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HOMR
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ZeusZeus is god of the sky and weather. Homer's name for him is cloud-gatherer. He was associated with high mountains because that is where clouds tend to gather. His strength, greater than all the other gods, make him the natural leader, and thus head god. The Eagle is his symbol and they are his eyes; the bull his special animal. Bulls were ritually sacrificed to Zeus. The aegis or "goat skin" was a symbol of Zeus' power, an object that instilled fear in anyone who looked at it. In art, the aegis is usually shown a shield. Athena often wears it as a breast plate, marking her close relationship with Zeus.
Zeus, as ruler of the world, was also the god of tradition. Later, when tradition was codified into written law, Zeus became the god of law and justice. There was among Greeks a tradition favored by Zeus called Xenia. In Greek xenos means "guest" or "stranger". Xenia required that a traveler be received into a household and be given a gift and entertained. If one failed in your duty, Zeus was there to punish you. The traveler was expected to behave and not seduce the wife of the host or steal from him. The host, of course, could expect the same treatment if he traveled. Xenia allowed Greeks to travel with relative security in distant lands where other Greeks lived.
The young Trojan prince, Paris, who seduced the wife of his host, Menelaüs, violated xenia and irrevocably placed Zeus on the side of the Greeks in the Trojan war.
Symbols of Zeus are his thunder-bolt, a winged spear or spear-bundle
, his eagle, and
he is generally shown bearded.
Zeus has many consorts by a variety of humans and other gods and demigods; ancient commentators counted as many as One-Hundred-Fifteen. Most of these brought forth one or many siblings, so there were a great many gods and people directly related to Zeus.
Ganymede
Zeus was also attracted to young men, which reflected the same interests as young, Greek, free-born, men. In one story, Zeus, looking down from Mt. Ida, notices how attractive is the young Trojan prince Ganymede. So he swoops down and takes him away to Mt. Olympus as “cupbearer” to the Gods. In art, Ganymede is frequently represented with an eagle carrying him away to Mt. Olympus. Or sometimes just with a rooster, a common gift from the older to younger man in a pederastic relationship.
Hera, Zeus' wife, was always furious about Zeus's dalliances, and always sought to punish the woman. She didn't seem to care about his relationship with Ganymede one way or the other.
Hera
Hera is wife of Zeus and queen of heaven. She is goddess of marriage, woman's sexuality, and fertility. Although she is never referred to as mother and is seldom represented with children. She is also Zeus' older sister. The cow was her special animal, as the bull was to her husband, Zeus. The peacock is her symbol as the eagle is to Zeus. She was highly honored by the Greeks and some of the earliest, most splendid temples were dedicated to her. Pomegranates and apples were sacred to Hera. Pomegranates were traditionally given to brides in Athens, where weddings took place in in “Hera's mouth”.
Hera is a vindictive and jealous goddess; she pursues and punishes anyone who Zeus manages to seduce.
The union of Hera and Zeus produced several children: Aries (god of war), Eileithyia (goddess of childbirth), and Hebê (a personification of youth). In Hesiod, Hera conceives Hephaestus asexually out of jealousy of Zeus who conceived Athena without sex, but later commentators have Hephaestus as a normal son, albeit deformed.
Demeter
While Gaea, a Titan and goddess of the earth, presided over the the world's birth. The expulsion of the Titans to the Elysian fields left Demeter as the earth/mother-goddess who controlled the growth of wheat. She is a sister of Zeus and Hera. Wherever wheat was grown, her religion was strong. She was also closely related to the town of Elusis. It was home of the Elusian mysteries, a festival of birth, death, and resurrection that was famous throughout the Ancient world.
She had a daughter by Zeus, Persephone. While Persephone was very young Zeus gave her to Hades as his wife. Hades is king of the dead (see below) and the brother of both Zeus and Demeter. Demeter had a fit; and cast a drought on the earth causing famine. Wandering the earth she came across Poseidon, another of her brothers, he found her attractive and decided to rape her. To escape she changed herself in to a mare, but Poseidon's animal was the horse and so in that form they had sex. The result was the horse/god Arion and the goddess Despopina. The knowledge of this goddess was one of the secrets revealed in the Elusian mysteries where Demeter was worshiped in the form of a mare's head.
Hestia
Hestia was the God of the hearth: the home fire. Her name means hearth. She was the oldest child of Cronus and Rhea, thus she is a sister of Zeus, Hera, Demeter, and Hades. Fire in ancient times held an important place in every household. It was needed for cooking and heating. In most homes a fire was kept going 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In early cultures it was always women's work to keep the fires going -- most likely because you could not trust a man to do it: the temptation would be too great. Hestia plays little part in Greek literature, but she was a widely honored goddess, and an altar to her could always be found near a home's fireplace.
Note that fire kept women at home. A women could not leave for long periods because the fire had to be tended -- and that was a woman's responsibility. It also contributed to the protective attitude of the Greeks to their women. Women did not go out alone, and they were always covered in clothes. Monuments with eternal flames echo the worship of Hestia.
Poseidon
Poseidon is god of the seas and earthquakes. He is inexplicitly, but closely associated with horses. He developed as a god early in Greek history, his name being recorded on clay tablets about 1200 BC. Traditionally horses were drown in sacrifices to appease him. He is married to Amphitriê, who is a nereid or sea goddess. He has many children but his son, Triton, can blow on a conch shell and calm the seas.
He was as much of a rake as Zeus spreading his seed far and wide. He had sex with the Gorgon Medusa in her neck after Perseus beheaded her, which seems pretty unpleasant -- from that union came two children: the warrior Chrysaör and the flying-horse Pegasus.
Poseidon competed with Athena to be the god of Athens. She provided the city with the first olive tree; Poseidon hit the side of the Athenian Acropolis with his trident and made a salt-water spring. The people of Athens chose Athena probably because olives were a lot more useful than salt-water, and because no one could imagine being called a “Poseidonese” from the town of “Poseidona.” In classical times both the original olive tree and the split in the rock were visible in the Erechtheum, a temple on the Acropolis
Poseidon did not favor humans and was held responsible for much human misery, both storms at sea and earthquakes on land. Homer calls him "earth-shaker". He is often mentioned in Greek literature, and his favor, or more usually his disfavor, are responsible for the difficulties of heroes on land and sea. He hated Odysseus, which explains why it took Odysseus ten years to make his sea voyage home after the fall of Troy.
HadesKing of the Dead, Hades shares the government of the world with Zeus (heaven and earth) and Poseidon (the seas). His name means "invisible", appropriate for his role. It was considered dangerous to speak his name, so he was often called Pluto, which means "he who enriches". He owns a magic cap that makes him invisible. Other gods and heroes sometimes borrow the cap to help them in their adventures. His childless wife is Persephone, a daughter of Demeter (see above).
He never willingly lets anyone escape from the Elysian fields to return to life.
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2003-02-28