Zeus is temporary

[DrZoidberg]

I'm re-reading ancient religious texts now. I just had an insight.

Zeus rose up, toppled Chronos and seized power for himself. He's not the paramount God in the pantheon. But Chronos literally is time. He has time on his side. Sooner or later Zeus will fuck up and Chronos will come back to power. Zeus is ruling on borrowed time. He's not the eternal and unchanging power of the universe. He's a powerful warlord who has seized power temporarily.

There's an important lesson here about impermanence. Those we think are powerful and eternal will vanish. The only constant is change. The universe is fundamentally transitory.

There's a bit of wisdom here.

I love ancient religious texts. They're often so intelligently formulated.

 

[skepticalbip]

That sounds familiar.

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

[DrZoidberg]

That sounds familiar.

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

That's my favourite poem. I once travelled to Egypt to stand in front of that statue to read the poem. I did other stuff as well. But that was the goal. The statue is in Luxor/Karnak. I have a bit of an obsession with that poem.

The text isn't there. He made that up. But the statue exists. I think that is cool.

 

[fromderinside]

Good. At least you confirm a statue has no voice.

Brrrr.

 

[Politesse]

One might argue that Zeus has already been toppled, given whose statues now occupy all his ancient temples and whose hymns are sung in his plazas, at least those that haven't crumbled into ruin, or turned into kitchy museums. But he may win back some European principality yet; who can see the full future, save the Fates? And they weep over their labors.

O Gods dethroned and deceased, cast forth, wiped out in a day!
From your wrath is the world released, redeemed from your chains, men say.
New Gods are crowned in the city; their flowers have broken your rods;
They are merciful, clothed with pity, the young compassionate Gods.
But for me their new device is barren, the days are bare;
Things long past over suffice, and men forgotten that were.
Time and the Gods are at strife; ye dwell in the midst thereof,
Draining a little life from the barren breasts of love.
I say to you, cease, take rest; yea, I say to you all, be at peace,
Till the bitter milk of her breast and the barren bosom shall cease.
Wilt thou yet take all, Galilean? but these thou shalt not take,
The laurel, the palms and the pæan, the breasts of the nymphs in the brake;
Breasts more soft than a dove's, that tremble with tenderer breath;
And all the wings of the Loves, and all the joy before death;
All the feet of the hours that sound as a single lyre,
Dropped and deep in the flowers, with strings that flicker like fire.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/po...e-proclamation-in-rome-of-the-christian-faith

 

[DrZoidberg]

Good. At least you confirm a statue has no voice.

Brrrr.

It might have had a voice, before it lost it's head. Not saying it's likely. But you can't prove it didn't happen.

 

[Wiploc]

I have trouble with this line: "The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:"

I can't make it work, don't know what it means.

Interpretation will be welcome.

 

[DrZoidberg]

I have trouble with this line: "The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:"

I can't make it work, don't know what it means.

Interpretation will be welcome.

"Mock" means imitate. The paragraph is talking about the sculptor. The line is pointing out that the obvious that the sculpture is an imitatation of Ramses II actual body and face. I interpret "the heart that fed" as talking about the heart of Ramses II. Ie, that he's an arrogant cold hearted sonofabitch. Since it precedes the statue's label, it informs the attitude found in the label. And explains why it's such an arrogant label.

That's just what I read into it. It's poetry... so we're all free to project whatever we want onto it

 

[DBT]

I have trouble with this line: "The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:"

I can't make it work, don't know what it means.

Interpretation will be welcome.

The sculptor both mocks and sustains the image of the 'great one?'

 

[Swammerdami]

Zeus rose up, toppled Chronos and seized power for himself. He's not the paramount God in the pantheon. But Chronos literally is time. He has time on his side. Sooner or later Zeus will fuck up and Chronos will come back to power.

Nitpick: Cronos (Κρόνος) and Chronos (Χρόνος) were two distinct gods. Cronos was Zeus' father and the 2nd Ruler God of the Universe, who castrated his father (Uranus, the 1st Ruler God). (Plato shows Cronos as son of Oceanus, another Titan.) Chronos, God of Time, was a primordial god, shown as Uranus' gt-gt-grandfather in some genealogies.

To secure the permanence of his reign, Cronos ate all of his male children, but was duped into eating a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead of the baby Zeus. Zeus grew up and, along with his older brothers Poseidon and Hades — somehow brought back to life — overthrew and imprisoned Cronos and appointed themselves Gods of the Sky, the Sea and the Underworld respectively.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Zeus rose up, toppled Chronos and seized power for himself. He's not the paramount God in the pantheon. But Chronos literally is time. He has time on his side. Sooner or later Zeus will fuck up and Chronos will come back to power.

Nitpick: Cronos (Κρόνος) and Chronos (Χρόνος) were two distinct gods. Cronos was Zeus' father and the 2nd Ruler God of the Universe, who castrated his father (Uranus, the 1st Ruler God). (Plato shows Cronos as son of Oceanus, another Titan.) Chronos, God of Time, was a primordial god, shown as Uranus' gt-gt-grandfather in some genealogies.

To secure the permanence of his reign, Cronos ate all of his male children, but was duped into eating a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead of the baby Zeus. Zeus grew up and, along with his older brothers Poseidon and Hades — somehow brought back to life — overthrew and imprisoned Cronos and appointed themselves Gods of the Sky, the Sea and the Underworld respectively.

I don't think that's a nitpick. I think that's a very valuable insight. Thank you for schooling me on Greek gods. It wrecks my entire theory. Thanks for helping out. I appreciate it.

<3

Anyhoo. We can put this theory to bed. Now on to my next theory