Zeus

[Ursus]

I am not going to do a full review, but I recommend "Zeus" by this professor of classics at Birmingham Uni.

 

It is short and very readable, but crammed with info in a chronological account of the evolution of Zeus. It avoids both Judeo-Christian skepticism, as well as New Age revisionism, and concentrates on primary texts as well as archaeological and linguistic analysis.

 

Zeus is the central figure of Greek religion and mythology, even if gods like Athena, Apollo and Demeter had special cults of interest in classical Greece.

[Pantagathus]

I assume he goes over the 'Pelasgian' aspects of Zeus? (i.e. the worship at Dodona, Lycosura, etc.)

 

I might have to pick this up.

[Gaius Octavius]

In an earlier thread on gods, I noted that one writer maintained that there were a number of incarnations of the gods, i.e., the Zeus of Athens was not the same Zeus of Sparta. Anything on that?

[Ursus]

I assume he goes over the 'Pelasgian' aspects of Zeus? (i.e. the worship at Dodona, Lycosura, etc.)

 

I might have to pick this up.

 

Well, the evidence is primarily from classical Greece and and the cults in the various regions. But he does delve into earlier times (Indo-European, Minoan-Mycenean) as well as later times (Hellenistic, Roman, and even Medieval and modern interpretations).

 

I consider myself a well read pagan, but there were some details here that were new to me.

 

In an earlier thread on gods, I noted that one writer maintained that there were a number of incarnations of the gods, i.e., the Zeus of Athens was not the same Zeus of Sparta. Anything on that?

 

When there is no central body to define and enforce dogma, local cults can experience and envision a deity in slightly different ways.

 

But I think we are talking about different spins on on the same god, not different gods per se.

 

The root of any interpretation of Zeus is the Indo-European Shining Sky Father. Jupiter is based on the same god, which is why the two deities were so similar even before the Romans adopted Greek mythology wholesale.

[Nephele]

...and concentrates on primary texts as well as archaeological and linguistic analysis.

 

By

Edited February 15, 2007 by Nephele Carnalis

[Ursus]

Does the author draw a comparison between the Greek word Zeus and the earlier, hypothetical Proto-Indo-European word for god, dewos, as well as a connection to the Latin deus?

-- Nephele

 

 

Indeed he does, as well as the teu that carried over into proto-Germanic cultures and became Tyr, and the god that would become Indra in the Vedic religion.

 

Linguistically, the gods have to be the same, stemming from the same source. Culturally, however, the sky gods became paramount only in the Greek and Latin races.

 

When the Greeks took the Shining Sky Father of the Indo-Europeans into Greece, they came into contact with weather gods of West Asia, as well as kingly gods of the Near East. Both cultures exerted an influence on the myth and cult of dewos. And thus Zeus was born. This is why the Greek Zeus is different and more important than the Germanic Tyr or the Vedic Indra.

[Nephele]

Does the author draw a comparison between the Greek word Zeus and the earlier, hypothetical Proto-Indo-European word for god, dewos, as well as a connection to the Latin deus?

-- Nephele

 

 

Indeed he does, as well as the teu that carried over into proto-Germanic cultures and became Tyr, and the god that would become Indra in the Vedic religion.

 

Linguistically, the gods have to be the same, stemming from the same source. Culturally, however, the sky gods became paramount only in the Greek and Latin races.

 

When the Greeks took the Shining Sky Father of the Indo-Europeans into Greece, they came into contact with weather gods of West Asia, as well as kingly gods of the Near East. Both cultures exerted an influence on the myth and cult of dewos. And thus Zeus was born. This is why the Greek Zeus is different and more important than the Germanic Tyr or the Vedic Indra.

 

 

That's precisely the book I'm looking for! Thanks for the recommendation. I'll be ordering a copy of this book.

 

-- Nephele