Gods play some, if not most, of the more prominent roles within the many stories present in Greek mythology. These myths depict a creativity and fascination for punishments amongst the Olympians, especially when it came to doling them out to mortal beings. The punishments were always severe, and although some were justified, quite a few were not. There are myths in which lesser punishments were arguably deserved, and numerous instances where the cruelty of the gods was put on display. As Greek gods were a representation of humanity and the world they lived in at both its best and its worst, they often exhibited traits akin to those found in humankind: love, vengefulness, jealousy, pride, and a whole other array of emotions and attributes. One of the notable characteristics is that of cruelty.
The theme of cruelty is illustrated in myths such as those of Prometheus’s unending torment after stealing fire for the sake of humans, Heracles’s 12 labors as a result of Hera’s temporarily induced insanity, and the slaughtering of Niobe’s children and her subsequent transformation into stone. Most of these punishments were dealt out when the slighted god or goddess’s pride was wounded and they wished to punish the person they found the most responsible for inducing their wrath, even if that fault was misplaced.
Hera was particularly known to be vengeful and even mean-spirited in her actions. She was fiercely jealous when it came to her husband’s extramarital affairs, regardless of whether they were with mortals or not. Given his inclination to be faithless, she: “gave way to her violent temper, and bitterly reproached her husband.”[1] However, her reproach did little to change his ways, so she often opted to find her satisfaction by plaguing his mistresses with difficulties. She was equally cruel to the offspring that came from these affairs. Alcmene gave birth to Heracles, but only after Hera delayed his birth which cost him a kingdom. Before he was much older, two snakes, courtesy of his father’s wife, found their way into his crib in a failed attempt at an assassination. This alone can be deemed cruel enough, but the cruelest act against Heracles, whose name ironically means “glory to Hera”, came in the form of death. Not his own, but rather that of his wife and children, who he murdered in a crazed wrath induced by none other than Hera. The next ten years of his life were spent atoning for a crime that at its core had nothing to do with him as an individual, but his father’s infidelity.
Although Hera is arguably one of the cruelest Olympians, she is not the only god capable of these acts. There are countless stories where the gods’ actions are motivated from their feelings of pride or superiority. Take as an example Niobe, who dared brag that her children were superior to those of Leto’s Apollo and Artemis. As it was a disgrace to consider humans greater than those of more divine background, her arrogance was punished with the slaughter of her entire brood and that being considered insufficient, Niobe was turned to stone.[2]
Perhaps one of the cruelest punishments was given to not a mortal, but rather someone much older than even the Olympians: Prometheus, a titan known for being a kind of champion for the human race.[3] Zeus’ wrath was immense after Prometheus dared give humans the gift of fire, and in his rage, the king of the skies nailed the titan to a mountain for his liver to be consumed and regrown each day, thus condemning the immortal to an eternity marked by agony.
The cruelty characterized by the Greek Gods demonstrates the chaos of the world, but also early Greek laws, which could prove to be quite harsh themselves. Demades, an Athenian orator expressed that “Draco’s laws were written in blood, not ink.” Hence why the word “draconian” is used to describe more severe punishments.[4]
Despite the often-brutal punishments, not all were entirely undeserved. There are, of course, instances in which the punishments were justly earned, such as Arachne’s transformation into a spider as consequence for her boasting or when King Ixion lusted over Hera and murdered his father-in-law (a crime severely looked down upon by the Greeks at the time), resulting in him being tied to a burning wheel that spun across the heavens for eternity. Similarly deserved, was King Tantalus’ punishment when he fed the cooked remains of his child to the Olympians in a feast and was placed in a pool of water, unable to reach a branch abundant with fruit nor the water to drink.
These punishments may seem similar in intensity to the ones previously mentioned, however, there is the small difference, that between the first three victims and the other three, the latter committed crimes against the gods, directly insulted them, or both.
In these myths, Ancient Greek gods are free to fall in love and lust, to be petty and jealous and seek revenge with ease if they so wished. The Greek could relate to the lives of the gods and could seek aid and forgiveness from someone who truly understood the emotions and problems which plagued them. They acted in a distinctly human way and demonstrated their conflict and ability to make mistakes.
The punishments that may be deemed unjust were driven on most occasions by one of two emotions: anger or jealousy. Taking the king and queen of the Olympians as the best examples of this, one can clearly identify these traits as being viewed as weaknesses. They are displayed a lot more drastically in the gods than in humans, but the similarities are evident. She was willing to sacrifice one of her cities in exchange for the downfall of Troy after being slighted and this showed not only her cruelty, but also a penchant for violence to an extent. Zeus demands that in return for the fall of Troy, he is allowed to pillage one of her cities, and despite being the protector of those towns, she responds the following in an almost offhand manner: “You can destroy them when they offend you; I do not try to defend them or begrudge you that.”[5] There, of course, other instances such as these in which resentment as consequence of the rivalrous emotion that was jealousy was a primary character. Such as with Io being turned into a cow because Zeus lusted after her or the kidnapping of Lamia’s children, who ended up turning into a literal monster. This kind of rivalry, according to Christopher Gill, a professor at the University of Exeter, are “necessarily misguided and defective” and seen as a vice rather than a virtue amongst the ancient Greeks when it came to “beliefs about the nature of the human good.”[6] Zeus’ sometimes uncalled-for wrath also falls alongside the same vein as Hera’s inordinate amount of jealousy.
This contrasts with the myths and tales in which the punishments are arguably well-earned by the victims, or at least somewhat justifiable. These were often traits looked down upon or deemed unsavory by the likes of the Ancient Greeks. Arrogance, for one, seemed to elicit a response from the gods more often than not, as they were not to be insulted or belittled considering they were the managers of the world and its many aspects. Arachne is the perfect example of this. Her boasting of her weaves was not only amongst friends and family, it was to whoever would lend her their ear, and if that was not enough, she decided to insult the goddess of handicrafts who was a master artisan by affirming that her own weaving was far superior and unparalleled by anyone else’s, even that of Athena herself.[7] Upon being proved wrong through a competition, she chose to hang herself, but the goddess decided to transform her into a creature that would weave for the rest of its days as punishment for her arrogance and conceit.
Niobe’s wrongdoing was similar to Arachne’s folly. She was mother to 12 children, six males, and six females. However, she claimed they were better than even Leto’s children, Apollo and Artemis. As a result, her progeny was struck down in its entirety. Although this punishment can be considered somewhat brutal, if not a tad overboard, it was undoubtedly understandable to an extent, at least when considering that the gods were not to be disrespected, for it was known that if they felt affronted for even the smallest of reasons, the blame, and ensuing punishment could befall the Greek.
Similarly, while ambition was praised in many cases, greed certainly was not. When King Ixion murdered his father and lusted over Hera after being invited to dine by Zeus in Olympus, he was punished for not respecting the god and daring to take more than was rightfully his. Amongst the Athenians, and the Greeks, in general, this was seen as “a form of injustice” and was condemned because it was “an impoverished conception of the human soul which cannot lead to happiness or well-being.”[8] Murder was a crime not easily pardoned and when it was tied to deceit, the crime became even more objectionable. The penalty for murder was death, although typically, exile was a more common consequence.[9] Tantalus not only butchered his own son with devices to test the gods, thus insulting them greatly, but he also managed to have a distracted Demeter (who was more preoccupied with her recently kidnapped daughter Persephone than the meal in front of her) eat what used to be his offspring’s shoulder. His dishonesty was rewarded with a suffering defined by his eternal hunger and thirst in the Underworld. Harsh as it was, many will agree that feeding one’s offspring in order to prove something, warrants an equally harsh punishment.
Cruel the Greek gods may have been, but when it all came down to it, the myths of these ancient times were merely a representation of humanity and its surroundings at not only its greatest but also its most wicked states. Whether it was Zeus and Hera representing vengeance, or Demeter and Leto representing love and motherhood, it exemplified the Ancient Greek people’s view of the universe: Violent and destructive like Ares, but beautiful and wise like the goddess Athena.
Notes
[1] Guerber, Helena A. Classical Mythology: Illustrated Edition (BARNES & NOBLE Books, 2018), 43.
[2] Richmond Lattimore, trans., The Iliad of Homer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), 24.603–610.
[3] Graziosi, Barbara. The Gods of Olympus: A History (Picador, Heny Holt and Company, 2015), 242.
[4] Dargie, Richard, and Adam Hook. Ancient Greece Crime and Punishment (Compass Point Books, 2007), 6–7.
[5] O’Brien, Joan. “Homer’s Savage Hera.” The Classical Journal 86 (1990): 111.
[6] Gill, Christopher. Envy, Spite and Jealousy: The Rivalrous Emotions in Ancient Greece (Edinburgh University Press, 2003), 29.
[7] Guerber, Classical Mythology: Illustrated Edition, 51.
[8] Balot, Ryan K. Greed and Injustice in Classical Athens (Princeton University Press, 2002), 14.
[9] “Athenian Homicide Law: Case Studies.” Athenian Homicide Law: Case Studies, last modified 27 May 2003, https://www.stoa.org/demos/article_homicide@page=all&greekEncoding=UnicodeC.html#:~:text=The%20penalty%20for%20intentional%20homicide,jury%20to%20vote%20for%20acquittal.
Bibliography
Athenian Homicide Law: Case studies. Accessed June 28, 2022. https://www.stoa.org/demos/article_homicide@page=all&greekEncoding=UnicodeC.html#:~:text=The%20penalty%20for%20intentional%20homicide,jury%20to%20vote%20for%20acquittal.
Cook, R. M. Niobe and Her Children: An Inaugural Lecture. London: Cambridge University Press, 1964.
Dargie, Richard, and Adam Hook. Ancient Greece Crime and Punishment. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2007.
Gill, Christopher. “IS RIVALRY A VIRTUE OR A VICE?” In Envy, Spite and Jealousy: The Rivalrous Emotions in Ancient Greece, edited by David Konstan and N. Keith Rutter, 29–52. Edinburgh University Press, 2003.
Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition. London: Penguin, 2017.
Graziosi, Barbara. The Gods of Olympus: A History. New York: Picador, Heny Holt and Company, 2015.
GUERBER, HELEN A. Story. In Classical Mythology: Illustrated Edition, 43. BARNES & NOBLE Books, 2018.
Homer, Robert Fagles, and Bernard Knox. “24.” Essay. In The Iliad. Penguin Books, 1998.
K., Balot Ryan. Greed and Injustice in Classical Athens. Princeton University Press, 2002.
Lefkowitz, Mary R. Greek Gods, Human Lives: What We Can Learn from Myths. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005.
O’Brien, Joan. “Homer’s Savage Hera.” The Classical Journal 86, no. 2 (1990): 105–25.
