Zeus is a powerful Greek and Roman god,protects, punishes gods and mankind if they disobey his orders. He also punishes and/or has a bad temper to when it comes to things not going his way. “He is believed to have greatly punished the wicked and maldoers and rewarded all that did good.”(http://www.edu.pe.ca/gulfshore/Archives/heroes/html8imm/zeus/zeushist.htm ) This quote is explaining that Zeus disciplined those who have done wrong and presented those who were good a gift. Although Zeus may seem a bit cruel to his fellow people and mankind, he was actually praised by humankind. “The people of greece worshipped this idol as their God.”(http://www.zeus-publications.com/zeusgod.htm) He did not only just supply those who were being well-behaved, …show more content…
“Zeus overthrew his father Cronus and then drew lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades.” (http://www.webgreece.gr/greekmythology/olympiangods/) After defeating his father and the rest of the Titans, Zeus and his brothers decided to draw lots. Poseidon got the underworld, Hades got the sea, and Zeus got to be the ruler of olympus. Zeus acts strict to his people and the mankind to make sure no one would try to overthrow him or disobey him or his rules. He was not raised by his mother and certainly not his father Cronus. Zeus was hidden by his mother so his father would not swallow him since he did with his past children. “He was raised by nymphs and a magic goat named Amaltheia.” (Greek Mythology pg.) Amaltheia was not just some ordinary goat, she supplied Zeus with plenty of honey that came from her horn. She fed him her honey so he could grow quickly and grow very strong to overthrow his father. When she died Zeus used her hide to made a shield called the Aegis, the legendary shield of …show more content…
Many of the symbols are similar to what he has and he does . “His symbols are thunderbolt, scepter, and throne.” (https://www.reference.com/art-literature/physical-description-zeus-65d81f5a5a25e7cf ) The reason his symbol is a thunderbolt is because that is his weapon to punish those who do not follow his rules. He also symbolizes an Eagle as he watches over everyone and an oak tree because it is sacred to him. Before Zeus became the supreme god and shared his power with his sisters and brothers, he had to save them first. “Metis gave Cronus an emetic potion, which made him vomit up Zeus’ brothers and sisters.” (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/z/zeus.html) When Cronus spewed up his children, they all gathered together and attacked their father. However, Zeus was the strongest of all the children since he did eat Amaltheia’s honey and milk, it made him powerful and strong. Zeus has numerous major stories. One major story is when he defeated the Typhon. “Hermes managed to get the tendons back to Zeus, who eventually threw his lightning bolts at typhon.” (http://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Typhoeus/typhoeus.html) Gaia sent the Typhon (fire breathing dragon) to hurt Zeus since he had prisoned all of her titans. Although Zeus’ lightning bolts are strong, he could not do it by himself. With the help of Uranus’ castrating sickle, he managed to knock over the Typhon onto Mount Aetna. The typhon fell inside of the mountain and Zeus
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.
Zeus is the most powerful of all gods. All the Greeks with sense know not to cross him. A major practice in their culture is to invite in visitors that come to their doorsteps. This practice involves caring for the visitor by bathing and feeding them. After the visitor has been cared for, the host and visitor discuss the lineage of the visitor. This is done with the fear of Zeus and those who don’t follow the practice are dealt with. Those who don’t follow this practice are considered barbarians. Homer gives a clue into the extent of the fear when he writes that Telemakhos was “irked with himself / to think a visitor had been kept their waiting…'; (5). One example in The Odyssey is when Odysseus comes to the home of the Kyklops. Odysseus states:
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.
Both Zeus and his son Dionysus are no different in this case. Zeus has continually been portrayed as wrathful and violent, he has no problem enacting revenge on another if he feels the victim deserves the punishment. In the story of Prometheus, Zeus tortures Prometheus for his thievery sentencing him to a cruel punishment, “Everyday he sent an eagle to feed on his captives liver, which, however much it was devoured, always grew back again” (35). This excerpt tells of how Zeus is often cruel, unforgiving and quick to enact revenge on his enemies. Even though Zeus is immortal and thought to be the figure of perfection, he still endows many flawed characteristics. He even goes as far as taking pleasure in the pain and agony Prometheus faces for sneaking behind Zeus’s back. I feel this points to how even Zeus isn’t perfect in nature for he often falls prey to the destructive human emotion: anger. Like his father, Dionysus is also quick to enact revenge on his enemies through vicious and bloody ways. In the tale of Pentheus, Dionysus gladly lets the King Pentheus be ripped to bloody shreds for mocking his divine ceremonies. “First they hurled stones, boughs torn from trees, and their
In the beginning, it all started with the gods and goddesses Cronus (God of the Sky) and Rhea (Goddess of the Earth). They met and got married. While they were married they produced six offspring. These offspring would turn out to be some of the most famous in mythology. The offspring consisted of Hestia, Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and of course, the famous Zeus. Poseidon was the oldest son to be born from these two. Unfortunately when the offspring were born Cronus devoured most, even though Rhea tried many times to keep that from happening. Finally when Zeus was born she tricked Cronus into thinking it was his own son, when handed to him, and he eat him like all the others. But after doing so, Rhea told Cronus that she had given him a stone wrapped up in a blanket. Zeus later overthrew his father and released all of his other kin. After overthrowing Cronus, Zeus took over the ruler of the kingdom. With him taking the thrown on Mt. Olympus, he chose Hades to rule the underworld and Poseidon to look after the sea and land. Poseidon was a very powerful god and ruled with fury. He was made the god of waters in general and of the sea in particular (1). He is an equal in dignity to Zeus but not in power. This is important because it does not allow Poseidon to question his br...
Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera. Zeus ruled as King of the Gods and his wife Hera is the Queen of the Gods. He was born an immaculate conception. Hera took a magical herb that allowed her to have a child immaculately, this child was Ares. Ares went through
The relationship between gods and mortals in mythology has long been a complicated topic. The gods can be generous and supportive, and also devastating and destructive to any group of humans. Mortals must respect the powers above them that cannot be controlled. The gods rule over destiny, nature, and justice, and need to be recognized and worshipped for the powerful beings as they are. Regardless of one's actions, intentions, and thoughts, the gods in Greek myth have ultimate power and the final decision of justice over nature, mortals, and even each other.
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...
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 ...
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
Zeus does not appear to be portrayed as a dual natured god in any of his myths. The fact that Zeus is not a dual natured god means that he is a divine being with flaws. Instead of Zeus being portrayed as someone who is supreme and flawless, he is portrayed as a sky god who is king among other gods but has many flaws to his character. Xenophanes, a poet of the pre-Socratic period wrote “Homer and Hesiod have ascribed to the gods all that is shameful and reproachable among mortals.” (ML 140) One of the most important flaws to Zeus’ character is the fact that he had countless numbers of extramarital affairs while still being married to his wife Hera.
As I said before, Zeus is the father of all gods and humans. He represents the idea of an independent moral code that all humans and immortals must obey. If any god or mortal did not follow this moral code, Zeus would enforce justice and watch over the punishment of the wrongdoers (Cunningham and Reich 33). Although Zeus is known for representing a moral code, Zeus’ behavior was far from moral. “Zeus was subject to pleasure, pain, grief, and anger, but he was most susceptible to the power of Eros – love, which often got the objects of his desire in a lot of trouble with his wife, Hera. Zeus wa...
allowed her to have Ares. Zeus really didn't care for Ares, once during infancy Ares had been
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).