The Rise of Zeus

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The Rise of Zeus

• Order and Dominance of the Cosmos

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Zeus
Zeus, greatest and best of the gods, I will sing,
Far-seeing ruler who brings all things to
fulfillment And holds wise discourse with Themis,
who sits nearby leaning toward him. Be gracious,
Far-seeing one, son of Cronus, noblest and
greatest! Homeric Hymn to Zeus
Zeus is masculine, paternal authority,
overwhelming power, and the morally- centered
ruling voice of the universe.
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• The central story of Hesiods Theogony is how
  Zeus came to be the master of the Universe.
• The Cosmos arose through the intermingling of
  three powerful generative principles
• Chaos
• Earth (Gaia)
• Eros (Attraction, Sex, Desire, Love)
• Gaia gave birth to the Titans, may of whom are
  cosmic principles
• Helius (sun)
• Selene (moon)

• Eos (dawn)
• Oceanus (Ocean)

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The sacred Marriage of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus
(Sky) is the primary generative element of the
cosmos. Earth gives birth to all things Uranus
is the father of most of them.
As each of his children was born, Uranus hid them
all in the depths of Gaia and did not allow them
to emerge into the light. And he delighted in
his wickedness. But huge Earth in her distress
groaned within and devised a crafty and evil
scheme . . . Hesiod, Theogony
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Cronus (Latin name Saturn) takes the sickle his
mother gives him and castrates his father
Uranus. From the blood that falls from the
severed genitals into the ocean, Aphrodite is
born. So are the Furies.
Cronus Forum Romanum
Aphrodite VRoma
Cronus and his sister/wife, Rhea, become king and
queen of the Universe. Some notes Chronus means
time in Greek (similar but not the same
word). For the Romans, Saturn was the king of an
earlier blessed golden age.
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The Greeks did not suppress the horrible and
horrifying they selected from it and used it
boldly with profound insight and sensitivity.
(ML 46). Cronus made the same mistake his father
did. He refused to let the world go forward. As
each of his children was born, he swallowed it,
until finally Rhea hid the youngest one, Zeus,
and gave him a rock instead.
What are the parallels between the first and
second generations?
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Clear-voiced muse, sing a hymn to the mother of
all gods and all mortals too. The din of
castanets and drums, along with the shrillness of
flutes, are your delight, and also the cry of
wolves, the roar of glaring lions, and the
resounding forests. Homeric Hymn to the Mother of
Gods
Zeus was hidden away on Crete, raised by nymphs,
fed with honey from bees and the milk of the goat
Amalthea. Curetes (kouroi, young men) clashed
their shields to keep his cries from being heard
by Cronus.
This dancing and clashing may be related to the
worship of Cybele, an eastern mother-goddess
similar to Rhea.
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• Interesting that the patriarchal father and king
  of the gods should be allied with and helped by
  these feminine, natural powers early on in his
  life . . .
• Zeus returned and forced his father to cough up
  his siblings
• Sisters Hestia, Demeter, and Hera
• Brothers Hades and Poseidon
• There followed a huge battle for dominance
  between the gods and Titans . . . the Titanomachy.

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Titanomachy
The battle raged for 10 years, Titans vs. Zeus.
With Zeus were the gods, the Cyclopes and
Hecatoncheires, and a few Titans among them
Themis and Prometheus.
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After the battle, Zeus cast lots with his
brothers to divide up the known universe.
Zeus won kingship of land and sky.
Hades won the realm of death.
Poseidon won the oceans.
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The Titans were bound and imprisoned in
Tartarus. The idea of binding is important for
Zeus the powers are still there, but they are
controlled and subordinated. The natural powers
cannot and should not be destroyed, but Zeus can
control or at least manage them, in his ordered
universe. The Titanic powers of Helius, Selene,
Eos, and Oceanus are obviously still working
today . . . in service of order.
Zeus and his brothers cast lots to determine who
would rule what but fate clearly makes sense,
when Zeus, who freed his brothers, wins kingship
over the world.
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Zeus defeated (then apparently reintegrated) the
Titans, establishing order. But he then had to
defeat the giants.
Gigantomachy
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Gaia, for reasons unknown, gave birth to a race
of giants who attacked the gods. Why did the
helpful, supportive mother of all suddenly
produce a race of giants to attack Zeus?
Gaia emerges from the earth as her sons, the
giants, are defeated by the gods.
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Even the Titans and other primal concepts (like
Night, shown here) fight on the side of order
against the giants. She is slinging a
serpent-wound jar at a Giant who is part-serpent
himself. Giants represent ancient, primal chaos
the old times, before order and law. Boo, Giants!
Night vs. a giant
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Gigantomachy is an important theme in Greek
sacred art, often appearing on temple sculptures.
Here is a version c. 525 BCE from a small
building in Apollos sanctuary of Delphi.
The figure in the chariot is probably Cybele
(parallel to Rhea), and Herakles is with her.
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In this later version, from an altar in Asia
Minor c. 180 BCE, Zeus is defeating three giants
single-handed.
Why do the giants have serpent legs? Why do they
sometimes not?
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From the shoulders of this frightening dragon a
hundred snake-heads grew fire blazed from all
their eyes. In all the terrible heads voices
emitted all kinds of amazing sounds for at one
time he spoke so that the gods understood, at
another his cries were those of a proud bull
bellowing in his invincible might.
But are Zeuss struggles over? Noooooo . . .
Typhoeus (a.k.a. Typhon), another chaos monster,
rises to attack him.
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Zeus defeated Typhoeus with his thunderbolt.
The thunderbolt, made by the Cyclopes, was also
the decisive weapon in the battle with the
Titans. It shows Zeus as a sky god, and
emphasizes his uncontestable power. The natural
world is firmly integrated into these spiritually
meaningful stories about the establishment of
cosmic order.
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Another multi-level story
Level one Zeus and the gods kick butt! Level
two we know the material history of the world
where we came from, what the elemental powers are
like in the historical sense we can
understand. Level three we have a social model
for how we are supposed to work a family and
our allies, led by a strong paternal authority
whose power and decisions cannot be
contested. Level four perhaps this reflects a
de-ized view of real historical events,
explaining the influx of Indo-European peoples c.
2000 BCE Level five arent we anxious about
chaos? Isnt it nice to know that those chaotic
monsters were defeated?
What other levels might there be in this story?
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Mesopotamian Influences?
Mesopotamia was the first area in the world to
develop agriculture, metalworking, and complex
culture (i.e. urban and hierarchical). The
Greeks clearly learned from their technology did
they adapt their myths and other beliefs as well?
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The Babylonian creation myth, the Enuma Elish,
features a battle between the new generation of
gods, led by the warrior god Marduk, against the
old generation, led by the earth-dragon mother of
gods, Tiamat. There are elements in common with
the Titanomachy and with the battles against the
giants and Typhoeus.
Dragon of Marduk, Detroit
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Anush the eagle the old god flew into the sky,
but Kumarbi the young one grabbed his feet and
pulled him down from the sky. Kumarbi bit off
his genitals. His sperm went into Kumarbis
stomach. He swallowed Anushs sperm and he was
happy and he laughted. But Anush said You
should not rejoice! I have placed a burden in
your middle. First, I have made you pregnant
with the storm god . . . You will perish, hitting
your head on the mountain Tashshu! Hittite
Kingship in Heaven
The Hittite poem Kingship in Heaven describes a
multi-generational battle for command much like
the Uranus/ Cronus/ Zeus battle, but even (to us)
stranger . . .
The storm god, eventually the ruler in heaven,
finally emerged through Kumarbis penis to rule
the universe.
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The Rise(?) of Humans

• The Place of Mortals in the New Cosmos

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Prometheus
In the Biblical Creation story, God created
humans as his crowning achievement. In Greek
myth, Zeus may not have created humans at all. In
many versions, that task was left to Prometheus,
a figure who was often in conflict with Zeus, but
favored humans for reasons unknown.
Ovid gives two possibilities
Then man was born either the creator of the
universe, originator of a better world, fashioned
him from divine seed, or earth retained seeds
from its kindred sky and was mixed with rain
water by Prometheus and fashioned by him into the
likeness of the gods who control all. Thus earth
that was crude and without shape was transformed
. . .
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How important are humans in the grand scheme of
things? How much do the gods care about humans?

• Hesiod describes human life as sordid and
  depressing, getting worse and worse through five
  ages
• Gold everything was carefree and easy . . .
• Silver childish, without mature happiness,
  slighting the gods.
• Bronze warlike, cruel, self-destructive.
• Heroic age Like our world, but superior, filled
  with courageous heroes descended from the gods.
• Iron the grim, wearying age we live in now.

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Sacrifice at Mekone
Hesiod tells this story, set in times when gods
and humans still met face to face. He opens it
with a scene of torture The Titan Iapetus had
four sons. Zeus flung one into Tartarus.
Another, Atlas, has to hold up the world. A
third, Prometheus, lies chained to a rock, with
an eagle eating his liver out. What did he do to
deserve this terrible punishment?
He defied the gods to help humans, tricking Zeus
to establish a sacred ritual of sacrifice which
favored humans and made them forever separate
from gods.
Atlas and Prometheus, c. 550 BCE
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Blood sacrifice was one of the most powerful
rituals of the ancient Greeks.
Meat was a luxury, so large animals, like sheep,
cows, pigs and goats, were usually slaughtered in
honor of the gods. In family or state festivals,
chosen animals would be prepared, led to an altar
in procession, then ceremonially killed in front
of festival participants. A small portion of meat
was burned on the altar, for the gods. Humans
shared the rest.
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If the animals were slaughtered in honor of the
gods, why did humans get the bulk of the meat?
The Mekone story explains this practice. Prometheu
s deceived Zeus . . . Or was he deceived? Either
way, conflicts escalated. Zeus hid fire.
Prometheus stole it back. So Zeus planned the
ultimate revenge . . .
Pandora
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Hesiod, a real misogynist, points to this as the
beginning of human troubles.
Previously the human race used to live completely
free from evils and hard work and painful
diseases. But the woman removed the great cover
of the jar with her hands and scattered the evils
within and for mortals devised sorrowful
troubles. Hope alone remained within there under
the edge of the jar . . . Hesiod, Works and Days
What is the moral of the Pandora story? What
is its etiological function?
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Pandora may be a more profound figure though. Her
name means All gifts because all the gods
gave her gifts? or because she brings all things,
good and evil, to humans?
As in the Adam and Eve story, a woman brings evil
to humans. But perhaps, as Joseph Campbell
suggests, women, representing life processes,
real birth, real death, represent the real
world, not paradise.
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Sources Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound
Aeschylus was the first great Athenian
playwright, writing about 450 BCE. Prometheus
Bound was part of a trilogy of plays, produced
for the festival of Dionysus in Athens.
Athenian drama explored issues significant to the
polis it made you feel pity and terror, but
it also made you think.
Theater at Delphi, ANU
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Prometheus Bound emphasizes Zeuss arbitrary,
dictatorial cruelty. But only this one play of
the trilogy survives. Would the rest have
changed the picture? While Prometheus lies bound
to the rock, surrounded by his nieces the
Oceanids, he encounters various characters and
converses with them. Among them is Io, a young
girl turned into a cow because of Zeus, whose
descendant Herakles will free Prometheus. Promethe
us reveals how much he gave to humans fire, yes,
but many other technologies carpentry, farming,
metal working, ship building he is a culture
hero.
Prometheus is a culture hero, and a trickster
a figure known for his helpful but disruptive and
deceitful actions. These two roles are often
combined in world mythologies.
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Mesopotamian Influences?
The Flood In many mythologies of the
Mediterranean, a huge flood destroys most of
humankind. In the Near East, this is a major
theme Noah in the Bible, Utnapishtim in the
Gilgamesh epic, and Athrahasis in other
Mesopotamian myth, are all survivors of floods
the gods sent to punish human beings. There is
also an Egyptian flood story. In the Bible, God
punished humans for impiety. In other
Mesopotamian stories, the gods punish humans for
either impiety, or making too much
noise! Scholars argue over whether the flood was
a real event, or a mythologization of the smaller
but still devastating floods that affected the
area.
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Local legends In Arcadia, there was a ritual
held to Lycaon every nine years, in which the
young man chosen to play the leading role was
transformed into a wolf. If he went for nine
years without killing a human, he would regain
his human form. If not, he was a wolf forever.

• The flood was not a major myth for the Greeks.
  Ovid (later, influenced by many sources) tells it
  at most length.
• Impiety is an issue, as seen in the story of Zeus
  and Lycaon. This is a very old motif the
  seemingly powerless stranger who turns out to be
  a god (or witch or fairy or king)

• Deucalion (son of Prometheus) and Pyrrha
  (daughter of Epimetheus) repopulate the world.

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finis
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Group discussion
There are a lot of hostile encounters between
Zeus and human beings go over the main ones
discussed in chapter 4, and if you know of
others, bring them in. What does it mean that
there are so many points of conflict? What are
relationships like in general between humans and
gods in Greek culture, from what you have seen?
If you are aware of other traditions, compare
human/divine relationships there as well.