The great deeds and miracles performed by Zeus - the father of gods and people - are truly inexhaustible and immeasurable, which is reflected in ancient myths. It is hardly possible to tell about all these miracles. Therefore, we will confine ourselves to only a few episodes from the so-called personal, intimate life of the formidable ruler of Olympus, squeezing a bundle of deadly lightning with his mighty hand.
A Greek myth that tells of the battles of the gods blows with primal horror. The great Kronos, personifying time, castrated his father Uranus and began to devour his own children, realizing that someday they would encroach on his power.
The fate of being swallowed by a ruthless father awaited the newborn Zeus, but his mother Rhea put a stone wrapped in diapers instead of the baby. This is how the Lord of the All-Consuming Time was first deceived.
And the future ruler of the world was secretly transported to the island of Crete, where in a mountain cave he was fed with milk by the goat Amalthea, turned into a bright star for her feat.
Apparently, the life-giving drink poured an inextinguishable animal passion into the loins of the future king of the Olympic gods. Hence his endless love affairs. If he led like
Casanova, his “Don Juan list”, would include three “legitimate” wives, many mistresses, goddesses, a great number of nymphs and mortal women.
On the advice of Metis's first wife, Zeus gave his father a sleeping pill, forcing him to vomit the gods and goddesses he had swallowed. Thus began the heavenly war that had lasted for ten years.
Zeus sent the defeated Kronos straight to Tartarus, but then took pity on his father and gave him control over the Island of the Blessed - heaven on earth.
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Having received the supreme power, he shared it with his brothers: Poseidon got the ocean, Hades got Tartarus with all its underground inhabitants, and Zeus took the sky for himself, having built a magical palace on the top of Olympus.
But the blood of Kronos made itself felt. He swallowed Metis, his first wife, following the example of his father, for he received a prediction that a son born of her would overthrow him from the throne. Soon, however, it became clear that there was a discrepancy with the prediction, to put it mildly: Metis was carrying a daughter under her heart. From that moment on, Zeus began to suffer from terrible headaches. They were accompanied by tremors and noise in the ears, as if someone asked to go out.
Unable to withstand the torment, Zeus summoned the son of Hephaestus to him and ordered an uninvited guest to cut through the exit. Hephaestus, the skillful god, the patron saint of blacksmithing, obediently swung his ax and freed the newborn from captivity.
She was born in full combat gear: in a feathered helmet and with an aegis at the left thigh, from where the snake accompanying her poked out the wise head. She, however, was herself
With the wisdom of the world - the blue-eyed maiden-snake, Athena, shining with courage and beauty.
But let's move on to the second marriage of the omnipotent god, for after the scandalous incident of swallowing, poor Metis hated her ex-husband.
So, Themis, the goddess of justice, became the second mistress of the Olympic palaces. Her name has become a household name, and the status of a blindfolded woman now embodies the impartiality of legal proceedings.
Themis introduced regularity and order into the world, but could not cope with the violent and unpredictable manifestations of passion, which her husband was obsessed with.
The third, but the first in importance and power on Olympus, was to become the goddess Hera. She was Zeus's half-sister, but in ancient times such a marriage was not considered a criminal incest and was in the custom of many kings, the pharaohs of Egypt in particular.
It was in the full sense of the word "divine marriage", personifying the union of the great elements: Earth and Heaven. But the bullish temperament and serpentine resourcefulness of the king of the gods constantly pushed him in search of adventure. Not a single beauty on earth escaped his keen gaze. Inexhaustible for transformations, he would be happy to take them all to his harem, if not for Hera's vigilance. The hearth goddess had many spies on earth, including gods, beasts, and a great many married women.
However, Vladyka's amorous escapades are just a cursory stroke in his multifaceted activity. In fact, in legends, he is formidable and terrible, as terrible and terrible is absolute power. But independent and feminine vengeful Hera, constant betrayal brought grief and anger. Jealousy and anger seethed in her heart. And it was no accident that quarrels and squabbles reigned in the Olympic palaces.
Hera was even ready to take part in a conspiracy against her husband, for which she was punished. However, she did not serve too long for her malicious intrigues. Her marriage to the Thunderer, according to one of the legends, remained secret for three hundred years. About the same amount she hung in limbo between the earth and the sky.
Feeding an indomitable hatred for the illegitimate son of Zeus, Hercules, Hera not only arranged deadly traps for him, but also had the audacity to collude with opponents of the supreme power. It was not for nothing that Zeus hung her on chains to the Olympic throne, and even with copper anvils on her legs.
So, the love joys of the supreme ruler bring a lot of variety and all sorts of sad, sometimes ridiculous troubles into the life of gods and people. In fact, in the guise of a bull, Zeus kidnaps the daughter of the Phoenician king Europa and swims her to Crete, as if passing the name of a captivating Asian woman to our continent. The beauty Io, who fell in love with him, a priestess in the temple of Hera, he turned into a cow and merged with her again in the form of a bull. But to the princess Danae, the inexhaustible prankster penetrated in the form of a golden rain, for he did not find another way to crawl into the princess's inaccessible chambers. The mother of Alexander the Great "confessed" that she conceived her godlike son precisely from Zeus, who crawled towards her as a snake when she spent the night in the temple. The great commander himself officially considered himself the son of Zeus, and this direct relationship with the king of the gods inspired the conqueror,aspiring to become the king of all people.
However, the most piquant enterprise of Zeus, preserved in legends, was associated with the transformation of the lustful thunderer into a snow-white swan, which also entailed profound historical consequences. In this guise, he met Leda, the wife of the Spartan king Tyndareus; and on the same night Tyndareus himself visited her. From Zeus, Leda had a son and daughter Elena, from
Tyndarea is another son. True, some legends claim that Elena (in the future called the Beautiful) was the daughter of the goddess Nemesis and Zeus.
Trying to avoid the embrace of Zeus, Nemesis turned into a goose, but Zeus also turned into a swan and merged with her. After a night of love, Nemesis laid an egg, and a certain shepherd, finding this egg in the grove, brought it to Leda. The latter put it in a chest. When Elena was born out of the egg in due time, Leda raised her as her own daughter.
Quarrels and reconciliation, victories and defeats of people appear as an earthly reflection of the bustle on Olympus, the reverse side of the love games of the celestials. In the human hypostasis, although endowed with immortality, but worldly sinful and petty, the gods almost came close to people. As if at once they lost the gift of divine foresight.
When Hera found Zeus with the maiden Io, he turned his mistress into a white cow, vowing that he never got along with her. Indeed, according to ancient ideas, the oaths that are pronounced by lovers do not incur the wrath of the gods. Hera sent horseflies to the cow. Driven by bites, Io came to the strait, which is called the Bosporus by her name, i.e. "Cow ford". Wandering through the vast expanses of the continent and crossing many seas of Europe and Asia, she finally reached Egypt, where she regained her former appearance and gave birth to a son on the banks of the Nile.
So a dynasty of living gods - the pharaohs - arose.
Meanwhile, Zeus, having lost his "beautiful heifer", was not slow to make a new connection. This time, the beautiful Semele, the daughter of the Theban king Cadmus, becomes his chosen one. The inflamed thunderer rashly promises Semele to fulfill her every desire: he even swore this by the waters of the infernal river Styx.
The Olympians have no power to break such an oath. Jealous Hera, acting according to the usual scheme, catches the unfaithful husband at the crime scene. Intending to destroy Semele, she cunningly tells her what is best to demand from the supreme god. At first glance, the request is completely innocent: Zeus must appear in his own guise with all the attributes of power. No mortal has ever seen him like that.
Tied by a terrible oath, he appears in the palace of Cadmus in all its majesty and splendor, with a feather in his hand. Thunder and lightning cause a fire. Semele in a burning dress rolls on the floor. Premature labor begins. Thus, elements of a cosmic catastrophe are evident, although its scale is limited by the palaces. A child named Dionysus was born frail and weak. Zeus even had to sew it into his thigh. Here, as in the mother's womb, the "golden baby" - the future god of wine and crazy orgies, matured before the due date. With him will come the great Dionysias - the festivities that will lay the foundation for the theater.
As for Zeus, who suddenly became a selfless parent, he really anticipated the newest discoveries of science that can turn women into men, and men into women-parents.
As a son born of a mortal woman, Dionysus could only claim the status of a demigod. Embodying a violent bacchanalia, he brought cheerful spectacles to earth, gave a person the opportunity to choose between everyday life and the boundless freedom of desires. Like Hercules, his paternal brother, Dionysus boldly challenges archaic customs and antiquated morals.
In general, the generation of Zeus' illegitimate children was born, as it were, for a radical restructuring of the world. it
hero gods and patrons of human heroes. If you think about it, then behind the love adventures of Zeus, albeit mischievous, but humanly cheerful, there are lofty ideas of universal renewal.
Not a bull or a swan, not a serpent or an eagle, but in its original form he appeared to an earthly woman in order to leave in the world an heir, whom they will remember, albeit in vain, until the end of time. Who did not give praise to Bacchus, Bacchus, as Dionysus was also called, over a full cup, without knowing it? And the strength and courage of Hercules?
Let us not be strict with the lord of thunder and lightning, who gave the world such illegitimate sons. However, it happened that he himself condescended to the vain deeds of the "lower world", going incognito to wander the cities and villages of Hellas.
Once, assuming the guise of a common man, Zeus went with Hermes on a kind of inspection expedition in order to once again be convinced of the power of the laws and moral norms sent down to him. It was difficult to think of a better companion than the messenger of the gods Hermes, the patron saint of rogues and merchants. He had already been everywhere and knew well what was happening in the most distant corners. Avoiding capital cities and famous cult centers, Hermes decided to show the sovereign the most ordinary town.
Already at sunset, the Olympians wandered into some valley overgrown with olive trees. The well-groomed vineyards on the mountain slopes testified that the inhabitants of this place were wealthy people. However, no one wanted to give shelter to the weary travelers. It got completely dark when the gods knocked on the door of a rather squalid dwelling on the very outskirts. Only the humble old men, Philemon and Baucis, gave the wanderers a hearty welcome. A cheerful fire immediately blazed in their hearth, Baucis quickly prepared a modest meal and made a bed for the night. The guests ate and drank with an enviable appetite, but for some reason the food in the pots and the wine in the bowls did not diminish. And only then the owners saw to their horror and amazement that their pitiful clay utensils were turning into gold. Guessing whom they were worthy to receive, they fell on their faces. Philemon rushed to grab his only goose,in order to make a fitting sacrifice, but Zeus stopped him.
- What would you like, kind people? - The face of the great god lit up with a smile. - Everything will come true.
“Die together,” they answered in one voice.
Zeus gave them a long life. Their dilapidated hut turned into a marble temple, and they themselves became priests. When the deadlines were fulfilled, Philemon and Baucis fell asleep peacefully, in order to rise in the morning in the form of trees, whose branches intertwined, like hands frozen in a last embrace.
Is this not the greatest grace of the immortals?
As for the wicked city, it turned into a swamp, and its inhabitants into frogs. Truly Olympic justice … For Zeus was merciless and merciful, just and severe, as befits a wise ruler.
Eremey PARNOV