Comparing Hesiod's Theogony And Prometheus Bo

Greek & Roman Mythology Midterm Topic 4

Zeus is one of the most portrayed figures, as he is the King of the Gods. He is often depicted differently based on the author and the audience of the item. “Zeus was the King of the Gods and the god of the sky, weather, law and order, destiny and fate, and kingship. He was depicted as a regal, mature man with a sturdy figure and dark beard. His usual attributes were a lightning bolt, a royal scepter, and an eagle.” (Aarson J. Atsma, 2000-2012, theoi project). Zeus is known to be the Father of the gods so he's often viewed as harsh and hardened, fun and loving, or stern and justified. Both of these stories tell the myths of the gods in different ways, As Hesiod’s theogony is a theogony, which means this

As stated before, Hesiod's Theogony is a creation myth that tells the story of the beginning of the universe and how the Gods were created (Chasm, Earth to Gaia & Kronos to Zeus, etc). It included many creation myths and dramatic tales, and it was told from the point of view of Zeus. This collection of stories included creation myths and dramatic tales that came from Zeus’ point of view as his rise to power. Since this story is told from his point of view, Zeus is shined in a more positive light whereas the opposite. As Zeus had just come into power and was at the beginning of his “ruling” stage, he can be depicted as an unpredictable ruler, he was very intelligent, wise, and vengeful. “That Zeus is just at the beginning of his reign and is therefore harsh,” (Todd) In most of his

Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound is told from the perspective of Prometheus rather than the perspective of Zeus which in my opinion is a major difference in between depiction of Zeus’ character. As Hesiod's theogony is told from the perspective of Zeus and similar Gods, it of course would favor likely him. As Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound is told from Prometheus and other deities' perspectives rather than Zeus we will see many different interpretations. In this story, Zeus is villainized, he is seen as the antagonist who has punished Prometheus for something he asked him to do. Similarly to Hesiod's theogony, both stories mentioned Prometheus, the only key difference is in this story the punishment Prometheus receives is a more brutal version. He is depicted as a brutal villain, who was a tyrannical ruler who was selfish and ruthless in his punishment. He was someone who you did not wanna get on his bad side. As this story is told from Prometheus and other gods' point of view, you seem to follow their depiction of that character rather than inside details like Hesiod's theogony. In this version, I was under the impression Zeus was able to do whatever he wanted wherever he wanted and if anyone said anything then they would end up similar to Prometheus. He was seen as unpredictable and provided a baseline for the evil depiction of Zeus' character. As mentioned above, Prometheus is the protagonist in this story so