Jeff—Saturday
Tradition has it that during Bouchercon week--this year
in Nashville--we re-post blogs from among our favorites of all time. This year I’m taking the
easy way out and going with what MIE visitors continue to favor more than any
other of my posts. It’s one from January
28, 2012, titled “The Gods Will Be Back.”
I’ve no idea why it continues to draw such attention, unless of course
the gods themselves are tuning in from across the ether for this mortal’s take
on their family tree.
BUT WAIT, as a special
Bouchercon week offer to the first zillion readers of this column, I’m tossing
in absolutely free a second Golden Oldie post. This one appeared on February
25, 2012, titled “A Visit With The Gods.”
So, here’s “The God’s
Will Be Back” followed by “A Visit With The Gods.”
I long for the day when the mention of Greece will once
again first bring to mind ancient gods, epic tales, and a land and sea infused
at every inch with the seminal essence of western civilization. Someday that will happen, for financial
crises are transient and gods are immortal, though not eternal—after all, they
do need nectar and ambrosia to sustain them.
Ahh, yes, the good old days of true Greek gods quick and
strong, knowing all things, capable of miraculous achievements.
It’s been a long while since I’ve read up on the ancient
gods, and I must admit to often getting them mixed up, but I’ve just learned
that my confusion puts me in illustrious company.
.jpg) |
| Socrates (469-399 B.C.E.) |
According to Alexander S. Murray’s Who’s Who in Mythology, even Socrates was confused by the varying
number of seemingly same gods (one Aphrodite or two?) and multiple names for
one god (Zeus in summer was called Zeus Meilichios, the friendly god, and in
winter Zeus Maemaktes, the angry god).
Some think that’s attributable to disparate early Greek tribes
who even after coalescing as a single race kept the original names for their
separate gods despite obvious similarities to each other (Dione, Hera, Gaea,
and Demeter).
But call them what you wish, the essential purpose of the Greek
gods was the same: their existence and interactions explained to mortals the
natural order of things, e.g., the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the
clouds, lightning, thunder, earthquakes, storms, waves, and on and on as needed.
What made Greek gods so significant was that the essentially
human form of the Twelve Olympian Deities of Mount Olympus and of the lesser
gods living in other environs gave to those who worshipped them the sense that
their deities could understand and relate to a mortal’s needs and fears.
The mythological explanations offered by the carryings on of
the gods largely centered upon the three supreme rulers of the world: Uranos,
Kronos, and Zeus.
The first to rule was Uranos. He represented the heavens and, as the husband
of Earth, brought forth life and everything on our planet.
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| Uranos with Earth |
His son, Kronos, ruled next as god of the harvest, ripening
and maturing the forms of life brought forth by his father.
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| Kronos and Rhea |
And, lastly, ruled Zeus, bringing order and wisdom to the
universe.
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| Zeus overthrows Kronos (Van Haarlem 1588) |
I think it’s safe to say that Zeus hasn’t been around for a
while. Or has he?
Whatever, all of this impresses me, as it should every
writer, artist, and musician who freely borrows from the tales of the gods in their
own creations, albeit sometimes consciously oblivious to the source of their
inspiration. So much of what we think
unique to modern culture is simply a new way of retelling of what ancient
Greeks witnessed in their deities.
I wish I had time now to say more. But there will be later. One must always make time for the gods.
***
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| Zeus |
I’ve often wished there were a way to journey back to the
heyday of the ancient Greek gods just
to drop in, say “Hi,” and ask what they think of our current times over here in the New World...with particular interest in their take on politicians seeking to govern as if immor(t)als.
This, though, isn’t about current events; it’s about my
interest in visiting Olympian deities and, in particular, one called “father of
gods and men, ruler and preserver of the world, and everlasting god.” In other words (courtesy of Alexander S.
Murray’s Who’s Who in Mythology), I’m
talking about the boss man himself: Zeus.
But before I wave goodbye and click those ruby slippers
together (couldn’t find a reasonably priced pair of Hermes sandals), let me
share a little background on how Zeus got to be Numero Uno. And for you Wizard of Oz aficionados out there, don’t worry about Dorothy’s
shoes whisking me off to Kansas instead.
I have it on the highest authority they’ve been re-programmed to route
me to the otherwise inaccessible, cloud-shrouded Olympos of Thessaly.
Zeus’ upbringing certainly wasn’t what most normal folk
would call traditional, unless of course you happen to be a fan of the Dr. Phil
sort of stuff inhabiting weekday afternoon American TV.
To begin with, his daddy (Kronos) and mommy (Rhea) were
brother and sister. But since his
grandparents were the original paired begator (Uranos) and begatee (Gaea) of
what love, via Eros (Cupid), had fashioned out of Chaos (the great shapeless
mass at the beginning of the world) to prepare the world to receive
mankind—that might be considered an extenuating circumstance under modern
consanguinity laws.
 |
| Eros and Chaos (by Treijim) |
Besides, it was a substantial improvement over his
grandparents’ marital arrangement.
Uranos, the husband of Gaea, was not her brother. He was her son. And when Uranos “mistreated” their children,
Gaea sided with her son/grandson (Kronos) to destroy her husband/son
(Uranos). Got that?
But it gets better.
Zeus’ father (Kronos), alert to how children could treat their fathers,
swallowed his first five children as they were born. Zeus, the sixth child, only escaped because
his mother (Rhea) deceived her husband/brother (Kronos) into thinking Zeus,
too, had been swallowed.
 | |
| Kronos (Saturn) by Francisco De Goya |
When Zeus reached manhood he enlisted the aid of his
grandmother (Gaea) to convince his father (Gaea’s son/grandson) to yield up
Zeus’ siblings, which Kronos did. One
was Zeus’ sister, Hera (Juno), the love of Zeus’ life … and later his
wife. Like father like son, I suppose.
Zeus had many affairs and fathered many children, at times
in rather unorthodox fashion, but Hera was his only wife, as was the way in
Greece. Some say Zeus didn’t gallivant
around as much as people liked to think, but gained his reputation innocently
through an historical accommodation.
When the disparate tribes of Greece came together as one race, each
brought with them their own Zeus stories, and all those separate tales were
incorporated into one mythology that multiplied Zeus’ fathering experiences far
beyond what any individual tribe had believed on its own.
If Zeus got Hera to buy that story, it’s good enough for
me.
 |
| Hera with Zeus |
By the way, let’s not forget that all this played out for
Zeus against the time of man on earth.
At the beginning of Zeus’ rule it was the Silver Age of the
human race. Men were rich, but grew
overbearing, were never satisfied, and in their arrogance forgot the source to
which their prosperity was owed. As
punishment, Zeus swept the offenders away to live as demons beneath the earth.
Then came the Bronze Age, one of quarreling and violence,
where might made right, and cultivated lands and peaceful occupations faded
away. Ultimately even the all-powerful
grew tired of it all and disappeared without a trace.
The Iron Age followed with a weakened and downtrodden
mankind using their bare hands to toil for food, thinking all the while only of
themselves, and dealing unscrupulously with each other.
Zeus had seen enough.
He brought on a flood that destroyed all but two members of
the human race. A husband, Deukalion,
and his wife, Pyrrha, were spared and commanded by the gods to propagate a new
human race upon the earth.
 |
| Pyrrha and Deukalion by Andrea di Mariotto del Minga |
That, folks, is supposed to be us.
If I recall correctly, Zeus didn’t think much more of the
new batch than he did of the ones he’d wiped off the face of the earth.
But this is 2012, and the human race is so much different
now than it was in Zeus’ day that we have absolutely nothing to fear from the
big guy for the way we live our lives today.
Right?
Hmmm. I really can’t
wait to get going. Honest. But time travel these days isn’t as
predictable as it once was (what with all those amateurs clogging up the astral
planes) and I’d sure hate to pop in on Zeus on a bad day. God(s) knows where/how I’d end up.
On reflection, I think I’ll put those slippers away for
now—at least until after the elections. Which elections, you ask? Good question. I’ll wait for a sign from the gods on high
and let you know.
Jeff—Saturday
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