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PROLOGUE
The gods are 'immortal', unlike us mere mortals. This is because
they have Ichor, not blood, running through their veins. Their
diet of ambrosia and nectar also imbues them with immortality.
Death is a stranger to them, as they do not experience that
biological event which all humans are subject to sooner or
later.
They are also ageless, meaning that the Greek gods are not prone
to the physical decomposition brought upon mortals by factors
such as time and age.
Therefore, as nobody could kill a Greek god, you could say that
they 'faded away' rather than died. All it took was for the
faithful to stop believing in them.
The following is courtesy of Robert Graves'
'Greek Gods and Heroes'
As soon as the Emperor Julian of Constantinople,
the last of the Roman emperors to worship the Olympians, had
been killed fighting the Persians in A.D. 363, Zeus was told by
the Three Fates that his reign had ended - he and his friends
must leave Olympus.
Zeus angrily destroyed the palace with a thunderbolt, and they
all went off to live among humble country people, hoping for
better times. But Christian missionaries chased them out with
the sign of the Cross, and turned their temples into churches,
which they divided among the leading saints.
Mortals were now allowed to reckon by weeks again, as Prometheus
the Titan had once taught them. The Olympians were forced to
hide in woods and caves, and have not been seen for centuries.
However, Echo remains; and so does the narcissus flower, which
hangs its head sadly, looking at its reflection in mountain
pools; and Iris's rainbow. Moreover, the stars were never given
new names by the Christians.
You can still see in the night sky the Scorpion that bit
Heracles; and Heracles himself; and the Nemean Lion he killed;
and Artemis's She-Bear that nursed Atalanta; and Zeus's eagle;
and Perseus and Andromeda; and Cepheus and Cassiopeia,
Andromeda's parents; and Ariadne's Crown; and the Heavenly
Twins; and Cheiron the Centaur, now known as 'The Archer'; and
Phrixus's Ram; and the Bull that carried off Europa; and the
winged horse Pegasus; and Leda's Swan; and Orpheus's Lyre; and
the stern of the Argo; and Orion the Hunter,
with his belt and sword; and many other memorials of the
Olympians' ancient and savage reign.
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