The Golden Age Of Greece

10 Pages 2550 Words

ce on their father. Zeus henceforth ruled over the sky, and his brothers Poseidon
and Hades were given power over the sea and the underworld, respectively. The earth
was to be ruled in common by all three. Beginning with the writings of the Greek poet
Homer, Zeus is pictured in two very different ways. He is represented as the god of
justice and mercy, the protector of the weak, and the punisher of the wicked. As
husband to his sister Hera, he is the father of Ares, the god of war; Hebe, the goddess of
youth; Hephaestus, the god of fire; and Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. At the same
time, Zeus is described as falling in love with one woman after another and resorting to
all kinds of tricks to hide his infidelity from his wife. Stories of his escapades were
numerous in ancient mythology, and many of his offspring were a result of his love
affairs with both goddesses and mortal women. It is believed that, with the development
of a sense of ethics in Greek life, the idea of a lecherous, sometimes ridiculous father
god became distasteful, so later legends tended to present Zeus in a more exalted light.
His many affairs with mortals are sometimes explained as the wish of the early Greeks to
trace their lineage to the father of the gods. Zeus's image was represented in sculptural
works as a kingly, bearded figure. The most celebrated of all statues of Zeus was
Phidias's gold and ivory colossus at Olympia.

The standing nude youth (kouros), the standing draped girl (kore), and the seated
woman. All emphasize and generalize the essential features of the human figure and
show an increasingly accurate comprehension of human anatomy. The youths were
either sepulchral or votive statues. Examples are Apollo (Metropolitan Museum), an
early work; Strangford Apollo from Límnos (British Museum, London), a much later
work; and the Anavyssos Kouros (National Museum, Athens). More of the musculature
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