Myth "Birth of Zeus": summary, meaning

Ancient gods, to whom numerousworks of antiquity and later eras, when they are talking about, seem beautiful and stately, grown-ups and wise experiences. However, the mythology of ancient Greece describes the birth and childhood of many of them. For the people who worshiped them in the distant past, the gods did not always appear in the familiar image. Thus, the myth "The Birth of Zeus" tells about the birth of a great thunderer, who became the head of the immortal inhabitants of Mount Olympus. The image of a young lord of lightning and thunder occupies an equally significant place in the ancient heritage, as his adult hypostasis.

The Thunderer's Origin

If we turn to history not mythological, thenthe ancestors of Zeus are worth searching for in several cultural traditions. The origin of the name of God, according to research scientists, is Indo-European. It means "clear sky", "light", "day". Many qualities and properties of Zeus allow us to believe that its traditional image was formed under the influence of other, earlier cultures.

The oldest found evidence ofThe worship of the Thunderer is dated to the 15th-13th centuries. BC. On clay tablets, where the life of God is described, the story of his birth and childhood is also given.

Sources of information

The ancient myth "The Birth of Zeus" occurs inseveral versions and quite often set forth by different authors, which indicates its important role in the culture of that era. Sources of details of the narrative for the researchers are the texts of Greek thinkers, dating back to the 8th century. BC - II century. ad. Many of the nuances of myth, originally contained in the most ancient versions of the narrative, are found in the early Christianity (II-V centuries AD) on the pages of writers' writings, trying to expose the absurdity and uselessness of pagan beliefs. After many centuries, the attempt to carefully analyze them and identify inconsistencies has led not to oblivion, but to the preservation of a large number of legends.

The myth "The Birth of Zeus" is also found on alreadymentioned clay tablets. Some of the details of the cult of Zeus-child researchers discover on various monuments of the artistic culture of antiquity. These are images on ceramics, coins and so on.

The myth of the birth of Zeus: a summary

The Thunderer was the son of the Titans of Kronos (Kronos) andRhea. Father Zeus feared that he was destined for the same fate as that suffered by Uranus (Cronus oskopil his father Uranus, who returned the children born in the bosom of his wife, the Earth-Gaea). Cron ordered his wife to bring him all the newborns and devoured his children. Rhea, pregnant with Zeus, decided to outwit her husband.

Uranus and Gaia advised her to hide on the islandCrete. There, in the cave, Rhea gave birth to the future thunderer. Zeus was left in Crete. Behind him looked after the nymphs Idea and Adrastea. They watered the baby with Amalfean goat's milk and fed honey that the bees brought to them. At the cave stood the kurts, demigods and defenders of the newborn. They were loudly beating swords at the shields every time Zeus began to cry, so that no one would know about his whereabouts.

Options

The myth "The Birth of Zeus" is also known in several othervariants. According to one of them, Rhea produced the great god in the Lictus region and then hid it on Mount Dikte. According to another version, Zeus was born on the mountain Likeye.

In order for Kronos not to look for the youngerson, Ray brought him a stone wrapped in diapers. Titan did not expect deceit from his wife and did not understand what happened. When Zeus grew up, it was time to fulfill the prophecy.

Olympians

After a while, Zeus becamebeautiful and strong man. He wanted to take revenge on his father for the suffering of his mother, brothers and sisters. For ten years he fought with Crohn, but in the end won. Zeus made him regurgitate his brothers and sisters. Out of the womb of the titan came Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. As myths "Birth of Zeus" tell, Olympus became a favorite place of stay of young gods. Since then, in honor of the mountain, they have been called Olympic.

Kronos and other titans were overthrown andare imprisoned in Tartarus. Hera became the wife of Zeus, the patroness of wives and women in childbirth. Demeter began to command fields, harvest and fertility, and Hestia - the home. Aidu took possession of the underground kingdom of the dead, and Poseidon - oceans, seas and rivers. Zeus stood at the head of the Olympian gods.

Value

Like all the stories that fill the myths of the AncientGreece, the birth of Zeus is interesting for researchers not only from an artistic point of view. The narrative of the appearance of the Thunderer on the light and childhood helps to better understand the semantic load of the image of God, his role in the cult of the ancient era. The myth "The Birth of Zeus", in addition, adds a certain material necessary for understanding the origin of the Greek ritual traditions. It can be seen traces of the influence of other cultures, the consequences of the interaction of several different ethnic groups.

The myth of the birth of Zeus, a summary of whichis given in the article, thus, represents a source of knowledge about ancient culture. A careful reading of it will help to learn a lot about the mythological and ritual traditions of Ancient Greece, shed light on the interaction of different motives and subjects of different origins. In this sense, the childhood and youth of the gods becomes an integral and important part in the process of interpreting their images, understanding the essence of ritual worship and veneration.