Free Download Greek Gods and Goddesses Gone Wild: Bad Behavior and Divine Excess From Zeus’s Philandering to Dionysus’s Benders by Michael Rank
English | June 29, 2015 | ISBN: 1490570721 | 154 pages | EPUB | 0.53 Mb
Why did the Greek gods and goddesses behave so badly? Because it is one thing for God to make man in his own image and quite another thing for man to return the favor. Whether it is Zeus constantly philandering and turning his mistress into a cow in order to escape Hera’s wrath or Artemis turning a Greek voyeur into a deer to be consumed by his own hunting dogs, petty feuding and revenge seemed to be the national pastime on Mount Olympus among the Greek gods and goddesses. This book will look at the immortal, short-tempered, and oh-so-mortal actions of the Greek gods and goddesses, both major deities and the lesser ones in mythology. It will also look at the lives of heroes and how they managed to confound the gods’ plans. And it will explore how the ancient Greeks tried to take advantage of their deities’ fickle behavior and play to their vanity by sucking up to the god in control of the event in question. Was there a poor catch of fish? Pray to Poseidon that he may bring you a large haul. Did a fair maiden not respond to the sonnets that you penned for her about her articulated eye brows? Ask Aphrodite to change her heart and warm up to your prose. Is the city in need of feasting and revelry to cheer up its mood? Beseech Dionysus to bring a party atmosphere and possibly some of his vintage wine. The actions of the ancient Greek gods and goddesses show that despite their intelligence, strength, and power over the affairs of life, they were all-too-human and subject to earthly temptation. They also demonstrate the dangers that come with having too much of a good thing.
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