What Were the Hamadryads in Greek Mythology? She obeyed, and when Sisyphus arrived at the underworld, he begged Death to allow him to return to earth to punish his wife for her impiety. According to Greek mythology, Io was a priestess whose beauty caught Zeus eye and caused him to fall head over heels in love with her. Because of his misdeeds on earth and up in the heavens as well the gods condemned him to eternal torment. But Hera and Zeus didn't have the most harmonious of marriages. The only deity to touch the food was the goddess Demeter, who was distracted by the death of her daughter, Persephone, and absent-mindedly ate part of Pelops shoulder. One of Tantalus sins was stealing ambrosia and nectar, the food of the gods, and giving it to mortals. To make his pettiness stick, the chief god prohibited anybody from letting humanity in on the secret of fire. Regardless of their origins, once they were welcomed into Olympus Dionysus, Hermes, Apollo, and Artemis were her peers and above her petty attacks. According to most sources, Zeus did not originally intend to marry his sister, Hera. Aegyptus had fifty sons, and when he commanded that his twins fifty daughters be married to his sons, Danaus declined. As if her punishment was not already horrible enough, Zeus piled on and capped it off by turning Niobe into a pillar of stone, in which state she would continue to weep throughout eternity for her loss. They were to carry jugs of water to fill a bathtub to wash away their sins, but the bathtub could never be filled because it had a hole in the bottom. What folly, said she, is this! abuse of Hera by Zeus is an important element which has been accepted, it seems, as something taken for granted which does not seem worthy of . Without deep love or an expectation of fidelity on the husbands part, the rulers who looked up to them hoped to emulate their relatively peaceful cohabitation. Apollo commanded the hero to do certain tasks as a punishment for his wrongs, so that the evil might be cleansed from his spirit. Will any one deny this?. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The Nemean Lion. Zeus punished Apollo to purify him. Disobeying ones parents was a great sin in Ancient Greece, so all the daughters, except one who took pity on her new husband after he respected her desire to remain a virgin, murdered their spouses on the wedding night. As a punishment, Hera takes away Echo's voice so that she is only able to repeat whatever she hears. Some writers claimed that the couple enjoyed a few centuries of harmony and happiness together. Zeus' Wife Punished His Mistress by Driving Her Mad, Forced to Wander the Earth in Torment. At the slightest provocation, the Olympian gods might fly into a divine wrath, that could only be assuaged by putting some unfortunate being in his or her place, via bizarre and exemplary punishments that let everybody know just who is boss. Olympians / Zeus. One day, the people of Thebes went out to celebrate the feast of Latona a religious festival in honor of Leto, the mother of the gods Apollo and Artemis and as described in Bulfinchs Mythology: It was on occasion of the annual celebration in honor of Latona and her offspring, Apollo and Diana [i.e Artemis] when the people of Thebes were assembled, their brows crowned with laurel, bearing frankincense to the altars and paying their vows, that Niobe appeared among the crowd. While Tantalus divine punishment and other supernatural aspects of his story are mythical, there might have been a historical king Tantalus in real life, who ruled an Anatolian city named Tantalis. After crisscrossing the world for years while in labor, unable to find a resting place, Leto came across a barren island not connected to the ocean floor, so it did not count as a real island by Heras definition. Echo and Narcissus (John William Waterhouse, 1903, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) In Metamorphoses, the poet Ovid tells of Juno (Hera in Greek mythology) and the jealousy she felt over her husband Jupiter's (Zeus in Greek mythology) many affairs. Leto was Zeus first mistress, and became the first to fall victim both to the chief god, who slaked his lust and abandoned her when she got pregnant, and then to the cray wrath of his wife. A lot of what we have read about him has given the impression that he has a few archetypes that describe him perfectly. According to Hesiod, why does Zeus get mad at Prometheus? Io supposedly settled in Egypt and her descendants became the first kings there. Examining a cultures religion, mythology, and folklore, is a great tool for shedding light on its collective worldview, and how its members see their place in creation. a) ancient humans were not as intelligent as modern humans are. [Note: this torment is due to the wrath of Hera, not Zeus. Io swam the straits between Europe and Asia, which were known thereafter as the Bosporus (Greek for ford of the cow), and the sea southwest of Greece, which became known as the Ionian Sea. Zeus married one Titaness and courted another before marrying Hera to ensure that their son would not be powerful enough to overthrow him. Ranker All The Ways Hera Got Revenge On Zeus For Cheating On Her, Meaww Blood Of Zeus: Zeus As Cheating Husband, Scorned Wife Hera Bring War To Olympus As Heron Flies To The Rescue, ThoughtCo Thetis: Not Just a Greek Nymph, Ancient History Encyclopedia Prometheus, Bulfinch, Thomas Bulfinchs Mythology (2010), Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology Actaeon, Keefer, Professor Julia, New York University The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, Nilsson, Martin P. Greek Folk Religion (1972), Nilsson, Martin P. Mycenean Origin of Greek Mythology (2017), Peabody, Josephine Preston, Tales Beyond Belief The Myth of Niobe, Theoi Greek Mythology The Titaness Leto, History Collection Truly Intense Vengeance Stories From Greek Mythology, omniscient, omnipotent, and infallible God, having him taken to the Caucasus Mountains, punishment was not already horrible enough, Keefer, Professor Julia, New York University , Peabody, Josephine Preston, Tales Beyond Belief . He lies and cheats, especially when it comes to tricking women into infidelity. Thus he was tormented by everlasting hunger and thirst, despite food and water being so near. Hephaestus made a woman out of clay, a beautiful woman. Zeus substituted for her a cloud, by which Ixion became the father of Centaurus, who fathered the Centaurs . Exposed liars were made to dedicate a statue to Zeus, often at the sanctuary of Olympia. Though Prometheus was considered to be a cultural hero who was credited for creating humanity, he was nothing but a . If that is true, why was Apollo punished by Zeus? When Lycurgus heard that his command was being defied and that Dionysius was in his kingdom, he flew into a rage. She later caused Heracles to go mad . Copy. Will any one deny this?. Stories of Transformation. There, a giant eagle would fly in every day to rip open his guts and feast upon his liver. Unlike the main monotheistic religions, the Ancient Greeks did not have an infallible God who is always out to do good even if human minds are sometimes incapable of comprehending that good sometimes. Women were bound by the laws of monogamy, but their husbands often took mistresses. Will you prefer to me this Latona, the Titans daughter, with her two children? Although Hera was married to Zeus, his serial interest in women led him far from her bed. Not to be outdone, Artemis strung her bow, and slew all seven of Niobes daughters. My father was Tantalus, who was received as a guest at the table of the gods; my mother was a goddess. Hera then assigned Argus Panoptes, a giant with a hundred eyes, to tether the white cow to an olive tree, and keep a constant watch on her. Niobes hubris provoked Letos children, the gods Apollo and Artemis, to seek vengeance for the insult to their mom, who had suffered greatly on their behalf see earlier entry about Leto, above. Please like and share this article if you found it useful. Term. Ixion was the king of the Lapiths in Greek mythology, the son of Ares and Perimele. Zeus and the other Olympian gods lived on Mount Olympus. While Hera was famously jealous, her divine stepchildren rarely attracted particular ire. Thebes lost this war and they had to pay heavy taxes to Orhomenos for many years. She is most associated as the goddess of women, marriage, and childbirth. First, Hera kicked the pregnant Leto out of Mount Olympus, forcing her to wander the world amongst mortals. Hera means lady and was undoubtedly the title of a powerful mother goddess whom the Greeks inherited from the earlier inhabitants of Argos, which was a major city in the Peloponnese. He instructed his wife not to bury him or perform any of the sacred death rituals when he passed away, and to just throw his corpse out. He became a king of the Lapiths tribe in Thessaly, in northern Greece, and from early on, he built up an infamous reputation as somebody who was mad, bad, and dangerous to know. There, Leto finally gave birth to the gods Artemis and Apollo. Prometheus however defied Zeus by stealing fire from Mount Olympus and smuggling it down to earth to share with mankind and help them survive lifes struggles. And to make matters worse, Hera's marriage to Zeus was not entirely by choice. Then, when it was time to give birth, the Queen of Heaven saw to it that the childbirth was as miserable as could be, by prolonging Letos labor. Hera was almost always depicted as being jealous of these children, to the point that she was driven to vindictiveness. Hera agreed to dismiss the gadfly when Zeus promised to leave Io alone forever. Despite their contentious marriage and her flights of jealousy, Hera was known as the goddess of marriage. Demeter was another of Zeus' sisters. There, the chief god devised a punishment that became a proverbial term for temptation. He first married the Titaness Metis, but turned her into a fly and swallowed her when he learned that her son would eventually overthrow him. In Greek mythology, Actaeon was a famous Theban hero, who loved to hunt in the outback of his native region of Boeotia. Wedding plans were made, and Danaus arranged a feast for the event. This location is either the same Mount Olympus that physically exists in Greece today or it was an acropolis in the sky, according to Greek Legends and Myths.The Greek gods made Mount Olympus their home during the Titanomachy, which was a war between the Titans an older group of Greek gods and Zeus and the 12 Olympian gods. He was the god of the sky and thunder. Hera was the queen of Olympus, wife of Zeus, and deity associated with family, women, and children. Still, the Greeks seemed to realize that their goddess of marriage did not have a perfect union. Sisyphus was made to roll a large boulder up a steep hill. He continued to live to a ripe old age, before dying a second time. As the goat-legged Satyr, he seduced Antiope.