Week 4 Story: Zeus goes to Trial

Author's Note: I noticed in the Metamorphoses readings this week that Zeus (Jupiter) caused a lot of problems in the human world. I decided he should be brought to justice. I have changed many of the God's names from their Roman form used in the stories to the Greek versions because those are how I know them as.

Themis, Goddess of Law and Order, sat at the podium in her judicial robes and banged her gavel to bring the court room to order. The trial was beginning. The first charge, a world's population worth of first degree murder. His brother, Poseidon testified as an accomplice. Everyone knew he had been given a plea deal for his part in the flooding of the earth in exchange for this testimony. His own trial would be held later that day. Zeus argued that it had been a crime of passion, not premeditated, as he was urged into action by the wretchedness of the humans. He also argued that it was a God's right to do as he wished to the earth and it's puny humans. However, Themis- being the just woman she was and knowing the laws as she intimately as she did- acknowledged the humans unalienable right to freedom of choice in their existence. Zeus had no authority to decide that all but two mortals must die. Verdict: Guilty, Murder in the Second Degree.

The next charges to be brought before Themis were two counts of Rape in the first degree. Zeus had assaulted, and later indirectly caused the deaths of, two women. Callisto and Io. Overcome with hatred and jealousy, his own wife Hera had agreed to testify against him. She spoke of his past infidelities in their marriage. In the process of outing her husband to the court, Hera had inadvertently admitted to being the one that had actually murdered Io. Her trial has been arranged for later in the week. Artemis, goddess of the hunt, spoke to the fate of Callisto. The poor girl had been found with child as a result of her encounter with Zeus. The great huntress had no choice but to banish her from her following as she was no longer pure, but her heart ached for the girl who had been a devoted member of the group before then. Verdict: Guilty, Rape in the First Degree.

The next part would be the hardest for Themis. Sentencing is always difficult, for how can one adequately punish a God?

Source: WikiMedia Commons

Bibliography:

Deucalion and Pyrrha, Tony Kline
Io, Tony Kline
Callisto, Tony Kline

Reading Notes: Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books 1-4 (Part A)

I'm trying a new organization tactic for my reading notes this week in the hopes that it won't take me 4 hours to complete. :)
I chose to do Ovid's Metamorphoses this week because I love greek mythology!

Deucalion and Pyrrha

Setting

• Mount Parnassus
• Phocis, Greece
• Near Delphi
• Possible picture?

Characters

• Jupiter (Zeus)
• Neptune (Posiedon)
• Deucalion
• Main Male
• Pyrrha
• Main Female
• Deucalion's Wife
• Themis
• Goddess of Law and Order

Plot

• Zeus is angry with how the Humans have been behaving
• He decides to flood the world
• Poseidon helps
• Deucalion and Pyrrha and the only two humans who survived
• They ask Themis for help repopulating the World
• Themis tells them to throw rocks over their shoulders
• Each rock tossed morphs into a human

Things to Explore

• This flood sounds similar to the Noah's Ark story in the bible
• Is there any truth to these stories?

This, along with the rest of the stories in this unit,  all occurred because of Jupiter (Zeus). Either directly or because of his offspring Perhaps there's a way to link them together into one continuous narrative?

Zeus. As a general rule, it's all his fault.
Source: Wikipedia

Bibliography-

Ovid's Metamorphoses, Part A