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Ballard 1 Bailey Ballard Mrs.Schubach 8th Grade Research 11 February 2015 The Great Greek Gods: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and Hades The Greek gods are part of a great belief of humanity’s past. From generation to generation their stories have been passed. Many find interest in the topic of these godly beings that were said to watch over us in the early centuries of the world. The most famous god one normally knows are the three godly brothers: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Each of the three brothers has their own throne and are a big part in Greek mythology. Each of them are also very famous. One other goddess holds just as much fame as they once had though. This goddess is the majestic Hera. All four of these gods hold a special place in Greek mythology and their tales share special lessons from our ancient past for our present world. In Mythology by Edith Hamilton, Zeus is described as, “He was lord of the sky, the Raingod and the cloud gatherer, who wielded the awful thunderbolt. His power was greater than that of all other divinities together”(Hamilton 25). Zeus was the king of the gods and the most famous god out of his two brothers Hades and Poseidon. He was known wielding the thunderbolt and being the king of all. Though even as king he was not the most powerful being. Zeus was more powerful then all godly and mortal beings, but he was still weaker than the three fates (Hamilton 26). The three fates are the beings that cut the string of one’s life away. Because they can end one life so easily they are believed to be more powerful than Zeus. Zeus however was still more powerful than all the gods and goddesses and all mortals. Due to this he was not only called the king but also as the father of mankind: “Zeus was the protector of cities, the home, Ballard 2 property, strangers, guest, and supplicants” (Taft 122). This is why, when having over a guest or stranger, Greeks believed one had to be kind and generous otherwise one would anger Zeus and have his thunderbolt at one’s throat. Though with this being a normal stereotype people did not make Zeus seem like an awful man: “In art Zeus was represented as a bearded, dignified, and mature man of stalwart build; his prominent symbols being the thunderbolt and the eagle” (Taft 122). Zeus’s tree was the strong, sturdy oak. When leaves shook on the oak, priests believed that Zeus was sending them a sign from Olympus to bring either good or terrible news (Hamiltion 26). Even in Rome, Zeus was represented as a strong, masculine figure mainly represented by his Roman name. His most famous Roman name is Jupiter because it is the biggest planet. The size of Jupiter symbolizes Zeus’s strength and power. (Christ 22). Though this is his most famous name, Zeus also had another roman name- Jove (Christ 15). No one is sure what this name exactly means or why he is sometimes called this instead of Zeus, but it is still a name for him when referred to in Roman culture. Zeus’s name is derived from the Hindu sky god (Taft 120). How the Greeks became connected with this culture is unknown but researchers are still working to find out how the two cultures connect. Zeus was famous for his many affairs with women (Taft 122). Though Hera was his wife, Zeus still went with many women including both goddesses and mortals. He is known for having many children and demigods. Demigods are half human and half god children. According to Taft, “Notable among his offspring were the twins Apollo and Artemis, by Titaness Leto; Helen and the Dioscuri, by Leda of Sparta/ Persephone, by the goddess Demeter; Athena, born from his head after he swallowed the Titaness Metis; Hephaestus, Hebe, Ares, and Eileithyia, by his wife Hera; Dionysus by the goddess Semele; and many others.” Ballard 3 Out of his children Athena is known to be his favorite. Many believe she is his favorite for the plain reason of being born from his head fully grown. Athena originally was not meant to be born from Zeus’s head. When Metis, Athena’s mother, was pregnant Zeus took Athena out of her body and put her in his head ("Zeus”). No one knows exactly why or how it happened though. Athena was still his favorite child however but, Zeus still loved many of his children. Some wonder though how he was able to have so many from so many different women. To do this with many women he impressed them by shifting into animal forms (Taft 122). Why he used animal forms instead of impressing them in his normal form is a very common question. Most wonder how he would remember each form needed to impress which goddess and mortal and if he ever used this as an advantage to make his wife, Hera, not mad at him after an affair. Though often Hera was not mad at Zeus directly for the affairs, she would still get angry. She mainly blamed it on the women he had an affair with no matter whether it was their fault or not. Zeus never seemed to care who she was mad at though as he continued to have one affair after another (“Zeus”). In Mythology by Edith Hamilton, Hera is described as, “Golden throned Hera, among immortals the queen chief among them in beauty, the glorious lady all the blessed the blessed in Olympus revere, honor even as Zeus, the lord of thunder” (Hamilton 27). Hera is Zeus’s wife and sister (Hamilton 26). She is actually the only goddess truly married with true vows (“Hera”). She is the queen of all mortals and immortals. Many look at her with elegance and pride. She stood by Zeus’s side since he defeated their father and asked her to be his bride after he divorced his first wife, Metis ("Zeus”). Most ignore the fact that she is his sister and look primarily at her as his wife. Mainly they look at her like this because Hera is the protector of marriage and married women (Hamilton 26). Some believe that because she is the goddess of marriage that is Ballard 4 why she is so strict and harsh with the women who Zeus has affairs with. Since having an affair breaks the vows one gives when they get married its very likely that is why it angers Hera. Hera even takes happiness in harming the women Zeus has affairs with through jealousy (Hamilton 27). That anger even passes from that goddess who he had an affair with to that goddess’s children (Hamilton 27). This is a little weird for many to understand. Hera was the protector of pregnant women or women who have given birth (Taft 73). Many have wondered if this means Hera is the protector of the goddesses she is hurting. Many wonder this but most have said this only refers to mortals and no other goddesses so Hera does not seem like a mean feminine figure. Yet even with this pushing her to the good side of Olympus, she has still done many horrible things. Hera threw her Hephaestus, god of fire, from Olympus because he was born ugly and lame (Taft 72). One of the cruelest acts ever believed that she did and mainly because of whom she was represented to be. One of Hera’s other daughter was Eileithyia, goddess of child birth (Hamilton 27). With her daughter being the goddess of child birth she was believed to love children, yet since she threw her son out of Olympus for being born ugly and lame she really can’t be believed to be this way. Later on Hera even was compared and mistaken for her daughter, “The second sphere naturally made her protectress of women in childbirth, and she bore the title Eileithyia, the birth goddess, at Argos and Athens” (Taft 73). For her to be taken as a protector of children and women giving birth she has shown no actions to support her role. In mythology she has always been showed heartless with the exception of the story of the Golden Fleece. In the story of the Trojan War Hera is once again as shown as a cruel goddess. Her hatred for one single Trojan caused the whole war to continue longer then end quickly (Hamilton 27). A Trojan is a person who fought in the Trojan War. The Trojan that angered Hera was Paris, a Ballard 5 young mortal who chose Aphrodite as the greater god over Hera and Athena. This happened because Eris threw a golden apple down from Olympus to Peleus and Thetis’s wedding trying to make Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera fight. Paris was chosen by Zeus to resolve the situation so Zeus did not have to himself. To impress Paris and win the golden apple Hera promised Paris wealth and power, but he turned her down and chose Aphrodite who had promised him a beautiful bride in return (Christ 64). After this Hera did not stop getting her revenge on Paris and the Trojans until Troy fell in ruins at the end of the Trojan War (Hamilton 27). After this, in the story of Hercules, Hera is shown doing dirty deeds again. Soon after Hercules birth, Hera sent serpents to kill Hercules when he was in his cradle (Taft 75). After this failed with a few other attempts towards Hercules, Hera waits for one of the children to become king and tricks Zeus into thinking Eurytheus was born before Hercules so that Eurytheus could steal the throne from Hercules (Taft 75). As Hercules story continues Hera continues to try to destroy or hurt him, but continues fail. Hera continues to try anyways because she is angry with Hercules for being Zeus’s demigod child from the mortal woman, Alcmene, and not one of her own sons (Taft 75). These two events show just how far Hera’s anger was taken in Greek mythology and why some feared the goddess. Another well-known Greek god is Poseidon. In Mythology by Edith Hamilton, Poseidon is described as, “He commanded and the wind rose and the surges of the sea rose to the heavens” (Hamilton 28). Poseidon is the god of the sea or water and brother to the king of the gods, Zeus. Poseidon’s animals were the dolphin and the tuna (Taft 105). In Roman culture he is known as Neptune because Neptune rotates above the sea (Christ 23). By mortals he is commonly known as Earth-Shaker because he was believed to cause earthquakes (Hamilton 28). Even his common name, Poseidon, means husband of earth or lord of earth (Taft 103). Poseidon still lives under the Ballard 6 sea in a kingdom called Atlantis. Poseidon very rarely however stays in his undersea palace, but he spent most of his time in Olympus (Hamilton 27). When he left for many years many believed that Atlantis was left with no watchful eye but later that was disproved. Poseidon actually was married to Amphitrite, granddaughter of the titan, Ocean, and rules over Atlantis when Poseidon leaves to Olympus (Hamilton 27). Poseidon was the father of many creatures that lived with mortals. Most wonder why the god of the sea would give birth to such creatures, but over the years many have learned to not question it. Two of some of the most feared creatures were born from Poseidon. One of these creatures was the giant (Taft 105). The other was the great Cyclops which Poseidon was known to be the father (Christ 80). Poseidon also gave birth to the children: Orion, Antaeus, and Polyphemus (Taft 105). He was also the father of Pelius and Neleus by Tryo (Taft 104). These children were his most famous non creature children with a known mother (Taft 104). Out of all the creatures from Poseidon though the horse has to be the most famous creature he gave birth to. Poseidon is known to be the father of all horses (Taft 103). He was known as the father of horses because he gave the first horse to man (Hamilton 28). This horse was the winged horse Pegasus, born from the sea foam that spewed from Medusa’s neck after her head was chopped off. The foam was sea foam which could only be related to Poseidon so from that day on in Greek mythology Poseidon became known as the god of the sea and the god of horses (Hamilton 27). All of these creatures helped Poseidon become the second most famous god out of his brother, Zeus (Hamilton 27). That is why these creatures are so important to Greek mythology. Poseidon also had a famous brother named Hades. In Mythology by Edith Hamilton, Hades is described as, “He was King of the Dead- not Death himself, whom Greeks called Thanatos and the Romans, Orcus.” Hades was the god of death or king of the dead. The white Ballard 7 poplar was Hades plant ("Hades”). In Greek mythology, “Hades was depicted as a dark- bearded, regal god” ("Hades”). In Greek mythology, Hades was always seen as the third brother and inferred as the youngest (Hamilton 28). Though this was believed, Hades is actually the oldest brother out of Zeus and Poseidon ("Hades”). Unlike most gods Hades was never found to have an exact personality (Taft 68). He was never believed to be evil, but only to be the one who did terrible deeds to others (Hamilton 28). That’s why when people worshipped Hades; they would sacrifice black sheep to him instead of people ("Hades”). They killed black sheep because black wool of the sheep represented darkness (“Hades”). They killed the sheep so the souls of the sheep would enter the Underworld and not become a gift to the gods of Olympus since Hades very rarely visited Olympus or the over world ("Hades”). Hades has many names. In Roman culture Hades was referred to as Pluto or Pluton (Hamilton 28). Hades was called Pluto because the small planet is away from the other planets in a darker atmosphere like Hades lives away from the other gods in the Underworld (Christ 23). In Greek mythology, Hades was sometimes referred to as Zeus with an addition of a title because he was a king like his brother (Taft 68). In both Greek mythology and Roman culture Hades or Pluto is translated to Dis, the Latin word for rich (Hamilton 28). This was because Hades was also the god of wealth and riches as well as god of the dead (Hamilton 28). These were his most famous names but he was also called many others. In Latin Hades was known as Ades or Aidoneus ("Hades”). In other times Hades name was translated into unseen one ("Hades”). On even rarer occasions he was referred to as the king of shades ("Hades”). When being talked about by his followers, they would use the synonym Tartarus (Taft 68). If he was not referred to by Ballard 8 any of the names above then his followers would use the word Sheol to refer to him since his original name, Hades, came from the word (Taft 68). Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Zeus were all the children of Rhea and Cronos. Though each lived a much different life from one another and didn’t come together until they over threw the titans. Hades was the first born out of the four which mean he was immediately swallowed (“Hades”). Unlike Poseidon and Hera, Hades had no taste of freedom before being swallowed with his other siblings. After Hades was born, eventually, Poseidon was born and Rhea disguised him in a flock of lambs to be saved from being devoured (“Poseidon”). This did not stop Poseidon from being devoured by his father, Cronos. Before Poseidon was devoured though, Arne nursed Poseidon and protected him from the clutches of other titans (“Poseidon”). Rhea also saved Hera when she was first born. Hera was her eldest daughter (“Hera”). After Hera’s birth, Hera was handed over to the titans Ocean and Tethys to be raised, but was eventually also devoured by Cronos (Hamilton 26). During that time before Hera was devoured she was nursed by Horae (“Hera”). Zeus was the only child to not be devoured between all his siblings. At birth Rhea hid Zeus in a cave and replaced his body with a stone to be devoured instead. Zeus was then nursed by the nymph Amalthea who took care of him until he was strong enough to take on his father and defeat the titans as the prophecy told (Taft 120). After the titans were defeated, sanctuaries and temples and festivals were built and held in all of their honors. Hera got a sanctuary at the foot of Mount Euboea (“Hera”). In the city of Argos a celebration called the Sheild was made for Hera and in Samos there was also a very special armed procession made to worship Hera (Taft 74). Later on a festival called Isthmia was celebrated to worship Poseidon (Taft 105). Even Zeus, in the sixth century, got a temple in Ballard 9 Athens so people could worship him (Taft 122). Hades was the only one who did not gain a temple, sanctuary, celebration, or festival in his honor until a much later date (“Hades”). As years have passed the four gods have grown in popularity. Myths have been passed from generation to generation. Over the years the stories and myths of these gods have started to fade and many have forgotten what our human ancestors once believed in. Even though we know today these gods didn’t exist, we can still learn from the myths that came from them. We can learn from Zeus’s mistakes as a leader and his qualities of treating his wife poorly. We can learn from Hera’s anger and her trust in the vows of marriage. We can learn from Poseidon’s love for his creatures and children and we can learn from Hades’s power against those above him and how he stands for an evil cause, but isn’t evil himself. Greek mythology can teach us many lessons and values that will help the future of our humanity. Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, and Hera have brought great lessons to us through their myths and stories and teach us greatly of our past. Ballard 10 Works Cited Atsma, Aaron J. "Hades: Greek King of the Underworld, God of the Dead.” Theoi Project, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2015. Atsma, Aaron J. "Hera: Greek Goddess of Marriage, Queen of Heaven.” Theoi Project, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. Atsma, Aaron J. "Poseidon: Greek God of the Sea & Earthquakes.” Theoi Project, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015. Atsma, Aaron J. "Zeus: Greek King of the Gods, God of Sky & Weather.” Theoi Project, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. Christ, Henry I. Myths and Folklore. New York: Amsco, 1989. Print. Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Boston: Back Bay, 1998. Print. Taft, Michael W. Greek Gods & Goddesses. New York: Rosen Group, 2014. Print.