the river of wailing. Cocytus is a
location in Persona 3 FES. It is the second door in the Abyss of
Time, in keeping with p3's greek naming schema.

**Oceanus** is a related body of water which is the river that
encircles the world, and it marks the east edge of the underworld, as
Erebos is west of the mortal world.

**Entrance of the Underworld** In front
of the entrance to the underworld live Grief, Anxiety, Diseases, and
Old Age. Fear, Hunger, Death, Agony, and Sleep also live in front of
the entrance, together with Guilty Joys. On the opposite threshold is
War, the Erinyes, and Eris. Close to the doors are many beasts,
including Centaurs, Gorgons, the Lernaean Hydra, the Chimera, and
Harpies. In the midst of all this, an Elm can be seen where false
dreams cling under every leaf.

Across the river, guarding the gates of the Underworld is Cerberus. There is
also an area where the Judges of the Underworld decide where to send
the souls of the person — to Elysium, the Fields of Asphodel, or
Tartarus.

**Tartarus**. While Tartarus is not
considered to be directly a part of the underworld, it is described
as being as far beneath the underworld as the earth is beneath the
sky. It is so dark that the "night is poured around it in three
rows like a collar round the neck, while above it grows the roots of
the earth and of the unharvested sea." Tartarus is the place
that Zeus cast the Titans along with his father Cronus after
defeating them. Homer wrote that Cronus then became the king of
Tartarus. While Odysseus does not see them himself, he mentions some
of the people within the underworld who are experiencing punishment
for their sins.

Tartarus is a part of the Thanatos Tower in persona, and a massive
tower that mysteriously appears each night at Gekkoukan High School
during the Dark Hour in Persona 3. Persona 3 has heavy themes of
death, and many things in it relating to this are named after greek
primordial beings of death and darkness. Although note that in p3, its not really a realm for the deceased as such, despite being associated with death,

Note the similarity between zeus
banishing the titans to tartarus, and god banishing the fallen angel
to hell. Doubly so because in megaten, mem aleph is meant to be
heavily the greek gaia, and so the chaos beings she gave birth to
being banished parralels the story of the titans heavily, even though
most of the games do not have a greek tone. Notably, in the remake of
strange journey, zeus and other greek gods appear, which is in
keeping wit this depiction of the banished gods as fulfilling the
role of titans in the game.

**The Asphodel Meadows** was a place
for ordinary or indifferent souls who did not commit any significant
crimes, but who also did not achieve any greatness or recognition
that would warrant them being admitted to the Elysian Fields. It was
where mortals who did not belong anywhere else in the Underworld were
sent.

**Elysium** was a place for the
especially distinguished. It was ruled over by Rhadamanthus, and the
souls that dwelled there had an easy afterlife and had no labors.
Usually, those who had proximity to the gods were granted admission,
rather than those who were especially righteous or had ethical merit.
Most accepted to Elysium were demigods or heroes. Heroes such as
Cadmus, Peleus, and Achilles also were transported here after their
deaths. Normal people who lived righteous and virtuous lives could
also gain entrance such as Socrates who proved his worth sufficiently
through philosophy. In DSJ, zeus tells alex that he offers her entry into elysium due to her proving entertaining to him.

**The Fortunate Isles** or **Isles of the Blessed** were islands in the realm of Elysium. When a soul
achieved Elysium, they had a choice to either stay in Elysium or to
be reborn. If a soul was reborn three times and achieved Elysium all
three times, then they were sent to the Isles of the Blessed to live
in eternal paradise. This concept of reincarnation came likely from
the orphic subcult in greece, and some suspect it may have even been
influenced by travelers from india. Note how greek myth did in a
sense have a concept of reincarnation at times, so the games
depicting ztyx as leading to it has some level of coherency, even
though the form of reincarnation shown more closely resembles eastern
ideas. Reincarnation was not super sidespread an idea however, and
For most people at the moment of death there was, however, no hope of
anything but continued existence as a disembodied soul.

## Ages of man

The first extant account of the successive ages of humanity comes
from the Greek poet Hesiod (between 750 and 650 BC), in his poem
Works and Days (lines 109–201). Before there was man there was a
time when the gods existed alone. His list is:

**Golden Age**. The Golden Age is the only age that falls within the
rule of Cronus. Created by the immortals who live on Olympus, these
humans were said to live among the gods, and freely mingled with
them. Peace and harmony prevailed during this age. Humans did not
have to work to feed themselves, for the earth provided food in
abundance. They lived to a very old age but with a youthful
appearance and eventually died peacefully. Their spirits live on as
"guardians".

In SMTI echidna talks about the early days of chaos as a paradise
where gods and humans live side by side, saying that yhvh brought it
low. Since yhvh is taking the role of zeus in echidna's story, that
means it may be a reference to this aspect of greek myths, since cronus was deposed by zeus.

**Silver Age**. The Silver Age and every age that follows fall within
the rule of Cronus's successor and son, Zeus. Men in the Silver age
lived for one hundred years under the dominion of their mothers. They
lived only a short time as grown adults, and spent that time in
strife with one another. During this Age men refused to worship the
gods and Zeus destroyed them for their impiety. After death, humans
of this age became "blessed spirits" of the underworld.

**Bronze Age**. Men of the Bronze Age were hardened and tough, as war
was their purpose and passion. Zeus created these humans out of the
ash tree. Their armor was forged of bronze, as were their homes, and
tools. The men of this Age were undone by their own violent ways and
left no named spirits; instead, they dwell in the "dank house of
Hades". This Age came to an end with the flood of Deucalion.

**Heroic Age.** The Heroic Age is the one age that does not correspond
with any metal. It is also the only age that improves upon the age it
follows. It was the heroes of this Age who fought at Thebes and Troy.
This race of humans died and went to Elysium. In this age, gods still interacted more directly with mortals. So it parallels the aspect of megaten in which over successive time periods demons lived less on earth and interacted less with humans.

**Iron Age**. Hesiod finds himself in the Iron Age. During this age
humans live an existence of toil and misery. Children dishonor their
parents, brother fights with brother and the social contract between
guest and host (xenia) is forgotten. During this age might makes
right, and bad men use lies to be thought good. At the height of this
age, humans no longer feel shame or indignation at wrongdoing; babies
will be born with gray hair and the gods will have completely
forsaken humanity: "there will be no help against evil." Gods much more rarely interact with humans at this stage directly, doing so only indirectly.

## Gods and other beings

Ancient Greek theology was
polytheistic, based on the assumption that there were many gods and
goddesses. There was a hierarchy of deities, with Zeus, the king of
the gods, having a level of control over all the others, although he
was not almighty. An important thing to note is that some gods had dominion over aspects of nature, sometimes they were at times depicted
as embodiments of these things themselves. Albeit not consistently. Gods could rule over not
only tangible physical processes, but also abstract concepts; for
instance Aphrodite controlled love. Note how in megaten the gods and demons are beings, despite also being in a sense literal embodiments of the processes they exist to represent and control.

While being immortal, the gods were not
all-good or even all-powerful. They had to obey fate, known to Greek
mythology as the Moirai, which overrode any of their divine powers or
wills. For instance, in mythology, it was Odysseus' fate to return
home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, and the gods could only lengthen
his journey and make it harder for him, but they could not stop him.

The gods acted like humans and had
human vices. They would interact with humans, sometimes even spawning
children with them, who would be half human. (Note that there are
many half demon people in megaten) At times certain gods would be
opposed to others, and they would try to outdo each other. In the
Iliad, Aphrodite, Ares and Apollo support the Trojan side in the
Trojan War, while Hera, Athena and Poseidon support the Greeks (see
theomachy). This is because to the early greeks, concepts of perfect entities would not have even been an idea yet. Kings themselves were seen as simply able to have vices without it effecting their status, and so gods were also seen in this way. Doubly since they represented aspects of nature, something people saw as inherently having an element of spontaneity. Many gods in megaten are likewise shown with aspects of moral ambiguity, but with the added aspect of noting that if this becomes a problem you can depose them.

Some gods were specifically associated
with a certain city. Athena was associated with the city of Athens,
Apollo with Delphi and Delos, Zeus with Olympia and Aphrodite with
Corinth. Other deities were associated with nations outside of
Greece; Poseidon was associated with Ethiopia and Troy, and Ares with
Thrace.

Identity of names was not a guarantee
of a similar cultus; the Greeks themselves were well aware that the
Artemis worshipped at Sparta, the virgin huntress, was a very
different deity from the Artemis who was a many-breasted fertility
goddess at Ephesus. Though the worship of the major deities spread
from one locality to another, and though most larger cities boasted
temples to several major gods, the identification of different gods
with different places remained strong to the end.

**Gaia**, also spelled **Gaea**,
is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial
deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother of all life: the primal Mother
Earth goddess. She is the immediate parent of Uranus (the sky), from
whose sexual union she bore the Titans (themselves parents of many of
the Olympian gods) and the giants.

In megaten, the ring of gaia has mem
aleph as its icon, shown explicitly in IV, making her a depiction of
gaia, albeit expressed using kabbalic terminology. In game, she was
likewise depicted as an archaic embodiment of the earth, who gave
rise to archaic gods of chaos, before the more relative stability of
more ordered gods arose. In this sense, the early archaic chaos gods
she gave rise to in some ways can be compared with the titans of
greek myth, who were nature beings whose presence was helpful for
nature, but was harmful to later more ordered society. This
corresponds to how in-game these later more ordered gods usurped
power from the primal chaos gods, many of whom were then demonized.

As such, a vaguely greek tone can be
ascribed to the relation between the chaos side and the ones who cast
them down. Notably, in SMTI, the story with echidna makes it a direct
fact that in-story, yhvh is meant to fulfill the role of zeus. And so
there is a bit of a greek aesthetic to the dynamic being implied.
However, zeus does also show up in the new strange journey as a character on the chaos side, who talks about his relations to her, which imply he takes orders from her, but is a strained relationship. Tying to the ambiguous nature of their relation in greek mythology.

**Uranus**.
(meaning "sky" or "heaven") was the primal Greek
god personifying the sky. In Ancient Greek literature, Uranus or
**Father Sky** was the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth.
Uranus and Gaia were the parents of the first generation of Titans,
and the ancestors of most of the Greek gods, but no cult addressed
directly to Uranus survived into Classical times.

Uranus does not show up
directly in-game. Although yhvh is in some sense depicted as an overarching sky-father, to correspond
to mem-aleph being an earth-mother, the games
do not equate yhvh with uranus, but rather zeus, who usurped the position from cronus who did from uranus. Uranus is also
mentioned in the description of the titan unit.

**Erebus**. was often conceived as a
primordial deity, representing the personification of darkness; for
instance, Hesiod's Theogony identifies him as one of the first five
beings in existence, born of Chaos. Erebus features little in Greek
mythological tradition and literature, but is said to have fathered
several other deities with Nyx. Erebus is also the place where people
pass before going to hades after death.

Erebus is the grand manifestation of
humanity's grief and negative emotion in Persona 3: The Answer. A
large, dual-faced monstrosity, its very purpose of existence is to
contact Nyx in order to bring forth The Fall, the fated end of the
world. It tries to undo the seal created at the end of the main plot
of p3.

**Cronus** was the leader and
youngest of the first generation of Titans, the divine descendants of
Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth. He overthrew his father and
ruled during the mythological Golden Age, until he was overthrown by
his own son Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus. Cronus was usually
depicted with a harpe, scythe or a sickle, which was the instrument
he used to castrate and depose Uranus, his father. In Athens, on the
twelfth day of the Attic month of Hekatombaion, a festival called
Kronia was held in honour of Cronus to celebrate the harvest,
suggesting that, as a result of his association with the virtuous
Golden Age, Cronus continued to preside as a patron of harvest.
Cronus envied the power of his father, the ruler of the universe,
Uranus. He deposed his father, but was later deposed by his own son,
Zeus.

**Nyx** is the Greek goddess (or
personification) of the night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near
the beginning of creation and mothered other personified deities such
as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), with Erebus (Darkness). Her
appearances are sparse in surviving mythology, but reveal her as a
figure of such exceptional power and beauty that she is feared by
Zeus himself. Nyx is depicted as living in tartarus.

Nyx Avatar is the final boss of Persona
3 (The Journey for FES version, as Erebus is the final boss of The
Answer). It is an avatar of Nyx with the intent to bring about the
Fall, or end of the world, and end all life on the planet. It is
fought on the top of Tartarus during the ninth Full Moon Operation on
January 31. Note that in-game it is depicted associated with the
right location.

Before becoming the Avatar it was known
as Death (or "Thanatos, the bringer of death"), The
Appriser, and the harbinger of the Fall. Death is the incarnation of
the Arcana that was never meant to be, and because it went through so
many changes, Nyx can be recognized as any one of the following
entities: Death (Thanatos), Ryoji Mochizuki, Pharos, and Nyx Avatar.

Like the Shadow Arcana, Nyx Avatar
represents the inverse interpretation of the Death Arcana. While the
Death Arcana represents transition, regeneration, deep change, and
cycles, the inverse Death Arcana represents doom, destruction, and an
end to everything.

Nyx is explained as the personification of death itself in Persona
3. She is also the final boss in the story, although gameplay-wise
the final boss is her avatar. In ancient times Nyx bestowed Death and
Night to the world, where she is destined to bring The Fall. Nyx,
however, lies in hibernation and can only be called by the appraiser
of The Fall, which happens to be the incarnation of the Arcana that
was never meant to be — Death. When the Kirijo Group was
experimenting on the Shadows, Mitsuru's grandfather, along with
several scientists, knew about the Fall, and willingly embraced it.
They eventually succeeded in amassing a large amount of Shadows
within the experimental facility and rejuvenated Death. However,
Eiichiro Takeba declined, and destroyed the facilities — causing
Death to be forcibly split into thirteen separate Shadows. Defeating
the individual parts would cause them to reunite to the 'main'
thirteenth Shadow, which was sealed within the protagonist. Death,
while within the protagonist's mind, assumed the amnesiac identity of
Pharos. Therefore, it is not until the protagonist defeats the
remaining twelve Shadows, rejuvenating and reawakening the final
Shadow, Death.

Assuming the form of Ryoji Mochizuki, Death was responsible for
summoning Nyx, and became the harbinger of the Fall. After the
protagonist manages to fend off the Avatar of Nyx, the Avatar shrugs
the damage away, and proceeds to connect to Nyx's true physical body,
the moon. As she descends to earth, SEES was rendered immobile,
leaving only the protagonist immune to her effect. Through the
cheering of SEES and his friends' will to live, the protagonist
ascended to the Moon and battled Nyx, where he used his own soul as
the Great Seal, sealing Nyx away.

In the Persona 3 Club Book, in a Q&A section it is stated that
Nyx is in fact a living being outside reality the size of a celestial
body known as "the Star Eater", that drifted space in a
dormant state. Eventually, this being collided with the Earth, and
ended up entering Earth's orbit becoming its moon, but leaving its
psyche on the surface. This "wave-like psyche" stood a
contradiction to the already existing life on earth, which was still
at a very primitive state. In order to resist this contradiction, the
life forms in Earth had a period of evolution and developed a
collective subconsciousness in which the life forms locked away the
psyche of Nyx by suppressing its psyche with their own thoughts.
Nyx's physical body entered a healing process after the colliding
with the Earth from within Earth's moon. By the time Persona 3 takes
place, that process was just about done. The Fall is the process in
which Nyx's psyche re-enters its physical body, giving Nyx back its
original form, meaning a paradox for life on earth, and thus the end
of the world.

Nyx also shows up as a regular demon
serving drinks in nocturne.

**Thanatos** is the personification of death and mortality in
Greek Mythology. He is commonly known as a harbinger of peaceful
death, bringing the eternal sleep of death to the world while more
violent gods were responsible for harsher death. In the Greek Poem,
Theogony, Thanatos (Greek: θάνατος — Death) is one of the
sons of Nyx and is the elder twin brother of Hypnos. In the earliest
mythological accounts, Thanatos is the harbinger of peaceful death,
bringing eternal sleep to the world. Characterized as indiscriminate
and merciless, Thanatos is detested by all and he hates them in
return, all too happy to bring mortals to their fated end. Thanatos
is perceived by Greek poets as a fearsome, sword-wielding, shaggy
bearded specter and fierce of countenance. He is a harbinger of
suffering and grief, and his coming was marked by pain.

In later eras, Thanatos is portrayed again as an angel of Death,
associated more with a gentle passing than a woeful demise, guiding
mortals after their death. Many Roman sarcophagi depict him as a
winged boy, very much akin to Cupid. The depiction of Thanatos in
Persona 3 seems to be derived more from the earliest mythological
accounts, being characterized as a grim warrior surrounded by a
mantle of metal coffins.

Thanatos is the ultimate Persona of the Death Arcana in Persona 3.
It first appears near the beginning of the game, when the protagonist
first attempts to summon Orpheus. Thanatos emerges from Orpheus'
head, ripping Orpheus apart and mercilessly slicing apart the Arcana
Magician looming ahead. Later, the protagonist can gain accessibility
to Thanatos after the Social Link with Pharos is completed.

Thanatos' fusion prerequisite requires all the Personas of the Death Arcana, namely Loa, Pale Rider, Samael, Mot and Alice to perform a pentagon-spread fusion in the Velvet Room. Thanatos also grants the equipment Ring of Darkness, which repels Darkness-based attacks, as his Heart Item. Ryoji Mochizuki's true form as Death looks identical to Thanatos, seeing that Thanatos can be the manifestation of Ryoji's friendship with the protagonist during his form as Pharos.

He also shows up in strange journey as a being who says he follows zeus.

**Hypnos** is the embodiment of
sleep. In persona 3, Hypnos is Takaya Sakaki's artificially summoned
Persona, born from the experiments performed by the Kirijo Group. He is described in deep strange journey as following zeus, one of the twelve olympeans, and resides within the prison of the womb of grief. This is in keeping with the larger focus on greek figures in the remake.

**Moros** is the personification of doom in Greek mythology. He is the son of Nyx; brother to Hypnos and Thanatos; elder brother and leader of the Moirae Sisters.
 Moros manifests as a shapeless spirit that bears the responsibility of
revealing the day of one's impending demise. Because of this, he also
came to be known as a spirit of depression, for the souls whose deaths
he revealed are ridden with sadness and anguish.

Moros' name is also the origin for the word *"morose"*, meaning sullen, ill-humored or gloomy. Moros in persona 3 is Jin Shirato's artificially summoned Persona, born from the experiments performed by the Kirijo Group.

**Titans** were members of the
second generation of divine beings, descending from the primordial
deities and preceding the Olympian deities. They were giant deities
of incredible strength, who ruled during the legendary Golden Age,
and also comprised the first pantheon of Greek deities. Like Cronus
overthrowing his father Uranus, the Titans were overthrown by
Cronus's children (Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Hera and Demeter),
in the Titanomachy (or "War of the Titans").

The classical Greek myths of the
Titanomachy fall into a class of similar myths throughout Europe and
the Near East concerning a war in heaven, where one generation or
group of gods largely opposes the dominant one. Sometimes the elders
are supplanted, and sometimes the rebels lose and are either cast out
of power entirely or incorporated into the pantheon. Other examples
might include the wars of the Æsir with the Vanir in Scandinavian
mythology, the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish, the Hittite "Kingship
in Heaven" narrative, the obscure generational conflict in
Ugaritic fragments, Virabhadra's conquest of the early Vedic Gods,
and the rebellion of Lucifer in Christianity. The Titanomachy lasted
for ten years. The Titans were imprisoned in Tartarus after the war
had ended.

Note that in megaten, this trend of
depicting wars in heaven, with many cast down lumps together a lot of
different religions as if it was part of one overarching struggle.
The unit titan itself is not generally depicted as chaos however. In
iva, it sides with the divine powers against the dominant abrahamic
paradigm, showing an underdog who was cast down trying to fight back

for its position.

**Zeus** is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who
ruled as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His mythologies
and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of
Indo-European deities such as Indra, Jupiter, Perun, Thor, and Odin.
Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to
be born. He is known for his lightning bolt, which can be thrown to
enact divine judgement. In Greek mythology, zeus, was a son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. He had three sisters, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera, as well as two brothers, hades and Poseidon. Zeus was also infamous for his erotic
escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring,
including Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus,
Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses.

He was respected as an allfather who
was chief of the gods and assigned the others to their roles: "Even
the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and
all the gods rise in his presence." He was equated with many
foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to observe "That Zeus
is king in heaven is a saying common to all men".

Together, Zeus, his brothers and sisters, Hecatonchires and
Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans, in the combat called
the Titanomachy. The defeated Titans were then cast into a shadowy
underworld region known as Tartarus. Atlas, one of the titans who
fought against Zeus, was punished by having to hold up the sky. Note how there are different generations of gods. Which although the greeks generally did not consider challenging or supplanting the gods a real option, certain stories such as the play the birds show someone supplanting the gods and taking their power. Which is in keeping with megaten depictions of following this trend, and once again changing what gods exist.

After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his
elder brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus got the sky
and air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the
underworld). The ancient Earth, Gaia, could not be claimed; she was
left to all three, each according to their capabilities, which
explains why Poseidon was the "earth-shaker" (the god of
earthquakes) and Hades claimed the humans who died (see also
Penthus).

Gaia resented the way Zeus had treated the Titans, because they
were her children. Soon after taking the throne as king of the gods,
Zeus had to fight some of Gaia's other children, the monsters Typhon
and Echidna. He vanquished Typhon and trapped him under Mount Etna,
but left Echidna and her children alive.

In SMTI, echidna tells a story about
being cast down in a way that depicts yhvh in-game as also being a
stand in for zeus, paralelling god casting down the fallen angels to
zeus banishing beings to tartarus. And by extension giving him a tone
of being a stand in for many head gods. This gives some context to
the games, showing that yhvh's role is meant to be more expansive
than merely being the abrahamic god, but his in game essence is in
some sense a composite figure. A few other greek aspects show up on
the law side in II, as a subtle aesthetic, giving it a continuing
tone. Note that gaia resenting zeus corresponds to mem aleph, who is depicted as more or less gaia resenting yhvh who is a stand in for zeus at times that come off more greek.

In the remake of strange journey, zeus also shows up as a
separate demon, being half dark to represent the darker aspect of greek gods and their sometimes dangerous depiction. He is shown with a thunderbolt, referred to as keraunos, as well as the adamantium sickle he used to battle typhon. He is implied to be working under mem aleph as one of the prison wardens in the womb of grief, but when he is defeated implies he was tired of doing so anyways. Implying a chaos leaning, but a potentially weaker one. Which is likely why he looks half demonic in his appearance. He also says that he and his sister demeter differ greatly, and since she is a law figure that places him in chaos.

In smtv, zeus is one of the members of bethel who becomes part of the war of the gods at the end, seeking power for himself.

**Hera** is the queen of the gods and the goddess of marriage
and family. She was the daughter of Rhea and Cronus. She was the wife
and one of the three sisters of Zeus, as per the Greek mythology. The
symbols of the goddess included peacock, crown, lion, pomegranate,
cow and cuckoo. Hera's roman name is juno, which is the ultimate
persona of Fuuka Yamagishi.

**Poseidon** is known as the god of the sea. He is also
referred to as Earth Shaker due to the capability of causing
earthquakes. Collectively, he is called as the lord of earthquakes,
seas and horses. Poseidon was the middle son of Cronus and Rhea and
the brother of Zeus and Hades. He was married to the Nereid
Amphirite. The symbols representing Poseiden are horse, dolphin, bull
and trident. Poseidon ironically only shows up in the demikids games,

**Demeter** is one of the important parts of the Greek
religious hierarchy. She is the goddess of the harvest and presided
over grains and the fertility of the earth, although she is also
depicted as the godess of sacred law. She was the daughter of Cronus
and Rhea. The symbols of Demeter are poppy, wheat, pig and torch, and
she is depicted as a mother goddess, with it even showing up in her
name, with meter being a version of the word mother. By historians,
she is considered an archaic godess who was around since long before
worship of the other greek pantheon existed.

When Hades abducted and married her and zeus' daughter Persephone,
Demeter plunged the world into an almost endless winter, forcing Zeus
to mediate between her and Hades. As a result Persephone was allowed
to leave the underworld for a certain amount of time. The winter
months of the year occur when Persephone returns to Hades.

In the remake of strange journey she is depicted as working for the
three wise men, in the hopes of being able to work as a goddess of harvest in their new world. In the final fight against them however, they demand she sacrifice herself to restore them, and she reluctantly agrees, but is saddened, realizing it was a bad choice. She also shows up in V, in a sidequest involving zeus. While her young appearance might seem strange, it is notable that in the esoteric works of robert graves, the name demeter is used for the idea of the triple goddess, represented in different ages. And so one of these is the young demeter.

**Ares** is the god of war, bloodshed
and violence. He was the son of Zeus and Hera. The symbols used for
Ares are boar, dog, vulture, serpent and shield. In Greek literature,
he often represents the physical or violent and untamed aspect of
war, in contrast to his sister the armored Athena, whose functions as
a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and generalship.
Which is why ares shows up as a chaos demon, whereas athena is law.

The Greeks were ambivalent toward Ares:
although he embodied the physical valor necessary for success in war,
he was a dangerous force, "overwhelming, insatiable in battle,
destructive, and man-slaughtering." His sons Phobos (Fear) and
Deimos (Terror) and his lover, or sister, Enyo (Discord) accompanied
him on his war chariot.

**Hermes**, the youngest of the Twelve Olympians, is the
messenger of the gods in the ancient Greece. He is the offspring of
Zeus and Maia, and also recognized as the patron of travelers,
commerce, athletics, literature and poets, sometimes of healing and
invention, even of thieves and liars. He was well worshiped by the
ancient Greeks and apparently his figure appeared in many of their
myths. As an infant, he created the first lyre, which he gifted to
Apollo as compensation for stealing immortal cattle, who in
return gave him the caduceus, a herald staff adorned with wings
and entwined by two serpents, nowadays often used to symbolize
medicine. His main task is to aid travelers in their journey, also to
guide the dead to the Underworld, where he could enter or leave
without any hindrance. He is also known to wear a winged cap and
winged sandals. He shows up as a persona in persona 2.

**Hephaestus** is the craftsman of the gods and known as the
god of fire and the forge. As per the Greek mythology, Hephaestus was
the son of Zeus and Hera. The symbols of the god includefire, axe,
hammer, anvil, donkey, tongs and quail.

**Apollo** is one of the most
important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and
Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros
(a beardless, athletic youth), Apollo has been variously recognized
as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light,
plague, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has
a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis.

Although apollo shows up as a persona
in persona 2, the more important depiction of him is that gimmel from
SMTI is designed to look like apollo, and arcadia, the place he
presides over has both a greek name, as well as a somewhat greek
tone. Albeit not entirely, still having angel statues, and a bit
updated of designs. Since gimmel uses a fake aesthetic for himself
there, this is in keeping with him trying to match the aesthetic
implied by the real apollo. And he uses a harp, in keeping with the
musical aspect.

This is another subtle tie in between
law and greek myths. While the presentation of such is not uber
visual most of the time, there are some aspects on the down low. And
it ties to a few things, including that the greeks focused on the
static, whereas the east focused on the dynamic. Which gives context
to what law and chaos focus on as related to their ideals.

**Aphrodite** is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure,
and procreation. She is identified with the planet Venus; her Roman
equivalent is the goddess Venus. Myrtle,
roses, doves, sparrows and swans are sacred to her.

In Hesiod's Theogony, Aphrodite was created from the sea foam
(aphros) produced by Uranus's genitals, which had been severed by
Cronus. In Homer's Iliad, however, she is the daughter of Zeus and
Dione. In Plato (Symposium, 180e), these two origins are said to be
of hitherto separate entities: Aphrodite Ourania (a transcendent,
"Heavenly" Aphrodite) and Aphrodite Pandemos (Aphrodite
common to "all the people"). She had many other names, each
emphasizing a different aspect of the same goddess, or used by a
different local cult. Thus she was also known as Cytherea (Lady of
Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus), both of which claimed to be her
place of birth.

In Greek mythology, the other gods feared that Aphrodite's beauty
might lead to conflict and war, through rivalry for her favours; so
Zeus married her off to Hephaestus. Despite this, Aphrodite followed
her own inclinations, and had many lovers — both gods, such as
Ares, and men, such as Anchises. She played a role in the Eros and
Psyche legend, and was both lover and surrogate mother of Adonis. She
shows up as a persona in persona 2.

**Athena** is the ancient Greek
goddess of wisdom, craft, and war. In later times, Athena was
syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Note why for demons
it is so casual to be fused or split, since in their myths such things
happened all the time.

From her origins, Athena was regarded as the patron and
protectress of various cities across Greece, particularly the city of
Athens, from which she received her name. She was known as Polias
and Poliouchos (derived from polis, meaning "city-state"),
and her temples were usually located atop the fortified Acropolis in
the central part of the city. The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis
is dedicated to her. As the patron of craft and weaving, Athena was
known as Ergane. Athena was also a warrior goddess, and was believed
to lead soldiers into battle as Athena Promachos.

In ancient Greek
literature, Athena is portrayed as the astute companion of heroes and
as the patron goddess of heroic endeavour; in the Odyssey, she is the
divine counselor to Odysseus, and she was believed to have also aided
the hero Perseus. She is contrasted with ares who represents the more chaotic and less tactical side of war.

In Greek mythology, Athena was believed to have been born from the
head of her father Zeus. She was known as Athena Parthenos ("Athena
the Virgin"), but, in one archaic Attic myth, the god Hephaestus
tried and failed to rape her, resulting in Gaia giving birth to
Erichthonius. In the founding myth of Athens, Athena bested Poseidon
in a competition over patronage of the city by creating the first
olive tree. Along with Aphrodite and Hera, Athena was one of the
three goddesses whose feud resulted in the beginning of the Trojan
War.

Although not tending to show up in
major plot roles, athena is a law demon to represent being the
orderly counterpart to ares, who is chaos. Isabeau is shown using her
on Ivs chaos end where she leans law.

Likewise, in relation to persona 3, in the iliad, the aegis is carried by athena and zeus. What the aegis is supposed to be exactly is never specified, though it is often interpreted as a shield. In persona 3, the robot aegis uses athena as a persona, and is in keeping with the larger greek theme.

**Dionysus** is the ancient Greek god of wine, wine cups, wineskin, grapes
and fertility. He inspires ritual madness, joyful worship, ecstasy,
carnivals and celebration. He is sometimes included as one of the twelve
 Olympians. He was also known as Bacchus, the name adopted by the Romans
 and the frenzy he induces, *bakkheia*. In addition to winemaking,
he is the patron deity of agriculture and the theater. Hailed as an
Asiatic foreigner, he was thought to have had strong ties to the East
and to Ethiopia in the South. He was also known as the Liberator,
freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy or wine. The
divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the aulos and to
bring an end to care and worry. Scholars have discussed Dionysus'
relationship to the "cult of the souls" and his ability to preside over
communication between the living and the dead.

Despite his seeming association with chaos, dionysus shows up as a small scale law npc in smtv during a mission where him and black frost have differing ideas on how to handle distribution of goods, with dionysus offering a more sharing economy, versus black frost's goal of hoarding it to make money.

**The Apollonian and Dionysian** is a philosophical and literary concept, or dichotomy, based on certain features of ancient Greek mythology. Many Western philosophical and literary figures have invoked this dichotomy in critical and creative works.In Greek mythology, Apollo and Dionysus are both sons of Zeus.
 Apollo is the god of rational thinking and order, appealing to prudence
 and purity. On the other hand, Dionysus is the god of irrationality and
 chaos, appealing to emotions and instincts. The Greeks did not consider the two gods to be opposites or rivals, although often the two deities were entwined by nature.

Although no games have directly referenced it, it gives some context to the dynamic of law and chaos. Dionysus has only shown up in a few side missions, generally which revolve around wine. Gimmel being based on Apollo may be a reference, but is too vague to say.

**Artemis** was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana Some scholars believe that the name, and indeed the goddess herself, was originally pre-Greek. In the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity
 and protector of young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women;
she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows. The deer and the cypress were sacred to her. In later Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of Eileithyia in aiding childbirth. As diana she shows up as a demon with multiple boobs which is something she had been depicted as before, and as artemis she shows up as a persona in 2.

**Prometheus** is a Titan in Greek mythology, best known as the deity in Greek mythology who was the creator of mankind and its greatest benefactor, who stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave it to mankind.

Ancient myths and legends relate at least four versions of the
narratives describing Prometheus, his exploits with Zeus and his eternal
 punishment as also inflicted by Zeus. There is a single somewhat
comprehensive version of the birth of Prometheus and several variant
versions of his subjection to eternal suffering at the will of Zeus.

The most significant narratives of his origin appear in the *Theogony* of Hesiod which relates Prometheus as being the son of the Titan Iapetus
 by Clymene, one of the Oceanids. Hesiod then presents Prometheus as
subsequently being a lowly challenger to Zeus's omnipotence. In the trick at Mecone,
 Prometheus tricks Zeus into eternally claiming the inedible parts of
cows and bulls for the sacrificial ceremonies of the gods, while
conceding the nourishing parts to humans for the eternal benefit of
mankind. The two remaining central episodes regarding Prometheus as
written by Hesiod include his theft of fire
 from Olympus for the benefit of mankind against the will of Zeus and
the punishment of bring eaten by a bird every day, only to regenerate which Prometheus would endure for these acts as
inflicted upon him by the judgment of Zeus. In another story, Prometheus was later freed by Heracles, who slew the eagle, and in some this is because prometheus had a secret zeus wanted to obtain.

Although prometheus does show up in-game as a demon, this demon is not given much relevance. More importantly, lucifer is to some extent treated like a prometheus-esque character relative to yhvh, bringing humanity knowledge, and thus the capacity for egoistic action. This has added relevance due to the fact that yhvh is equated with zeus in SMTI, and lucifer is being depicted as inflicted with punishment. An even more direct prometheus-like figure is shown with AO in devil survivor 2, whose gifts to humanity are less morally ambiguous, and are related to art and science, something that some prometheus myths are shown as depicting. AO has a less antagonistic relationship to polaris than lucifer and yhvh, which corresponds a bit more with these myths. And is presented more explicitly similar to pronetheus, whereas lucifer only vaguely relates to it in keeping with what some positive satanic depictions tend to do.

Interestingly, in the story where prometheus is freed, he still had to wear a chain with part of the Caucasus rock to remind him of his wrongdoing toward Zeus. Although the association between prometheus and satan is less present, in iva satan, despite being an angel, is shown still wearing chains, with the art describing a previous punishment in hell. Which may be an association for a similar reason. In many games satan is depicted wearing chains, and in MTII it says he used to be a demon.

In soul hackers 2, they talk about how in many ancient myths humans are granted knowledge in some way that has ties to fire. And they tie this to the ambiguity about what the history of the covenants are. Notably, in the same game, the gnostic analogue that speaks to you from aion is called flamma, again bearing the fire association.

**Hades** was the Greek god of the underworld, which eventually took his name. In Greek mythology, Hades was regarded as the oldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although the last son regurgitated by his father. He and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated their father's generation of gods, the Titans, and claimed rulership over the cosmos. Hades received the underworld, Zeus the sky, and Poseidon the sea, with the solid earth—long the province of Gaia—available to all three concurrently. Hades was often portrayed with his three-headed guard dog Cerberus. The Etruscan god Aita and Roman gods Dis Pater and Orcus were eventually taken as equivalent to the Greek Hades and merged as **Pluto**, a Latinization of his euphemistic Greek name Plouton. Pluto represents a more positive take on the figure. Note that although there is no hades demon, pluto and orcus show up as seperate demons.

Despite modern connotations of death as evil, Hades was actually more altruistically
 inclined in mythology. Hades was often portrayed as passive rather than
 evil; his role was often maintaining relative balance. That said, he
was also depicted as cold and stern, and he held all of his subjects
equally accountable to his laws.
 Any other individual aspects of his personality are not given, as
Greeks refrained from giving him much thought to avoid attracting his
attention.

Hades ruled the dead, assisted by others over whom he had complete
authority. The House of Hades was described as full of "guests," though
he rarely left the Underworld. He cared little about what happened in the Upperworld, as his primary attention was ensuring none of his subjects ever left.

In SMTIV, a machine called pluto was constructed by the forces of law to kill the remaining people left on the surface of the planet, in order to make way for the new world. While at first it is depicted as if the humans were the ones who named it, later ancient of days refers to it as pluto as if it was their name for it also. Its relation to the mythological pluto is being something associated with death which resides in its own realm lower than the other gods, and which doesn't want to let its subjects escape. Note that if yhvh is equated with zeus, this is in keeping with that overall depiction. Orcus shows up as a seperate demon, most notably in the schwarzwelt, where it is a boss over an area, being depicted as a gluttonous all-consuming entity.

One reason for pluto being on the law side is that in the bible, there are many references to hades and tartarus due to the writers seeming to consider this the greek term for the hebrew idea of sheol. So atlus may consider this appropriation of these concepts something to analogously depict via appropriation of figures. Likewise, later on, dante's inferno would conflate the greek underworld with hell. Showing a continual association across time. While the original biblical uses of the word are occasionally translated as hell, they were not usually analogues to the modern idea of hell, but more often to an ambiguous post death state in general.

**Orcus** is a sometimes malevolent god of death and one of the gods of the roman underworld in Roman mythology. He is also known as the punisher of broken oaths and so is the Roman equivalent to the Greek god Horkos. He was more equivalent to the Roman Pluto than to the Greek Hades. He's daring but violent, and will massacre enemy troops in order to eat them. He also sometimes appears as a giant dragon with fangs of iron.

A terrifying portrait of this deity was portrayed in paintings on the walls and tombs of the Etruscan tombs as a hairy, bearded giant. He was later given the same status as the Roman Pluto and Dis Pater, rulers of the underworld. Orcus is also said to have inspired Orcs, a race of pig-like men who frequently appear in modern fantasy.

**Charon**. In Greek mythology, Charon is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on the mouth of a dead person.
 Some authors say that those who could not pay the fee, or those whose
bodies were left unburied, had to wander the shores for one hundred
years. He also shows up in dant'e inferno in a similar role, ferrying peopel over acheron, with hell taking the place of the underworld.

In megaten, in various games such as II and IV, charon is seen on the game over screen, presiding over the river styx, which on the other side it is said that souls rest until reincarnation. Note how his appearance in this role in a primarily abrahamic setting parralel's dante's inferno.

**Fortuna**, also known as Lady Fortune, is the goddess of fortune, chance and luck in Roman mythology, daughter of Jupiter and Venus. She can be represented veiled or blind. She is believed to have originally been a goddess of blessing and fertility, mainly being worshiped by mothers. She was also treated as the personification of Luck. She is the Roman counterpart of the Greek minor goddess Tyche.

Her cult dedicated the date of June 11th, and on June 24th a festival called Fors Fortuna was held in her name. She was an important goddess in the day-to-day lives of the Roman people, and was later merged with the Egyptian goddess Isis. In antiquity, she was also known as Automatia.

This goddess, unlike others, didn't disappear from culture when Christianity settled in Europe, and she was often referred to depicted in poetry and painting, being called Lady Fortune. She is also one of the entities that can be seen in the Wheel of Fortune tarot card.

In IV, Fortuna appears in the Challenge Quest, "The Cauldron." Acting as on behalf of her friend Brigid and the gods of Danann, she went into Naraku in order to retrieve Dagda's Cauldron, which was stolen by the angels. Flynn can find her in Naraku - Excavation Worker Quarters. She explains that Dagda's Cauldron is mistakenly called the Holy Grail and that they went into the enemy stronghold to retrieve the stolen object, but everyone except her had been killed by the angels. Being too injured to take the cauldron back herself leads Fortuna to ask Flynn to take it in her stead. Should it get broken he can come back and get the cauldron fixed. Note that she is still listed as law aligned.

**Pales** was a Roman deity of shepherds, flocks and livestock, who was worshiped from northern Africa all the way to Rome. The donkey's head has long been a sign of fertility and is often worshiped. The deity's temples have been built on Palatine Hill in Rome. He is regarded as a male by some sources and as a female by others, and even possibly as a pair of deities. Its name is thought to have derived the terms "palace" and "Palestine." In IV, Pales is the true form of Baphomet and is faced in the Challenge Quest, *Multi-Demon Fusion*. Using the Demon Summoning Program found in smartphones, Pales is reborn to aid Cernunnos in his goals and the two fight Flynn. They disappear after being defeated.

**Helios** was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. He is the son of the Titan Hyperion and the Titaness Theia. Helios was described as a handsome titan crowned with the shining aureole of the Sun, who drove the chariot of the sun across the sky each day to earth-circling Oceanus and through the world-ocean returned to the East at night. In the Homeric hymn to Helios, Helios is said to drive a golden chariot drawn by steeds. As time passed, Helios was increasingly identified with the god of light, Apollo. However, in spite of their syncretism, they were also often viewed as two distinct gods/titan (Helios was a Titan, whereas Apollo was an Olympian). In the majin tensei games, helios is the name of a satellite that satan is going to use to cleanse earth.

**Persephone** is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter and is the queen of the underworld. Persephone was married to Hades, the god-king of the underworld. The myth of her abduction represents her function as the personification of vegetation, which shoots forth in spring and withdraws into the earth after harvest. In her myth she is allowed freedom to live above half the year, but must rule as queen of the underworld for the other half. She shows up as a demon in megaten that is half black and half white, and split in half, showing the two lives she lives. In keeping with this design, zeus too is half black and half white, although the similarity may be accidental.

**The Hecatoncheires** or **Hundred-Handers**, were figures in Greek mythology, three giants of incredible strength and ferocity that surpassed all of the Titans, whom they helped zeus overthrow, after he freed them from imprisonment. They show up in megaten as a green demon with many arms and faces.

**The Moirai** or **Fates** were three sister deities, incarnations of destiny and life. Their names were **Clotho**, the one who spins the thread of life; **Lachesis**, she who draws the lots and determines how long one lives, by measuring the thread of life; and **Atropos**, the inevitable, she who chose how someone dies by cutting the thread of life with her shears. It seems that the Moirai controlled the fates of both mortals and gods alike. It may be that Zeus
 was the only one not bound by them, as an epithet that was used for him
 was Moiragetes (he who commands the fate). Other sources suggest,
though, that he was also bound by the Moirai.

They appear in nocturne as servants of the Assembly of Nihilo and guard the Obelisk, Yuko Takao and the Nightmare System in that role.

**Echidna** was a half-woman, half-snake creature in Greek
mythology, also known as the "mother of all monsters", as
she gave birth to most of the Greek mythical creatures. She was the
wife of the “lawless” Typhon, who was the "father of all
monsters" and the most fearsome and dangerous monster in said
mythology. Both she and her husband were the children of Gaia and
Tartarus. The couple attacked the Olympians, but Zeus managed to
repel them, burying Typhon under Mount Etna; Echidna and her children
were spared to continue challenging future heroes. Echidna was killed
by Argus Panoptes while sleeping.

Some of the most famous children of
Echidna and Typhon were Orthrus, the two-headed dog who guarded the
Cattle of Geryon, Cerberus, the three-headed hound who guarded the
gates of the Underworld; the Lernaean Hydra, the multi-headed serpent
that grew two heads if one was cut off; the Gorgon sisters, the best
known being Medusa; and the Chimera, a creature that had the heads of
a lion, a goat and snake.

In shin megami tensei I she works for
the chaos side, and announces herself as a godess who in the past
gave birth to many monsters to test the worthiness of heroes. She
describes her struggle against and loss against yhvh in the past in a
way that places yhvh in the role of zeus in her original myth. Her
story is important for context, since it shows that yhvh in the story
of SMTI is meant to be in part a composite figure, who also fills the
roles of other top gods such as zeus. Implying that many different
pantheons in the game worlds may ultimately go back to him, due to
his overarching nature, presenting himself as a monotheistic god.

**Orpheus** is a legendary Thracian musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth.
 The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all
living things and even stones with his music, his attempt to retrieve
his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld,
 and his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine
music. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the
most significant figures in the reception of classical mythology in Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular culture including poetry, film, opera, music, and painting.

He is the original persona of the main character in persona 3, representing his association with death and potentially sacrifice.

**Hercules** is a Roman hero and god. He was the equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, who was the son of Zeus (Roman equivalent Jupiter) and the mortal Alcmene. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. In SMTII it shows up as the name for a type of demonoid. Since demonoids are part demon, it likely references hercules' nature as being half god. And was a construct, presumably of the center, to use for its strength. In additional keeping with the greek theme sometimes seen on law.

**Cerberus** is the monstrous multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon,
 and usually is described as having three heads, a serpent or dragon for a tail,
and snakes protruding from parts of his body. Cerberus is primarily
known for his capture by Heracles, one of Heracles' twelve labours. Cerberus has a central role in the series, being the demon used in the original ova, as well as being a demon form of the protagonist's dog in I, and later siding with the hero in II. Implied to be the same cerberus in all these cases. The demon also shows up in many side missions in later games. Notably, the in-game cerberus tends to only have one head, due to that being how it was originally drawn. This is not always the case, however.

Note that the cerberus design in game tends to have the dragon tail. This is sometimes seen as a flourish from the games or original novel itself, but does stem from the original myths.

**Orthrus** was a two-headed dog and one of the many monsters sired by Typhon and Echidna from Greek mythology. Among his siblings were Cerberus, Sphinx and Chimera to name but a few. Orthrus was the dog of the Titan Geryon, and along with Eurytion, was the guardian of Geryon's herd of red cattle. Geryon, Eurytion and Orthrus were all slain when Heracles was completing the tenth of his twelve labors.

**The Minotaur** is a beast of Greek myth, part bull and part man. He was
kept by King Minos in a labyrinth created by the great Greek engineer,
Daedalus. Every year, Athens was forced to send tribute to King Minos in
 the form of sacrifices to the Minotaur. This continued until the hero
Theseus slayed the mighty beast after entering the labyrinth where the
monster was and used the Ariadne Thread to recover his way home. In some
 tellings, the Minotaur is given the personal name Asterion. Which shows up as a stronger version of minotaur in IV. The minotaur and medusa show up in mti in deadalus tower (named after another greek figure).

**Medusa** was a monster, a Gorgon, generally described as a winged human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Gazers upon her hideous face would turn to stone, altough for some reason not if you did so through a mirror. Medusa was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head, which retained its ability to turn onlookers to stone, as a weapon until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. She is often seen showing up with minotaur, doing so in the first megami tensei game, and then later in SMTIV as a nod to it.

**Eros** was the Greek god of sexual attraction. His Roman counterpart was **Cupid** ("desire"). Some myths make him a primordial god, being the fourth to come into existence after chaos, gaia, and tartarus, while in other myths, he is the son of Aphrodite. He is generally depicted as a winged figure, often naked, and generally youthful though not exclusively. Some depictions of him emphasized a bow, with which he could shoot people to ensnare their affections for someone.

His mischievous
interventions in the affairs of gods and mortals cause bonds of love to
form, often illicitly. Ultimately, in the later satirical poets, he is
represented as a blindfolded child, the precursor to the chubby
Renaissance Cupid, whereas in early Greek poetry and art, Eros was
depicted as an adult male who embodies sexual power, and a profound
artist.

Although as a demon he only shows up in side games such as demikids, in SMTII the design for haniel is noticeably based on eros / cupid. Although the figures of eros and haniel are not directly equated, many consider that the artwork and statues of cupid from the later roman works were a heavy inspiration on the design of angels as winged youthful looking humanoids. In addition to this, haniel is equated with the planet venus and sometimes with love as a whole, making another indirect association. So in-game it may be implying that this is another thing absorbed into the abrahamic paradigm.

**Chimera** is the monster offspring of Typhon and Echidna from Greek mythology, and is the sibling of Cerberus and Orthrus. This monster breathes fire and is made up of parts from different animals; the general ones being the body and head of a lion, with a goat's head sprouting in the middle, and a snake's head for a tail. Other accounts include the Chimera being a three-headed animal, with a dragon being the third head.

**Psyche**. In Greek and Roman mythology, Psyche was the youngest daughter of the
king and queen of Sicily. She was the most beautiful person on the
island and suitors flocked to ask for her hand. In the end she boasted
that she was more beautiful than Aphrodite (Venus) herself, and Aphrodite sent Eros
 to transfix her with an arrow of desire and make her fall in love with
the nearest person or thing available. But even Eros (Cupid) fell in
love with her and took her to a secret place and eventually married her
and had her made a goddess by Zeus (Jupiter). She shows up as a persona in p3 and p4.

**Atlas.** In Greek mythology, Atlas was a Titan condemned to hold up the sky for eternity after the Titanomachy. Atlas is a Titan
 who bore the spheres of the heavens; inspiring the widely used image of
 a man carrying a celestial sphere on his back or shoulders. Atlas and his brother Menoetius sided with the Titans in their war against the Olympians, the Titanomachy. When the Titans were defeated, many of them (including Menoetius) were confined to Tartarus, but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of Gaia (the Earth) and hold up the sky on his shoulders, to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace. He is sometimes seen as the brother of prometheus.

A common misconception today is that Atlas was forced to hold the Earth
on his shoulders, but Classical art shows Atlas holding the celestial spheres, not a globe; the solidity of the marble globe borne by the renowned Farnese Atlas may have aided the conflation, reinforced in the 16th century by the developing usage of *atlas* to describe a corpus of terrestrial maps.

**Narcissus**. In Greek mythology, was a hunter from Thespiae in Boeotia who was known for his beauty. He was the son of the river god Cephissus and nymph Liriope.[1] He was proud, in that he disdained those who loved him. Nemesis
 noticed this behavior and attracted Narcissus to a pool, where he saw
his own reflection in the water and fell in love with it, not realizing
it was merely an image. Unable to leave the beauty of his reflection,
Narcissus lost his will to live. He stared at his reflection until he
died. A flower grew from the spot he died, which was named the "narcissus." Narcissus is the origin of the term *narcissism*, a fixation with oneself and one's physical appearance or public perception.

**The** **Amazons** are a nation of all-female warriors in Classical and
Greek mythology. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in
Sarmatia (modern territory of Ukraine). Other historiographers place
them in Asia Minor or Libya. They show up as a femme race demon in devil summoner.

**Nemesis**. In Ancient Greek myth, Nemesis was the goddess of divine retribution
against those who succumb to pride and arrogance. Also, she is the
daughter of Erebus and Nyx. It is ken's initial persona in persona 3.

**Hecate** was the greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon,
ghosts and necromancy. She was the only child of the Titanes Perses and
Asteria from whom she received her power over heaven, earth, and sea. She was generally depicted holding torches or a key, and often was depicted in the form of three godesses. Regarding the nature of her cult, it has been remarked, "she is more at
home on the fringes than in the center of Greek polytheism.
Intrinsically ambivalent and polymorphous, she straddles conventional
boundaries and eludes definition. She is sometimes considered to be a titan, who as one of few who aided the gode against the other titans was not banished for it.

Hecate was associated with borders, city walls, doorways, crossroads
and, by extension, with realms outside or beyond the world of the
living. She appears to have been particularly associated with being
'between' and hence is frequently characterized as a "liminal" goddess. "Hecate mediated between regimes—Olympian and Titan—but also between mortal and divine spheres."

She is occasionally seen as the goddess of the underworld in Greek lore. It is said she may be the deification of Queen Persephone's strict personality. Her duty sees the dead and those who incur the wrath of gods suffer by her extremely cruel hands. She is master of the Furies,
 goddesses of revenge. Her name means "she who acts from afar," and is
associated with the moon. Later, when she was turned into a demon, she
began to be depicted as having three heads: a dog's, a lion's and a
horse's. In SMTII she shows up as a general working under lucifer, presumably based on this depiction. She can only be fought on the new moon. Her sephirot location represents how she has three heads, in keeping with it attaching to three above sephirot.

**Hydra**. The Lernaean Hydra, also known as the Hydra of Lerna or more often simply known as the Hydra, is a gigantic serpent with nine heads, with the center one being immortal. It is one of the spawn of Typhon and Echidna. With each head that was cut off, two more grew. The monster's haunt was the marshes of Lerna near Argos. The Lernaean Hydra was killed by Heracles for the second of his Twelve Labors. There were also other hydra, called hydrae, that had some physical differences. In media, a hydra was treated as a sub-species of a dragon.

Hydra is a demon of the Drake race and the first major boss encountered. It was sent to Tokyo Tower to kill angels but doesn't distinguish between the heavenly host or demons of chaos. It attempts to devour anyone entering its new territory and has become known as the demon of the tower.

**Arachne** was a spinstress who wove beautiful tapestries.
 They were so beautiful, she claimed that she was better than the
goddess Pallas Athena. Angered by this, the goddess of wisdom challenged her to a spinning duel. In some interpretations of the myth, Arachne defeated Athena. In
others, Athena proved the superiority of the gods to man, and Arachne
hung herself in distress. Whichever the case, Athena changed the poor

girl into a spider so that she may weave forever, and because of this myth, all members of the spider family are called arachnids. She shows up as a femme race demon.

**A sphinx** is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. Although more associated with egypt, the most notorious myth that refers to them is from greek myth, after greece imported the concept from egypt. In Greek tradition, it has the head of a human, the haunches of a lion, and sometimes the wings of a bird. It is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer its riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories, as they are killed and eaten by this ravenous monster. This deadly version of a sphinx appears in the myth and drama of Oedipus. Unlike the Greek sphinx, which was a woman, the Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man (an **androsphinx**).
 In addition, the Egyptian sphinx was viewed as benevolent, but having a
 ferocious strength similar to the malevolent Greek version and both
were thought of as guardians often flanking the entrances to temples.

The Sphinx is said to have guarded the entrance to the Greek city of Thebes, and to have asked a riddle
 of travellers to allow them passage. The exact riddle asked by the
Sphinx was not specified by early tellers of the stories, and was not
standardized as the one given below until late in Greek history.

It was said in late lore that Hera or Ares sent the Sphinx from her Aethiopian homeland (the Greeks always remembered the foreign origin of the Sphinx) to Thebes
 in Greece where she asks all passersby the most famous riddle in
history: "Which creature has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and
two-footed and three-footed?" She strangled and devoured anyone who
could not answer. Oedipus
 solved the riddle by answering: Man—who crawls on all fours as a baby,
then walks on two feet as an adult, and then uses a walking stick in old
 age. By some accounts
 (but much more rarely), there was a second riddle: "There are two
sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to
the first. Who are the two sisters?" The answer is "day and night". This riddle is also found
in a Gascon version of the myth and could be very ancient.

Bested at last, the tale continues, the Sphinx then threw herself
from her high rock and died. An alternative version tells that she
devoured herself. Thus Oedipus can be recognized as a "liminal"
 or threshold figure, helping effect the transition between the old
religious practices, represented by the death of the Sphinx, and the
rise of the new, Olympian gods.

Although sphinxes do show up as enemies in various games, generally as neutral aligned, the most notable appearance of one is futaba's mental image of her mother as angry at her in persona 5. This however was based on her being lied to about her mother's intentions, and not entirely understanding them. Its appearance in-game represents the large scale and strength of the mythological figure. In SMTII the cherub statues look like sphinxes in reference to how sphinxes seem to be derived from the earlier babylonian karibu, which cherubs were likewise derived from.

**Hermanubis** was a god who combined Hermes (Greek mythology) with Anubis (Egyptian mythology). He is the son of Set and Nephthys. Hermes' and Anubis's similar responsibilities (they were both conductors of souls) led to the god Hermanubis. He was popular during the period of Roman domination over Egypt. Depicted as having a human body and jackal head, with the sacred caduceus that belonged to the Greek god Hermes, he represented the Egyptian priesthood, engaged in the investigation of truth. Anubis in the early games' appearance reflects this syncretism, appearing as anubis, but holding a caduceus as hermanubis tended to be depicted.

Although it was not common in traditional Greek religion
 to combine the names of two gods in this manner, the double
determination of Hermanubis has some formal parallels in the earlier
period. The most obvious is the god Hermaphroditus,
 attested from the fourth century BC onwards, but his name implies the
paradoxical union of two different gods (Hermes and Aphrodite) rather than an assimilation in the manner of Hermanubis.

**Daimon**. In smtv, daimon are described as such. A low-ranking class of spirits. While the name may conjure up familiar images of "demons" due to Christianity's influence, daemons were not strictly associated with good or evil and simply thought to be lesser supernatural beings, sometimes acting as tutelary spirits that guided the souls of men. What might be considered a demon today would've been called a "cacodaemon" in ancient Greece — that is, an evil spirit. In contrast, their benevolent counterparts were known as "agathodaemons.

Despite this association with greek myth, daimon by appearance look like generic demons, and the design was made to be used as such. Enemy Daemons may be spoken to by Zeus if he is in the protagonist's party. Zeus strikes up a conversation with it but becomes annoyed when the Daemon forgets who he was until he mentions Keraunos. The Daemon will give Zeus an item before fleeing.

**The Caladrius** is a Roman mythological bird that lives in a king's house and cleanses people of diseases. If it looks into the face of an ill person, it means that they will live. However, if it looks away, the sickly person's illness has progressed too far, and it thus marks their certain death. To cure the person, the Caladrius looks at them, and drawing the sickness into itself, the bird flies up toward the sun, where the disease is burned up and destroyed. The Caladrius happens to be unclean and is not to be eaten. It has been theorized that the caladrius is based on a real bird. Due to descriptions of it being completely white with no black on it, it is possible that it was based on the dove, or possibly some sort of water bird such as the heron. Louis Reau believes it was most likely a white plover.

A Christian metaphor for the Caladrius is that it symbolizes Jesus, with being pure (all white) and takes away men's sins, mirroring the way the Caladrius draws the sickness into itself and ascends upwards into the sun to destroy the disease(s).

**Napaeae** are a breed of Nymph from Greek lore. Meaning "wooden dell" in Greek, they were said to live in wooded valleys, glens or grottoes. It shows up as a low level fairy in SMTIV and iva. Little about them is mentioned in their myths however.

**Centaurs** are half human half horse hybrids in greek myth. they are seen as wild and untamed, and like wine although are not easily capable of holding it down, often when intoxicated attacking humans or eachother. They are known as excellect bowmen.

**A harpy** was a half-human and half-bird personification of storm winds, in *Homeric poems.* They were generally depicted as birds with the heads of maidens, faces
pale with hunger and long claws on their hands. Roman and Byzantine writers detailed their ugliness. Pottery art depicting the harpies featured beautiful women with wings. Ovid described them as human-vultures. Various harpies show up as demons in-game.

**The Cyclops** is a creature from Greco-Roman Mythology. A one-eyed giant with immense strength, they are generally considered to be one of the children of Ouranos and Gaia. In Homer's *Odyssey*, the hero Odysseus famously encountered and blinded a cyclops on his own.

**Python** was the earth-dragon of Delphi, represented as a serpent. She presided at the Delphic oracle, which existed in the cult center for her mother, Gaia. Hellenes considered the site to be the center of the earth, represented by a stone (the Omphalos or navel) which Python guarded.

Python became the chthonic enemy of the later Olympian deity Apollo, who slew her and remade her former home and the oracle, the most famous in Classical Greece, as his own.

**Daphne** is a Nymph and a minor nature deity in Greek lore. She was the daughter of either the river god Peneus or the river Ladon. She was pursued by Apollo who was in love with her due to being affected by Eros' arrow. Begging her father or Gaia for help, they turned her into a laurel.

Another variation of the myth exists where Daphne is a mortal girl pursued by Apollo. In any version of the myth it ends with the laurel becoming sacred to Apollo.

**Phosphorus.** In Greek mythology, Hesiod calls Phosphorus a son of Astraeus and Eos, but others say of Cephalus and Eos, or of Atlas. He is the embodiment of the morning star (which is the planet venus). Although a relatively obscure figure, it should be noted that another name for him is lucifer, and so the devil appropriating this name is a relation to the figure somewhat, since lucifer itself is a name for the morning star. Phosphorous is often even depicted as a winged humanoid, and so its possible that these depictions overlap somewhat. Some luciferians equate the figures together deliberately.

**Pandora** was the first woman on earth. Zeus rewarded Prometheus and Epimetheus for their loyalty and gave them
the job of creating the first creatures to live on Earth. Epimetheus
formed the animals and gave each a special skill and form of protection.
 Prometheus took his time molding man, and was left with no forms of
protection since Epimetheus had already given them all away. Prometheus
knew man needed some form of protection and asked Zeus if he could let
man have fire. Zeus refused. Fire was only for the gods. Prometheus
ignored Zeus and gave man fire anyway. For this, Prometheus was
punished.

 This torture wasn’t enough of a punishment for Zeus who also believed
that humans should be punished for accepting the gift of fire from
Prometheus. To punish man, Zeus created a woman named Pandora. She was
molded to look like the beautiful goddess Aphrodite. She received the
gifts of wisdom, beauty, kindness, peace, generosity, and health from
the gods. Even though Epimetheus’ brother, Prometheus, had warned him of Zeus’
trickery and told him not to accept gifts from the gods, Epimetheus was
too taken with her beauty and wanted to marry her anyway.

As a wedding present, Zeus gave Pandora a box (in ancient Greece this
was called a jar) but warned her never to open it. Pandora, who was
created to be curious, couldn’t stay away from the box and the urge to
open the box overcame her. Horrible things flew out of the box including
 greed, envy, hatred, pain, disease, hunger, poverty, war, and death.
All of life’s miseries had been let out into the world. Pandora slammed
the lid of the box back down. The last thing remaining inside of the box
 was hope. Ever since, humans have been able to hold onto this hope in
order to survive the wickedness that Pandora had let out. Pandora shows up in persona 1. Note the similarities of this story to the story of the garden of eden.

## The Illiad and Oddysey

Up
 until the mid 1800's, the trojan war was mostly thought to be a myth. However, the
 discovery of the ruins of a city that fits the description of Troy and
seems to have been destroyed by war in around 1300 BC means that there
may have been a historical Troy, and it may have been destroyed by a
Greek army.

**Illiad**. In the story of the Illiad, Paris, the younger
prince of Troy, stole the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, from
 her husband Menelaus, with some help from the goddess of love,
Aphrodite. Menelaus had his brother Agamemnon gather a thousand ships
worth of Greeks to storm Troy to take her back.

Ten years of war followed at a stalemate, until Hector, the older prince of Troy (and best warrior on that
side) killed the Greek Patroclus, who was disguised as his best friend
Achilles (the best Greek warrior). Achilles challenged Hector to single
 combat, won, and dragged his body behind his chariot for miles. Priam,
 the king of Troy, had to come to Achilles as a beggar to get the body
back. Achilles was eventually killed by an arrow from Paris, which hit
his heel; the only weak spot he had, since he'd been held by it while he
 was dipped in the River Styx by his mother to make him invulnerable
(long story).

The smartest Greek commander, Odysseus, then thought up with a way to
 finish the war. The Greeks pretended to surrender, building a big
wooden horse and giving it to Troy as an offering to Poseidon for a safe
 sea voyage home. The Trojans took the Horse inside. But it was hollow and full of Greeks, who opened the gates for the rest of
their army, who destroyed Troy and took back Helen. Most of the Trojans who survived fled with a guy named Aeneas (son of
 Aphrodite), who went on to found Rome.

**Odyssey**. Ten years after the trojan war, Odysseus has still not returned home. Odysseus' son Telemachus is about 20 years old and is sharing his absent father's house on the island of Ithaca with his mother Penelope
 and a crowd of 108 "suitors" whose aim is to
 persuade Penelope to marry one of them, all the while reveling in
Odysseus' palace and eating up his wealth.

Odysseus' protectress, the goddess Athena, requests to Zeus, king of the gods, to finally allow Odysseus to return home when Odysseus' enemy, the god of the sea Poseidon, is absent from Mount Olympus. That night Athena, disguised as the man Telemachus, (note gods being able to incarnate as either sex, as you see higher beings in megaten often do) finds a ship and crew for the prince who goes out to find word of Odysseus, who was a captive of the nymph Calypso. The story briefly shifts to the suitors, who have only just now realized
 that Telemachus is gone; angry, they formulate a plan to ambush his
ship and kill him as he sails back home. Penelope overhears their plot
and worries for her son's safety.

The second part recounts the story of Odysseus. After he has spent seven years in captivity on Ogygia, the island of Calypso,
 she falls deeply in love with him, even though he has consistently
spurned her advances. She is persuaded to release him by Odysseus'
great-grandfather, the messenger god Hermes, who has been sent by Zeus in response to Athena's plea. Odysseus builds a raft and is given clothing, food, and drink by
Calypso. When Poseidon learns that Odysseus has escaped, he wrecks the
raft on an island where he tells his story.

In his story, after leaving the war various things befell his crew. They were also trapped by a cyclops, whose eye he stabbed out. He told the cyclops his name was nobody, leading him to tell this to others, who were confused by the story. The cyclops later hears Odysseus' true name from him, only to tell his father Poseidon, who upon learning this keeps him trapped at sea for ten more years.

They skirted the land of the Sirens,
 who sang an enchanting song that normally caused passing sailors to
steer toward the rocks, only to hit them and sink. All of the sailors
had their ears plugged up with beeswax, except for Odysseus, who was
tied to the mast as he wanted to hear the song. He told his sailors not
to untie him as it would only make him want to drown himself. They then
passed between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, narrowly avoiding death, even though Scylla snatched up six men. Ultimately losing them all, and washing ashore where he was kept prisoner.

After finishing his story, the people he was telling it to help him return home where he takes part in a competition to split an arrow on an axe without revealing his identity. After doing so, he announces who he is, and revenge is taken on the suitors, many of whom are killed. The family of them seeks revenge, but athena convinces them not to take it, and so peace is restored. Odysseus shows up as a persona in persona 2.

One quote that shows up in the odyssey is “Men are so quick to blame the gods: they say that we devise their misery. But they themselves — in their depravity — design grief greater than the griefs that fate assigns.” This is very similar to a quote from strange journey where a demon tells you that while humans think of demons as violent, humans have made more ways of being violent than demons have ever dreamed of devising.

## Relationship to abrahamic religion

There were many ways that the greek and roman religions influenced or related to christianity. For instance, one of the Greek words translated
"hell" in the English versions of the bible is "tartarus."
Peter uses the word in referring to the place of judgment for evil
angels. "For if God did not spare the
angels who sinned, but cast them down to tartarus and
delivered them into chains of darkness reserved for judgment." Another time the word hades is used. So the christians writers referred to terms for the underworld that come from greek mythology, using them as synonyms for their own ideas.

The name zeus itself is implied to have the same root as deus (and even the word deva that made its way to eastern religions like buddhism). And as such relates to a term later used for yahweh. The name Zeus occurs only twice in one scene in the Bible, namely in Acts 14:12 and 14:13, where the townsfolk of Lystra mistake Paul for Hermes and Barnabas
 for Zeus and act accordingly. They explain that they are men like any other, but that they
preach the gospel in order to convert them. The Lystrans, however, seem to ignore this, being totally willing to sacrifice to them against their will.

Christian art was highly influenced by paganism. Much of the symbolism
(such as the halo which was used to indicate a solar deity) comes from
pagan sources. In early iconography, Jesus is often portrayed the way
Apollo is in pagan art: with long hair and a clean-shaven face. The portrayals of Mary with the baby Jesus are thought to be inspired by the iconography of
Isis worship in the Hellenistic era, and some have suggested that the
adoption of a theology about Mary was directly influenced by the worship
 of Isis. In dionysian belief, wine had a central part in their rituals, which many believe influenced the formation of christian ritualism. The cross itself was turned into a christian symbol despite being a roman means of execution.

The use of relics has its roots in Germanic traditions. When Germans
would swear an oath, they would swear the oath on the bones of a great
warrior. Many churches to avoid being pillaged in the early middle ages,
adopted similar practices to keep the Germans at bay.

Likewise, the depiction of yhvh as an old man that came up later on is believed by many to have been influenced by depictions of zeus as the standards for head gods. Although this depiction is not something common to early christianity, but rather came from later artists who would also have been inspired by greek and roman sources.

It should be noted that many of these things, particularly the art and
iconography come into use only to share the Christian message better as
 a culture. That this happened is not an indication that they were simply mixing outside theology in en-masse, or that these figures were merely alternate depictions of pagan gods. Although many historians believe the veneration of saints or the concept of the trinity to have been influenced loosely from greek polytheism, the degree to which this is done is often overstated, and no direct comparisons between specific gods and saints have been found in early christianity. Notably saints and gods had very different connotations, because in greek myths, death was impure and separated you from the holy places. Death was not associated with unity to the gods. However, over time, various saints such as brigid were tied to ideas on gods from other religions.

More importantly than the influence from the generic greek polytheism was influence from the greek philosopy schools however. Strict concepts of an omnipotent, omnipresent, etc god came from plato's idea of the forms being ideal states, and so they combined that idea of an ideal essence with God. And since god was the ideal form, any change in him would change to be less perfect, and so therefore he was static and did not change.

Likewise, the greek concept of the logos, which was sometimes conflated with zeus by figures like the stoics actually made its way into the bible itself, in the beginning of the book of john, implying that Jesus was the logos. So these concepts of perfection, and being an underlying structure of reality was a greek philosophical idea that christianity and hellenic judaism grew into. Making the religions heavily greek inspired, and necessarily contextualized in that light. Plato's forms also became the basis of the sephirot in kabbalah, which was heavily inspired by neoplatonism. Early Christians often considered themselves successors to both greek philosophy and jewish religion, although noting that greek philosophy was not divinely inspired.

Overlap also happened later on. For instance, dante's inferno casually combines greek and christian figures into one story, with various greek monsters appearing as demons in hell. The bottom layer is even named Cocytus, which is based on the greek term.