The First
Days of the Olympians
With the Titans defeated, the Olympians still did not have peace.
During the war, the Cyclops had made weapons for three gods. They
had forged the thunderbolt for Zeus, the trident for Poseidon,
and a helm of darkness for Hades. The universe was wrecked from
the war, and more fighting would not have helped anything.
The
three brothers thus decided to draw lots for the world. Zeus
drew the lot for the sky, where he set up his throne upon Mount
Olympus. Poseidon drew the lot that gave him the sea, where
he built a palace under the sea. Hades drew the lot for the
Underworld, and set up his court beneath the earth, and each
god was happy.
Of the other
Olympians, Demeter and Hestia were peace loving and content, and
desired no power, which left only Hera unsatisfied. Hera left
Mount Olympus to live in solitude, but finally, Zeus managed to
get her to be his consort, and thus Zeus produced the first of
his children with Hera, namely Ares, her twin sister Eris, Hephaistos,
Eileithuia and Hebe. Other children of Zeus include Hermes, Apollo,
Atremis, the Seasons, the Muses, whom he produced from his many
love affairs which were trifling and not worth mention.
Perhaps
the most interesting affair he had was with the Titan Metis.
Gaia prophesised that if Metis were to bear a son, he would
dethrone Zeus, as Zeus had done to his father, Cronus. In fear
of that happening, once Metis was pregnant, she was swallowed
by Zeus whole. However, a few days later,
Zeus complained of a terrible headache, and got Hephaistos,
the blacksmith of the gods, to wedge open his head to ease the
pain. Gods wounds heal very quickly, and just after Hephaistos'
blow to wedge open Zeus' head, and before the wound healed,
out was born the goddess Athene, fully grown.
All this
while, Hera grew unhappy with her husband's many affairs, and
started plotting with the other gods to overthrow Zeus. They
finally managed to do so by tying Zeus to his bed so he may
not get up to get his thunderbolt. The gods were happy, and
sat down to discuss who should succeed Zeus. However the discussion
soon grew fiery, and fearing civil war, an ocean nymph went
to Tataros to fetch one of the hundred-handed giants. The giant
quickly untied the knots that held Zeus down, and before everyone
know, Zeus had his thunderbolt and overturned the rebellion.
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The
Making of Mankind >>