The Importance of Zeus in Religion
Theogony, by Hesoid, is an Epic that traces how the gods were created. The god that is brought up most frequently is Zeus. Throughout Theogony, Zeus is described as the most important and powerful god. This is shown when Zeus is celebrated and prayed to by the people. They also show this when they talk about their king and how he is appointed by Zeus. Zeus is discussed in a way that may or may not be different than the way we think about gods today.
It is apparent that Zeus is seen as the most important god right from the beginning of Theogony. Within the first few lines of Theogony, we see this in the quote, “Their soft feet move in the dance that rings the violet-dark spring and the altar of mighty Zeus…On Helikon’s peak they join hands in lovely dances and their pounding feet awaken desire.” This is the first time Zeus is discussed. The altar is the first thing in this quote that represents Zeus’ authority and power over all gods. An altar typically symbolizes power, and in Theogony, Zeus is the only god that is discussed as having an altar. We also see his power in this quote when the other gods and common people are dancing around his altar. This is a celebration the people are having in honor of Zeus.
Another quote that shows Zeus’ significance is, “Then they sing of Zeus, father of gods and men they begin and end their song with him and tell of how he surpasses the other gods in rank and might.” This quote is very straight forward and one of the most important statements in the Epic that proves Zeus is the most important god. Every time Zeus is mentioned he is introduced with the muses, the gods, and the common people singing to him. The singing is used to praise Zeus as the best god ever. By stating he “surpasses the other gods in rank and might” it shows that Zeus is the god that they look to the most for everything. They have the most respect for Zeus.
The next quote that shows Zeus’ significance is, “The singers and lyre players of this earth are descended from the Muses and far-shooting Apollon, but kings are from the line of Zeus. Blessed is the man whom the Muses love; sweet song flows from his mouth.” When this quote mentions singers and lyre players coming from the Muses, they are talking about the singers and lyre players really coming from Zeus. With this logic, if Zeus didn’t lay with the woman that gave birth to the nine Muses, then there would be no singers and no lyre players. When they say “But kings are from the line of Zeus. Blessed…”, they are saying that kings are all chosen by Zeus. The kings have Zeus’ blessing which is the highest honor. This is why everyone in the story is afraid to speak out against the king. Going against Zeus’ kings are unheard of because they believe that Zeus and all of the kings under him are perfect and can do no wrong.
Hesiod wrote about how important Zeus powers were. In today’s society there are still people that look up to gods in the same way. There are also people that don’t. We see this in America where we have people that praise a god because they believe that God chose Donald Trump to be President to “Make America Great Again”. Then there are the people who are in between that believe that there is a god, but do not believe he has the powers that Hesiod described Zeus as having. We also have people that do not believe in anything.
To conclude, Zeus was the main focus of Hesoid’s Theogony. Zeus is considered to be the highest power and his decisions are never to be questioned. Any king, singer, lyre player all were in some way blessed by Zeus. Of all the gods, Zeus is known as the god with all might. Zeus is honored numerous times through out Theogony. The way Zeus is looked at in Hesiod’s Theogony is still relevant to society today because we have people that still look at gods in the same way.