In a world where there seems to be more negative than positive, mankind begins to question if The Almighty is acting in an intentionally vengeful manner. While a godly vengeance may seem like a recent concept, there is evidence that it traces back to ancient times as well. In Greece specifically, there are examples of deities acting in harsh manners, against both mortals, as well as other Gods. The most notable examples would probably be ‘The Hippolytus’ by Euripides, and ‘Prometheus Bound’ by Aeschylus. While the former deals with Aphrodite’s punishment of a mortal, Hippolytus, the latter deals with Zeus punishing Prometheus, a dissenting titan. The very fact that we have a clear example of Zeus punishing Prometheus shows us that the deities of Olympus did not simply punish mortals, but also made efforts to discipline fellow immortals. In the following paragraphs, we will explore the nature of the ‘sentences’ handed down by Aphrodite and Zeus.
In Euripides’ ‘The Hippolytus’, the titular character has pledged to remain chaste, and not revere Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Hippolytus, instead honors a virgin goddess, Artemis. This greatly angers Aphrodite who is seemingly a well-beloved goddess. We can safely make this assumption as we know that there are few characters in Ancient Greek myth who remain chaste, thus, most revere Aphrodite. Having a notable exception in the form of Hippolytus serves to frustrate her. Her punishment is thus causing his stepmother, and wife of his father Theseus, Phaedra to fall in love with him. Due to Aphrodite’s powers, Phaedra is so overcome with love for her stepson that she cannot control herself and admits it to her nurse and the chorus. This causes quite a stir, and in an attempt to help her, the nurse informs Hippolytus of this. Hippolytus reacts with disgust and seeing his reaction, the nurse makes him promise to never tell anyone of this. When Phaedra hears that her secret has been revealed, she is embarrassed and immediately makes the chorus swear a pledge of secrecy. She then hangs herself. When Theseus returns and sees his wife’s dead body and reads the tablet she wrote prior to her death, he understands it to mean that his illegitimate son Hippolytus has raped his wife. In his anger, he banishes Hippolytus who cannot explain himself due to the promise made to the nurse. Theseus also prays to his father, Poseidon to kill Hippolytus, which he does by scaring the horse Hippolytus rides and causing him to fall and be mortally wounded. At this point, Artemis reveals the truth to Theseus but states that the main blame must rest with Aphrodite and that she will avenge her follower, Hippolytus’ death.
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The tale of Prometheus on the other hand is far simpler in that after the creation of humankind, Prometheus disobeys Zeus’ orders and gives them fire. Zeus thus punishes him to be bound to a mountain in the Caucasus Hephaestus and be tortured for eternity due to this apparent betrayal. All of this occurs prior to the beginning of ‘Prometheus Bound’ and in the play we simply see Prometheus explaining his suffering and its reasons to those around him such as Oceanos, Io, and the chorus leader.
The most obvious similarity in the two examples is that neither of the victims of the punishment (Hippolytus and Prometheus) can be completely blamed for their actions. Hippolytus made a personal decision and decided to practice chastity and worship a goddess in touch with his beliefs. His neglect of Aphrodite is never shown to adversely affect her in any manner and thus we question if her reaction was disproportionate factoring in the apparent ‘error’ made by Hippolytus. While Prometheus’ actions can be argued to be far more severely opposing Zeus, it is a similar example as his actions do not directly negatively impact Zeus. In the exact same manner, we question if Zeus’ punishment was also disproportionate to the ‘error’ made by Prometheus. The second similarity is that Aphrodite and Hera are both Olympians and this act of doling out severe punishment to people ‘opposing’ them shows their proclivity towards vengeance and handing out serious sentences. The Olympians were apparently the most powerful deities in Ancient Greece and serve as a metaphor for how when a body is given seemingly ‘absolute’ power, the potential for misuse or even abuse of said power is very high. This has not only manifested itself in the literature regarding deities but also in recent history with dictatorships worldwide and other non-democratic bodies of power, especially with regard to politics. A third factor to consider is the collateral damage inflicted due to the punishments dealt. Collateral damage here refers to the consequences that are faced by all parties, whether intentional or not. In the case of Hippolytus, the direct damage would be his suffering and subsequent death. The collateral damage we see, however, is faced by more people. This extends to Phaedra’s suffering due to the pain of falling in love with her stepson and then the pain of unrequited love. She is also embarrassed when she learns that Hippolytus knows of her feelings and intends to rebuke her. She eventually hangs herself. Furthermore, Theseus is suffering as he sees his dead wife, believes his son is a rapist, and must banish him and ask Poseidon to kill his son. After this, it is revealed that his son was innocent and that the punishment he meted out was due to him not knowing the truth. Theseus must now live on without his dead wife and son, and with the knowledge that he played a direct role in his son’s death. The remainder of the household, most notably the nurse, also suffers due to the tragic deaths of two of the members of a said household, as well as Theseus’ further anguish. Theseus, Phaedra, and the rest of the household are never shown to behave in a manner that would anger or affect Aphrodite in any manner. The reader pities them and wonders if Aphrodite’s vengeance on Hippolytus was worth this much damage. Finally, we can make a safe assumption that Aphrodite has cost herself a follower in Theseus who cannot reconcile himself with such aggressive and disproportionate punishment. We can also assume that all who hear of this tale have a different view of Aphrodite after, even if they continue to worship her. The collateral damage in ‘Prometheus Bound’ is less clear, but with some context, we can understand it. Prometheus acted against Zeus’ wishes and gave humanity fire. As mentioned previously, this does not negatively impact Zeus, but due to his tyrannical nature and suspicion of his fellow deities (even someone like Prometheus who helped him defeat The Titans), Zeus acts in an exceedingly hostile manner. The direct damage is obviously the punishment that Prometheus suffers, whereas the collateral damage is interesting in how ironic it is. The collateral damage suffered due to this punishment actually winds up impacting Zeus the most. Firstly, we see that characters such as Io, the chorus leader, Hephaestus, and Oceanos clearly sympathize with Prometheus. We conclude that this serves as evidence in their minds, not only of Zeus’ aggression but also of his tyranny. This actually serves to make his supporters less loyal to him, even if it does not clearly manifest itself in any tangible manner that shows the characters in question opposing him. It is important however to note that a tangible manifestation is not required to prove the point of weakening support. The second and more important consequence is the fact that Prometheus has the power of foresight and knows who will defeat Zeus and usurp the throne from him in the same manner that he did to Kronos. Zeus sends Hermes to get this information, but Prometheus refuses. This is a clear indicator of Zeus’ loss due to his aggression. Thus, we see obvious collateral damage in both cases highlighted previously.
The nature of power and tyranny between the Olympians is clear and we see how their regard for whom they punish, how severely they do so, and their reasons why do not matter to them when they are in a vengeful state. In both cases, strong arguments could be made that the punishments were far too severe but, we note that the Olympians probably do not care much for this belief that is held by others. While we explored how they themselves are affected by their decisions, we must note that there is no indication of remorse on their behalf. The clear aggression and hostility of the Olympians never come through to serve as their downfall and we see that the all-powerful Olympians are not answerable for their actions and decisions, however wrong we can prove them to be. This of course does serve as an indicator that their power has worked to corrupt them, especially in light of the apparent complete lack of consequences faced by them.
Works Cited
- Kun, Loredana. Myth and Imagination in Ancient Greece and Rome. Vol. 1, York University, 2019-2020. Course Kit.
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