controversial zues

[waterinegirl]

what makes him controversial for me

he overthrow his father-------- i cant blame him
many wives
womanizer
no correct judgement
passive
rude

many thigs to mention

what can you say

are you against with me

[grdSavant]

what makes him controversial for me
he overthrow his father; many wives; womanizer; no correct judgement; passive; rude
many thigs to mention
what can you say
are you against with me

Those were my responses to him, also. What I wonder, though, is if he was represented this way as a mirror of human behavior, which then provokes a response: either we accept our bad behavior, or we behave differently?

It is interesting to me that you picked out 'passive', especially since Zeus could be brutally aggressive; but then at other times when he should have acted, he could seem to wholly ignore a critical situation.

[IreneY]

Where's the controversy?

[grdSavant]

Where's the controversy?

Would it not be that contemporary people expect better behavior from their diety?

[IreneY]

Don't start me on that. But still, I don't see the controversy, even if people expect a deity to behave better. Zeus didn't. No one said he did.

[Lex]

I get the distinct impression that English is not waterinegirl's first language, so maybe she chose the wrong word. Maybe "scandalous" would be a better word than "controversial"?

[IreneY]

True there's that, I didn't take that into consideration and I apologise.
By the way, the only thing I disagree with is the "many wives". Since "womanizer" pretty much covers his extra-curriculum affairs, I can't say that two, if I remember correctly, wives is not all that much. True, he didn't treat Metis all that well, all things considered, but that's a total different vice.

[Bert]

"womanizer"

He wasn't fussy there either. Boys would do as well.

[Essorant]

Well, one is much more likely to find a being such as Zeus, rather than some mythical being full of perfection or some God that though he almost fordid all life with a flood, destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, slew Egyptian newborns, etc. is yet supposed to be considered perfect and infallible.

[Lex]

What was the position of Greek mythology on gods and morality? Were gods subject to moral laws of the cosmos that even they couldn't change, or were they the source of morality as in Judeo-Christianity?

[Swth\r]

What was the position of Greek mythology on gods and morality? Were gods subject to moral laws of the cosmos that even they couldn't change, or were they the source of morality as in Judeo-Christianity?

I don't think that this one is easy to be answered... Greek religion had no "Holly Book(s)". So when examining the sources of mythology (e.g. tragedy, poetry or even philosophy) someone has to determine what was originally mythological tradition and what the author's point of view on a matter.

[MiguelM]

Greek religion is often detached from mythology for this reason. The gods are bigger, stronger, brighter than their human counterparts-- but they are not all-mighty, nor perfect, nor to be emulated. If I were to look for a source of morality in Ancient Greece, I'd start at her heroes and their manifestations of arete, starting obviously with the usual suspects of the Homeric epics.