Mythology: The Many Bastards of Zeus

Zeus was always known for being naughty in the Olympian god circle, even though he was married to Hera. Most of the time Hera knew about his love affairs and made sure that most of his bastard children were hunted down. The following is a list of the most well-known cases:

Iraklis (Hercules): His mother Alkmini was seduced by Zeus who took the form of her husband to sleep with her. Hera\'s wrath for Hercules is well-known, as she even sent two big snakes to his crib as a baby to kill him. Hercules killed them, but this wouldn\'t be the last of his achievements. As obedience to the oracle of Delphi, he had to perform 12 major labors (killing the Lernea Idra, taking the hide of the Nemean Lion etc), which made him famous.

Alexander (the Great): The famous hero\'s mother Olympia, a queen of Macedonia, claimed that Zeus himself had fathered her son.

Athena: The goddess of knowledge and war sprung out of Zeus\'s head. Zeus laid with her mother Metis, the wisest woman in the world, and fearing that Metis might give birth to a child stronger than Zeus, he swallowed her and when it was time for Athena to be born, Zeus asked for Iphaistos to crack his head open, because he had a horrible headache. Athena jumped out in full armor as she is depicted in paintings.

Apollo and Artemis: The mother of these two Olympian gods was Lyto, a titan. When it was time to give birth, Hera pursued her relentlessly so that Lyto wouldn\'t find a place to give birth to her children. The island of Dilos, hidden from the sun, provided her with refuge where the two gods were born. Artemis was born first, helping her mother give birth to her brother Apollo.

Dionisos: The demi-god of wine and fun was born out of Zeus\'s thigh. Semele his mother was seduced by Zeus, but when Hera found out, the goddess tricked her into getting struck by Zeus\'s powerful lightning bolts. After her death, Zeus rescued the baby, keeping it in his thigh until it would be ready to be born.

Ermis: One of the 12 Olympian gods, Ermis was the offspring of Zeus\'s union with a nymph named Maia.

Perseas: Hercules is actually a descendant of Perseas. Perseas\'s mother, Danae, was impregnated by Zeus when he took the form of a golden shower to reach her in a bronze cell, where her father had locked her in hope that she would never bear any children (the oracle had told Danae\'s father that his grandson would eventually kill him). When her father found out she was pregnant, he threw her and the baby Perseas into the sea in a golden chest and the baby survived, eventually killing his grandfather, accidentally many years later.

Minos, Sarpedon, Rhadamantes: Their mother Europa (it\'s where we get the name for the continent Europe) was a princess in Phoenicia who was abducted by Zeus in the form of a bull, bringing her the whole way over to Crete.

Read about the rest of the "bastards" at allthegreeks.com

Source: theoi.com

Image: Zeus and Europa by Alexandru Radvan http://radvanpainting.blogspot.com/2007/04/zeus-and-europa.html

Clash... with Mythology

I watched the hollywood epic "The Clash of the Titans" recently. And I didn't like it. At all.

Going into the movie theatre to watch a Greek history-inspired film, as a Greek, can be tricky. What you expect to see is usually different from what you actually end up experiencing. Although "Troy" had some historical inaccuracies that put some people off, it was tolerable, and the film "300" actually awoke patriotic feelings within us. "The Clash of the Titans" has none of these to offer.

The Storyline

It is well-known that Hollywood usually sacrifices the accuracy of historic or mythological events in the name of a more impressive and moving storyline, however, in my opinion there is a limit to this that was surpassed in "The Clash of the Titans."

In Greek mythology there is no such battle between the gods and humans, there is no feud between Hades and Zeus, and there is no Kraken.

The story of Perseas in Greek mythology is as follows:

His mother Danae was the daughter of king Akrisios, whome the oracle warned that if his daughter were ever to give birth to a boy, that boy would kill him one day. Fearing this prediction, Akrisios locked his daughter in a bronze chamber, away from all men. However, Zeus managed to impregnate her in the form of a golden shower.

When Akrisios found out what happened, he locked both his daughter and grandson in a chest and threw them in the sea, where they were washed ashore on the island of Seriphos. Years later, king Polydektes of Seriphos commanded the young Perseas to kill the Medusa (a gorgon sister with snakes as hair that turned everyone that met her gaze into stone) and bring him her head. Perseas received winged sandals, an invisibility helmet and a magic sword from the gods to help him in his feat.

When Perseas reached the Medusa, he managed to cut her head off and when he did, two creatures sprang from the blood spilt: the Pegasus (a winged horse) and a giant called the Krysaor. Pegasus was later ridden by Bellerophonta against the Amazons, not by Perseas himself as is suggested in the film.

On his way back to Seriphos, Perseas saw Andromeda, princess of Argos, chained on a rock to be sacrificed to a sea monster as payment for a debt owed to the god Posidon. Using the head of Medusa, Perseas turned the monster into stone and took Andromeda with him to be his wife in Seriphos (not Io, a nymph that is shown in the movie to be the protector and love of Perseas).

Back in Seriphos, Perseas turns the king into stone and goes back to his grandfather\'s kingdom to claim his place. The old man flees, still fearing the prophecy, but it does him no good. A few years later he is accidentally killed by a discus thrown into a crowd of people by Perseas.

Toping it all off...

As if these inaccuracies weren\'t enough, the directors throw in a battle with giant scorpions, magical desert creatures and terrible script that reminded me a little of the TV series \"Hercules,\" where the hero has time to crack jokes in the middle of a battle and give uninspiring speeches. And don\'t let me get started on the supposed \"3D\" experience, which left you feeling dizzy after quick scenes and didn\'t make much of a difference anyway.

Source: theoi.com

Image: filmofilia.com

www.allthegreeks.com