aegis - In Greek mythology, In Egyptian mythology, In Norse mythology, In modern culture

Originally a goatskin, and then, in Greek mythology, a fringed piece of armour or a shield. Zeus shakes his aegis, which may possibly be the thunder-cloud; Athene's is equipped with the Gorgon's head.

The concept of doing something "under someone's ægis" means doing something under protection from a more powerful, knowledgeable, or benevolent source.

In Greek mythology

The ægis (Greek Αιγίς), in the Iliad, is the shield or buckler of Zeus, which according to Homer was fashioned for him by Hephaestus, furnished with golden tassels and bearing the gorgoneion (Medusa's head) in the centre.

When the Olympian shakes the ægis, Mount Ida is wrapped in clouds, the thunder rolls and men are smitten with fear. "Ægis-bearing Zeus", as he is in the Iliad, sometimes lends it to Athena and (rarely) to Apollo: in the Iliad Zeus sends Apollo to revive the wounded Hector and, holding the ægis, Apollo charges the Achaeans, pushing them back to their ships drawn up on the shore.

In a late rendering by Hyginus, (Poetical Astronomy ii.

It was supposed by Euripides (Ion, 995) that the Gorgon was the original possessor of this goatskin .

There is also the legend which represents the ægis as a fire-breathing chthonic monster like the Chimera, which was slain and flayed by Athena, who afterwards wore its skin as a cuirass (Diodorus Siculus iii.

Still others say it was the skin of the monstrous giant Pallas whom Athena overcame and whose name she attached to her own (John Tzetzes, On Lycophron,355).

Herodotus (Histories iv.189) thought he had identified the source of the ægis in Libya, which was always a distant territory of ancient magic for the Greeks:

Robert Graves in The Greek Myths(1955) 1960) asserts that the æegis in its Libyan sense had been a shamanic pouch containing various ritual objects, bearing the device of a monstrous serpent-haired visage with tusk-like teeth and a protruding tongue which was meant to frighten away the uninitiated.

Another version describes it to have been really the goat's skin used as a belt to support the shield. In accordance with this double meaning, the ægis appears in works of art sometimes as an animal's skin thrown over the shoulders and arms, and sometimes as a cuirass, with a border of snakes corresponding to the tassels of Homer, usually with the Gorgon's head, the gorgoneion, in the centre.

Etymology

Greek Αιγις has 3 meanings:-

"violent windstorm", from the verb 'αïσσω (stem 'αïγ-) = "I rush or move violently".

The original meaning may have been #1, and Ζευς 'Αιγιοχος = "Zeus who holds the aegis" may have originally meant "Sky/Heaven, who holds the storm".

In Egyptian mythology

The ægis also appears in Egyptian mythology.

In Norse mythology

In Norse Mythology, the dwarf Fafnir (best known in the form of a dragon slain by Sigurðr) bears on his forehead the Ægis-helm (ON ægishjálmr), or Ægir's helmet.

In modern culture

"Ægis" has entered modern English to mean a shield, protection, or sponsorship, based on its use as a protective shield of Zeus.