Please stop bullying Zeus Devotees
A lot of non-hellenic (and some Hellenics) have a personal problem with the ancient representation of Zeus. I used to be one of these people before getting to know the actual gods and not just their mythylogical aspects.
The problem with this is the mix-up of ancient time seeping into our current time.
Defeating his father Chronos was how Zeus won the title of King of The Gods. Ironically, Father Time must of had the last laugh because time is exactly what is fueling all of this.
Notice I said “the ancient interpretation of Zeus” and not Zeus himself? That’s because time changes society. We become better, more self aware and learn from the mistakes of our ancestors.
And yet, the ancient ideals of men are immortalized in classic mythology that begin to sour over time.
Zeus represents these ideals. He is the epidomy of what an ancient Greek man sees as perfection.
In our comic loving modern times (judging by all the superhero movies made, in line for production, conventions, blogs, etc) we see the ideal man as being akin to Superman. Someone who can fly, have incredible strength, indestructible and can do it all. In a lot of movies he is even treated like a god.
For the purposes of this argument, I will be comparing Zeus to Superman in order to show how time changes things and reboots are essential to keep up with societal ideals.
Mythical Zeus VS. God Zeus:
I can respect someone not being interested in Zeus but I draw the line at bullying his followers.
His followers are not sexist, rapists, apologists, etc. His followers see and work with God Zeus while those who hate Zeus are only aware of Mythical Zeus.
Ancient Greece did not have respect for women.
They saw Zeus’s marriage to Hera as necessary but his many affairs showed his baby making ability was as healthy as Ares’ and that showed he was powerful. @thepastelpriestess made TWO amazing videos for Zeus that further explain him as an ideal man in ancient Greece: (LINK) and (LINK)
And let’s not forget war, the christianization of Europe and other natural catastrophies that destroyed A LOT of his myths.
If you really want to see all of Zeus and what his God form represents look at his epithets, look at his roles.
Look at what he does and how he loves his devotees.
Having someone try to be an asshole to you because they don’t like the gods you worship is shitty and rude.
Reboots, Epithets and Time:
Reboots may be super annoying to fans who have already fallen in love with an interpretation of their favorite character but they are also what have helped those characters survived.
The early versions of Superman would often beat up Lois Lane to put her in her place because he was created during a time where a man was expected to handle his woman should she have opinions or showed “histeria.”
This early version would also talked about how much more superior men were.
Should Superman be like this today he would be considered a villain which is why the saying goes: “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.”
Without reboots, time makes an example of the ugly aspects society once respected.
Zeus is no different. The images I posted are very recent compared to the mythologies of Zeus which are older than the Bible.
I am not a fan of this representation of Zeus but it does remind me of how far society has come.
Pride is just around the corner and if you live in places that try to be better about respecting the LGBT(+) community you’ll see churches with rainbow flags. This is because if religions want to survive, they have to conform with where society is headed.
Gods evolve because they want to keep connecting with us.
They give us ideas on how to fight oppression, they give us hope and strength in times of turbulence and chaos.
Zeus is powerful. He is fair and tries to be as cool and collected as he can when making decisions. He goes over his decisions with Athena so she can point out how fair or personal his decision is. This is a god that tries to see what is best for all the gods and his followers. A god who tries to make a sound decision so no one feels left out.
He represents the law, court, judgement, the protector of families and even though his myths are seen today as horrid, they only highlight a time where people thought they knew better.
So next time you see a follower of Zeus, understand that they are worshipping the God version of Zeus and remember that reboots are what keep us loving our favorite comic books characters.
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