Bridal armour and Gorgon guardians: Greek Women's Magic Part 4/5

The secrets of Greek folk embroidery and wedding art

Welcome to Part 4 of the Greek Women’s Magic series, where I explore the hidden magical symbolism in Greek folk embroidery. Part 1 provided sociocultural context; Part 2 explored the botanical symbolism; Part 3 examined two powerful birds in the nuptial symbolism. In this instalment I focus on the remaining mythical beings found as recurring symbols. The final instalment, Part 5, ties the threads of this symbolic narrative together, and traces continuities in these traditions through the centuries.

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In Part 2 we saw the initiatory nature of the ritualisation of marriage and the liminality undergone by the bride, leaving her vulnerable to supernatural threats requiring magical protection. In Part 3 we elaborated on this further, establishing that she is in a sense a very real sacrifice for the good of the collective, and we saw how closely this is connected with rituals relating to construction and bodies of water. We now encounter her most powerful guardians and her magical armour.

(Hera’s) Peacocks and other beasts

Aside from specific recurrent animals and birds such as the rooster, eagle, dove, and peacock, many other mythical animals are found within the bridal embroidery (photos later in this article). Some are straightforward, such as sheep and horses reflecting the agrarian economy in which these brides lived; but others are clearly imaginary. Tracing the threads (forgive me…!) back through time leads us to echoes of the goddess Hera.

Hera is one of the oldest Greek (potentially pre-Greek) goddesses, with archaeological evidence of her worship in Mycenean times, and some of the earliest and largest temples built to venerate her (the Heraia of Samos and Argos featuring artefacts dated to the 10th century BCE). Her numerous temples and sanctuaries are found, unlike those of Zeus, outside cities, often on plains, peaks, or near the coast. Especially on large plains, wild herds grazed and various wild beasts were said to roam in harmony (Strabo 5.1.9).

This may be one of the reasons this (oft-misunderstood) goddess became associated with all manner of fearsome mythical animals, as attested in the most archaic epics: in the Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo, she gives birth to the monster Typhaon via parthenogenesis after she was angered by Zeus giving birth to Athena (Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo 300ff).

Slide from my course Birth of the Greek Gods, lecture 2.2: The Bestiary.

Hera was also a protector of motherhood and pregnancy (with her daughter Eileithyia the goddess of childbirth), and in one localised but major cult she seems to have been the earliest trifold goddess and origin of the maiden-mother-crone triad, in her aspects as Παις-Τέλεια-Χήρη (maiden-perfect-widow) at Stymphalia; a temple near Argos was also consecrated to her as a virgin goddess (Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol i, p.428-429; Berkert 1983, 287-8; Pausanias 8.22.2). Pausanias also writes of a magical spring in Argos where Hera bathed every year to become a virgin again; a secret shared only within a secret ritual (Pausanias 2.38.2-3).

The emphasis on her reinstated virginity originates from the context of agrarian rituals and the cyclical nature of the year: honoured as a virgin, Hera was then honoured annually as a bride and fertility goddess through a hieros gamos ritual. In some regions statues were clothed in wedding veils and carried across the city to a ritual marital bed set up in a sanctuary. This emphasis on Hera as a bride, rather than as a wife, renders her a particularly powerful protector of young brides, and many other local rituals reflecting her stormy relationship with Zeus were practiced to bring harmony to marital life.

Ancient vase depicting the sacred marriage of Hera and Zeus, attended by the other Olympian gods.

Significant rituals relating to marriage and married life were conducted especially in Argos and Samos, where archaeological finds suggest her worship there dates from the late Bronze Age.

The earliest archaeological evidence for Christian worship in Argos (near Mycenae) dates from the 10th century CE, when Hera’s sanctuaries were reconsecrated to Panagia, who bears many of Hera’s epithets (Θεομήτωρ (mother of god); Παρθένος (Virgin); Νύμφη (Bride); and Άνασσα (Queen) and attributes (protector of women, childbirth, and children).

The monastery of Παναγία Κατακεκρυμμένη Πορτοκαλούσα Άργους (Our Hidden Lady the Orange-Bearer of Argos) is built above a cave once used for the worship of Hera Anthousa (of the Flowers) while a temple to Hera Akraia (of the Peaks) stood at the top of the hill. The monastery's own founding legend has it that an icon of Panagia was found hidden by the branches of orange trees in the cave below, and a second icon believed lost, was miraculously found beside it. While in earlier centuries the buildings and worship were limited, the monastery was founded in the 18th century as a nunnery, re-dedicated as a male monastery in 1856. The photographs depict the feast day of the Dormition of the Virgin, with both legendary icons on display, decorated with garlands of flowers and fresh oranges. Special pies are made and intricately decorated with sacred images; these are consecrated and then shared out to the parishioners. Flowers play a significant role in the Orthodox churches; beyond feast days, they are always used in specific steps of the ritual, and always found near the icon of Panagia as well as other parts of the church.

This late adoption of Christianity in some rural pockets of Greece should not be surprising; it is also attested in Thessaly and further afield, and explains the persistence of many pre-Christian elements in folk practices. (Porphyrogenitus C : De Administrando Imperio. District of Columbia: Dumbarton Oaks, 1967.)

Hera’s association with the peacock dates from the Hellenistic period onward, as peacocks were only discovered by the Greeks through Alexandrian conquests, and it was known as ‘the Persian bird,’ originally a symbol of cosmic unity and nobility. According to the early myth, Hera’s faithful servant Argus Panoptes with multiple eyes was guarding Io, the white heifer whom Zeus desired. To free her, Zeus killed Argus (or had him killed by Hermes in other versions).

It is not until Ovid (43 BCE-17CE) that we get the tale of Hera placing Argus’ eyes into a peacock’s tail to immortalise him. It is always crucial to distinguish between Greek and Roman myth (especially Virgil and Ovid due to their significant influence), as this will always reflect certain information about the time period and mentality from which they emerged, or, as in this case, it helps us pinpoint the date when the peacock legend began.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses were widely read and recited, and many elements deriving from it have entered folk culture. It is very likely that in early usage, Hera’s protection and favour was sought through the use of the peacock. However, it also entered Christian usage and is found very widely in the carvings within Orthodox churches, always in pairs flanking sacred elements in the architecture. Its renewed meaning in the ecclesiastic context reflected its original Persian significance: a symbol of cosmic unity and immortality of the soul.

Note the peacocks on the gate to the sanctum in the first image, and alternating with the double-headed eagle in the second. These are among almost infinite variations on a Greek Orthodox Church templum which always features specific symbols and icons in very specific locations. The dragons at the very top of the templum are one example of especially powerful apotropaic magic that is quite well-known in Greece and is identical to that practiced in antiquity, but that is a story for another day.

Easily identifiable by their tail, on the bridal embroidery peacocks are equally ubiquitous and are always found in pairs flanking the central “tree” or “vessel” elements (for detail on this see Part 2 of this series). It is suggested (Vrella 48) that while there are echoes of Greco-Roman Hera, the revived Persian meaning, complete with the central tree of life element, is intended here as a wish for long life for the couple. Nevertheless, the powerful association of Hera with brides, bridal traditions, as well as the peacock do suggest deep roots for these particular symbols, with the polysemous peacock as an ideal symbol.

(Aphrodite’s) girdle, the sun and moon

Central to many Greek folk bridal costumes is the girdle; a heavy, ornately decorated item of silver or gold, covered with specific symbols and often accompanied by matching bracelets, chokers, and diadems. In antiquity, Homer (Iliad 14.159–221) mentions the girdle of Aphrodite as a magical, embroidered girdle with the power to induce passionate desire and bring marital harmony. In later centuries, it took on rather different attributes, though as a vital bridal accessory it may well have echoed the ancient notions as well.

Bridal costume from Macedonia, Benakis Museum, Athens. Note the two-headed eagle in the centre of the buckle, topped by a humanoid face, and various birds amidst the foliage on the rest of the belt, including what are either doves or peacocks. The central circular shapes on each lateral part of the belt are stylised breasts, often seen in wedding jewellery across the Balkans.

Gold-plated bridal diadem. Apotropaic heads and twin birds (either peacocks or roosters) make up the vertical elements. From Pogoni, Epirus, second half of the 18th century. Benakis Museum, Athens.

Top two costumes: Karagounis bridal outfits. Bottom two: Sarakatsani bridal costumes. The one on the left is from the Peloponnese region, the one on the right from Attica. The Karagounis tribes lived mainly around Thessaly and worked as farmhands. They moved from northern Epirus towards Southern Greece during the medieval periods and belong to the broader population known as Arvanites (from Arvani region. Though they speak a unique dialect of Toscan Albanian alongside Greek, they are not ethnically Albanian). The Sarakatsani tribes are a Greek nomadic mountain people encountered until the mid-twentieth century across the highlands of mainland Greece in four main groupings. Their dialect, songs, crafts, and traditions are especially well preserved due to their isolation and tendency to marry only within their tribal groups. They have been studied closely by anthropologists and folklorists, and the scholarly consensus on linguistic, ethnographic, and genetic evidence finds that they are one of the oldest Greek tribal groups in existence, though today they are more or less entirely urbanised. Both tribal names are eponyms derived from Turkish descriptors; the people of these tribes identify as Greeks. Many magicoreligious traditions and heavily ritualised aspects of everyday life survive among these people, largely for reasons explained in Part 3.

These items were not for decoration: they were seen as a form of armour to protect the bride as she passed through the liminal space of the transition from girl to wife. (Merakles, Greek Folklore, 1992; Papantoniou, Macedonian Costumes, 1992). Her genitals, belly, chest, feet, and head required protection from ‘evil spirits’ due to their respective roles in fertility and child-rearing, strength (ability to work in the fields and the home), and clear judgement.

Similar protective items and symbols are found across Greece in regional variations on the same theme, and sacred fertility girdles (also known as cinctures) are also found in many local cults of saints who have absorbed the attributes of ancient goddesses. One such is St. Eirini Chrysovalantou whose cult I will explore in a future offering.

Solar symbolism abounds in bridal costumes through the symbolism of the rooster as discussed in Part 3, but also in more overt designs. See the caption below for commentary on the solar halos designating the bride’s supernatural guardians.

caption...

The Sarakatsani and Karagouni bridal “aprons” feature crosses, swirls, and spirals identified as “moons” and “suns” covering the areas associated with fertility. The moon’s waxing and waning reflects the ebb and flow of fertility and repeated pregnancies.

Gorgons, Sirens and Neraides

On the diadems, belts, and embroidered items pictured throughout this series, we see humanoid faces, sometimes disembodied, sometimes with the body of a bird, sometimes more that of a mermaid, at the edges and centre of the embroidery.

These are identified as apotropaic symbols evoking protective daemons or neraides fulfilling the same function as the ancient gorgoneion - the powerful protective or apotropaic symbol of none other than the Gorgon Medusa found across Greece in temples and homes alike.

The word neraida (from nereid) does not fully translate. It is akin to the fey folk of Celtic lore, but there is no exact match for ‘fairies’ in Greek, and their attributes and roles are somewhat different (click here for my translations of authentic folk tales of Greek Neraides).

Neraides live close to populated areas, often near bodies of water or in forests, enjoy singing and dancing, are fickle, can be dangerous, and will sometimes harm humans if crossed. Their favour desired, their anger feared, they feature in vernacular curses - when I annoyed her, my own mother often said (in Corfu dialect) “άει στην αναράϊδα” (=go to the neraida), a common, more genteel form of “go to hell”!

In the context of nuptial symbolism, they are powerful guardians meant to scare off anyone who would harm the couple. Sometimes they are depicted as a central figure, or in pairs flanking the couple, or, as seen below, the bride and her parents as they escort her to be wed.

This bolster case from Lefkas (17th-18th century) features the Neraida (identified by her crown and wings) in the centre of the composition. In this case she is winged, with the bride and groom sheltered beneath her wings. The parents of bride and groom respectively are bringing (camels or horses) to signify the dowry, and an additional couple outside her wings are the maid of honour and best man (compares). The remaining symbolism reflects elements already explored, from heraldic beasts and the ever present rooster (to the right of the Neraida’s head) and the vessels with flowers repeated symmetrically at various points. The preponderance of goats, sheep, and deer (upper and lower border), may tell us a little of the occupation of the groom and location in which they lived.

The Sirens and Neraides

These Neraides are depicted in several different forms: as bird-women, two-tailed mermaids, winged beings, or small faces inserted in the foliage.

On the left, a bridal pillowcase from Skyros. Note the doll-like faces beneath the couple, representing neraides. On the right, note the almost abstract, symmetrical winged forms at the bottom of the composition, again, representing neraides.

Of these, the bird-women and two-tailed mermaids are of greatest interest, as they retain traces of stories built into their iconography. The last two depictions demonstrate an emphasis on retaining the supernatural protection and presence, but iconographically there is less of a link with significant narratives.

The bird-women have a long presence in Greek myth and folklore, and comprise yet another symbol with chthonic overtones. They are none other than the Sirens, familiar from Homeric legend. According to Hesiod, they were the daughters of the river Acheloos with Terpsichore the Muse (Gaia in other sources), residents of the flowery island Anthemoessa.

Archaic and classical depictions of Sirens. The bird-woman form is thought to be derived from the Egyptian Ba-bird; a depiction of the soul. The two ceramic Sirens on the right are both from graves, in their roles as psychopomps.

Αpollodorus elaborates that they were the playmates of Persephone, transformed by Demeter in punishment for not rescuing her from abduction. Euripides (Helen) calls upon them to join their beautiful voices in lamentation at the fall of Troy. Depicted in funerary art (as in the lower right picture above), they were seen as psychopomps whose sweet song softened the pain of death (Kerenyi, Gods of the Greeks).

As daughters of a powerful river god, they were already naiads (water nymphs), therefore their association with water and a fish-like form is if anything more reasonable than their half-woman half-bird appearance. Yet in the Greek iconography, while tritons and other deities of the waters (Oceanids, Phorcids, Pleiades - and the original nereids; the daughters of Nereus) are depicted with a single fish tail, the iconography of the Sirens is wholly consistent - birds rather than fish. It is only in Western medieval reimaginings that the Sirens are depicted as mermaids, and the double-tailed version, known as a melusine, is also imported.

In Greece, mermaids are called γοργόνες, deriving not from the daughters of Nereus who were wholly kind and gentle beings, but from Gorgo Medusa - she of the snake-haired petrifying gaze. Though a daughter of Phorcys and therefore a sea-nymph in her own right, she was rarely depicted with marine characteristics; her terrifying, apotropaic visage being far more familiar (hence the gorgoneion).

The Gorgon, and after she was slain by Perseus, her head - the gorgoneion - mounted on Athena's shield or aegis, rendering the goddess invincible.

From the Late Antique through to the Byzantine period, the concept of merpeople was vague - there are references to terrifying feminine entities with or without fish-tails as well as bird-like features, a petrifying gaze, and sweet voice; such mixed descriptions continue in various versions of the Physiologus (the 3rd century Greek ancestor and main source of medieval bestiaries).

"On the Gorgona," from one of the few extant Greek manuscripts of the Physiologus (Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, gr. IV. 35 (Greek Physiologus, 16th century). The description runs for several pages, and conflates the myth of the Gorgon, the Sirens, and various Christian moralistic commentaries. Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, gr. IV. 35 (Greek Physiologus), 49r - 50r.

The Physiologus was translated, reinterpreted, and embellished numerous times from the 3rd century onwards, with the Latin, French, and early English versions each adding to it and reimagining the creatures in ever more fantastical ways. In the West, the mermaid took on the forms we know today.

In the Greek imagination however, a new myth cycle appeared and took root from roughly the 4th century CE. Attributed to Alexander’s court historian Callisthenes and probably based on a combination of records by a genuine 4th century BCE historian and various pseudepigraphical documents, the Alexander Romance became the world’s first bestselling novel. Though some parts are rooted in fact, much of it is epic fantasy on a par with the Arthurian cycle. Translated into multiple languages across Europe, the Middle East, and as far afield as India, Indonesia and Mongolia over the course of a millennium, mentioned in Chaucer’s Canterbury tales and reimagined in every retelling, it had a vast impact on medieval epic storytelling wherever it travelled.

Pages from the Trebizond manuscript (Codex Graecus 5 / The Venice Alexander Romance), commissioned by Emperor Alexios III in the second half of the 14th century. Written in Greek minuscule, the illuminations are typical of Byzantine art of the day. It passed into private ownership and changed hands many times. The Arabic lettering below in black reflects additions made by Ottoman owners during the Ottoman occupation. More information on this manuscript and facsimile.

The Alexander Romance became a fresh repository of cultural memory and identity for Greeks, as Christianity and later Ottoman enslavement changed their world. Well known throughout Byzantine times, used as a source of literary and artistic inspiration, and occasionally, propaganda, it was a touchstone for literary developments and cultural pride. Its manuscripts include many depictions of classical myths and are one of the key pieces of material evidence demonstrating that classical myth and sometimes ritual were well-known in the Byzantine era. They informed oral tradition and sparked new folk legends.

By 1680, during the Ottoman occupation of Greece, the Alexander Romance was being disseminated through a combination of cheap chapbooks and oral tradition. “The Paper of Alexander the Great” (Η Φυλλάδα του Μεγαλέξανδρου) was written in vernacular Greek, reproducing episodic variants on the Alexander Romance.

Deeply loved by ordinary people, a repository of hope and symbol of resistance during the occupation, it was widely read and retold, rewritten and reimagined by generations of 20th century Greek poets, playwrights, puppeteers, artists and novelists, while its influence has trickled down to our time in children’s songs, schoolroom readings, and vernacular expressions.

Most importantly for our purposes here, it gave us a new mermaid, and the city of Thessaloniki its name. It also explains how two-tailed mermaids wound up on the bridal sheets.

The work of a shipwright from Volos, Messinia, entitled “The Mermaid as she was told by the old captains.”

New myths and mermaids

According to the Alexander Romance, Thessaloniki (Victory of Thessaly) was the daughter of King Philip II and his Thessalian wife Nikisipoli. Her birth coincided with the victory of Philip’s army in Thessaly, and thus he named her to mark the occasion, and the city too.

The half-sister of Alexander, she adored her brother. After a daring expedition, Alexander managed to acquire the elixir vitae which confers eternal life. Visiting his beloved sister, he told her of his vision to rule in peace forever. He passed her the vial to hold while he removed his armour, but she clumsily dropped it (other variants say she drank it by accident or deliberately), and it was lost. He set off again to collect it anew, but did not return. In her shame and grief over what she had done, and in fear for her brother’s life , Thessaloniki turned into a beautiful mermaid and plunged into the sea.

She would haunt the seas, stopping every ship and ask “Sailor, dear sailor, does King Alexander live?” If the sailor made the dire mistake of telling her that he was long dead, mad with rage, she would transform into a terrible monster with snakes for hair, raise a whirlwind and bring the ship down. So all ships’ captains bade their sailors to give her only one answer to her question: “He lives, he lives and he reigns.” Then her face would shine, the sea would calm, and songs of victory would echo on the breeze, as if the Macedonian army was just returning from the East, and she would swim off singing “King Alexander lives, my brother lives, he lives and reigns and rules the world!”

Numerous folk versions of this story also exist, but all use the passphrase “He lives, he lives and he reigns” (Ζεί, ζεί και βασιλεύει)… still commonly used in today’s vernacular, and simply meaning “he/she’s fine” in response to queries about someone’s health.

The fusion of the ancient figures of the Gorgon and the tragic Siren are still clear to see in this new myth; its significance to post-medieval enslaved Greeks quite obvious. Unlike some of the other archaic myths, where we cannot be certain of the degree of historical depth that has travelled, in the Alexander Romance we have a clear continuity that is strengthened by the need of an occupied people for a hero and tale of hope. Clearly some elements of the more ancient character travelled too, for otherwise she would not be a core apotropaic/protective figure. Here the popular imagination fused the mermaid with the spirits of the waters that we have already encountered, imbuing her with power and the ability to travel wherever she is needed.

As for the two tails, this is no more than an aesthetic fusion via Frankish and Venetian influences. Melusine would have been irrelevant to medieval Greeks - but in her form, they had a new way to portray a composite, immortal being: the terrible Medusa and the Siren within a narrative close to their heart.

In this 11th century Byzantine manuscript written in Greek miniscule, Gorgo clearly has a single tail. This is a copy of a 9th century manuscript, itself a copy of another from late antiquity. Though earlier ones may not all have been illustrated, the illuminations here clearly demonstrate the expression of classical myth with Byzantine artistic style.

Panagia the Mermaid

An additional layer in Christian times is found with a further syncretism with the beloved Panagia, who herself is depicted with a gorgoneion, but in one unique iteration, she becomes a mermaid herself.

Above: Panagia Gorgona (Mermaid) found in a small chapel in the village of Skala Sykaminias on the island of Lesvos (pictured). An old sea captain supposedly created it in thanks for his safe return from his many voyages. She is pictured with the attributes of Poseidon, including the fish tail and trident, as protectress of seafarers. Below: Panagia of the Life-Giving Fount, a far more common icon consecrated to a natural, healing spring at Balikli, Constantinople in the 5th century CE. Note the gorgoneion on the fountain; it is used in many depictions of this icon type. Lower right: the actual altarpiece at Balikli monastery, including a small pool with water from the spring and live fish. Legend has it that on the day Constantinople fell, a monk was frying fish near the holy water. On hearing the City had fallen, he exclaimed that he would not believe it unless the fish he was frying jumped into the water. They did, and since then live fish have been kept in the spring. A variant of the legend tells of Justinian having a vision of a monastery over a spring, and subsequently founding it. Destroyed several times, the current monastery dates to 1830.

The mermaid Panagia is the only such depiction, and dates to the 19th century; it is a product of, rather than an influence on, the folk perception of this particular form and the personification of the sea. Panagia of the Life-giving Fount is far older and more influential, an echo perhaps of the aqua vitae, and definitive evidence of the continued use of apotropaic figures near sources of water, even when they are guarded by the Queen of Heaven herself. In this example they are stylised and Western in appearance; many other icons of this type display more classically drawn gorgoneia.

As we have seen in the folk tales as well as the traditions relating to construction, in the Greek folk imagination supernatural dangers lay around every corner, particularly in liminal spaces and those associated with water (note the vessel of water in Part 2). This association with water is all that is left of the archaic sea nymphs now fused with Gorgo, the Sirens, and Melusine. Nevertheless, as the bride shed one identity for another, she required powerful guardians. The gorgoneion and the mermaid had long been fused in myth; and their connection to Persephone through the older narratives completes the picture.

In Part 5, we will draw together these many threads, explore more deeply the reasons for this ubiquitous link to chthonic entities, and discuss some considerations regarding the study of this material.