NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... to be the wisest ruler of the Immortals and mortal people. Zeus was the guardian of political order and peace. Once Hear, his wife, organized a revolt against him. The gods bound sleeping Zeus, but he quickly untied knots. The god punished the gods and Hear.
He hung her from the sky with gold chains; but released her the next morning because he was sorry of her. May be, Zeus understood that his magnanimity would be better than anger; and helped him to subordinate Hera's unruly character. He was right. Hera never went against him.
Zeus punished those who lied or broke oaths. He punished his brother Poseidon when he tried to stand for Trojans. Zeus was the most extreme patriarchal presentation of the god. He had authority but often abused his authority. He ordered people to act just and righteously but easily broke the rules himself. For example he allowed Hades to abduct Persephone.
The times of Zeus ruling were the best example of absolute power and its after-effects. In our modern age, it was proved that absolute power corrupted absolutely. Most of all, Zeus was vengeful. His revenge was awful. Lets mention what he did with Prometheus, who was one of the Titans.
At those times, people suffered from cold. They had no fire to warm. Prometheus had stolen fire from Zeus and given it to them. Zeus was anger and punished him. Prometheus was tortured by an eagle that was eating his imperishable liver (Theogony, line 522). The very name of Zeus was derived from a root div, "to shine." Zeus was so glorious and at the same time awful that no one could see Zeus in all his magnificence and survive.
Lets remember the myth of Zeus and Semele. Semele was one of the numerous Zeus lovers. Hera knew about their affair and decided to revenge. She disguised as a little old woman; and Semele told her about her lover, the Great God Zeus. Hera planted a seed of doubt in Semele's mind and proposed her to check the greatness of the lover.
So, Semele asked Zeus to show all his glory. It scorched her to ashes. The myth gave a birth to a famous saying that those who have deep love can be scorched to ashes with it. There are a lot of famous myths about Zeus' birth, childhood and coming to the throne.
But he was well-known for his numerous love affairs. Zeus was considered to be undefeated ruler of the Gods. He had the right to pursue any woman, whether they were willing or not. As it was pointed earlier, the first Zeus wife was Metis; and the last was Hera. But as it was said, he had a lot of affairs with Goddesses and mortals.
Zeus wasn't a faithful husband. He was most susceptible to the power of Eros than any other god. Such situation offended Hera and made her jealous and vengeful. She was not a loyal wife.
As a rule, she revenged goddesses and mortals and often outwitted Zeus. The list of Zeus' love affairs is endless. The result of them was Dionysius, the son of Semele; Hercules, and many others. They say that Zeus had a lot of sons or descendants almost in all regions in the Greek.
Zeus sons were called demigods and were the main personages in the Age of Hero. Most of them helped mortal people and struggled side by side with them. People got to know about the events in myths from the ancient texts. But how and when were those texts recorded. It should be emphasized that the large part of the Greek myths were written (or rewritten) in the period known as Classical Greece circa 500 BCE.
It was a time of cultural and artistic freedom. But the Classical Greek writers and story tellers were about five hundred years away from the time Greek culture and myths appeared. Thats why there is a suspicion that myths were retold in the way that seemed proper to them. Taking the fact into account, Homer, Hesiod and The Homeric Hymns circa 800 BCE should be mentioned as three main sources, though, may be, they had been changed or subtracted for 300 years. But we call them authentic. The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer as well as The Lyric Poets and the works of Hesiod are the best works describing the life and behavior of gods and mortal people.
They reflected natural and ethical allegories, human attitudes towards gods. The writers show gods who fight and cry. They are vulnerable with all human weaknesses, or powerful, furious putting different obstacles in humans' way. The oldest piece of western literature is the Iliad. It was dated back to the eighth century BCE and has survived till modern times. Iliad is one of the earliest names for Troy, i.
e. Ilion. The work is devoted to the events of the Trojan War. The war had been waging for ten years.
The city of Troy was besieged by the Argives from the mainland. The author showed the ten years of stalemate fighting and, finally, the intervention of the Immortals. It is clear that people were toys for gods though they lost their own sons in war. The intervention of the gods and goddesses brought the conflict to a bloody ending. The war was horrific and brutal. It was started by the Olympian Immortals. (the Judgment of Paris led to the Trojan War).
Mortals became pawns of the war. Homer mentioned Zeus name almost on every page in The Iliad. He called him in different ways: God Zeus of the Aegis, Zeus the cloud gatherer, Zeus of the wide brows Father, Zeus Son of Kronos, Lord of Hera, Zeus of the thunderbolt, father of gods and men, The Olympian Zeus and high the sky dweller. In the Iliad, Zeus is shown as someone very powerful and, at the same time, cruel and vindictive. From the other side, a lot of warriors are depicted as those with noble minds and spiritual natures. They proudly exercise the logic and mores of their age.
In The Works and Days and Theogony, Hesiod describes the creation of men and women. Zeus was anger with Prometheus because he had stolen fire from him. He punished the Titan but later released him. Pandora, a young woman created by Zeus with the help of his brothers and sisters, was an additional punishment for Prometheus. Zeus showed his artful nature and gave Pandora, giver of all, to Prometheus brother, Epimetheus. The young man could not refuse because Pandora was very beautiful.
But the gift hid all the woes and sorrow of the wild world. The only thing remained inside. It was Hope. (Works and Days, line 96) It should be pointed that the Greek Myths are of great power even mow. A lot of notions have become common nouns such as Pandora s Box or Trojan Horse etc. The myths are a window into the distant past. They help to understand not only the mind of the Greeks but the hearts.
A lot of cults, attributes and representations were connected with Zeus. Dodona, in Epirus was the seat of the most ancient oracle of Zeus. People say that the leaves of the sacred oak whisper the words of Zeus himself. Herodotus described it in his works: "Two black doves flew from Thebes in Egypt, one to Libya and the other to Dodona. The latter, alighting in an oak tree, began to speak in a human voice and to say that an oracle of Zeus should be founded in this place.
The people of Dodona believed that they had received an order coming from the gods, and on the dove's advice founded the oracle." Another sanctuary of Zeus was in Arcadia, on the Mount Lycaeus. Zeus was the god of sky thats why a lot of monuments in his order were built on the tops of high mountains. On the Mount Lycaeus, there were two columns with golden eagles and the sacrificial altar. One of the biggest altars was in Olympia. It was made of ashes and bones of sacrificed animals. They say that Kronos was defeated for the throne in Olympia, and Zeus, in memory to his victory, established the Olympic Games.
The Olympic Games were so important event that wars stopped on the earth and on the Heavens. Between 470 BC and 456 BC the huge temple in Olympia was built. It had the Zeus' famous statue sculptured by Phidias inside. Zeus was represented as a mature male. He had robust body, thick hair and beard. He usually wore a long mantle and had the scepter in his left hand, the thunderbolt in his right hand.
For a long time different people went to altars to offer sacrifices and prayers to Zeus. Archaeologists testify that humans populated Aegis (Hellas) long time ago. They created a lot of temples and monuments in his honor. Hellenic culture reached the zenith with the gods at the top of it. From the Hellenic gods who influenced greatly on humans were the Olympians, and most of all Zeus. The Statue of Zeus that located at the ancient town of Olympia, on the west coast of modern Greece, was the most significant and widely discussed one.
Some historians such as Strabo criticized the sculptor of the Statue for not having appreciated the correct proportions. Stephen Miller, from his side, stated that the ancient Greeks made the Statue so enormous with the purpose to express the greatness of their civilization. The Greek myths are an object for discussion among Historians, Archaeologists and scholars. Some historians, such as Evemerus and others who lived in 4 th- 3 rd century BC, state that the gods were real persons. They were glorified after their death.
People became to treat them as gods. Others argue that there was the only one god Zeus; and the rest were his attributes or abstract meanings. For example, Athena symbolized Wisdom, Ares was connected with War etc. There are different approaches as to the meaning of Zeus name. As a rule, scholars pointed that it was from an Indo-European root and meant to shine or gleam brightly. From the other side, one of the scholars, Johnson, gave definition different from previous.
He mentioned that Zeus is known as Zeus Phanaios. It means One Who Appears as Light and Brings Light. In Corinthians 11: 14, Satan was represented as transformed into an angel of light. Johnson stated that light meant human consciousness. It was the moment when Eve was given the forbidden fruit and all humanity gained the knowledge of good and evil. So, Johnson characterized Zeus as a snake that had brought the evil of knowledge.
Most of all, some scholars pointed the prophetic and occult significance of the ancient altar of Zeus, the Throne of Satan that was placed in Berlin. They proposed that it led to the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany. But having examined the ancient Greek myths, it has become evident that the Greeks viewed Zeus in the different way as the father, savior and illuminator of the human race. Most of all, the civilization of the Ancient Greeks influenced greatly the Roman Empire and the foundation of culture of Western Civilization.
In the work I have tried to cover a huge period of the Ancient Greeks culture and explain the meaning of The Greek religion. As it was pointed, The Greek gods played an important role in the life of ancient people; they were embodiment of peoples fears and hopes. I have examined one of the most powerful and influential god in the pantheon. In the work historical background information was gathered. It helped to compare the way of living of ancient Greeks and their gods conducted.
Most of all, Zeus was characterized according to his deeds; how he was shown in the Myths. In the conclusion, I got modern points of view and discussions concerning the personage. Frankly speaking, though Zeus is chief of the Greek gods and represents authority, I do not want to have Zeus in my pantheon. He remains me men in their worst moments. Bibliography: A. W. , Pickard.
The Classical Review. Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion by Arthur Bernard Cook. Cambridge University Press, Vol. 29, No. 3, 2001. Stewart, Michael. "Zeus", Greek Mythology: From the Iliad to the Fall of the Last Tyrant.
November 14, 2005. web Wendy, Danger. Psycho-Analysis: An Olympian Undertaking. The New York Times Press, May 20, 2001.
Free research essays on topics related to: greek myths, greek gods, ancient greeks, influenced greatly, trojan war
Research essay sample on Ancient Greeks Greek Myths
