Gods of Heaven and Earth

The Sumerians explain how high civilization so suddenly came into being:

“Whatever seems beautiful, we made by the grace of the gods.”

Who were the gods of Sumer?

Were the gods of the Sumerians like the Greek gods, who were described as living at a great court, feasting in the Great Hall of Zeus in the heavens—Olympus, whose counterpart on earth was Greece’s highest peak, Mount Olympus?

The Greeks described their gods as anthropomorphic – physically similar to men and women, and human in character. They:

• could be happy, angry, and jealous
• made love, quarreled, fought
• procreated like humans, bringing forth offspring through sexual intercourse—with each other or with humans
• were unreachable, and yet they were constantly mixed up in human affairs.
• could travel about at immense speeds, appear and disappear
• had weapons of immense and unusual power.

Each had specific functions, and, as a result, a specific human activity could suffer or benefit by the attitude of the god in charge of that particular activity.

Therefore, rituals of worship and offerings to the gods were supposed to gain their favor.

The principal deity of the Greeks was Zeus:

• “Father of Gods and Men”
• “Master of the Celestial Fire.”

His chief weapon and symbol was the thunderbolt.

He was a “king” on earth who had descended from the heavens; a decision maker and the dispenser of good and evil to mortals, yet one whose original domain was in the skies.

He was neither the first god upon Earth nor the first deity to have been in the heavens.

The Greeks believed that first there was:

• Chaos
• then Gaea (Earth) and her consort Uranus (the heavens) appeared.

Gaea and Uranus brought forth the 12 Titans, 6 males and 6 females.

Though their legendary deeds took place on Earth, it is assumed that they had astral counterparts.

Cronus was the youngest male Titan. He emerged as the principal figure in Olympian mythology.

He rose to supremacy among the Titans through usurpation, after castrating his father Uranus.

Fearful of the other Titans, Cronus imprisoned and banished them.

For that, he was cursed by his mother: He would suffer the same fate as his father, and be dethroned by one of his own sons.

Cronus consorted with his own sister Rhea, who bore him 3 sons and 3 daughters: Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus; Hestia, Demeter, and Hera.

Once again, it was fated that the youngest son would be the one to depose his father, and the curse of Gaea came true when Zeus overthrew Cronus, his father.

The overthrow, it would seem, did not go smoothly. For many years battles between the gods and a host of monstrous beings ensued. The decisive battle was between Zeus and Typhon, a serpent-like deity.

The fighting ranged over wide areas, on Earth and in the skies. The final battle took place at Mount Casius, near the boundary between Egypt and Arabia-apparently somewhere in the Sinai Peninsula. (Fig. 21)

Having won the struggle, Zeus was recognized as the supreme deity.

Nevertheless, he had to share control with his brothers. By choice (or, according to one version, through the throwing of lots), Zeus was given control of the skies, the eldest brother Hades was accorded the Lower World, and the middle brother Poseidon was given mastery of the seas.

Though in time Hades and his region became a synonym for Hell, his original domain was a territory somewhere “far below,” encompassing marshlands, desolate areas, and lands watered by mighty rivers. Hades was depicted as “the unseen”—aloof, forbidding, stern; unmoved by prayer or sacrifice.

Poseidon, on the other hand, was frequently seen holding up his symbol (the trident). Though ruler of the seas, he was also master of the arts of metallurgy and sculpting, as well as a crafty magician or conjurer.

While Zeus was depicted in Greek tradition and legend as strict with Mankind—even as one who at one point schemed to annihilate Mankind—Poseidon was considered a friend of Mankind and a god who went to great lengths to gain the praise of mortals.

The three brothers and their three sisters, all children of Cronus by his sister Rhea, made up the older part of the Olympian Circle, the group of 12 Great Gods.

The other six were all offspring of Zeus, and the Greek tales dealt mostly with their genealogies and relationships.

The male and female deities fathered by Zeus were mothered by different goddesses.

His daugher Athena was from a goddess named Metis. Athena:

• was in charge of common sense and handiwork, and was thus the Goddess of Wisdom.
• was the only major deity to have stayed with Zeus during his combat with Typhon (all the other gods had fled)
• acquired martial qualities and was also the Goddess of War
• was the “perfect maiden”
• became no one’s wife

Some tales link her frequently with her uncle Poseidon, and though his official consort was the goddess who was the Lady of the Labyrinth from the island of Crete, his niece Athena was his mistress.

Zeus had sex with other goddesses, but their children did not qualify for the Olympian Circle.

When Zeus got around to the serious business of producing a male heir, he turned to one of his own sisters.

The eldest was Hestia.

She was a recluse—perhaps too old or too sick to be the object of matrimonial activities—and Zeus needed little excuse to turn his attentions to Demeter, the middle sister, the Goddess of Fruitfulness.

But she bore Zeus a daughter, Persephone who became wife to her uncle Hades and shared his dominion over the Lower WorId.

Disappointed that no son was born, Zeus turned to other goddesses for comfort and love.

He had 9 daughters with Harmonia. Then Leto bore him a daughter and a son, Artemis and Apollo, who were at once drawn into the group of major deities.