The gate of the year

Marble votive relief representing Zeus Meilichios in the shape of a snake, facing a group of worshipers (IV century B.C.), discovered in Piraeus and now in the National Museums (Staatliche Museen) in Berlin, Germany.
Zeus Meilichios (“Mild”, “Gracious” in the sense of benevolent, easy to be entreated) was a particular form, abiding in the Underworld, of the supreme god of the Greek pantheon, who was generally associated with the heaven. Like many other mythological figures related to the chthonian world, this form of Zeus could manifest himself in the shape of a serpent. The serpent, associated with the world beyond and with the dead, had a twofold aspect: both positive and negative, benevolent and awful, like the subterranean Zeus himself.

[Source: http://library.artstor.org/library/]




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Marble votive relief representing Zeus Meilichios in the shape of a snake, facing a group of worshipers (IV century B.C.), discovered in Piraeus and now in the National Museums (Staatliche Museen) in Berlin, Germany. Zeus Meilichios (“Mild”, “Gracious” in the sense of benevolent, easy to be entreated) was a particular form, abiding in the Underworld, of the supreme god of the Greek pantheon, who was generally associated with the heaven. Like many other mythological figures related to the chthonian world, this form of Zeus could manifest himself in the shape of a serpent. The serpent, associated with the world beyond and with the dead, had a twofold aspect: both positive and negative, benevolent and awful, like the subterranean Zeus himself. [Source: http://library.artstor.org/library/]