Their Short and Typical Characteristics

Ancient men called every mountain they saw in Anatolia and Greece as “Mount Olympus”. Mount Olympus is the home of gods. They used to spend most of their time there. Gods lived here with their contrivances, loves and brutality.

Over twenty mountains in Anatolia have been named as Olympus while there is only one mountain in Greece that can be Mount Olympus. Mounts Erciyes, Hasan, Ararat, Süphan, Uludağ… Each of these was a kind of Mount Olympus and home of gods. The Olympian gods were happier in Anatolia. They used to travel from one mountain to another and enjoy their immor­tality while they had just one homeland in Greece. They used to watch the sunrise and sunset of the enchanting Anatolian sun. They were keeping an eye on Anatolian people and enjoying the votives submitted to them. Therefore, Anatolia has been the homeland of the Olympian gods. Since they spent most of their time in Anatolia, their love affairs, quarrels, weddings, races and festivals took place in locations within the boundaries of Anatolia. We see that the names of the places of incidents generally belong to Anatolia when we have a look on the affairs between immor­tals and the gods and goddesses.

The Twelve Olympian Gods

Zeus: As it is known he deposes his father from the throne and takes the lead of the gods. He is the lord of heavens. Here, his sister at the same time is Zeus’s wife.

Zeus by a large shows his strength by generating lightning. No one has can know what he is going to do and o does whatever he wants. However he is fair in most cases. All of the good and evil instances the mankind experience are his appreciation. He 11 eates hurricanes and punishes the mankind if they seem to be i orrupting day by day.

Zeus came into the world by Rea on the Mount Ida. Then he married his sister Hera and had a glorious wedding. Yet, Hera was unhappy most of the time in their marriage and is always filled with hatred of Zeus’s infidelities. No matter mortal, immortal, woman or man, Zeus cheats on her every time.

One day Hera sits on her own above the rocks of the Mount Olympus and watches the matchless beauty of Anatolia. Some people are working on their fields, some fishing and some hav­ing fun with his or her beloved. Hera oversees the heavenly riv­ers on “Heaven Garden Anatolia” one by one, Tigris, Euphrates, Kızılırmak, Gediz, Sakarya… But she is always obsessed with Zeus. Because he is not around, god knows after whom he is.

She wishes to punish Zeus for her hatred against him; but how?… While there is no one on Mount Olympus and she is alone, Hera summons one handsome guy among the immortal mankind to the Mount Olympus.

Hera, who got off the deep end from jealousy, is dedicated; she is going to cheat on her. She puts the Kerberos dog with one hundred eyes to the skirts of the mountain to stand guard so that no one will come up. Fifty ones of one hundred eyes of this dog are open in the daytime and the other fifty at night. In this way, he is usually awake and no one even gods can go in the place he is guarding.

Having taken the Mount Olympus under control with Kerberos dog the guarding, Hera becomes closer to her lover and more relaxed. However, the youngest of the gods, Hermes, gets wind of this situation. He immediately lets his father Zeus, who is going after another adventure away from the Mount Olympus. Zeus goes crazy and instantaneously returns to Olympus but the dog does not let him. All threats by Zeus are in vain. Zeus calls his son Apollo for help. After being informed, Apollo begins to play his lyre in style. Zeus does not grasp what is going on.

He springs lightening around with anger. Apollo wants Zeus to stay calm. After a few minutes the eyes of the watchdog begin to go closed as a result of the effect by lyre and Zeus sets out to Olympus. He disgraces Hera and his lover. He beats them for many hours. The watchdog went fall asleep by influenced by the magical sound of lyre played by Apollo is found guilty by Zeus and he calls the dog immediately. He insults the dog so much but Zeus cannot unwind still and tears out the eyes of the dog one by one with his hands. He throws down these eyes from the Mount Olympus. The eyes of the dog fall onto the tails of the peacock going by at that time. Those beautiful eyes we see on the tails of the peacock today are the eyes of watchdog Kerberos.

As it can be inferred from this adventure taken place between Zeus and Hera, a kind of patriarchal order is seen when lifestyles and family hierarchy are examined. The woman does not work, her place is her home. Her only duty is to cook and give birth to a child. Every Hellene has a loyal wife who bears a child and mis­tress with who he can entertain himself. The woman never can cheat on her husband. The punishment is death penalty. While the social and moral structure was as shaped like this, the gods have to be similar in this respect so that their position becomes legitimized.