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Greek myth - Hera and Zeus II
Aug. 9th, 2020 05:25 pmBrief thought;
Hera’s aspect of fertility/procreation is controlled and regulated (marriage and children). It’s the very basic building block of assuring society, that you will have a future and ongoing society.
Zeus’ aspect is rain, which certainly ensures agricultural fertility, and, if you add his youth being equated to the Cretan agricultural boy-consort (Velchanus), even more so in the same vein, but this is also uncontrolled. You can’t control rain. Zeus’ domains within society-building is law/justice and government, just as necessary for society, both as building blocks and to ensure a stable/ongoing society as children and family/marriage but on another level.
Like, this doesn’t matter much in general, but from a story-building and -telling angle, you get an additional tension between them, because in some ways they’re both fertility deities but their aspects of that domain are just expressed very, very differently. I don't want this to be an excuse or anything (Zeus isn't an animal and can both control himself and is responsible for what he does or doesn't do), but in-universe I feel like it adds another angle to him, and to Zeus and Hera's relationship, as being divine. Their nature as gods should, I think, have effects and simple facts of life that a regular human being wouldn't, because gods are not human.
They might act very human, but they aren't, and if you don't use this, acknowledge this (again, talking from story-building and -telling angles), then what is really the point of it?
Hera’s aspect of fertility/procreation is controlled and regulated (marriage and children). It’s the very basic building block of assuring society, that you will have a future and ongoing society.
Zeus’ aspect is rain, which certainly ensures agricultural fertility, and, if you add his youth being equated to the Cretan agricultural boy-consort (Velchanus), even more so in the same vein, but this is also uncontrolled. You can’t control rain. Zeus’ domains within society-building is law/justice and government, just as necessary for society, both as building blocks and to ensure a stable/ongoing society as children and family/marriage but on another level.
Like, this doesn’t matter much in general, but from a story-building and -telling angle, you get an additional tension between them, because in some ways they’re both fertility deities but their aspects of that domain are just expressed very, very differently. I don't want this to be an excuse or anything (Zeus isn't an animal and can both control himself and is responsible for what he does or doesn't do), but in-universe I feel like it adds another angle to him, and to Zeus and Hera's relationship, as being divine. Their nature as gods should, I think, have effects and simple facts of life that a regular human being wouldn't, because gods are not human.
They might act very human, but they aren't, and if you don't use this, acknowledge this (again, talking from story-building and -telling angles), then what is really the point of it?
