Reminder that even if you don’t have a comfortable or okay relationship with your father, Zeus is a father god and therefore Sky Dad. Happy Father’s Day to Sky Dad.
Zeus is also dad to many many many things and kinds the most horrible charcter in all of Greek mythos (and that’s saying a lot) fuck off Sky Dad you crazy womanizer you.
According to the mythos, Zeus is the father of gods and men. If you’d like to educate yourself further on the mythos you think you’re referencing, I’d recommend you read his page on theoi.com.
Furthermore, this is both a religious post and an acknowledgement that today can be very difficult for people without supportive fathers and father figures. I am going to kindly request that you either be respectful or that you refrain from adding unnecessary, over-simplified commentary.
But, like… as an entity rather than an archetype… didn’t he also… rape a bunch of people. I mean, probably more supportive than my dad, I’m just saying.
Ancient Greeks and Romans did not regard Zeus/Jupiter as a rapist, nor do modern Hellenic and Roman polytheists. The ancient myths were not and are not treated as literal truth by those who worship the deities of the Hellenic and Roman pantheons. The tales of the lovers of Zeus were told to provide exalted lineages for extraordinary human beings or the founders of cities. Moreover, our interpretation of the word rape, “sexual assault”, is very different to the way the word was taken by the ancients, as either “carried away” or “rapture”. To the ancients, what happened in the myths was seduction, not involuntary penetration.
Furthermore, the epithets and cult titles of Zeus (the words used by the ancients to describe him in prayer, worship, and poetry) describe him as a savior, a protector, a wise ruler, and a protector of marriage and women in childbirth.
So, no, Zeus didn’t rape a bunch of people. It might be your opinion, it was probably the opinion of the Christian Fathers, it might even have been Edith Hamilton’s opinion, but it’s not what the ancient Greeks and Romans thought, and it’s offensive to those who worship Zeus today.
He essentially halted the rape and murder orgy by American soldiers at the village of My Lai in Viet Nam during the Vietnam War by placing his chopper between the civilians and his own soldiers and telling them he’d mow their asses down if they continued the onslaught. He then flew the survivors to military hospitals for care. At least 500 Vietnamese non-combatants were brutally murdered at My Lai by US soldiers before Thompson intervened.
He was vilified by the Army and many of the American people for publicly exposing the Army’s actions at My Lai, and spent the rest of his life with ptsd, alcoholism, and severe nightmare disorder that contributed to his divorce. In other words, his own life was basically ruined by his heroic compassion. He died about 12 years ago at the age of 62 of cancer, and is buried in Lafayette, Louisiana, with full military honors.
flowerfaag 