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Zeus the king (1)

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04 Religious and philosophical literature and poetry
02 Religious and ideological symbols and iconographic motifs


 		Keywords
gods
power
Period
Greek Archaic Age 		Channel
Akkadian poetry
Greek poets

Text
In Hesiod’s Theogony 881-929, after becoming king of the gods, Zeus assigns to the gods their functions and privileges (885). This corresponds to an old Sumerian and Babylonian idea. In an earlier passage of the Theogony (390-396) Hesiod mentions that in allocating privileges Zeus rewarded, in accordance with a prior promise, all those gods who fought on his side against the Titans. The statement is similar to the lengthy section of Lugale (416-647) in which Ninurta, having defeated the Azag, passes judgement on all the different stones and assigns destinies to them, favourably or otherwise, according to whether they had assisted the Azag in its rebellion or shown proper respect for himself.

Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Hesiod, Theogony 390-396
Hesiod, Theogony 881-929
Lugale 416-647

Bibliography

West 1997, 304West, Martin L. The East Face of Helicon. West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1997.

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001236.php

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