Goats in Mythology

Hey dear community, at the beginning I would like to welcome you all to my new post and hope you had a day that was full of positive experiences! In this post, I would like to talk a little about the mythology of an animal and hope you can expand your knowledge.

Pictures of goats can be seen here and this wonderful animal can often found in mythology and are considered extremely helpful animals which have been close to the side of people for thousands of years and the oldest traces of the goats are already 10000 years old. Already in ancient times, a diverse symbolism around the goat emerged and and there were interpretations that it could be of supernatural nature and have magical powers and people revered it very much and regarded it as a wise animal and often it was also linked to occult faith and there were views that it was of a diabolical nature and this idea was particularly shaped in the Middle Ages. Often the devil is provided with horns and also Baphomet, which was worshipped by the templars in France according to assumptions, is depicted with the head of a goat as well as horns and in other cultures it is also linked to creative properties and was considered an animal of the fertility of the earth. In Greek mythology, this animal was associated with the god of the forest Pan, who has also been revered as a mixed creature with the attributes of a goat and the representation of pan is also considered a pioneer of occult faith and on this basis much of this view developed in late antiquity. The god of wine Dionysus was also often associated with goats and it was also considered an important sacrifice for the god Zeus and his wife Hera and after the birth of Zeus, his mother Rhea asked the nymph Amalthea to take care of her son and transformed her into a goat who fed the little Zeus with her milk and the horn of the goat was therefore also considered a sign of fertility in ancient Greece.

The goat was also considered a symbol of the goddess of hunting Artemis and numerous poets from ancient Greece have mentioned goats in their writings and even today they have an important meaning in Greece and are particularly widespread on the island of Samothraki. Also in Norse mythology, these aesthetic animals have an important meaning and the chariot of the thunderstorm god Thor is pulled by goats known under the names Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr and were considered a very true companion of him. In legends of Norse mythology, the goat Heidrun also appears, which was known for donating met drink and fed on the Yggdrasill, which was also known as a tree, which had held the worlds together. Sometimes goats were also associated with healing in ancient cultures because these animals fed on medicinal plants and you just had to follow them to find the right medicine and in general it was also associated with male aspects and vitality and goats can also often be found in art as in this work by the painter Michael Wittler (1802 - 1880) and are also a basis for numerous mythical creatures in different legends. Over the centuries, it has also achieved a high priority in heraldry and can be seen in numerous different coats of arms and can be regarded as an animal around which a diverse symbolism has emerged.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about mythology! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens and the others with my iPhone 12.