Divine Gods In Hesiod's Theogony

The various renditions of Greek mythology tell stories about how everything in the universe came to be. Hesiod’s Theogony is one such story. Hesiod’s poem takes the reader through the creation of the universe and all of it supreme Gods and Goddesses. The three divine Gods take their rise to power in various ways and are all overthrown at some point in the poem. Ouranos, Kronos, and Zeus all come from the same lineage but take over their fathers position of power after the tolerance of the other gods and goddesses dwindles. Theogony explores various deities and stories behind who they are and what they have done.

The first Divine God to rise to power in Theogony is Ouranos. Born to Gaia (the creator of earth) as her first child, he is one

of the primordial deities. Ouranos sleeps with Gaia and creates the Oceans with its deep currents. This is where his rise to power begins. Gaia had produced everything before by herself, so when she and Ouranos have sexual exploits to begin to build the world and various elements in it, he is becoming the father of many things. For this reason he automatically assumes a high position in the hierarchy of power that is Greek mythology. As time progressed Ouranos power quickly expanded, fathering many, many children with Gaia. She began to bore hideous children so he would take them and, according to the poem, literally put them back into Gaia’s womb. This caused her to continuously suffer the pains of labor so she set out to exact revenge. Overall, Ouranos came to power as a Divine God from sheer number and a biological factor. He was the father to so many children that it was easy to take the position of a ruler of the cosmos. The overthrow of Ouranous was inevitable but grim. Eventually Gaia could not stand the pain of having two of her children forever locked away in her belly anymore that she decided to go to her other sons for help. After pleading for help, one son steps forward to remove his own shallow father from a reign of power. With the help of Kronos, the two overthrow Ouranos by castrating him. Kronos states:
“I think I might be able to bring father off, Mother.
I can’t stand father; he doesn’t even deserve the name.
And after all he started all this ugly business. (Harris 93).”
After Kronos castrates his father, he cuts him out and the position of power was then open. Since Kronos was the one who slayed his father, he took over the position and soon begins to rise to power as the second Divine God Hesiod named in his literary work.
After the castration and of his father Kronos takes over in the hierarchy of power. He gained power by simply being known as a forceful god who overthrew his father. Fear and the absence of someone willing to overthrow him played a significant role in his time as the Ruler of the Cosmos. Kronos rapes and marries Rheia to begin his own lineage. However, according to Hesiod, Kronos soon learns “that it was fated for him, powerful though he was, to be overthrown by his child through the scheming of Zeus” (Harris 94). Kronos then decides it would be best to eat his children in order to forever hold the title King of the immortals and to eliminate the risk of one of his sons doing to him what he did to his father. When their son who would fulfill the prophesy, was finally born Rheia hid him in a cave and gave Kronos a swaddled rock which he wasted no time to consume. His greed for power ultimately caused his down fall and allowed his last born son, Zeus, to take his place as the next divine God.
Zeus grew up and imprisoned his father in the underworld.

He also released his uncles that had been imprisoned during the rule of Kronos. As a gift his uncles gave him the power of thunder and lighting, and entrusting him with being the ruler of both the mortals and immortals. This began his reign as the third and final Ruler of the cosmos in Hesiod’s depiction. Zeus became a very supreme ruler over both the mortals and immortals. Theogony tells recollections of Zeus’ punishments toward people who defied him, such as having an eagle eat Prometheus’ liver or creating women (Pandora) to punish him for giving fire to mankind. The text refers to Zeus immense power by saying “There’s no way to get around the mind of Zeus. Not even Prometheus, that fine son of Iapetos escaped his heavy anger” (Harris 97). While Zeus obvious was a force to be reckon with, he was not entirely unfair or selfish. He freed his uncles from the underworld and helped to get them back into good health afterward. He looked out for his people but did not tolerate people trying to trick him or go around his back. Those people were the ones who experienced the wrath of Zeus. He did many great things for the immortals. Theogony exemplifies this in a passage that

states:
“That your thoughts are supreme, your mind surpassing,
That you saved the Immortals from war’s cold light.
We have come from under the moldering gloom
By your counsel, free at last from bonds none to gentle.” (Harris 98)
These lines make the best description of what Zeus was to his people. He was obvious admired for his intelligence, he helped end a war and they don’t think he is a suffocating ruler. Throughout the story Zeus stays in power, unlike his grandfather and father, who were both overthrown by their sons.
Zeus was married to Hera but was known for his many affairs and illegitimate children.

Taking into consideration Zeus’ long rule over the cosmos, he was obviously different from his grandfather and father. While they all shared similar qualities, such as being all dominating and exacting horrible punishments on those they saw deserving, Zeus was slightly different. As discussed in the previous paragraph, Zeus looked out for his people. As long as people followed his command he tried to help them the best he could, and it was for that reason that Zeus stayed in power for so long. His predecessors didn’t have much humility in Hesiod’s story. Their acts were selfishly to keep them in a position of supremacy. The Gods and Goddesses were all powerful in different ways, so they took a liking to a leader that recognized that and wasn’t overbearing like the previous ones had been. With all this considered it says a lot about what Hesiod was trying to get at in the poem about divine power and the rulers. Selfishness does not help to gain authority or to keep it. In order to be a divine ruler of the cosmos one must place them in a position of authority but not so much so that others wish to over throw him. It is important for even the Gods to find a balance of power or realize they will suffer the

consequences.
Theogony was a version of Greek mythology that truly explored the concept of power through the Divine Gods. His recollection of the events that occurred taught many lessons about how different kinds of power effects those under its rule. Ouranos was overthrown for being shallow and selfish, and Kronos was overthrown for also being selfish when it came to his kids. Zeus was the last Divine God who stayed in power because he was respected and fair to his people. These trends in divine power played a big rule all throughout Greek mythology about who came into power and those who would eventually be overthrown.