last one and to punish Cronos for castrating Uranus and swallowing
their five children. Her parents told her to go to Crete when the birth
time came and to trick Cronos by wrapping a stone in swaddling
clothes. In his hurry, Cronos swallowed the stone, thinking it was
the child.
This last, spared child was Zeus, who did indeed later overthrow
his father and come to rule over mortals and gods. Raised in secret,
he later tricked his father into regurgitating his siblings. With their
help, Zeus embarked on a prolonged struggle for supremacy, which
ended in the defeat of Cronos and the Titans and their imprisonment
in the dungeons of Tartarus.
After their victory, the three brother gods—Zeus, Poseidon, and
Hades—drew lots to divide the universe among themselves. Zeus
won the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underworld. Although
the earth and Mt. Olympus were supposed to be shared territory,
Zeus came to extend his rule over these areas. The three sisters—Hes-
tia, Demeter, and Hera—had no property rights, consistent with the
patriarchal nature of the Greek religion.
Through his sexual liaisons, Zeus fathered the next generation of
deities: Artemis and Apollo (God of the Sun) were the children of
Zeus and Leto, Athena was the daughter of Zeus and Metis,
Persephone the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, Hermes (the Mes-
senger God) was the son of Zeus and Maia, while Ares (God of War)
and Hephaestus (God of the Forge) were the sons of his royal consort
Hera. There are two stories of Aphrodite’s origin: in one she is the
daughter of Zeus and Dione; in the other, she preceded Zeus. Zeus
fathered Dionysus in an affair with a mortal woman, Semele.
At the end of the book, a cast of characters is given: biographical
sketches of the gods and goddesses, listed alphabetically for refer-
ence, to help keep track of who’s who in Greek mythology.
HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY
The mythology that gave rise to these Greek gods and goddesses
emerged from historical events. It is a patriarchal mythology that
exalts Zeus and heroes, one that reflects the
Goddesses as Inner Images