Chthonic
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- See also: Life-death-rebirth deities
Chthonic (from Greek χθόνιος-khthonios, of the earth, from khthōn, earth; pertaining to the Earth; earthy) designates, or pertains to, gods or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Greek religion.
Greek khthon is one of several words for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the land (as gaia or ge does) or the land as territory (as khora does).It evokes at once abundance and the grave.
| Greek deities series |
|---|
| Primordial deities |
| Titans and Olympians |
| Aquatic deities |
| Personified concepts |
| Other deities |
| Chthonic deities |
| Hades and Persephone, |
| Gaia, Demeter, Hecate, |
| Iacchus, Trophonius, |
| Triptolemus, Erinyes |
| Heroes and the Dead |
Its pronunciation is somewhat awkward for English speakers—for this reason, many American dictionaries recommend that the initial "ch" should be silent. However, most other dictionaries, such as the OED, state that the first two letters should be pronounced [k]. Note that the modern pronunciation of the Greek word "χθόνιος" is [xθonios], though the Classical Greek pronunciation would have been something like [ktʰonios]. [1]
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[edit] Chthonic and Olympian
While terms like "Earth deity" have rather sweeping implications in English, the words khthonie and khthonios had a more precise and technical meaning in Greek, referring primarily to the manner of offering sacrifices to the god in question.
Some chthonic cults practiced ritual sacrifice. When the sacrifice was a living creature, the animal was placed in a bothros "pit" or megaron "sunken chamber". In some Greek chthonic cults, the animal was sacrificed on a raised bomos "altar". Offerings were usually burned whole or buried rather than being cooked and shared among the worshippers. Not all Chthonic cults were Greek, nor did all cults practice ritual sacrifice, some performed sacrifices in effigy or burnt vegetable offerings.
[edit] Cult type versus function
While chthonic gods and goddesses had a general association with fertility, they didn't have a monopoly on it, nor were Olympian gods wholly unconcerned for the earth's prosperity.Thus Demeter and Persephone both watched over aspects of the fertility of land, yet Demeter had a typically Olympian cult while Persephone had a chthonic one.
Even more confusingly, Demeter was worshipped alongside Persephone with identical rites, and yet was occasionally classified as an "Olympian" in poetry and myth.
[edit] In between
The categories Olympian and Chthonic weren't, however, hard and fast.Some Olympian gods, like Hermes and Zeus, also received chthonic sacrifices and tithes in certain locations.The deified heroes Heracles and Asclepius might be worshipped as gods or chthonic heroes, depending on the site.
Moreover, a few deities aren't easily classifiable under these terms.Hecate, for instance, was typically offered puppies at crossroads — not an Olympian sacrifice, to be sure, but not a typical offering to Persephone or the heroes, either.But because of her underworld functions, Hecate is generally classed as chthonic.
[edit] References in Psychology
In Jungian psychology, the term chthonic was often used to describe the spirit of nature within, the unconscious earthly impulses of the Self, one's material depths, but not necessarily with negative connotations.
For example: "Envy, lust, sensuality, deceit, and all known vices are the negative, 'dark' aspect of the unconscious, which can manifest itself in two ways. In the positive sense, it appears as a 'spirit of nature', creatively animating man, things, and the world. It is the 'chthonic spirit' that has been mentioned so often in this chapter. In the negative sense, the unconscious (that same spirit) manifests itself as a spirit of evil, as a drive to destroy." [2]
[edit] References in popular culture
Horror author Brian Lumley applied the term "Chthonian" for a fictional species in his contributions to H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
The ancient alien race in the Battlezone computer game is called The Cthonians. They are split into two factions, the Olympians and the Hadeans. According to the game, this alien race is responsible for the Greek mythos.
In Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man, the meeting place of the Brotherhood is "the Chthonian".
In the lyrics of The Tea Party's song "The Halcyon Days", "now chthonic life has set its sights on making me a slave to its ways".
In Phillip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials, underground railway systems are called 'Chthonic Railways'.
Chthonic is the name of a fictional, abrasive bridge-playing robot in a long-running series of humor articles by Danny Kleinman and Nick Straguzzi in The Bridge World magazine.
[edit] References
- ^ See Modern Greek phonology.
- ^ C.G. Jung, "Man and his Symbols", ISBN 0-385-05221-9, p. 267.
