The Death of Zeus and Hera

[theepicbeyond]

Greetings Scans Daily,

It's been a long time since I've posted but after seeing all the recent scans of John Hickman's "God is Dead" I began thinking about Mythology. I've always loved the Greek myths (probably owing something to to my Greek Heritage). The God is Dead comic as a major driving plot point the death of Zeus. Its a recurring theme I've noticed alot in pop culture. Zeus dying was a major point in the God of War Games, the Clash and Wrath of the Titans, and even a recent-ish episode of Supernatural. I ended up blogging about it here So thanks scans daily for the fodder for my blog.

... anyway...

With the Death of Zeus cropping up so much in pop culture, it reminded me of one that was particularly well done, From the Assault on New Olympus in the pages of Marvels Incredible Hercules.

The story thus far: After Zeus is slain in battle by Amatsu-Mikaboshi, Hercules and Amadeus Cho rescue the King of Olympus from the Underworld where he is reborn as a child. Meanwhile Hera has set in motion a plan that will destroy the Marvel Universe replacing it with one of her own design. Employing the Amazons, various monsters from Greek mythology and Zeus's old enemy Typhon Hera is just about ready to wipe out the universe.



Though Typhon has other plans...





Unfortunately for the rulers of Olympus the battle does not go in their favor. Leaving Hercules to save the day



Why did I like this version so much? It gave the characters of Zeus and Hera a bit of dignity. For characters that are **SO** iconic their marital stress plays out in a epic and satisfying conclusion. Though it ends in their death, it also ends in their redemption of sorts. The thing I always liked about Greek Mythology was that the gods were human. To quote the old Hercules show they could be "petty and cruel and plauge mankind with suffering," but at the same time they could also be benefactors to humanity. The Olympians were just as flawed as their human creations. It's what made their stories so long lasting and endearing. Though the rest of the Incredible Hercules explores the idea of flawed gods and their relationship to the human condition these four comic pages encapsulated this idea perfectly.

I strongly recommend the Incredible Hercules to anybody interested. Its a couple years old now but is still enjoyable. As someone who is very picky about his Hellenic Myths this is one favorite modern renditions. Now if Amadeus Cho would only appear in more Marvel books...

Comments

[kingofmadcows]

It is funny how we treat myths as if they were intended to be a single narrative with one creative vision behind it when they're really amalgamations of countless different stories by different "authors" and go through changes with almost every retelling.

[grumman]

You mean like comic books?

[drtechnobabel]

Whoa... Mind. Blown.

Now all I can think about is a group of ancient Greek nerds debating how Hercules completed the Twelve Labours, arguing over who is Zeus' OTP, and writing fanfiction of Odysseus meeting Jason and his Argonauts.

[kingofmadcows]

If comics were used as propaganda and the writers are politicians who change continuity to insert themselves, or more likely their ancestors, as a way of gaining more influence.

[shadur]

Herc actually points that out to Cho in this run a couple volumes earlier.

[obsidianwolf]

I've always wondered if the Olympians in Marvel have also been dying and being reborn constantly like the Norse Pantheon.

I mean the time Thor learned his generation was only about 2000 years old or so and got a first hand look at the previous cycle* form Odin's Disembodied eye. He also learned his dad cheated to try to end the cycle by having this Thor with someone outside of Asgard. (later revealed to be the elder god Gaea)

*which matched the surviving versions of the classic myths

[icon_uk]

Were the Greek Gods often benefactors to humanity? They didn't even want to give us fire, which seems pretty fundamental. There were a few like the Muses who inspired creativity, but they mostly seemed to mess with mortals to let off some steam after pissing each other off in their ongoing soap-opera.

[cainofdreaming]

Not in general, but they did pick favourites. From single individuals to cities. Having a god in your corner was at least better than having one in the opposite one.

[icon_uk]

It seemed to be pretty much the norm that coming to the attention of the Gods for any reason rarely ended well.

If you'd beseeched them, you had to be sure your beeseeching was of a suitable quality and if they'd chosen you by singling you out (or finding out that Zeus was your father) then it was unlikely to end well for you.

[cainofdreaming]

Simple beseechers weren't really gods' favourites. I meant people like Odysseus - who did benefit from having Athena in his corner, he just stepped on some other gods' toes along the way of his travels - or Perseus (though, yeah, demigod).

[theepicbeyond]

It depends on the myth. Athena gave the humans the olive tree, Hera sponsored the argonauts. Apollo was the patron to the oracles, hermes was supposed to look out for travelers. Though the gods didn't like the fact Prometheus stole fire, Zeus let us keep it because he liked how we would use it to make sacrifices to the gods.
Some of the stories were a god would screw with mortals, like the story about king Midas, wasn't about a god being a jerk, but more about a king being a fool. The whole careful what you wish for moral.

[cainofdreaming]

Though the gods didn't like the fact Prometheus stole fire, Zeus let us keep it because he liked how we would use it to make sacrifices to the gods.

Not without some repercussions, though. The creation of Pandora and her famous luggage was a direct result from Prometheus stealing the fire. At least in some versions.

[leoboiko]

Walter Otto shows that are "Gods of proximity", which often work close to humans (like Athena and Hermes), and "Gods of distance" who represent absolute things and seldom worry with us (Apollo, Zeus). I'm no classist but from the little I've read, Athena in particular seems to help people a lot (Otto says She's the "flash of insight": She's always present in the decisive moment to guide your hand to the best action – or inaction, as when She refrains Achilles from murdering his King). The Gods also protect stellar devotees of their causes, like Artemis with Hippolytus and Athena with Odysseos. And never forget Demeter – She's not the most exciting of Goddesses and seldom figure in epic battles, but all evidence points that She was widely cultuated throughout Greece, being the one who gave humans agriculture and who granted bountiful harvests every year, not to mention being a proctector of women (who had exclusive access to her mystical Eleunisian Mysteries).

The thing about Greek gods is, they're not worried about "sin" per se but about offense and honor: one must take care to be respectful towards all of them. Hippolytus, a devout believer in celibacy, was therefore a favourite of Artemis and protected by Her, but (in Euripides' most popular telling) transgressed his boundaries when he went as far as condemning sexual love. This bears emphasis–the transgression was the condemnation; Aphrodite didn't grow angry because he was celibate (and thus in Artemis' sphere), but because he was disrespectful towards Her sphere. As a result, Aphrodite had the right to punish him, and Artemis wasn't allowed to prevent it (by the absolute Law of Zeus, which set each God's metaphysical territory).

Sometimes the Gods pick mortals to favor but their enemies also have other Gods on their side – the famous example being the War of Troy, in which an Olympian faction helped the Trojans and another faction the Greeks, while all-powerful Zeus evaded a definitive position because He got relatives on both sides (His daughter for the Greeks, His aunt for the Trojans and so on). At one point Aphrodite actually had Her lover Ares (a bloodthirsty brute, not a positive figure in Greek myth) descend to fight for the Trojans; then Athena responded by helping the human Hero Diomedes hurt Ares, driving him back in pain (note that it's literally impossible for humans to fight Gods without divine help; it would be like trying to win over death or causality).

So the Gods do help humans, but if you're not careful, not all Gods may be on your side – a belief system which, to my mind, explains the existence of suffering much better than monotheism.

The Gods not wanting to give us fire is parallel to Jehovah not wanting us to acquire knowledge and eternal life, and structuralists will happily relate these two as examples of a fundamental, widespread Indo-European motif. The normal relationship of Olympus as a whole to the human realm seem to be something like the distant capital of an empire: they'll leave you alone if you pay your tributes (ritual worship) and obey the laws (religious taboos), and will even give you bonuses if you work diligently, but you must be careful not to offend anyone in the higher echelons, and if they decide to take your daughters for “sport” you can do nothing but weep. Thing of the everlasting absolutes that the gods represent (the Cosmos, Love, Death, Strife and so on) – if you know your place you can live life so as to use these things to your favor, but ultimately you don't matter before them, you have no hope of fighting them, and they play by different rules. Ion (again in Euripides), who's an orphan resulting from an act of seduction by Apollo (arguably rape, since no mortal woman could hope to resist Absolute Beauty), once lamented thus:

But I will go
Unto the lavers, with the golden ewers
To pour in water-dews. Yet must I plead
With Phœbus[=Apollo]—what ails Him? He ravisheth
Maids, and forsakes; begetteth babes by stealth,
And heeds not, though they die. Do Thou not so
Being strong, be righteous. For what man soe´er
Transgresseth, the Gods visit this on him.
How were it just then that Ye should enact
For men laws, and Yourselves work lawlessness?
For if—it could not be, yet put it so—
Ye should pay mulet to men for lawless lust,
Thou, the Sea-king, and Zeus the Lord of Heaven,
Paying for wrongs should make your temples void.

[theepicbeyond]

Wow that was a really good read. Thanks.
respecting all gods realm of influence even if its not your domain seems like a pretty even handed open minded out look. Its almost libertarianesq.