Apollo commanded the hero to do certain tasks as a punishment for his wrongs, so that the evil might be cleansed from his spirit. Zeus was well known for his amorousnessa source of perpetual discord with his wife, Heraand he had many love affairs with both mortal and immortal women. However during the feast he tried to pick up on Zeus' wife, Hera. OSU Classical Mythology 2220. As one of the original 6 Olympians, Hera was the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. In Greek mythology, Semele, the lover of Zeus, died a tragic death at the hands of Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus. This rarely-repeated story appears to be a later myth, however, and most stories show him as a protective and peaceable, albeit unfaithful, husband. According to Hesiod, why did Zeus create Pandora? Following are ten of the weirdest divine punishments from Ancient Greek religion and mythology. The Greek gods were quite fallible, and humans usually just had to endure their divine decisions, whether just or unjust and the Ancient Greeks frequently portrayed their gods acting unjustly. Semele. Wherever I turn my eyes I survey the elements of my power; nor is my form and presence unworthy of a goddess. Unfortunately, Sisyphus cunning was combined with questionable ethics, which got him in trouble with the gods, particularly with Zeus. The Ancient Greeks worldview differed greatly from the orderly worldview of the major monotheistic religions, in which the universe is ruled by an omniscient, omnipotent, and infallible God. Though vigilant, whenever she was about to catch him, Echo distracted her with lengthy conversations. Fortunately, Thetis helped Zeus by summoning Briareus to help free the God from his shackles. Zeus was the principal deity of the Greek pantheon, the god of the weather and . He brought her to life, and then brought her to Zeus. Aside from the avowed virgins, she was one of the only goddesses to never have a child outside of her marriage. The Romans identified the Greek goddess Hera with their own goddess of marriage, Juno. Spouse: Hera. So Leto turned them into frogs before the infant Apollo eventually slew the dragon. Zeus turned himself into a wounded bird to get close to Hera and only after earning her trust in that way was he able to make her his wife. In only one story did Zeus punish Hera for her actions when she plotted to overthrow him. When the thigh-sewn child was born, he was named Dionysus. So she turned him into a stag. There, the chief god devised a punishment that became a proverbial term for temptation. 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. Hera, the goddess of marriage and childbirth and the ruler of the sky, said "no" every time Zeus proposed marriage. To vent his anger at mankind, Zeus sent Pandora down to earth with a box whose lid, when it was eventually removed, unleashed upon the world all the evils that plague humanity, such as diseases, plagues, war, death, and the constant need for backbreaking labor to eke sustenance out of the earth. Not to be outdone, Artemis strung her bow, and slew all seven of Niobes daughters. He was the god of the sky and thunder. She was all too aware of Zeus' past . While the lower classes could marry for love, the wealthy formed unions to strengthen their power and looked to Hera and Zeus as an example of a couple that married for political reasons but enjoyed a certain measure of comfort in their relationship. The chief Olympian gods relentless pursuit, persistence, rough wooing, and refusal to take no for an answer was bad enough. Most entries in this article are about mortal or immortal beings who did something to invite the wrath of the gods, or at least found themselves in a situation in which the wrath of a good was understandable, even if unjustified. Zeus then transformed io back into a woman and set her free. Even then, the gods were not yet done with Niobe. Her most famous anger was directed not at one of Zeuss mistresses, but at his son. He lies and cheats, especially when it comes to tricking women into infidelity. The breach of Xenia left Ixion defiled, shunned by fellow Greeks and unfit to live amidst men. How Did Odysseus Get Punished. Zeus destroyed Tantalus, then personally took his soul to Hades, the underworld of Greek mythology. That set a precedent that allowed humans henceforth to sacrifice animals to the god by burning their bones and fat, but keeping the meat for themselves. So he sent the messenger god Hermes, disguised as a shepherd, to lull Argus to sleep. Study now. He then courted Thetis, but abandoned the idea of marrying that Titaness when a similar prediction was made. Many women and minor goddesses were changed into other forms by Hera. Zeus was the king of the Greek gods who lived on Mount Olympus. If that is true, why was Apollo punished by Zeus? So Alcmene exposed her half god child, who was taken up by Athena to see Hera. However, the gods possessed superhuman powers that made their human-like follies a terror to behold, and were often unrestrained by morality and the social norms applicable to humans. Ixion abused his pardon by trying to seduce Zeus's wife, Hera. In the text, Odysseus is found shouting at Polyphemus saying, "You had the gall to eat the guests in your own house, and Zeus made you pay for it" (IX,478-479). While Hera was famously jealous, her divine stepchildren rarely attracted particular ire. 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 . Zeus was known for taking many mistresses. When Zeus heard, he couldnt believe that Ixion, whom he had rescued and cleansed of his guilt, then honored by hosting him in heaven, could be so ungrateful and brazen. That snitching made Zeus angrier still. Before her body was cold, Zeus had snatched from it the six-month unborn child and sewed it into his thigh. So he appeared to her in the guise of a bedraggled, rain-soaked cuckoo. Being Zeus mistress was tough. In a flash, Apollo and Artemis, whose nicknames included The Immortal Archers, showed up at the citadel of Thebes. She is best known as the mother of Dionysus. By Noelle Talmon / Aug. 30, 2021 1:34 pm EST. Zeus destroyed Tantalus, then personally took his soul to Hades, the underworld of Greek mythology. 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. Why does Echo get punished? When Ixion planned to assault the goddess, her husband not only prevented the attack but gave Ixion a harsh punishment in Hades for the crime of attempting to violate his wife. The gods were ticked off at him for showing them up and making them look like fools, and took offense at his self-aggrandizing deceitfulness, and the hubris of believing himself more cunning than Zeus. Niobe, in Greek myth, was a daughter of Tantalus, who got his own dose of terrible divine punishment from the gods see previous entry. There was a degree of idealism in how the couple was shown, however. In this way, the relationship between Zeus and Hera did represent an ideal, albeit one that seems horrible to modern readers. Zeus Olympios emphasized Zeus's kingship over the gods. "One evening, while Zeus and Hera were dining, Zeus drank excessively of the nectar of the gods. In Greek legend, Sisyphus was a king of Corinth, and the founder of the Isthmian Games one of the Ancient Greeks four major games, which included the Olympics. Sure enough, Ixion ravished the fake Hera a union that ultimately produced the centaurs. 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. 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. Zeus substituted for her a cloud, by which Ixion became the father of Centaurus, who fathered the Centaurs . I have seven times as many. To gain the favor of a God is already . As the goat-legged Satyr, he seduced Antiope. A peeved Zeus responded by taking fire away from mankind, and wiping its secret from human minds, so they would have to eat meat row, and shiver from the cold in the dark of night. According to Ovid, how id Zeus punish Lycaon? I have seven times as many. The king and queen of the gods were supposed to be the model of a perfect marriage, but the stories of Zeus and Hera show that their relationship was anything but divine! Copy. Thebes lost this war and they had to pay heavy taxes to Orhomenos for many years. In Greek mythology, Actaeon was a famous Theban hero, who loved to hunt in the outback of his native region of Boeotia. Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Dionysus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, and the . Hera Punished Her Husband's Former Mistress by Prolonging Her Childbirth Labor for Years. Hera banned her from giving birth on terra firma the mainland or any island under the sun. What were Zeus punishments? Although the extent of Actaeons sin, if it could even be called that, was to simply have had the misfortune of bumping into a naked goddess, Artemis was livid that a mortal saw her naked. First, Hera kicked the pregnant Leto out of Mount Olympus, forcing her to wander the world amongst mortals. He had promised his father-in-law a valuable present as a bride price wealth paid by the groom to the parents of his bride but reneged and failed to pay up after the marriage. Lo was a beautiful mortal who was the daughter of Inachus of Argo. There, the 49 daughters were condemned to spend an eternity of ceaseless and hopeless labor, reminiscent of Sisyphus. That ensured the gods victory, and doomed the Titans to defeat. Zeus is a kind of Greek pantheon and is the son of Cronus and Rhea. Her husband/ sibling was an insatiable and predatory nymphomaniac with a roving eye, always on the prowl, and constantly cheating on Hera. It is from Tantalus punishment, of desperately wanting something that seems so close but that is just beyond reach, that we get the English word tantalize. The super strong infant, however, suckled so intensely that Hera pushed him away due to . 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. Zeus however took pity on Ixion, and although promotion of Xenia was part of the chief Olympian gods portfolio, he cleansed him of the defilement, and invited him to Mount Olympus, to dine at the table of the gods. Zeus' wife did not recognize her mini-mortal enemy and inadvertently nursed him out of pity. After Hercules completed his 12 (or if you prefer 10 labors), the centaur Nessus, whom Hercules killed to defend Dienara from tricked her into killing Hercules by wiping some of his blood on a cloth. He was invited by the gods to feast with them. Her feelings were probably exacerbated by the fact that Zeus seemed to prefer these human children over her own son, Ares. One of Tantalus sins was stealing ambrosia and nectar, the food of the gods, and giving it to mortals. While he was at Thebes () he defeated the King of Orhomenos and made its citizens pay double the taxes back to Thebes.