The Role of Greek Gods and Goddesses in Ancient Times Essay

The Role of Greek Gods and Goddesses in Ancient Times With all of the interesting aspects of the Odyssey, I am only going to touch on one of them. The gods and goddesses in the Odyssey of all of the deities mentioned I am only going to focus on a few. The first and most powerful of these is Zeus. Then we have Hermes, the messenger god. Last but not least of these would be Athena, the goddess of warriors. Zeus, Ruler of the gods. Zeus, father of gods and of men. His power was vast as the sky, mighty as the roll of thunder . . . (Lord 9). From this description of Zeus we could imagine a huge dominating person who had absolute control over everything. Zeus, was the father of gods, many of them were his children. Zeus was the god†¦show more content†¦The eagle was his bird, and his tree was the oak. Hermes, The messenger god. Hermes, son of Zeus and Maia, had a very popular stature. His mother Maia was the daughter of Atlas, who held the sky on his shoulders. To most of us he is the most familiar of all the gods. He appears more than any other god in the tales of Greek Mythology. He was graceful and swift. He had wings on his sandals, hat, and on his magical wand, the Caduceus. He is often referred to as the messenger god because he was Zeus personal messenger who, flies as fleet as though to do his bidding (Hamilton 34). It was he who escorted the dead down to their final resting places. He was the shrewdest and most cunning of all the gods. In fact he was reputedly the master thief. Legend has it that before he was a day old he had already started his career. Before the sunset on the day of his birth, he had stolen Apollos herds. Zeus was not happy with Hermes about this, and made him return Apollos herds to him. He did however win Apollos forgiveness by inventing for him, out of a tortoises shell, the lyre. It was sometimes said that he was the god of commerce and of the market, although how much truth there is in that is unknown. Pallas Athena, The goddess of warriors. Athena was the daughter of Zeus alone. She did not have a mother and she was Zeuss favorite. Zeus had a terrible headache one day, in his agony he bellowed out, and shook the earth below. Men and women at workShow MoreRelatedGreek Gods and Goddess875 Words   |  4 PagesThe Greek Gods: Ancient vs. Modern Views According to ancient Greek mythology the Greek gods and goddesses had at one time lived the savage, brutal and ugly life of humans. Eventually, however, they managed to rise above this ancient fierceness to become the nineteen elder gods and goddesses the Greeks knew as The Titans, who ruled the earth in a primordial era before the Olympian gods overthrew them. The ancient Greeks of the first millennium before the Christian era believedRead MoreWomen s Belief Of Human Bodies1360 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction In ancient Greek societies, women were largely restricted due to the ancient Greek’s belief of human bodies. 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