Comparison And Evaluation Of Zeus And Hesiod's Theogony

In The Iliad, Homer plays with the ideas that Zeus, the god and leader of all, ultimately may not be in charge. Countless times during the text, Zeus bends to the wills of prophecies, mortals, and even other gods. As the story develops, Zeus becomes less in charge and more of a puppet for mortals and gods who have contrivances for and against him. Through prophecy, Achilles, and Hera, this essay will glimpse at the idea of Zeus simply being a puppet on strings in the hands of war.

The manner in which Hesiod presents Zeus’s thoughts regarding his interaction with Prometheus help to provide us with a better understanding of Zeus’s characteristics. Lines 530-531 of Theogony, which describe the eventual freedom of Prometheus, stipulate that this came “not without the will of Zeus,” enhancing the efficacy of Zeus’s ultimate power. Hesiod had previously mentioned Zeus’s intelligence, but he delves more deeply into this attribute in examining the conflict at Mekone between Zeus and Prometheus. “Zeus, eternally wise, recognized the fraud and began to rumble in his heart trouble for mortals, and it would be fulfilled.” (Hesiod 552-55). Here, Hesiod’s audience begins to understand Zeus as an extremely wise, but vengeful god, an image which agrees with Homer’s Iliadic Zeus, and all other accounts of the god in ancient Greek literature. Hesiod goes on, however, to extend

Even though Agamemnon made a success for his homecoming, what was waiting for him was her wife’s conspiracy with Aegisthus and his death (262-263). Namely, his nosmos was rather a failure and he also faced fate of his failed household. This Agamemnon’s gives a comparison with Odysseus future success for preserving his family and throne. Furthermore, Clytemnestra’s unfaithfulness and infidelity provides a foil to Penelope’s faithfulness and loyalty. Clytemnestra’s merciless and brutal actions, not sealing Agamemnon’s eyes while he was dying, adds contrasting characteristics between Odysseus and Agamemnon’s wives. Note that here, the story of successful vengeance for Agamemnon by Orestes gives a foil to Telemachus’ weakness and deficiency. Orestes here is depicted as a heroic example with murder of Aegistus after he comes of age (264). On the contrary to Orestes who saved his household and restored order in his family’s kingdom, Telemachus, as he came of age, couldn’t serve as protecting his household and repel his mother’s suitors in the absence of his father. In the light of comparing each heroic figures’ sons, the son of Achilles is also depicted as successful warrior with great strength and fame in the battlefield against Trojan, adding a foil to Telemachus’ unsuccessful position as a son (266).

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.

    The idea of hubris is monumental in a plethora of Greek mythological works. In many ways the excessive pride of certain characters fuels their own destruction. This is certainly true with respect to the characters of Pentheus, Antigone, and Oedipus. All three of these characters demonstrate, through their actions, various degrees of arrogance that seem to undercut the traditional role of the Gods, and thus largely contribute to their downfall. However, it should be noted that while each of these characters demonstrate hubris, they way in which their arrogance manifests itself is unique to each character.

Zeus’ affinity for being the main character of a myth is no different in the epic myth about his fight against Cronus and the Titans or the “Titanomachy.” In this larger-than-life battle Zeus has to overthrow his father Cronus and take his predestined place as king of the gods. In this myth however, Zeus has to grow and overcome many challenges that stand in his way to greatness. Zeus has to ask for help from his mother in order to be able to free his sibling from his father Cronus who had swallowed them whole. After Zeus frees his siblings he has to face the mighty Titans, so he asks the Cyclops and the Hecatonchires to aid him in this battle that lasts

The comment explaining the relationship between Ouranos, Kronos, and Zeus is an accurate representation of Hesiod’s account in the Theogony. Each of these gods – with the exception of Zeus – are overthrown by their predecessors and stripped of their power. The extent of Zeus’ dependence on Gaia is explained and proved by Hesiod in his writing. His account explains the piece of advice that Gaia offers Zeus regarding the release of the Hekatoncheires, and how important it is in allowing Zeus to achieve success (Theog. 617-63). The degree of Zeus’ responsibility for his own success is proven by Hesiod when he writes about the Cyclopes and the punishments that Zeus inflicts upon his enemies. Zeus slowly becomes successful after the advice that Gaia gives him, but is able to fully establish this power when he begins to take matters into his own hands. His force and diplomacy allow him to strike fear into those who fight against him and gain the trust of those who are willing to fight beside him. Hesiod is able to illustrate Zeus’ rise to power through detailed explanations of his relationships with Ouranos, Kronos, and Gaia. The account featured in the Theogony makes one wonder if success can be achieved simply by oneself, or if allies and support are required in order to reach ultimate

Zeus overthrew his father while in battle and took the throne at Mount Olympus. After the defeat of their father, the three brothers had to determine who rules what aspect of the Earth. Although many think it was not a very smart way to decide, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades drew lots. Arguably, Zeus ultimately won. He became the god of the sky and ruler of all the other Olympians. Altercations between Olympians were settled by Zeus and he also could punish their wrongdoings. Since he was the god of the sky, Zeus could create storms, darkness, droughts, or even hurricanes on Earth. If he was ever furious, lightning bolts could have been hurled to the Earth as punishment. He also cherished the mortals on Earth. They would be rewarded for being honest and fair, while being punished for thievery or cruelty. During the revolt of his father, Zeus gained the help of Prometheus, a titan at the time. Prometheus secretly gave mortals fire and metalworking skills after Cronus was overthrown. Zeus began to get very angry at Prometheus, so he punished him severely. He had Prometheus bound to a stone with an eagle devouring his liver every

To begin, Zeus was seen as one of the major gods, if not the most supreme god of his time. This could have affected the Greeks interpretations of his actions. Zeus was seen as the “glorified image not only of husband

Some evaluations claim that the Dionysus appearing in The Bacchae is fairly true embodiment of the ideals of ancient Athens. He demands only worship and proper reverence for his name, two matters of honor that pervaded both the Greek tragedies and the pious society that viewed them. In other plays, Oedipus' consultations with Apollo and the many Choral appeals to Zeus reveal the Athenian respect for their gods, while Electra's need for revenge and Antigone's obligation to bury Polyneices both epitomize the themes of respect and dignity. Yet although Dionysus personifies these two motifs, his clashes with the rest of Athenian tradition seem to make him its true adversary.

Despite the absence of Zeus in Prometheus Bound a reader can still get a great deal of description of and how Zeus rules the Gods and creation. It seems very different from the scene a reader can get in the Hesiod. Zeus is vilified in Prometheus Bound. He is the villain in my impression from the author. Zeus has inflicted the same punishment on Prometheus in both stories, but the brutality of this punishment is emphasized more in Prometheus Bound and all the characters in the story or play, except for Strength, show disdain toward this tragic and harsh punishment.

Prometheus was a titan who did not like Zeus. One day he asked Zeus why he made man, but why did he not help mankind. Zeus says that he is not not helping, but he is letting them be able to find out how to do certain things.

From the dawn of time, many ancient Greeks turned to Gods and Goddesses for help and good fortune when going into battle, harvesting crop and many other tasks of everyday life. Typically, many turned to Zeus, the God of Gods and man, for help and protection, and was loved and worshiped by all, being praised for victories over enemies and thanked for good fortune and harvest. Although he may seem high and mighty, he was anything but, and is famously known for his numerous affairs and many infidelities of which Hera became enraged and jealous about and for good reason of her own. This goes to show, that even those we consider the greatest can fall to the depths of destruction as he deceives those around him into getting what he wants. Not only did he deceive those around him, but he tricked Hera, Europa, as well as Danae into believing he was something he was not.

So as you can see the purpose of this writing is to describe to the reader an old story once popular with the people of Greece, while entertaining them with exposition full of outlandish yet relatable characters, i.e. the gods and goddesses. Besides simply being fantastical, these characters are also meant to personify certain conditions of the world.Mythology often uses heavy handed symbolism and this story is no exception. Despite being written as though it’s meant to be taken literally, the gods clearly symbolize different aspects of life and nature. For example Aphrodite symbolizes the beauty of femininity, and Poseidon symbolizes the might and will of the ocean and earthquakes. These characters are said to have existed before man, and the story is set a time long ago when they first inhabited the world with animals and gifted them with their individual aspects, as Epimetheus says “’...The animals came to me, while I gave each the gifts which should be his from this time forward.’ ” There is no individual place where they spend the majority of the narrative, but rather earth seems to be the physical setting where the gods and humans interact.By the end of “Prometheus” they’ve drowned all the people, leaving two humans on earth, Deucalion and

In the play Prometheus Bound, there were many powerful characters that played a huge role in the rise of Prometheus; there is one character alone that is worth talking about. In the play, Zeus is a relatively new God in Greece. He recently became the God of Olympus. Many of the Greeks come to find out what type of God he will be. When situations arise throughout the play, Zeus shows his ruler ways in not such a good light. He is mostly described in the play to be a cruel, vengeful, and dictatorial God. Even in tough situations, Zeus still acted in a vengeful manner. A great example of his vengeance towards Prometheus, he ordered Hephaesteus to chain Prometheus to a cliff, in hope he will die, but Prometheus is a Titian, therefore he cannot die. This part in particular stood out when reading the play; Zeus shows his cruel, vengeful, and dictatorial