Chapter 208 - Legend of the Gods
Chapter 208: Legend of the Gods
Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There are twelve major gods in Mount Olympus: Zeus, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Hermes.
Hestia gave up her place to Dionysus because she decided to live with humans.
Sometimes, Hades and Persephone were included among the twelve gods of Olympus. However, Hades was generally excluded since he was the ruler of the Underworld.
Zeus, the leader of the Olympian gods, is the son of Chronos.
Chronos was a combination of the creativity and destructive power of time. His parents were Uranos and Gaia, the gods of the sky and earth. His wife was Rhea, the goddess who controlled the passage of time.
Rhea bore many children, but all of them were eaten by Chronos at birth.
‘When Rhea gave birth to Zeus, she was determined to protect this little life.
She wrapped a piece of cloth around a stone and called it a newborn baby. Cronus swallowed the stone in a single gulp.
Therefore, Zeus dodged a bullet, and he was sent to Chrono’s sister, the Goddess Nymph, who raised him.
‘When Zeus grew up and learned of his origins, he was determined to save his brothers.
He married the Goddess of Wisdom, Mortis, and listened to his wife’s plan. He lured his father, Chronos, to take a vomiting medicine. After taking the medicine, Chronos kept vomiting,. He then vomited his children out.
They were Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. To thank their brother Zeus, they agreed to give him their most powerful weapon, the lightning bolt.
Zeus was extremely disgusted by his father’s tyranny. He contacted his brothers and sisters, and planned to wage a war against his father.
In order to achieve as soon as possible, Zeus listened to Prometheus’ suggestion and released the Cyclops and Hundred-Armed Giant that were imprisoned underground. The children of Earth Mother had extraordinary power, and Zeus and his brothers finally won.
Their father and many other Titans were sent to the lowest levels of hell.
After the great victory, it was time to decide who would be the king. Zeus and his brothers refused to give in to each other. Since a war was about to break out amongst themselves, Prometheus proposed for a decision to be made through a vote.
Eventually, Zeus became the Lord of the Sky, Poseidon became the Lord of the Sea, and Hades became the Lord of the Underworld.
There was also another myth: Once upon a time, all twelve Greek gods lived on the unreachable Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus was magnificent. It towered over all the other Greek mountains.
In winter, the snow-covered mountain peaks glistened under the sun. In summer, the valley was covered with trees.
Every day, when the sum rises from the east, the first rays of dawn reach the peak of the holy mountain. When the sun sets and the silver moon rises from the east, the peak of the glorious Mount Olympus is once again filled with moonlight.
Sometimes, large, dark clouds would also drift from all directions towards the hillside of this mountain. Thus, there would be heavy rain and strong winds in the dark valley.
‘Mount Olympic was a sacred and steep mountain. The Gods had chosen this place to build their palaces and govern the world. There were columns above the sea of clouds, and there were gardens with exotic flowers and plants in front of the columns.
Strong winds would never blow into this paradise, and there had never been a storm in the sky above these rock-solid palaces. The top of the mountain was always sunny, bright, and fragrant.
Each of the gods had their own palace on the glorious Mount Olympus.
‘The most magnificent one was the palace of Zeus, the King of the Gods.
Every morning, when Aurora opens the Gates of Heaven with her rose-colored fingers and releases sunlight, the gods on Mount Olympus gather in their leader’s palace.
Their supreme commander, Zeus, sat on a golden throne and greeted them in the largest hall of the palace.
The gods sat around Zeus like a family that was surrounding their father. They enjoyed eternal and infinite joy together.
They enjoyed unimaginable happiness. It was as if they were at a banquet that would never end.
Apollo, who had a flushed face and brown curly hair, played the harp for them. The melodious music intoxicated them.
The beautiful Charites, who was dressed in red and green, danced among the trees on the grass.
Mose’s soft, melodious song enchanted the gods.
In the banquet hall, the graceful and slender Hebe delivered exquisite food and wine to Zeus’ guests.
She filled golden cups with immortal wine and presented them to the gods of Mount Olympus, who were full of delight and eternal youth as they governed the world and humanity.
They gathered together every day like a family. When Knox lit up the stars in the sky, the gods returned to their homes.
Mount Olympus then fell silent.
Only Hesti, the goddess of purity, who remained in her maidenhood for life, remains in the communal halls of the gods. She was tasked with lighting up the dwelling places of the gods of Mount Olympus.
The gods did not live alone in their splendid palaces. They lived like kings, and each of the twelve gods had many followers. Some were responsible for delivering orders, preparing feasts, pouring tea, and performing songs and dances. They helped the immortal gods of Mount Olympus enjoy their leisure
time.
‘Muse and Charites were tasked with performing for the gods in the Great Hall, and Hebe served the gods with fine food and wine while they rested in the audience chamber.
The gate of the glorious Mount Olympus was taken care of by Hull, three girls who had remained chaste for life.
They were gentle and elegant. They wore gold necklaces and costumes with flowers and fruits on them.
Once they opened the golden gates of Mount Olympus, they ran with light steps to meet Moses and Charites, forming a chorus that sang of the coming light as they made the earth’s seasons change throughout the year.
Hull’s mother, Themes, or the Goddess of Justice, often sits beside Zeus’s throne.
She was impartial and law-abiding.
She used her wisdom to help Zeus make all sorts of indisputable decisions.
The charming Themes was the goddess in charge of the halls of Mount Olympus and the security of the entire universe.
Zeus was not only the father of the gods of Mount Olympus, but he was also the king of humanity.
At Themes’s suggestion, Zeus’s decisions and orders were conveyed to the gods by the goddess Iris.
Iris had a pair of wings, and her feet moved as fast as the wind when she walked. She descended from the heavens to earth at the speed of hail falling from the clouds onto the ground.
She repeated Zeus’s decision to every one word by word. After she finished speaking, she spread her rainbow-colored wings and flew back to Mount Olympus.
She sat on the steps of Zeus’s throne like a highly-focused pet dog.
Even when she slept, she never loosened her shoelaces or took off her veil. Once Zeus gave his orders, she had to fly to the designated location immediately.
Other than Themis, who helped Zeus to govern the universe, his three daughters, Parka, also helped their parents and supervised people according to the law.
They lived in a bronze palace not far from Hull.
Every day, they would write down everyone’s fate on the walls of the palace and mark the routes of each celestial body.
Nothing could erase their writing on the wall.
They wore white dresses decorated with stars, daffodils, and wool.
These three goddesses sat on glorious thrones as they decided everyone’s fate and wove the threads of life for everyone.
The youngest among the three of them was named Crotor. She held onto the spindle while Raklos spun the spindle to spin the lines of fate. Meanwhile, Atropos decided the length of each person’s lifeline, and she would not change her decision.
They would determine the fate of everyone on earth based on Zeus’s orders and everyone’s sins.
The three Parka sisters used white, golden, and black wool to weave the lifelines for everyone. White and gold represented happy days whereas black represented unfortunate days.
This was how the major and minor gods of Mount Olmpus passed their days.
They usually lived in a quiet environment, and only descended into the mortal world occasionally. When they descended into the mortal world, they would usually appear in the form of humans or animals.