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  • Essay / Zeus: Rise to Power and Rule of the Gods

    The Greek god Zeus is essentially the product of several generations of distrust and lust for power. When Kronos castrates his father Ouranos and throws his genitals into the sea, he is essentially crowned the new king of the universe. Accessing such a prestigious position pushes him to become power hungry and so he does not want to give up his mandate. So much so that when his mother Gaia told him that her youngest son was going to overthrow him, he began to consume all of her children. Disturbed by her husband's dastardly actions, Rhea, with the help of Gaia, hides Zeus on earth and gives Kronos a stone in his place. This is where Zeus's rise to power truly begins. With the help of Gaia, he frees the Olympians imprisoned by Kronos. Say no to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay “He freed his father's brothers from their evil slavery, the sons of heaven whom their father, in his madness, had imprisoned; and they gave him thanks for his goodness by giving him thunder and lightning and smoking lightning, which the mighty earth (Gaia) had kept hidden until then. With them to rely on, he is lord of mortals and immortals alike. (Hesiod's Theogony p. 18) After freeing the Olympians from their slavery, it is evident that Zeus's strategy for overthrowing his father is to defeat his father's enemies, by presenting himself as their savior and aligning their goals common to see Kronos fall. We can also actively observe this strategy when Zeus frees Cyclops and Hecatoncheires, and asks them to join his army. He does not, however, demand their allegiance, but instead focuses on aligning their mutual goals of bringing down Kronos, and is therefore able to persuade them to fight for him. A ten-year war ensues and after much chaos and destruction, Zeus and the Olympians defeat Kronos and the Titans and imprison them in Tartarus, where Hecatoncheires keeps them; another example of Zeus's cunning strategy. Serving under the rule of Zeus is not considered an obligation, but an honorable, privileged and prestigious position. This is the main reason why Zeus is able to maintain his position of power. Zeus's reign is finalized when he fights and defeats Typheus and throws him into Tartarus as far away from the Olympians as possible. Although he is wise and a proven strategist, Zeus is not invulnerable to other threats around him. Rather than becoming nonchalant in his newly acquired position as king of the gods, he maintains a watchful and watchful eye for anything that might hinder the progress of his kingdom or end his reign. When he took his first Métis wife, it was prophesied that his son would overthrow him as well. Obviously, Zeus wants to prevent his own dethroning, but. However, Zeus is more intelligent than his father Kronos, so rather than trying to eat his children, Zeus decides to neutralize the source of the threat and therefore eats his wife Metis. This ties very closely to Zeus' blatant distrust of women. Historically, throughout Zeus's life, the women he encountered were all devious and disloyal to their husbands. Gaia betrayed Ouranos by giving the sickle to Kronos. Both Rhea and Gaia betrayed Kronos by giving him a stone in place of Zeus. "But as she was about to give birth to Zeus, father of gods and men, she then begged her dear parents, Earth and Starry Sky, to come up with a plan so that she could bear his child in secret and make Kronos pay the price of his father's furies and those of the children he had swallowed” (Theogony of Hesiod p. 17)..