More handpicked essays just for you.
Greek gods and goddesses and their roles in the mythology
Greek gods and goddesses and their roles in the mythology
Ancient greek perspective of gods
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
For thousands of years, people have believed in all kinds of different gods to explain the different meanings of life, and one of the most interesting religions is Greek mythology. At the center of Greek mythology is the pantheon of gods who were said to live on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. From up above, they ruled every aspect of human life. Olympian gods and goddesses looked like men and women (though they could change themselves into animals and other things). Two of the most important gods in Greek mythology to ever have been believed in were Zeus and Hades. These two gods shared many striking similarities and also have some very obvious differences. Zeus and Hades are similar in that they are brothers by Rhea and …show more content…
Their offspring were the mighty Titans Cronus and Rhea. Cronus and Rhea gave birth to the soon to be the god of the sky and ruler over the Olympians, Zeus. Zeus was hidden from his father Cronus because he would eat his children in fear that one day they may overthrow him. Cronus had previously devoured five other powerful gods; Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Hera, and Demeter. Rhea ordered nymphs to watch over her son Zeus until he became a man. Before Olympus was ruled by Zeus and his siblings; Zeus would first have to overthrow his father. Zeus then poisoned his father and had to face the consequences of Gaia. Gaia unleashed the Titans upon the world and with the help of his brother Hades and other siblings, fought as much as they could. The Olympian gods were unable to defeat them alone so Zeus called upon the cyclops offspring to aid him in war. Only with the help of the cyclops were the Olympians successful in defeating the Titans. Zeus was gifted a lightning bolt which is his main source of power. The three brothers; Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades all evenly divided the universe. Zeus received the heavens and earth and Hades received the underworld. Zeus later married his sister Hera and was infamously known for being …show more content…
Hades was depicted as stern and unyielding, unmoved by prayer and sacrifice. Hades was also thought of as an evil god but really was a just, unforgiving god is all. He was in control of all levels of the underworld. As ruler of the undead and lifeless beings, his options for finding a wife were not quite as abundant as he would have hoped and so he became lonely. Later Hades spots a woman picking flowers named Persephone; the daughter of Zeus and Demeter making her the niece of Hades. Hades instantly falls in love with her and wished to marry her. Hades rode on a chariot drawn by four horses all the way to mount Olympus. It was very rare for Hades to ever leave the underworld, so when he arrived all the gods were shocked to see him. Hades asked his brother for his daughter and Zeus neither declined nor accepted the request. Hades with no orders not to, used his helmet of invisibility to kidnap and take Persephone to the underworld. He claimed her as his bride and Persephone became the queen of the
Hades fell in love with Demeter’s daughter, Persephone. Persephone loved to live about in the fields that her mother made. Hades wanted Persephone as his bride. Zeus, the father of Persephone, did not deny but warned that Demeter would be furious. He captured her and forced her to stay in the underworld. To capture her, he arose from the depth with a chariot of horses. He stole her from the flowery field and took her to a dungeon of darkness. Persephone gained the name “core”. This was symbolizing her loss of girlhood. Demeter went looking for her daughter. She could not find her, and she almost came to the extent of barring the whole earth of the vegetation. Zeus could not let this happen, so he sent for Persephone to be received. Persephone would not eat, but Hades would not let her leave until she ate at least one thing. Hades gave her a forbidden fruit. Any fruit that was to be eaten in the underworld, the eater of that fruit must stay in the underworld. Her eating the fruit meant she had to stay in the underworld forever. A compromise was made between Demeter and Hades. Four months of the year Persephone had to stay with Hades and be the queen of the underworld. During this time the Greeks entered a cold and barren time called winter. The other eight months, Persephone spent her year with Demeter. During this time crops and vegetation would be abundant (Peterson and Dunworth 143). These were the times of spring and summer. When it was time for Persephone to rule the underworld, she was in charge of watching the special prisoners. The prisoners were the defeated titans (Calame, 266).
Hades’ early childhood determined his reputation as a god, and his eventual title as Lord of the Underworld. Cronus and Rhea, two important titans, gave birth to Hades. Titans, in their evil and domineering way, ruled the universe. Negative qualities, like these, showed up when “Hades was devoured by Cronus as soon as he was born, along with four of his siblings. Zeus later caused the Titan to disgorge them” (Atsma). After killing Cronus, they easily overthrew the Titans. They needed to do this for the good of the other gods and mortals in the universe. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades worked together to defeat the Titans. They locked the Titans in Tartarus, the depths of the Underworld. This victory gave them power over the universe. They decided to take resid...
Daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, Demeter was one of Cronus and Rhea’s six children, and sister of Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus (Pontikis). He feared that they would overthrow him and take his throne, as he had done to his own father, Uranus (34). Consequently, Cronus adopted the habit of swallowing his children as they were born, so they would never have a chance of overthrowing him (34). Distraught at the loss of her children, Rhea sought her mother Gaia, the earth mother, and asked for advice (Webster). Gaia advised that she give Cronus a stone to swallow in the place of her next child. After the birth of her last child, Zeus, Rhea followed this advice: she hid Zeu...
Hera was “the daughter of Cronus and Rhea”. Cronus was the youngest son of Uranus and Gaia. Rhea was the mother of gods and the daughter of Uranus and Gaia. Cronus and Rhea were brother and sister, but they were married, having six children, the olympians. Her father was afraid of the prophecy that his children would overthrow him, so he swallowed all his children except one, Zeus, Hera’s brother. For Zeus not to be swallowed, Rhea wrapped a stone in a blanket, making it look like Zeus, and Cronus swallowed the stone while Hera’s younger brother was hidden. When Zeus grew older, he defeated and banished Cronus with the other titans and the siblings were released. Also, some other legends say Zeus received a potion and gave it to his father to vomit the five olympians. Being the savior of the five olympians and the youngest son of Cronus and Rhea, Zeus, is the brother of Hera. After defeating his father, Zeus did love Hera, but Hera was not interested in her younger brother. Zeus then tricked Hera into marrying him, and Hera, decided to marry him to hide her embarrassment and had three children, Ares the god of war, Hephaestus the god of fire, and Hebe the ...
Hades, the God of the Underworld and Death, also the God of the Riches. Most of Hades and his four siblings life was spent in the stomachs of Cronus his father. Cronus was the Titan God of time and the ages. He was afraid if he had not eaten his children he would be overthrown by one of his sons. If not for Zeus later on Forcing the Cronus to disgorge them Hades would not have had a life at all. Together Zeus and Hades Drove the Titan Gods from the heaven down to a pit and locked them away. Hades gaining control of the Underworld realized he was missing something. A wife, he demanded for his brother Zeus to give away one of his daughters to him. Zeus chose Persephone now the Goddess and queen of the Underworld. Although this did not happen so easily, Zeus knowing his daughter would not accept to marry such a man like Hades he quickly had his own daughter abducted just to please the God of the underworld, but her mother Demeter the Goddess of Agriculture, grain and bread was not happy about this and demanded her daughter back. When she was not given her daughter she put a great dearth upon the earth until she was handed back her child. Hades did send her back from the Underworld only because she had tasted the pomegranate seed and had to return to him a portion of each year. People thought of Hades to be a regal god who was dark haired and held an bird-tipped sceptre ("HADES : Greek King of the Underworld, God of the Dead ; mythology ; pictures : HADES, PLUTO”).
Zeus has been ruling and keeping control of Mount Olympus for centuries. Now, he is retiring and needs someone worthy enough to take his place as ruler. Someone who is trustworthy but also powerful and intelligent. All these traits depict Hades. Hades is as powerful as Zeus and already has leadership skills from his ruling experience with the Underworld.
Zeus stopped the fight against his eldest brother and asked Hades why he fought him for 7 days if he knew he was bound to lose, Hades said to Zeus ,“ My dear brother I would love to be the ruler of this kingdom but I just cannot defeat you. You are way to young and powerful for me, I shall go back down to my world where I belong and rule the Underworld.” As Hades traveled back to the underworld he thought to himself he doesn’t need to run two kingdoms to be powerful I will be the best King of the Underworld I can
The primary ruling god of the underworld is Hades whose brother is Zeus, king of the gods, and whose parents are Cronus and Rhea. Hades is a greedy god with his greatest concern being to increase the number of his subjects. He is very stubborn about letting people out of the underworld. Hades himself, rarely leaves the underworld. In one myth, however, we know of a time when he did leave his soulful domain. Hades became very lonely in the underworld, and went above and kidnapped Demeter’s daughter, Persephone, for his wife.Persephone, nonetheless, was not Hades’ only significant other. Hades had a mistress called Minthe whom Persephone later transformed into a plant. Hades is also known as the god of wealth due to the precious metals mined from the earth. He has been said to possess a helmet that was given to him by the Cyclops. This helmet has been said to make him invisible. Hades lent it to gods and mortal men. Perseus used the helmet on his quest for Medusa’s head and Athena, goddess of battle skills, put to use the helmet so the god of war, Ares, could not notice her.
It has been known that the Romans and the Greeks have had many interactions with each other, whether it would be due to trading or just plain traveling, the stories of their myths have crossed each other in one way or another. This is may be the reason why there are many similarities between Greek and Roman Mythology. Even though a Greek god or goddess may have a different name in Roman Mythology they still performed similar tasks and were worshiped for similar reasons. I will compare and contrast Greek gods with their Roman equivalences to see how similar they truly are to each other. Probably the most famous Greek god, Zeus, was the god of all gods. Born to Cronus and Rhea, he was the ruler of the sky, and had the power to create thunderstorms and lightning as well as earthquakes. As the story goes he overthrew his father, Cronus, and became the ruler of Mount Olympus to head the new line of Gods. Jupiter, also known as Jove, was very much like Zeus. He was the predominant power holder among the Roman Gods. According to Tripp, Jupiter is a “contraction of two words meaning ‘Heavenly Father.’”(Pg. 332) He ruled the sky, controlled all of the weather, and had thunderbolts as a weapon. Tripp also wrote “Jupiter’s cult and his general character were, however, well established in Italy before the Greek religion became influential there.” (Pg. 333) This implies that the idea of Zeus, Jupiter and Jove had very little influence on each other since they were created before the Greek myths and Roman myths had started to cross paths. Hera, the wife and sister of Zeus, was the goddess of marriage, childbirth, and the queen of the heavens. She gave birth to Ares, Hebe, and Eileithyia. She also gave birth to Hephaestus, but it has been believed that she bore him without the aid of Zeus. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, she was extremely jealous of the affairs that her husband had and she often tormented or harmed Zeus’s mistresses. Juno, the feminine version of Jupiter’s name, is Hera’s counterpart. Juno had many names that served for different purposes. As Juno Pronuba, she was goddess of marriage, as Juno Lucina, she was the goddess of childbirth, and as Juno Regina, she was the special counselor and protector of the Roman state. (Roman Mythological Characters, Juno) In Tripp, there was also a Juno Moneta that was governed finances. (Pg. 332) It seem...
Cronus and Rhea are the parents of Poseidon in Greek mythology. Poseidon is one of the 3 sons; the others are Hades and Zeus. And there three sisters were Demeter, Hestia, Hera, and while Cronus was the horrible father who feared his own children so he ate them at birth. He continued to eat the newborns until his wife tricked him by giving him stones instead to save Zeus. But sadly Poseidon (and Hades) was eaten by Cronus to save them Zeus (who was being raised by nymphs) became Cronus’ cupbearer. He poisoned Cronus and he threw up Poseidon. They started a war against Cronus it lasted for ten years until the brothers released the Cyclopes and in return they gave the each a weapon. Poseidon received a trident, Zeus a lightning bolt, and Hades the helmet of darkness.
Perseus is later found by soldiers who take him to the city of Argos, where he is brought before King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia during their celebration of the war against the gods. King Cepheus makes arrogant statements towards the gods, and the Queen Cassiopeia compares their daughter Andromeda to Aphrodite. When Zeus finds out about the destruction of a statue of him and the celebration of war by Cepheus and Cassiopeia, he becomes furious. Hades then appears before his Zeus on Mount Olympus and argues that the gods must retaliate against the revolt, and convinces Zeus that he be allowed to destroy Argos. Hades appears in a courtroom in Argos, kills the so...
When Zeus grew up, and with the help of Gaea and his mother Rhea, he slipped Cronus a potion that made the Titan disgorge the swallowed children. Being gods, they were unharmed, albeit a tad dazed and confused. With Zeus serving as their leader, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera waged war against the Titans for supremacy of the Universe.
After reading this essay you can see that the gods are very similar in a way. But they are also very different from many others. Like the fact that Jupiter and Mercury are way more disciplined than Zeus and Hermes. And the fact that Neptune and Poseidon are basically the same person with the same name. So next time you are out and about, look around and see what the Greek and Roman gods have influenced and named.
According to “Persephone, Demeter, and Hades” It starts off with “Persephone who is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the goddess of agriculture (farming). Hades who is her uncle, abducts Persephone while she was picking flowers with her companions in a meadow.” According to “Classical Mythology” it states “Hades had other plans for Persephone: he would steal her innocence and virginity and turn her into the dreaded goddess of the Underworld.” It also states how “Persephone was gathering flowers one day on a plain in Sicily. Hades appeared, thundering across the plain in his four-horse chariot. The god then jumped down upon Persephone, and scooped her up with one arm. After abducting her, he carries her off to the Underworld. Demeter who is Persephone’s mother soon came to retrieve her daughter, but was unable to find a trace of Persephone. She traveled to the corners of the earth, searching for nine full days and nights without ever stopping to eat, drink, bathe, or rest. Demeter was in a fury so in retaliation she destroyed lands, crops, and livestock as she complained to the loss of her daughter. She threatened to make the earth unproductive forever and thus destroy all of humankind if she did not find her
Both cultures had a king of the gods. In Greek mythology there is no god who is more powerful than Zeus. He is the youngest son of Cronus and Rhea, ruler of the Titans. Cronus was told that one of his children would overthrow him, taking control of his kingdom. To be sure this would not happen, Cronus swallowed his first five children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. Rhea could not bear to see another one of her children, devoured so she replaced Zeus with a rock wrapped in swaddling. Cronus, thinking he ate Zeus, left Rhea time to leave Zeus in a cave where he was raised by a divine goat, Amaltheia (pantheon/odin). After Zeus was grown he went back to Cronus with the help of Gaia and Metis, who made an elixir to cause Cronus to vomit his brothers and sisters. Zeus then led the fights against the Titan dynasty. Afterwards they banished the Titans to Tartarus, the lowest place on earth, even lower than the underworld. Zeus and his brothers then drew straws to find who would rule where. Zeus gained rule of the sky, Poseidon ruled the seas, and Hades ruled the underworld (pantheon/odin).