Greece and Their Gods Zeus and Apollo

1256 Words3 Pages

The origins of Ancient Greece can be found back as far as 3000 BCE (Fiero 76). This was the time there is a lot of art and religion that defines the Greek period. This is only because there is a lot of prosperity and peace which causes a surplus of goods within the Greek city-state. This surplus allowed a more time for people to participate in such frivolous activities. Though the art is very representative of its time the stories behind the art are much more prominent. The religion is the story behind the art this is because of the Greek mythology. Their gods mentioned in many of their stories was a part of their daily lives. There were thirteen major gods that were situated on top of mount Olympus. There were twelve seats on mount Olympus because one of the gods Hestia always tended to the hearth in the room. Most of their stories were comprised of when they interacted with the humans. The most interesting of the twelve gods that went down to the earth was Zeus and Apollo. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...e. 05 May. 2014 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html. Web. Fiero, Gloria K. “Greece: Humanism and the Spculative Leap” The Humanistic Tradition: The First Civilizations and the Classical Legacy. McGraw Hill. 6th ed. New York: New York, 2011. 76-134. Print. Hammond, N. G. L. "The Branchidae at Didyma and in Sogdiana." The Classical Quarterly 48.2 (1998): 339. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 May 2014. Hunt, J.M. “Zeus Lovers.” Greek Mythology. San Diego University. 5 May 2014 http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/gg/zeuslover.html Web. Mitchell-Boyask, R. (2009). The art of medicine: Plague and theatre in ancient athens. The Lancet, 373(9661), 374-5. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/199038784?accountid=39874 Rutherford, Ian. “Pindar on the Birth of Apollo” The Classical Quarterly 38.1 (1998):65-66. Cambridge University Press. Web. 5 May 2014.

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