Homeric Hymns

Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder, creates and maintains order within the pantheon. Though fragmented and dedicated to varied deities, the hymns explore the cosmos of Zeus’s rule and mark out the “world order that governs the lives of gods and humans alike” (vii). In this sense, Zeus is the indirect protagonist of the Homeric Hymns, and his wisdom and order are present in other gods’ narratives.

A dramatic example of Zeus’s covert protagonist role is in Hymn 5, to Aphrodite, in which Zeus uses his power to make Aphrodite enamored with the mortal Anchises. By the end of the hymn’s narrative, having undergone the humbling experience of a frenzied dalliance with a mortal, Aphrodite is no longer positioned to use her divine powers of lust to trick the other gods and mock them for their mortal tristes. With the end of her own triste comes an end to all gods’ sexual intermingling with mortals (at least temporarily) since Aphrodite will no longer be stoking this particular epidemic of love affairs. Because Zeus orchestrates Aphrodite’s fall from grace, he also orchestrates a restored barrier between gods and mortals; he again enforces order and stability.