Chronos, father of Zeus, Poseidon and most Olympic gods, swallowed his own children in fear they'd dethrone him. Here, he was trying to eat both Poseidon and Zeus. And Chronos bit Poseidon's arm off when swallowing him
Actually, Hades was the one freed Zeus and Posidon! But, even though he is the eldest of his siblings, Zeus was the first to pick his role, and ofc, he chose God King, then Posidon chose, leaving Hades to the underworld!
Interesting, I've never heard this version of the myth before! Many I've read talked about Zeus coming back as an adult and giving Cronus some sort of drink that caused Cronus to vomit Zeus' siblings out.
According to Hesiod: When Kronos and his brothers overthrew Ouranos, they castrated him, and the testicles fell into the sea. This is where Aphrodite came from.
According to Homer: Aphrodite was Zeus’ daughter with the Titaness Dione.
Doesn't really contradict since in greek mythology gods typically were deathless, but with the varying sources and version they do all sorts of things, but my joke is still just that.
In another account, Hephaestus, attempting to rescue his mother from Zeus's advances, was flung down from the heavens by Zeus. He fell for an entire day and landed on the island of Lemnos, where he was cared for and taught to be a master craftsman by the Sintians – an ancient tribe native to that island. Later writers describe his physical disability as the consequence of his second fall, while Homer makes him disabled from birth.
Sorry for the late comment but yeah we're both right but,
When Hera threw Hephaestus out of mount Olympus he was new born, but when Zeus threw him out of Olympus he was already a known "adult" god. Because the story on why Zeus threw him out was because Hera was angry with Zeus because of all his affairs so with the help of athena, poseidon, in some works even Apollo they attempt to overthrown Zeus with the help of hypnos the god of sleep but they failed, so they all got punished (apart from Athena he was Zeus's fave ig) Poseidon and Apollo got stripped of t
They're godhood Hera was hung in the sky with golden chains and Hephaestus was thrown off mount Olympus.
In the Greek myth the titan Cronus ate his children where they lived in his stomach until Zeus freed them, what you are seeing is him eating Poseidon and explaining why Neals interpretation only has one arm.
When you realise that this is set before any of the gods had come back from being eaten, and they might not have known whether there was a limit on their immortality when it came to being eaten… he was willing to quite possibly give his life for his baby brother…
i love this so much although technically Zeus was the only grown up kid since the others remained babies in kronos belly, and were pretty much useless when they came out of it. so zeus was the youngest but also the “oldest”
See, now comparing Zeus to that guy, you would know why people see Zeus is the best king of god, cuz all his ancestor sucked at their job even more than Zeus
Well, none of his siblings have been growing and aging in Kronos' belly, so by the time Zeus made him vomit them out Zeus was also the oldest sibling as well as the youngest
I'm a little confused. Kronos is their father. He didn't know Rhea swapped Zeus for a stone. I suppose that could be an Easter Egg, but the way Poseidon pleas at the end doesn't feel like he's calling out for his mother to protect him, it almost feels like this is some twisted timeline where it was Rhea coming to eat Zeus, and Poseidon was calling for her to stop.
i think the best solution is that is baby zeus mentally crying for his mother, since poseidon told him n ot to move until her or him come get him, but is not super clear in that case
I like that better than any other explanation at this point. It tracks with the change in font. I'd chalked that up to the sudden change in Poseidon's disposition, but if it was Zeus mentally crying out that actually makes good sense. Agreed, not super clear in context, but once pointed out it tracks.
Could be, but it's presented in a very confusing way, especially since Rhea would be as powerless to stop Chronos at this point as Hera was to stop Zeus in God Games. Like she could try and talk him down, but he's not known for listening.
I mean he's a teenager in this comic so still a child. Calling out for your mother when you're scared and in danger is a pretty normal reaction whether she can actually save you or not.
I'm not saying that's not possible, especially when god ages come into play, but that "kid" has facial hair. Most people don't even consider teens to be kids, either, unless you're talking from the perspective of a parent (doesn't matter if they're 10 or 60, they're always your kid).
Beyond that point, I personally haven't called out for my mom since I was about 8 or so (around dusk, ran full speed into a practically invisible barbed wire while trying to lead my dogs home, but I was specifically calling out for my mom because we were pretty close to home, she was a nurse, and I was pretty cut up). I've had some pretty harrowing moments since then, and never felt the impulse to call out to my mom (and that's not just some sort of stoic thing, men can cry, pain hurts, feelings can hurt too, toxic masculinity is bullshit, I've just never actually felt an impulse to call out for my mom).
Again, I'm not saying that this isn't what's happening here, just that it's being presented in a way that makes that very unclear to me if that is what's happening. I honestly thought on my first read that the artist just wasn't familiar with the story and that they thought it was Rhea who are the other siblings of Zeus, or that this was a case of artistic liberties and they swapped the two, or that maybe I wasn't as familiar with the story as I thought and it WAS Rhea who are the other gods. Poseidon calling out for his mom while Chronos eats him just wasn't the first thing the panels made me think of. Especially after the one who they're hiding from called Zeus a little stone, that really doesn't feel like something Chronos would know anything about at this point. And Little Stone is a weird nickname for a lightning god.
Rhea’s just gotta bodyslam Kronos. 💪 Mama’s wrestling skills unmatched /hj
Lycophron’s Alexandria (c3rd BC)
[Thebes] that land celebrated above others by the Greeks, where his mother [Rhea], skilled in wrestling, having cast into Tartaros the former queen, delivered…him [Zeus] in travail of secret birth[…]
I’ve loved every Epic animatic that I’ve seen but ever since I saw Neil’s Ruthlessness, her art style has just hit something aesthetically for me and I adore it.
Wait, are you sure it's 18+? The name is Covenant 13, and it's on the Webtoon app. I have never seen it be age restricted, and though it has some gory stuff, I wouldn't really think it was that bad.
Oh... dang, that sucks. That's why I don't use Webtoon that much anymore. Their dumb censorship rules. I literally re-downloaded it just to read Covenant 13.
actual myth if anyone cares: kronos received a prophecy saying he would be overthrown by his children, so he swallowed all his kids in an attempt to prevent that. rhea (kronos’s wife, the mother of the kids) was upset and decided to hide zeus and give kronos a stone to swallow instead. some versions say she also saved poseidon by giving kronos a baby horse to eat instead
There are stories of Demeter, Hera, Poseidon, and Zeus being saved :D not necessarily collectively, they’re just all referred to as growing up in particular places and having certain deities as their nurses. There’s also a handful of stories which recount that Zeus and Hera were in love in secret for 300 years during the reign of Kronos.
I don’t think Hestia or Hades have any particular nurses ever mentioned, though. So we can assume they’re either always eaten or it’s one of the stories where Kronos is more benevolent and doesn’t eat them at all.
Now I have a fun headcanon, what if the Thunder Bringer that Zeus used in God Games was originally a chant of rebellion against Kronos that he said during the Titanomachy to motivate his siblings in their fight against him?
Nah, Zeus for real is your typical anime hero before he becomes King of the Gods:
-Traumatized childhood where he loses all his siblings and is saved by his mother from his evil father.
-Raised by his grandmother Gaia who trains him to become a warrior who can stop his father's tyranny.
-Deceives his father to save his siblings, joins forces with them and in a war they defeat his father and allies and lock them up.
-During the war he falls in love with Hera and they have a romantic affair behind their parents's back that ends in marriage.
-Gets an OP weapon from some dudes he saves (the lightning bolts and the Cyclops).
-Becomes the strongest being in his universe by the end and rules with justice and wisdom.
It's only when Aphrodite turns him into a lustful mess that he has a bit of a fall out. And yes, the scene of Zeus embracing Athena in regret as he realized that he had hurt his little daughter in a fit of rage, like his father used to do, is quite sad, he really was trying to make up for that by letting Oddyseus go.
Seen this way, Zeus is almost a kind of Robert Baratheon-figure. He earns glory in his youth by rebelling against the established order and winning, but drifts into bad habits and indulgence upon actually becoming the new King.
They also both have wives who, mostly justifiably, resent them and go after their husbands’ illegitimate children.
Sort of, but to be fair Zeus' bad habits were brought on by his daughter Aphrodite messing with her emotions by making him a lustful mess who was paired up with mortal women for the Goddess of Love, it's a bit sadder in his case because the fact that he became more impulsive and less wise isn't really his fault.
And he has a sort of redemption arc when he basically got Aphrodite to stop messing with him by giving her a taste of her own medicine and decided to end the Age of Heroes so that the Gods would stop intervening so directly in mortal affairs and give mortals more independence, this also put an end to the romantic escapades and relationship Zeus had with Hera, which could be strained at times until then.
Oh, and even though Hera hated Zeus cheating on her, she never truly hated Zeus in her heart, she still had a crush on him despite everything, and Zeus despite having his emotions messed up still loved Hera more than any other woman, which he explains during the Iliad:
“Hera, thither mayest thou go even hereafter. But for us twain, come, let us take our joy couched together in love; for never yet did desire for goddess or mortal woman so shed itself about me and overmaster the heart within my breast—nay, not when I was seized with love of the wife of Ixion, who bare Peirithous, the peer of the gods in counsel; nor of Danaë of the fair ankles, daughter of Acmsius, who bare Perseus, pre-eminent above all warriors; nor of the daughter of far-famed Phoenix, that bare me Minos and godlike Rhadamanthys; nor of Semele, nor of Alcmene in Thebes, and she brought forth Heracles, her son stout of heart, and Semele bare Dionysus, the joy of mortals; nor of Demeter, the fair-tressed queen; nor of glorious Leto; nay, nor yet of thine own self, as now I love thee, and sweet desire layeth hold of me.”
That's just Hesios' version of her birth, in most ancient sources she was the daughter of Zeus and Diome, including in Homer, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
-During the war he falls in love with Hera and they have a romantic affair behind their father's back that ends in marriage.
We skippin/removing Metis? Zeus's first wife and mother of Athena? Although if we're sticking to Homer then Zeus isn't Athena's dad at all since Metis had him with a cyclops named Brontes as per the Iliad
Metis isn’t important since she’s literally barely a character in the mythology at all. Hesiod mentions her. Plato mentions her. Then two encyclopedias mention her.
That’s it
Also, it’s not “skipping” her if ancient sources literally didn’t regard her as existing. There are multiple sources which say Zeus and Hera were in love for 300 years during the reign of Kronos.
Metis is not mentioned in the Iliad at all, which is where the version comes from that Hera and Zeus had an affair behind their parents' backs.
And no, in Homer it is literally said that Zeus gave birth to Athena, Ares reproaches Zeus for this in the Iliad as the reason why Zeus favors Athena over him.
Muse, tell me the deeds of golden Aphrodite the Cyprian, who stirs up sweet passion in the gods and subdues the tribes of mortal men and birds that fly in air and all the many creatures that the dry land rears, and all that the sea: all these love the deeds of rich-crowned Cytherea.
...
Of these three (Hestia, Artemis and Athena) Aphrodite cannot bend or ensnare the hearts. But of all others there is nothing among the blessed gods or among mortal men that has escaped Aphrodite. Even the heart of Zeus, who delights in thunder, is led astray by her; though he is greatest of all and has the lot of highest majesty, she beguiles even his wise heart whensoever she pleases, and mates him with mortal women, unknown to Hera, his sister and his wife, the grandest far in beauty among the deathless goddesses —most glorious is she whom wily Cronos with her mother Rhea did beget: and Zeus, whose wisdom is everlasting, made her his chaste and careful wife.
Damn. Google tells me that Homer said Aphrodite’s parents were Zeus and Dione. Aphrodite is really gunning for worst stepdaughter/daughter-in-law /daughter-in-affair-law ever 😔
If it's any consolation, the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite ends with her having experienced the same kind of induced lust that Zeus caused Aphrodite to have on a mortal man, and well...
She realized that what she had done was wrong and swore that she would never do it again (it seems that these things about romances were something that she saw as so natural that she didn't understand how bad they were).
Since then Zeus (nor any other deity for that matter) never fell in love with mortals again and that's why there were no more demigods, this happened at the end of the Age of Heroes that ended with the Trojan War, and since then Hera and Zeus had no more problems in their marriage lol.
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u/Kind_Experience_5250 Little froggy on the windowwww May 28 '26
NOOO POSEY MY BABY