The Odyssey: A Change In Greek Mythology

A popular game for children to play is “telephone.” In “telephone,” the children line up, and certain words are whispered into the first child’s ear. The first child whispers what they heard into the second child’s ear and this trend continues until the last child is reached. The last child then announces what he heard and, usually, he says something completely different from the original words. Stories change in much of the same manner the words in “telephone” do—as time passes, understanding alters, and the original is morphed to comply with the alteration. Mythology, especially Greek, is a good example of this alteration in culture. From multiple paintings of the Birth of Venus to the Rod of Asclepius being utilized a symbol of medicine
The Ancient Greeks believed that before Zeus there was two other ruling gods. First was Ouranos, god of the sky, who was married to Gaia, goddess of earth (Gill). Second was Cronus, god of time and the youngest of the Titans, who were children of Ouranos and Gaia. Cronus later married Rhea, the mother of the gods, who was his sister and who helped him sire Zeus. The stories of Ouranos and Cronus and of Cronus and Zeus are strangely similar, to the point where a message is obvious. Both Ouranos and Cronus abused their children—the former by imprisoning three Hecatoncheires and three Cyclopes in the place of torment in the underworld, Tartaros; the latter by devouring five of the six children Rhea gave birth to (Gill). In the stories of Cronus and Zeus, both gods dethroned their father upon instruction from their mother (“Cronus and Zeus”). As Cronus was the youngest of the Titans, Zeus was similarly the youngest of Rhea’s offspring. Both Cronus and Zeus freed the Hecatoncheires and the Cyclopes from Tartaros, though the former re-imprisoned them (Gill). Both Cronus and Zeus devoured in fear of being overthrown (Gill; Tuccinardi). Ouranos, Cronus, and Zeus used Tartaros as a prison, as well (Gill). But that is where the similarities end for all three gods. Ouranos was not known to ever return to power, but Cronus, after being imprisoned in Tartaros by Zeus, was allowed by Zeus