What is omphalos in Greek mythology?

An omphalos is a religious stone artifact, or baetylus. In Ancient Greek, the word ὀμφᾰλός (omphalós) means “navel”. Omphalos is also the name of the stone given to Cronus. In the ancient world of the Mediterranean, it was a powerful religious symbol.

What is the stone of omphalos?

The Omphalos Stone is the very stone that the Titan Rhea gave the Titan Cronos to swallow instead of the newly born Zeus.

What did the omphalos stone mark?

holy stone at Delphi, the omphalos (“navel”), that reposed in the Temple of Apollo there and supposedly marked the exact centre of the universe.

What is Zeus area of power?

Zeus was the most powerful of the Greek gods and had a number of powers. His most famous power is the ability to throw lightning bolts. His winged horse Pegasus carried his lightning bolts and he trained an eagle to retrieve them. He could also control the weather causing rain and huge storms.

What is the significance of the omphalos?

The Sacred Omphalos Stone, Navel of the World and Communicator of the Gods. An omphalos is a powerful symbolic artifact made from stone. Considered the ‘navel of the world’, the central point from which terrestrial life originated, an omphalos was an object of Hellenic religious symbolism believed to allow direct communication with the gods.

What is the linga and how does it work?

TRACING THE STORY and evolution of the linga and dipping into the re-telling of the many myths and Puranic tales in Hindu tradition, show the linga becoming a potion of magic, fertility, procreation, vitality and inhibited continuous pleasure.

What is the lingam in Hinduism?

The Linga Purana posits that the lingam is rooted in the formless and the non-manifested. Therefore, Shiva is himself without the lingam. It belongs to Shiva and the one who possesses it is the Supreme Being. In that sense, the phallus is the foundation of the whole world; everything issues from it.

Is the lingam a metaphor?

It also throws light on the way the cult of the lingam is understood, expressed, explored, worshipped and used as a metaphor in popular imagination. In Hinduism, the yoni is the emblem of the feminine cosmic creativity (Shakti), the highest symbol of Devi, who is also the consort of Shiva.