There are estimated to be about 10,000 religions existing in the world today. Different religions have different gods. Then again there are even some religions that have been extinct. One of these extinct religions can be known from the Mythology of the Greek Gods. Well, saying it as one religion might be an understatement as the Greeks used to worship not just one but many gods, thinking of them as their savior and nourisher. But if one sees how the mythology of the gods depicted them, a sane mind fellow would easily see that what the Greeks used to worship was just fiction.
There are many gods in Greek mythology but if we want to talk about the Greek gods we have to start with the tale of the Titan of Time, Kronos. Though we know that the main gods of Greek mythology are Zeus, Hades, Hera, Poseidon, etc. It is in fact that Kronos is the Father of all these gods. Now one might think since Kronos is their father he must have trained and nurtured them to be as powerful as they are depicted. But the real story is quite different. It was prophesied that one of the children of Kronos would overthrow him. To prevent this prophecy Kronos would devour his children as they were born. Yes, you read that right. He did this to every child his wife, Rhea(also his older sister) had given birth to. But Rhea upon the birth of Zeus swore that she would not let any other child of her be devoured since Kronos had already devoured 5 of her children. She switched Zeus with a boulder wrapped in the cloth and saved him. And then Zeus was nurtured and trained in hidden. Eventually, Zeus went on to defeat and overthrow Kronos and upon his defeat, the 5 children of Rhea; Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon would be freed from Kronos’s stomach(Kronos was poisoned and as he would vomit, all his children would come out alive and full grown). Later Kronos was imprisoned in the cave of Nyx for eternity.
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Kronos devouring his children
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Imprisonment of Kronos
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Now, I am guessing everyone might be thinking then that Zeus is therefore the Hero among the gods. The most powerful among them and their leader. Well, yes Zeus, the god of the Sky, was the most powerful and ruled the realms after Kronos. But from his tales, one can not call him a hero. Upon ascension to the throne, he unjustly tricked his brother Hades into becoming the ruler of the underworld. He would indulge himself with any mortal woman he would fancy, which resulted in the birth of many demigods such as Hercules, Perseus, etc. He even went to many lengths. Once Zeus turned into a swan to manipulate and rape Queen Leda, The Queen of Sparta. He did not even leave his sister, he would start lusting towards Hera. He asked her for marriage but Hera would refuse him. At this failure, he would turn into a cuckoo and trick Hera and rape her. Later to cover her shame, Hera would marry Zeus. Another heinous act of Zeus was that he ate his pregnant wife Metis(one of the many wives of Zeus) alive out of fear that their child would overthrow him. So really the question begs if he truly was a hero.
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Zeus tricking Queen Leda
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Two more famous Greek gods are Poseidon and Athena. I am sure seeing many cartoons, shows, or movies like Percy Jackson, people might think of these gods as much praise. But their acts say differently. One of the most publicized monsters of Greek mythology is Medusa. She had snakes for hair and anyone who would see her eyes would turn into stone. Though how did she become like this? Medusa, a very beautiful mortal woman, was a priestess of the Goddess of War. Poseidon, the God of the Sea, had lusted after Medusa and raped her in the Temple of Athena. Medusa asked for justice from Athena but, Athena denied her justice. Athena used to be jealous of Medusa’s beauty and beautiful hair. So instead cursed her to become a monster. Whoever would look at Medusa would be petrified and turned into stone. Medusa would go on to live as a monster and eventually lose her mortal sanity and become one of the three monstrous Gorgons. She was later put to peace by the demi-god Perseus.
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| Medusa defiled by Poseidon and cursed by Athena |
Though it is not just that the gods were cruel and selfish, in many cases they were seen to be tricked or outwitted or even made to beneath themselves by mere mortals. As we see in the case of Sisyphus, the mortal who outwitted the ruler of the underworld, Hades. Hades had sent one of his henchmen to bring the soul of Sisyphus. Sisyphus would trick the henchman not only once but twice and saved himself. Again in the case of Adonis, a mortal who was fancied by two Goddesses. The two goddesses Persephone, Goddesses of Agriculture and wife of Hades, and Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, had made Adonis their lover and even used to share in alternate seasons.
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| Adonis |
After reading this some might be thinking of what a wrong conception of the Greek gods people had and how they were not properly depicted. And also one might be confused about how people used to worship these gods. How can people worship these gods who are full of faults? There are many more tales like the ones above about different gods of Greek mythology on how cruel and selfish they were. And people used to actually believe and worship these gods and even offer sacrifices. It is thanks to some scholars that after the 9th century CE these gods were told to be of mere fiction as there was no evidence of their existence and the tales of their acts could not be of gods, as a god would not indulge himself in such heinous acts and be mocked so easily. And thus from being a religion of worshiping many gods, Greek mythology simply became mere fiction. Though this mere fiction has inspired the making of many artworks, sculptures, movies, etc. the belief in the existence of these gods was made to be laughable. As gods would never be this cruel and polluted with humane ill thoughts. And thus resulted in the Exodus of the Greek Gods.
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