Zeus And Odin :: essays research papers

Zeus and Odin Zeus is the ruler of the Greek gods. He is the countersign of Cronosand Rhea, in fact the only son of these two to survive to adulthood. Zeus hadbeen hidden by Rhea so that Cronos would not swallow him like he had all ofhis other offspring he had been warned that one of his children wouldeventually overthrow him. Rhea sent Zeus to the island of Crete where he wasraised. Zeus eventually killed his father. After he killed Cronos, he restored lifeto his brothers and sisters. He accordingly drew lots with his brothers Poseidon andHades to see who would become ruler of the various parts of the universe.Zeus won the draw and became the supreme ruler of the gods. He is skipper ofthe sky, the rain god. His weapon is a thunderbolt, made for him by theCyclopes under the direction of Hephaestus, which he hurls at those whodisplease him. He married a while of spouses with whom he had manychildren including Athena, The Fates, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes.His last, and most well-known wife is Hera but he is famous for his manyaffairs. Odin is the leader of the Norse gods and has a myriad of namesincluding Allfather, Ygg, Bolverk (evil doer), and Grimnir. He also has manyfunctions within the myths including being a god of war, poetry, wisdom, anddeath. However, he is not considered the "main" god of each of thesefunctions. Odins symbol is his magical spear named Grungir which neermisses its mark. He also owns a magic ring called Draupnir which can createnine of itself e actually night. It was this ring that Odin laid on his son opensfuneral pyre and which Balder returned to Odin from the underworld. Odinalso has two wolves, Geri and Freki, and two ravens, Hugin (thought) andMunin (memory). He sends his ravens out every day to gather knowledge forhim. Odin was destined to die at Ragnarok Fenris-Wolf swallowed him.Knowing his fate, he gloss over chose to embrace it and do battle, showing the truewarrior ethic. He is the god of warriors and kin gs, not the common man.Among his children areThor, Hermod, and Balder. He is married to Frigg, thegoddess of marriage. The first obvious similarity betwixt Zeus and Odin is intheir appearance. Both are very large men, but they are not depicted as fatmen. Both look very powerful and foreboding. They also are both shown ashaving beards. A beard represents manliness, in a very basic way as facial vibrissa