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Hymenaios (in some versions just Hymen) is the Greek god of marriage ceremonies, an attendant of Aphrodite, as well as a frequent playmate of Eros and Ganymede.

History[]

Hymenaios showed up in person to lead the procession during the wedding of Orpheus and Eurydice. However, he could most likely already see that their marriage was destined to come to a tragic end very soon, since he arrived wearing black funeral robes, while his sacred torch spluttered and smoked, with him shedding quite a few bitter tears during the ceremony.

Appearance[]

Hymenaios is usually depicted as a tall and handsome young man with snowy white wings, holding a sacred matrimonial torch in his hand. In Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, however, he comes to Orpheus' wedding wearing black funeral robes.

Abilities[]

  • Amokinesis: Hymenaios has absolute control and divine authority over love, passion, and desire, though not as much as Aphrodite/Venus or Eros/Cupid, since his powers are only limited to romantic love during wedding ceremonies.
  • Matrimony: As the God of Marriage Ceremonies, Hymenaios most likely has some special powers pertaining to marriage and matrimonial happiness, though his are most likely not as powerful as those of Hera, his female counterpart.
    • Matrimony Precognition: As seen in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, Hymenaios could foresee that the marriage of Orpheus and Eurydice was destined to come to a tragic end, which greatly saddened the god.

Trivia[]

  • Related to the god's name, a hymenaios is a genre of Greek lyric poetry sung during the procession of the bride to the groom's house, in which the god is addressed, in contrast to the Epithalamium, which was sung at the nuptial threshold.
  • Hymenaios is also mentioned in Virgil's Aeneid and in seven plays by William Shakespeare: Hamlet, The Tempest, Much Ado about Nothing, Titus Andronicus, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Timon of Athens, and As You Like It, where he joins the couples at the end.
  • There are several contradictory accounts of his parentage in Greek mythology - in some versions, Hymenaios is the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, while in others he is the son of Apollo and one of the Muses (usually either Calliope or Terpsichore), while in others he is the son of Pierus and the Muse Clio.
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