The Greek God Zeus

The Greek god Zeus is primarily the product of numerous generations of distrust and thirst for power. When Kronos castrates his father Ouranos and cast his genitals into the sea, he is in essence crowned the new king of the universe. Stepping into such a prestigious position drives him to turn out to be energy hungry so he does not want to relinquish his thrown. So a lot so, that when he is told by his mother Gaia that his youngest son would overthrow him, he starts to consume all of his kids. Disturbed by her husband’s vile actions, Rhea along with the assist of Gaia, hides Zeus on earth and feeds Kronos a stone in his spot. This is exactly where Zeus’s rise to power really starts. He along with the help of Gaia, frees the Olympians imprisoned by Kronos.

“He set his father’s brothers free of charge from their baneful bondage, the sons of heaven whom their father in his folly had imprisoned and they returned thanks for his goodness by giving him thunder and lightning and the smoking bolt, which mighty earth (Gaia) had kept hidden up to then. With these to rely on he is lord of mortals and immortals.” (Hesiod’s Theogony pg. 18)

Soon after releasing the Olympians from their bondage, it is evident that Zeus’ technique to overthrow his father is to win more than his father’s enemies, presenting himself as their savior, and aligning their mutual targets of watching Kronos fall. 1 can also actively observe this method when Zeus frees Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires, and asks them to join his army. He does not even so, demand their allegiance, rather he focuses on aligning their mutual goals of bringing

Kronos down, and is therefore in a position to persuade them to fight for him. A ten year war ensues and following much chaos and destruction, Zeus and the Olympians defeat Kronos and the Titans and imprison them in Tartarus, exactly where Hecatoncheires guards them another example of Zeus’ cunning strategy. Serving beneath Zeus’ regime is viewed not as an obligation, but as an honorable, privileged and prestigious position. This is the principal cause Zeus is capable to sustain his position of energy. Zeus’ reign is finalized when he battles and defeats Typhoeus and casts him into Tartarus as effectively as far away from the Olympians as possible.

Although he is smart and a proven strategist, Zeus is not invulnerable to other threats about him. Rather than turn into lackadaisical in his newly gained position as king of the gods, he maintains a keen and vigilant eye for something that may hinder the progression of his kingdom, or end his reign. When he requires his very first wife Metis, it is prophesied that his son would over throw him as effectively. Clearly Zeus desires to avert his personal dethronement but. Zeus however, is smarter than his father Kronos, so rather than attempting to eat his young children, Zeus decides to neutralize the source of the threat, so he eats his wife Metis.

This ties in very closely with Zeus’ blatant distrust of women. Historically all through Zeus’ life, the girls he has come across have all been sneaky and disloyal to their husbands. Gaia betrayed Ouranos by providing Kronos the sickle. Rhea and Gaia both betrayed Kronos when they fed him a rock as an alternative of Zeus. “But when she was about to give birth to Zeus, father of gods and men, then she begged her dear parents, Earth and starry Heaven, to devise a strategy so that she could bear her youngster in secrecy and make Kronos spend for her father’s furies and these of the youngsters he had been swallowing” (Hesiod’s Theogony pg. 17) Girls at this point have historically assisted their youngsters in overthrowing their husbands as is the case with Gaia and Rhea but when Athena is born from the head of Zeus, these patterns do not apply. Athena is a virgin and has no husband so her loyalties lie with Zeus her father (and mother). Along with the birth of Athena comes a shift from a brutish and uncivilized culture to a single of civilization and craft.

To totally grasp Zeus’ disdain towards women 1 should understand that in this culture it was not uncommon to treat women as inferior. Zeus himself was extremely sexually promiscuous, sleeping with whomever he desired even so, this did not make him a poor husband to Hera. This was the social norm Females have been even so anticipated to stay faithful to their husbands.

Zeus’ behavior as the supreme god is not the least bit surprising in the end because he has no a single to answer to. Zeus is the leader of all and acts like it as he displays an intensive alpha male persona. Any individual who defies the mighty Zeus is met with his all-strong wrath as is the case with Prometheus when he attempts to trick Zeus into taking a bad sacrifice. Zeus in response withholds fire from humans and condemns Prometheus to have his liver eaten by an eagle eternally even though Prometheus fought with the Olympians in the war. Hesiod writings depict a belief that a son is the product of his father. Prometheus, getting the son of the Titan Iapetos, is therefore following suit in his father’s footsteps of evil.

In this aspect of harsh punishments for defilement, Zeus is much like the Hebrew god of the Old Testament. Yahweh was identified to smite people for disobeying the most trivial of commands. In the book of Genesis chapter 19 of the Bible, he rains down fire and burning sulfur on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their impure lifestyles. Even when he commands a man named Lot and his wife to flee the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and warns them not to appear back as they fled, nevertheless when Lot’s wife looked back, she was turned into a pillar of salt. This is only one instance exactly where Yahweh punished those disobedient to him, however he is reported to have smitten millions upon millions of individuals who did not obey his laws, just as Zeus is identified to have struck men and women with lighting and thunder for defying his commands.