Blog Week 6 - Challenging Zeus

This week’s lecture was about the female challenge to Zeus’ power in the pantheon; therefore it does not seem like a very poignant topic for Hermes.  This is where I consider though that the topic was interesting, why was Hermes not challenging the will of Zeus?  I have drawn a secondary reading from the Homeric Hymn discussed in more depth last week.  In the Hymn Zeus laughs loudly when Hermes is brought before him (Shelmerdine 1995: pp115: 389), unlike when Apollo comes before his father, it says that all the gods throughout the house of Zeus jump up when he comes near and the only one to not fear him is his mother Leto (Shelmerdine 1995: pp62: 2). I sense that for Hermes he would feel under an oath, which Ken Dowden says that Zeus had an epithet that referred to him as the god of oaths, Zeus Horkios (Dowden 2006: 80).  This shows also that Hermes does not wish to lose his new found acceptance by challenging Zeus for his power, or perhaps he knows that he is not powerful enough to mount a successful challenge on his father.  It says a few lines later in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes that:

“glorious Hermes obeyed, for the will of aegis-bearing Zeus easily persuaded him.”  (Shelmerdine 1995: pp115: 395-6)

Here are some examples of Hermes obeying Zeus.  Later on in the accepted canon of events Zeus decides that he wishes to have sexual relations with Alkmene, in order for him to produce a powerful son capable of protecting both mortals and immortals. It is fitting then that he must gain her consent for this and has Hermes help him for the ruse to work (Dowden 2006: 48-9).  Time and time again Hermes is used by Zeus as his messenger and to express his will. For example in the Odyssey, Hermes is used to be the messenger and helper to his own descendant Odysseus, though he would also be a descendant of Zeus as well.  Twice Hermes is involved, once saving Odysseus from being turned into an animal by Circe and then also demanding that the Nymph Kalypso let him go.  This is further backed up because Hermes is frequently the voice of Zeus in any of his dealings with the other gods.  A good example of this is in Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound where near the end of the play Hermes tells Prometheus of his fate, which is to have his liver consumed every day by an eagle, interestingly the eagle is also a form that Zeus takes (Dougherty 2006: 70).  The last good example is found in Hesiod and completed by Apollodorus and mentioned in last week’s blog post.  Typhon was a threat born out of Hera’s jealousy of Zeus’ sexual scandals.  He was a massively powerful foe that not even the lightning bolt could defeat easily.  Zeus was debilitated and Typhon cut out Zeus’ tendons, incapacitating him and paving the way for him to assume power (Hesiod: 820-867).  However, Hermes as the loyal son, in Apollodorus’ version comes to the rescue and in true trickster fashion he sneaks in undetected and saves Zeus and the rest of the Greek pantheon (Apollodorus: 1.6.3)

Typhon

Bibliography

Apollodorus, ‘Library of Greek Mythology’, Trans, Hard, R, Oxford University, 1997

Dougherty, C, ‘Prometheus’, Routledge, 2006

Dowden, K, ‘Zeus’, Routeledge, 2006

Shelmerdine, S, ‘The Homeric Hymns’, Focus Publishing, 1995