Comparing Athena And Zeus

In both Greek and Roman civilizations, mythology played an important part in their empire’s success. Both of these civilizations were polytheistic religions. Likewise, they had major and minor gods and goddesses as part of their religion as well. However, since the Roman Empire conquered many cultures including the Greeks, their gods blended with many similarities with the gods that the Ancient Greeks worshipped.

One of the issues in Homers The Odyssey is understanding the role and function of the goddess Athena. The problem is most pronounced when examining Athena’s duality. She provides Odysseus both her counsel and assistance throughout the story yet she’s also the entity that keeps him exiled from his home. Athena’s role, similar to the other gods, is to correct apparent injustices. “Oh father Zeus and gods and bliss forever let no man holding scepter as a king think to be mild the fatherhood and mercy through his reign. Meanwhile he lives and grieves upon the island of the nymph…” Book 5 lines 9-21. These lines show that Athena is concerned about the injustice that surrounds Odysseus and his son. This suggests that gods can become active in the role of mortals and may aid them to correct inequity through their fate. This paper will explore the obligations Athena had to ensure Odysseus’ voyage home safely as well as the thematic importance of fate in The Odyssey and the intervention and the power of the gods and goddesses. Fate is one of the occurring themes throughout the Odyssey, where the intervention of the gods and goddesses is common due to the triumphs of men and women.

Meanwhile, there was the mighty Zeus, the king of the gods, who was married to the goddess Hera. Hera is the goddess of War and Honesty, but she had an awful temper and often took it out on her husband, Zeus. Hera only loved Zeus because he was the king of gods and she wanted some of that power for herself, so she never let him leave her side, and although he was her husband, she talked badly about him, and constantly blamed and insulted him. Aphrodite witnessed this many times and started to feel empathy for Zeus, she knew Zeus was kind and didn’t deserve to be treated like that. At this, anger burned inside of Aphrodite for Hera and what she did to hurt Zeus, and as this anger burned she felt a passion. Aphrodite casually began to develop feelings for Zeus. She always told herself she shouldn’t, that Zeus was married and she needed to stay away, but she couldn’t help how she felt for Zeus.

Athena and Aphrodite, two of the most well-known goddess’ from Ancient Greek mythology. Athena is the goddess of war strategy and wisdom, she never married or had relationships. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, she had a lot of relationships and had several children. Besides both of them being extremely popular and worshiped goddess’ it seems like these two goddess’ have nothing else in common. However, Athena and Aphrodite have a lot of similarities between the two of them. Some similarities are their early lives, they constantly interfered with the lives of others, and the wraiths they took on those who disrespected them. Although they bear some minor differences, the similarities between Athena and Aphrodite are pronounced.

In Greco-Roman Culture, humans imagine the deities of mythology to be and act certain ways, due to the needs they must fill. People invented certain deities for reasons that align with what they needed from them. To examine how a deity has a certain purpose, one must first examine what they are like. Athena and Ares are examples of deities invented for very specific purposes. One must first look at Athena and Ares’ similarities and differences in relation to their characteristics, their sexuality and physical appearances, as well as their different powers and how they are worshipped, to discover why they were created.

The mythological character and God, Zeus, is portrayed in many ways, by many different people. Hesiod describes Zeus as being relentless in his fury. When he gets mad he unleashes all of his power. If his brother Hades wasn’t in charge of the Underworld, he’d make all of Hell break loose. For example, in Hesiod’s Theogony, which is about when Zeus defeated his father, Cronus, he says, “Then Zeus did not hold back any longer, but now immediately his heart was filled with strength and he showed clearly all his force.” (Morford and Lenardon 85) He tends to treat others, mortals and immortals, very unfairly. Two mortals could do the same exact type of sacrilege towards him, and depending on how he felt that day, he would take two very different approaches to how he would treat them. He also doesn’t take any threats towards him very lightly at all. If anyone ever threatens him, he normally punishes them very severely, if he doesn’t destroy them completely. Hesiod’s approach to Zeus’ behavior is overdramatic, and makes it seem more extreme than it probably would’ve been.

Additionally, it is even more fascinating that not only do Greek Gods act like human; they also behave like humans: they could love, marry, produce children, and so on. However, there were problems, because although they were gods, they also were given weaknesses of humans, such as jealously, enviousness, spite, et cetera, which created immense problems by the fact that they were Gods with extreme power. Therefore, whenever they act upon hatred, much of their acts were very cruel and inhumane. Moreover, because there was such a large society of Gods, much of the Gods lives were shrouded in chaos and revenge. For instance, as described in the book Myth and Meaning, Hera was attributed towards the peacock for her ego-centric nature towards herself. She, like a peacock, tried to prove to Zeus, her husband, that she was the fairest woman in the land. Zeus, however, preferred to steal away and fantasize with other women. Then Hera, out of jealousy, who could not punish the most powerful God, instead inflicted it against Zeus’ lovers. All in all, Greek Gods and Goddesses look and act like humans would.

Zeus was not faithful; Hera had a belligerence toward Zeus. She started a revolt against him and planned to kill him. She thought that she could strap him under a tree with some ropes and whip him. It seemed like the plan would work but it only became total chaos. Zeus came back, and punished Hera in a portentous way by hanging her and whipping her. He made her promise not to harm him again.

Zeus is the highest form of power among the gods, the ruler of both mortals and immortals. Through The Iliad, Zeus thinks he is in charge, but he is afraid of prophecies and fate. In the backstory of The Iliad, most know that Zeus wanted to have sex with Thetis, but he was afraid that the child they would bear together would be stronger than himself, as the prophecy stated ‘the first son of Thetis will be stronger than his father’. Dictated by his fate, Zeus refrained from having sex with her and married her off to another man so they would have a child together. Zeus is constantly expression that he is afraid of being undermined, but he is also to arrogant at points to admit that he’s not as powerful as he portrays himself. He’s fearful that someone will uncover his weaknesses and not respect him. By the start of The Iliad, Zeus is still afraid of people viewing him negatively, mortals and gods alike.

Zeus can be compared to Superman in the sense that he is powerful, he protects the weak, and punishes the wicked. He is a human-like god in a sense he commits adultery, and is often to his wife Hera. The real life ideals represented by Zeus’s role, is one of a just and powerful character that gets justice against those that are bad and by protecting the good and weak. For Zeus being the god over all the Olympian gods it is quite easy to be powerful and just. In real life instance the justice system is the one to execute injustice through the law, the police and court system. This enables the victims that a sense of justice has been served.

Most people think gods are more superior than goddesses, when in fact goddesses can be just as great as gods. One goddess who is more superior, Athena, the goddess of war. Athena was a tough female goddess, who always fought for harmony and justice in the world. Athena, being the goddess of war, never liked the thought of battle, she only fought when it was necessary. The city of Athens was named after Athena, so many citizens of Athens adore her. She was an incredibly tough and helpful goddess. An example of her helpfulness was shown when she helped Odysseus on his journey home. Therefore, the goddess of war, Athena, was an essential character in the study of Greek mythology.

By looking at the epic The Odyssey by Homer, there are a lot of contacts between human and immoral, the relationship between Athena and Odysseus, which make me interesting, also this is important for the story. The relationship between Athena and Odysseus is the key for the story, because Odysseus had received a lot of help from Athena, their relationship is the reason to explain why would an immortal Athena who never interesting or attracted by any male either mortal or immortal, but only a human male, Odysseus, and helps Odysseus in either direct and indirect ways to get back home and take average to all the suitor in order for Odysseus to get back his family and his land.

One day Zeus was sitting on his throne enjoying life and also worrying about everything. Poseidon burst in urgently. He said that all of the seas have dried up and people were dying. He explained to Zeus that since Zeus was the King of the Gods he was the only one who could fill them up. Zeus did not know what to think of this appeal so he thought of something. He finally got back to Poseidon later that day and told him he needs to keep his worth. He told Poseidon that he will need to go through 5 different competitions with other gods and goddesses. If he wins one he gets the water. The first is archery against Artemis. The second is weaving against Athena.

My sister was recently kidnapped, and is being held on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean. I asked two Gods to help me find her, and I chose Poseidon and Zeus. I picked these two because their powers best benefit my strengths. Poseidon is the God of the ocean, and that benefits me because she is somewhere in the ocean. Since I am good at driving boats, Poseidon can calm the seas and make sure there aren’t any big waves and difficult waters throughout my search. With his help of calming the seas, the search will be faster and my sister will return home safely. I also picked Zeus. I picked Zeus because he is the God of the sky. Having him by my side will give me a great view of all the islands in the Pacific Ocean. He can see the tiny islands

Then suddenly the creature grew faster than lightning would strike. All of the trees, bushes and homes were destroyed by this creature unbelievable size. Evan finally knew what the beast, he would fly up to Mt. Olympus and demand them to make him into a mighty and powerful god or they would pay the price.