Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

The Public Sphere 203
biggest buildings and the tallest trees that are struck by lightning.
The gods are accustomed to throw down whatever is too high.”
The difference between the Olympian deities and, in particular,
the Christian God, who has been likened by comparison to an
in offensive celestial social worker of indeterminate gender, could
hardly be more extreme. The Olympians cared little for the great
mass of mankind, with whom their relations were, for the most
part, distant and somewhat strained. As the author of the Aristote
lian treatise entitled Great Ethics observes, it is impossible for
gods and humans to be friends on the grounds that there can be no
mutual exchange of feelings (1208b 27–31). Rare exceptions include
the close bond between Odysseus and Athene in The Odyssey and
between Hippolytos and Aphrodite in Euripides’ play Hippolytos.
Neither, however, can be held up as a model to emulate—not Odysseus,
because he arouses the implacable enmity of Poseidon, and
not Hippolytos, because he incurs the wrath of Aphrodite.
Although the gods were anthropomorphic—having the same
physical shape as humans—in origin, they embodied aspects of
the natural world and the human psyche. Apart from Hera, the
first generation of Olympians—Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia,
and Hades—all personified natural forces, whereas the second
generation—Hephaistos, Athene, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes,
and Aphrodite—were representative of human accomplishments
or attributes. Mercifully, there was no Prince of Darkness to prey
on people’s fears.
The Olympians did not create the world. They were not the first
dynasty of gods to rule over it, nor was there any guarantee that
they would go on ruling it forever. Kronos, who came to power by
castrating his father Ouranos, sought to preserve his rule by swallowing
his children alive. Likewise, his son Zeus, who acquired
power by overthrowing his father in turn, took active steps to circumvent
the prophecy that he would sire a son more powerful than
himself. The following paragraphs describe the major deities and
their spheres of influence.
Zeus
Although Zeus, “the father of gods and men,” as Homer describes
him, was supreme among the Olympians, his authority did not go
unchallenged. Hera, his current wife, constantly sought to thwart
his will. (Hesiod tells us that he had been married seven times previously.)
Zeus alone of the gods concerned himself with justice,