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Gods are ancient beings thought to have created the world and are children of the Titans. Most gods are thought to help mortals for good. Zeus who is the most famous of all the gods is adored by millions. Yet, Zeus, the ruler of gods, is one of the most selfish irresponsible gods of them all. Zeus was a bad god because he had many affairs, abused his powers, and did not use his powers for good. Zeus was known greatly for his numerous affairs with many different types of women. It didn’t matter if this woman was helpless or sick; if Zeus wanted her he would deceive her into sleeping with him. “Zeus had relationships with more than 115 females, starting with his first wife, Metis, whom he swallowed when it was prophesized that she would bear a child more powerful then Zeus”(Web). No mortal man would even dream of having this many relationships even when not married. Zeus is supposed to be the ruler of gods, a role model, and he can’t even stay faithful to his own wife. People are supposed to worship this sleaze bag of a god and obey him at will.a People were right to disobey him, for ...
There is no doubt in mythology that the king of gods, Zeus, is the most supreme and powerful, ruling the sky. He controls the thunderbolt, a symbol of power feared by both gods and mortals. The Greeks and Romans honored Zeus above all other gods. He is without mistake, the god of all gods. Their stories of Zeus are plenty; his designs have molded mythology from his birth. Zeus' victory in outwitting his intelligent wife, Metis, by swallowing her pregnant, was the gateway used by the Greeks and Romans to show Zeus as the greatest god to come since his father and grandfather. However, as the stories of the gods and goddesses unfold, the Greeks and Roman's interpretation of Zeus' characteristics are different. Zeus is always upheld as the king of gods, but his other personal attributes to his godly rein are conflicting. Zeus' characteristics of fearfulness of female deities, cunningness and use of trickery, and lust in Ovid's Metamorphoses compared to the Theogony are opposed due to Hesiod's true respect of Zeus versus Ovid's lack of respect of Jupiter in Roman mythology.
People idolized these beings and built stunning life-like sculptures of them. Zeus was the most important of all the Greek gods and also king of Mount Olympus. He became a king after overthrowing his father, who was a titan and feared that his children would become more powerful than him. He is very well known for being deceiving, and a trickster.
The Greek gods were portrayed as humans, which meant that they were not perfect. That is, the gods made mistakes, felt pain (e.g. Aphrodite in love with the mortal Adonis), and succumbed to anger and their tempers (e.g.
Many Greek gods were seen as both benefactors and tormentors, typically it depends on which god or goddess you are researching about. The seemingly contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
Zeus the god of the sky who was married to his sister Hera the goddess of marriage and ultimately jealousy. Another one of Zeus’s roles was that of being the lord of justice for the gods. This goes back to the story of Oedipus Rex with the Priest of Zeus represented the people of the plight of Thebes and him asking for justice to be done for the people. Though he is known by being the Lord of Justice he is also known for being very unfaithful to his wife. This unfaithfulness can reverberate back to the way that Oedipus Rex had a love for his mom almost in the way that it relates to inbreeding. In a way that Zeus had many affairs though his most famous was Leto. Leto was one of his first relationships apparently before Zeus was married to Hera. Leto was the...
According to Ovid, Zeus "acted, however, with very little wisdom for the Father of Gods and Men..." (80) when he wraps the earth in darkness. Though Ovid implies that Zeus makes an illogical decision, Ovid's statement is subjective. Sure, because of the strange occurrence, Hera takes notice; but Zeus also buys time. Time is essential to think properly, and Zeus uses his time to conjure the brilliant idea of transforming Io into a heifer. Hera should have been fixated, almost mesmerized when she saw Io, as the cow is sacred to her. Zeus’ thought process is legitimate and cohesive, after all, Hera’s doubt should have been assuaged. Nonetheless, Hera still suspects infidelity. Even so, Zeus does not lose his cool and kept calm. He let Hera have her way and gave the heifer willingly. Later he craftily has Hermes free Io. Zeus is known for his rashness, but betrays that stereotype again by waiting patiently and using a vessel so that he would not be found guilty. Zeus really thinks his plan through, for he accounts for the consequences of being caught and or
On the other hand, Zeus is a strong, albeit authoritarian leader for both the other gods and mortals. Zeus is required to rule, sometimes absolutely, and when someone under his rule commits an act of treason, he is required to address the issue. When Zeus the leader acts forcefully, the rest of those under his reign will get the message. Prometheus’s act of handing o...
Jupiter was the ruler of the gods. He is also known as Zeus to the Greeks. The King of Gods in Greek Mythology Zeus was the ruler of the sky, and had the power to create thunderstorms and lightning as well as earthquakes. He was the child of Cronus and Rhea. As the story goes he was their sixth child, and the father to protect him from being overthrown had eaten the five previous children. Zeus was taken to a city called Crete and hidden from his father. As Zeus grew older and learned of what happened he found a potion to make his father regurgitate the other children. Once this happened they all teamed up and killed their father. Zeus then became the ruler of Mount Olympus, and head of the new line of Gods. Jupiter was the predominant power holder of Roman Gods. He was ruler of the sky, the daylight, all the weather, and even the thunder and lightening.(Ruck,Carl and Staples, Danny, pg 19)
The gods are used by Homer to add twists on an otherwise standard plot of war. I shall concentrate on Zeus. however, and reflect on his actions and their outcomes in the Trojan War. and more importantly, the story of The Iliad. Zeus, very untypical of a Greek.
This opinion is made fact among the mortals when Nestor reminds Diomedes that, “no man can beat back the purpose of Zeus, not even one very strong, since Zeus is by far the greater,” (8.143-44). With their tremendous power, a god may even find it baffling that they are also affected by the troubles of men. In The Iliad, the immortals can be viewed in two ways: 1) Immortals manipulate mortals on a whim. 2) The immortals are the embodiment of ideals. In the first view, the gods treat mortals as a sort of entertainment just to pass time in their immortal lives. With this mindset, the gods may be surprised when they too are affected by their actions. A manipulator is so used to changing the lives of others that they are often clueless on how to react to a direct change. In the second view, if the gods were just manifestations of human desires, then they would not react well with change, otherwise their identities would change as well. The gods are so accustomed to having power that they forget that they too are subject to the
The gods in power, like Zeus, exhibit bias, dishonor, betrayal, deception, and many other humanly characteristics. One memorable scene is when Zeus and Poseidon are in conflict with each other over the Achaens versus the Trojans. Zeus controls the battle by “lifting the famous runner Achilles’ glory higher,” (Homer 13: 404). Zeus plays both sides in this scene, acting like a double agent which is dishonorable. Zeus’s bias is prevalent throughout the poem; specifically, he is “bent on wiping out the Argives, down to the last man,” (Homer 12: 81-82). Just like mortals such as Agamemnon and Achilles view each other with suspicion and intolerance, the gods experience identical emotions of wariness, anger, and irritation. This human-like behavior is not restricted to Zeus. Later in the text, Hera lies to Aphrodite to use her powers to manipulate her own husband Zeus. If one looks at Hera as a heavenly entity, her reaction may not make sense, but when it is viewed as a manifestation of human emotion, it become almost reasonable. Her scheming response to Zeus’s meddling with the war is spurred by her support for the Trojans. Hera’s manipulation and Aphrodite’s ego don’t stand alone as examples of this divine humanity. These instances suggest that the deities are being presented in this unique way to help explain behavior of the humans in The
The gods and goddesses were thought to control different parts of the universe. For example, Zeus is the king of the gods, controlled weather. Or like Athena who was the goddess of wisdom. You learn about different gods and goddesses in myths. A myth is a story about a god or goddess. Homer, a blind poet, is famous for telling myths. He told myths because no one could read or write.
To begin with, the ancient Greeks explained the creation of the universe, in particular the Earth and its elements, by a system of anthropomorphism in which their gods are human-like and are representatives of these elements. For example, Zeus is the god of heaven while Hades is the underworld lord (Hesiod, p.145). Unlike the Christians’ god who is “flawless”, the ancient Greeks’ divinities are portrayed as humans and are far from perfect. Their gods behave like ordinary people except they are immortal and have supernatural powers. Like any human being, the Greeks’ gods have love, jealousy, sadness, etc. For instance, in Euripides’ Bacchae, Zeus falls in love with Semele, which makes Hera becomes jealous and tries to kill Semele and Dionysus (Euripides, p.209). The Greeks even have a physically imperfect god, Hephaestus. This is to say that the gods’ attitude toward mortals is affected by how people treat them as the Greeks’ gods have emotions like humans.
Zeus is the god of law, justice, morals, thunder, lightning, and rain. It was his job to oversee and make sure laws were being kept. He was worshipped originally as a weather god. He was depicted as a middle-aged man with a youthful appearance; he was regale and was almost always shown ready to throw a lightning bolt (pantheon/zeus).
Throughout the Greek mythology, Zeus has been involved with many women and has faced many resistances from them. Zeus has faced many hurdles not only on his way to become the "king of olympians" but also after that with his relationships with women. Hera, Zeus's last wife , has been directly or indirectly involved in placing most of these hurdles. Of Zeus's seven wives, Hera, also known as Judo, has been the most quarrelsome and mistrustful of her hurband. She was frequently angry and jealous of Zeus's other relationships. In many instances , she has been the source of hurdles in Zeus's relationships with other women.Although described as a sacred marriage, one which was intended to symbolize and promote fertility of crops on earth, since the sky, represented as male, must fertilize the earth through rain in order for life to begin there, thier marriage has never been a smooth one and they have had some bitter fights. In one instance, Zeus hung her out of Olympus with two great weights attached to her feet,and her arms bound by golden chains,as punishment for her having plotted against Hercules.Homer, the author has potrayed the relationship of Zeus and Hera very much like that between a man and a woman. Homer shows how like men and women, even God's lie and decieve and are gullable. In one instance, he shows how , in order to borrow sexual allure from Aphrodite, Hera lies to Aphrodite about going to visit Oceanus and mother Tethys, not telling her original plan of seducing Zeus and making him fall asleep during the war. Then Hera goes to Sleep and asks her for his help and in return of her daughter Pasithea. Since Sleep has always been in love with Pesithea, the greed makes him give in to Hera's request. In this episode, Homer has shown that like humans, greed makes the immortals do things they would not have otherwise done. When Hera finally reaches Olympos, she lies to Zeus too and Zeus gets duped and falls into the trap of her seduction, this episode shows how the king of olympians gets decieved and is not able to foresee Hera's plan.