Zeus the capable King of the Gods
In all honesty the subject of Zeus has a major topic when I have been studying. The first time I studied him properly when I was studying Prometheus and the chain of reaction that happened when he tried to trick Zeus. This will be the second time that I study a chance to get to know him not just as the kings of the gods, who had many affairs and had a close connection with his children. Instead I have tried to look at how important he is to the gods and what he brings to the pantheon as the king of the gods, what strikes me is that once Zeus gives a command or makes a final decision the god have to listen to him, although they delay certain things they cannot change what he has says. In some way he has the power to make sure no one gets out of control, even his ‘favourite’ Athena has to abide by his rules although he gives her allowances, in this blog I want to address how Zeus gives order on the gods and humans, trying to find the good qualities of Zeus possesses, with a focus on order and justice he brings to the earth and consider if this makes him a sufficient ruler of gods and mankind.
Zeus Kings of the gods
Homeric Hymn to the Son of Cronos, most high- [1] I will sing of Zeus, chiefest among the gods and greatest, all-seeing, the lord of all, the fulfiller who whispers words of wisdom to Themis as she sits leaning towards him. Be gracious, all-seeing Son of Cronos, most excellent and great! [1]
This is an example of what Zeus provides to the all who worship him. He too like the other gods has a limit to his power; however the Homeric Hymn shows he is all-seeing and full of wisdom. His wisdom is central to his power and he has foresight and sees what other gods may not see. The power of wisdom gives him strength to make just decisions even when he may not want to. Men and the gods respect him as the king of the gods. He brings order and justice through the world which is vital to running a civilized society. Even though the Homeric Hymns to the gods are praise them all, Homer emphasizes how great Zeus is compared to the other gods as he has qualities of an monotheistic god as he is ’all seeing’ a quality ascribed to the Christian God Jehovah. Zeus is also called, and is to a degree omnipotent; but he did not create the universe, he is not eternal[2]
In Homers Iliad it is suggested that not everyone is in harmony with having Zeus as the kings of gods- ‘I have often heard you declaring in my father’s halls that you, alone among the immortals, averted unseemly destruction from the son of Kronos of the dark clouds at the time when the other Olympians – Hera and Poseidon and Pallas Athena – wanted to put him in bonds. But you went, goddess, and freed him from his bonds...[3]
In this extract we can see two things; one Zeus is under threat by other gods in the pantheon. The gods who try to bind him up are some of the closest to him (Hera, Poseidon and Athena), this act of betrayal was made by his wife and sister, brother and daughter. Under these circumstances and having been a usurper himself, it is no wonder Zeus can be considered paranoid and suspicious of people. We have to wonder why these gods decided that that would overthrow Zeus, but also for consideration would be whether or not they worked together afterwards or if they would turn on each other, for they seems like an unlikely trinity. Secondly, Zeus was helped by Thetis a lesser goddess who without her help the other gods would have succeeded in overthrowing him. Although Zeus is the gods of justice and ruling sometimes he cannot please everyone and this is an example of what happens when other gods do not get their way. On the other hand, Walter Burkett argues that ‘The other gods may protest against Zeus, they may attempt to disobey him or even plot against him, but nothing can seriously threaten him- he remains far superior.’[4] This claim may be considered true as Thetis decides to help Zeus and he remains King of the gods. This may be because even if not everyone is happy with Zeus, it causes unrest and can cause civil war and causes unbalance in the pantheon.
In conclusion Zeus appears to be kings of the gods because the other gods allow him to be so. As a usurper himself he has to be carefully of what he does. However he enforces and balances out the gods as a ‘father’ a role that needs to be filled, giving him more reason to last as the kings of the gods. However Zeus has is his insecurity that someone else will come along and take his place for as Zeus was a usurper ‘the fear of someone else coming to overthrow him is always there’ thus Zeus remain the only problem in having a golden reign of ruling. On the other hand, as one of 12 gods even though kings of gods, he can be considered brutal tyrant as he is desperate to keep his throne and have no successor. With that in mind it would be hard for Zeus not to be insecure as King of the gods as
No comments:
Post a Comment