ABOUT ZEUS

Zeus (Yunani: Ζεύς) atau Dias (Δίας) adalah raja para dewa dalam mitologi Yunani.^[1] Dalam Theogonia karya Hesiodos, Zeus disebut sebagai "Ayah para Dewa dan manusia". Zeus tinggal di Gunung Olimpus. Zeus adalah dewa langit dan petir. Simbolnya adalah petir, elang, banteng, dan pohon ek. Zeus sering digambarkan oleh seniman Yunani dalam posisi berdiri dengan tangan memegang petir atau duduk di tahtanya. Zeus juga dikenal di Romawi Kuno dan India kuno. Dalam bahasa Latin disebut Iopitersedangkan dalam bahasa Sansekerta disebut Dyaus-pita.

Zeus adalah anak dari Kronos dan Rea, dan merupakan yang termuda di antara saudara-saudaranya. Zeus menikah dengan adik perempuannya, Hera yang menjadi dewi penikahan. Zeus terkenal karena hubungannya dengan banyak wanita dan memiliki banyak anak. Anak-anaknya antara lain Athena, Apollo dan Artemis, Hermes, Ares, Hebe, Hefaistos, Persefon,Dionisos, Perseus, Herakles, Helene, Minos, dan Mousai.^[2]

Zeus membagi dunia menjadi tiga dan membagi dunia-dunia tersebut dengan kedua saudaranya, Poseidon yang menjadi dewa penguasa lautan, dan Hades yang menjadi dewa penguasa dunia bawah (alam kematian). Pendapat lain mengatakan bahwa pembagian tersebut dilakukan berdasarkan undian yang dilakukan tiga dewa tersebut.

Zeus dikaitkan dengan dengan dewa Jupiter dari mitologi Romawi, dewa Amun dari mitologi Mesir, dewa Tinia dari mitologi Etruska, dan dewa Indra dari mitologi Hindu. Zeus, bersama Dionisos, dihubungkan dengan dewa Sabazios dari Frigia, yang dikenal sebagai Sabazius di Romawi.

Kelahiran

Kronos memperoleh beberapa anak dari istrinya, Rea, yaitu Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, dan Poseidon. Tetapi Kronos menelan semua anak-anaknya begitu mereka lahir karena Kronos takut pada ramalan bahwa kekuasaannya akan digulingkan oleh keturunannya seperti dia merebut kekuasaan dari ayahnya (Uranus). Namun ketika Zeus lahir, Rhea menyembunyikannya di Kreta agar tidak ditelan Kronos. Rhea memberikan sebuah batu terbungkus kain pada Kronos dan mengatakan bahwa itu adalah anaknya. Kronos mempercayai Rhea dan menelan batu yang dia kira anaknya tersebut.

Masa kecil

Rhea menyembunyikan Zeus di sebuah gua di Gunung Ida di Kreta. Berikut ini adalah beberapa versi berbeda-beda yang membesarkan zeus:

1. Zeus dibesarkan oleh Gaia.
2. Zeus dibesarkan oleh seekor kambing bernama Amaltheia, dan para Kouretes— sekumpulan prajurit yang bernyanyi, menari, dan menghentakkan tombak pada perisai supaya Kronos tidak mendengar suara tangisan Zeus.
3. Zeus dibesarkan oleh seorang nimfa bernama Adamantheia
4. Zeus dibesarkan oleh nimfa bernama Kinosura. Sebagai balasannya, Zeus mengangkatnya ke langit sebagai bintang.
5. Zeus dibesarkan oleh Melissa, yang memberinya susu kambing dan madu.
6. Zeus dibesarkan oleh keluarga gembala yang dijanjikan bahwa ternak mereka akan aman dari serigala.

Menjadi raja para dewa

Setelah dewasa, Zeus berhasil membuat Kronos memuntahkan saudara-saudaranya. Zeus lalu membebaskan para Gigant, Hekatonkhire dan Kiklops dari Tartaros setelah membunuh Kampe, penjaga Tartaros. Para Kiklops pun membuatkan petir untuk Zeus. Bersama saudara dan sekutunya, Zeus memerangi para Titan dalam Titanomakhia. Para Titan yang kalah lalu dikurung di Tartaros sementara Atlas diharuskan memikul langit di pundaknya.

Setelah mengalahkan para Titan, Zeus melakukan undian dengan Poseidon dan Hades. Zeus memperoleh langit, Poseidon lautan, dan Hades dunia bawah, sedangkan bumi diatur oleh semua dewa.

Gaia marah karena Zeus mengurung para Titan. Gaia pun mengirim anak-anaknya yang lain untuk melawan para dewa Olimpus. Para dewa Olimmpus harus menghadapi monster Tifon dan Ekhidna. Zeus berhasil mengurung Tifon di bawah sebuah gunung dan membiarkan Ekhidna serta anak-anaknya hidup sebagai ujian bagi para pahlawan.

Zeus dan Hera

Zeus adalah saudara sekaligus suami Hera. Zeus menyukai Hera tetapi Hera selalu menolaknya, karena itu Zeus menggunakan tipu muslihat untuk mendapatkan Hera. Zeus mengubah dirinya menjadi burung tekukur. Ketika Hera melihat burung tersebut, dia mendekatkan burung tersebut ke dadanya, saat itulah Zeus berubah kembali dan memperkosa Hera. Untuk menutupi rasa malunya, Hera pun menikahi Zeus. Dari Hera, Zeus menjadi ayah dari Ares, Hebe, Hefaistos, Eileithiia dan Eris. Hera sangat marah terhadap perempuan yang menjadi wanita selingkuhan Zeus dan dia memusuhi wanita-wanita tersebut termasuk juga anak-anak mereka
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MITOS YUNANI KUNO

Cerita Aneh Yunani Kuno

Orang Yunani pertama adalah orang indo-eropa (bukan indonesia!) nomadik yang tidak pernah mandi. Mereka diduga sebagai orang yang pertama kali menjinakkan kuda. Para penunggang kuda inilah yang kemudian mungkin memunculkan mitos centaurs.

Yunani punya segudang legenda. Salah satunya adalah cerita berikut.
Alkisah, Kota Thebes tengah diancam oleh Sphinx (dalam bahasa Yunani berarti pencekik) yang selalu mengajukan teka-teki 'apa yang punya 4, 2, dan 3 kaki?'. Barang siapa yang menjawab dengan salah akan dimangsa oleh Sphinx tersebut. Hingga pada akhirnya Oedipus dapat menjawab teka-teki itu, dan Sphinx memutuskan untuk bunuh diri.
Cerita yang aneh bukan? Pertanyaan yang muncul dibenak saya adalah, mengapa patung Sphinx ada di Mesir? Apakah Sphinx dalam legenda Yunani sama dengan Sphinx yang ada di Mesir?

Oedipus (yang berarti kaki bengkak) adalah seorang lelaki yang semasa bayi kakinya dipaku dan ditelantarkan di sebuah lereng oleh orang tuanya. Oedipus dewasa kemudian membunuh ayahnya dan menikahi ibunya (tentunya mereka tidak saling mengenal, karena telah terpisah sejak Oedipus masih bayi).
Thebes kemudian dilanda wabah berkepanjangan. Menurut peramal, hal ini terjadi akibat ada kesalahan yang belum dihukum. Setelah dilakukan investigasi yang intensif, maka terkuaklah kebenaran, sehingga Iokaste (ibu sekaligus istri Oedipus) memutuskan untuk gantung diri. Oedipus kemudian mengambil peniti emas dari gaun Iokaste, lalu menusuk kedua matanya (mata Oedipus, bukan mata Iokaste).
Masih banyak kisah Yunani lainnya yang menarik, seperti Perang Troya yang mempunyai pesan moral 'jangan sekali-kali melarikan istri orang, karena bisa memicu perang bertahun-tahun!'. Ada juga mitos Hercules (anak Zeus dengan Alkmane), juga kisah 300 prajurit Sparta menghadang serangan Xerxes dari Persia, serta kisah-kisah penaklukan oleh Alexander Agung. Semuanya dapat ada simak dengan menonton langsung filmnya.

Minat Yunani pada musik sudah ada sejak Orfeas (pemain harpa) yang dengan alunan musiknya mampu menjinakkan burung, binatang liar, dan orang barbar, sampai-sampai istri-istri orang barbar jadi cemburu dan membunuh Orfeas dengan alat dapur.
Prestasi Orfeas dalam menjinakkan pendengarnya mungkin hanya bisa disaingi oleh Bang Rhoma, hehehe...

Orang Sparta hidup sederhana. Tidak ada yang boleh menyimpan emas atau perak. Semua orang tidak boleh makan di rumah, dan harus bergabung dalam klub makan (bukan klub malam!). Artinya sepanjang hidup mereka harus selalu makan bersama.
Kalo di kita, makan ga makan asal kumpul!

Anak laki-laki dan perempuan secara bersama dilatih lari, gulat, dan lempar lembing, tentu saja dengan kostum terbaiknya, yakni telanjang! Haha, telanjangnya itu lho yang bikin ga kuat, kayak foto dibawah ini, hehehe...(salam damai cik gu!). Atlet terbaik kemudian dikirim ke olimpiade yang diselenggarakan setiap 4 tahun.  COPY FROM KASKUS

SPARTA ARMY

The Spartan army was the military force of Sparta, one of the leading city-states of ancient Greece. The army stood at the centre of the Spartan state, whose citizens' primary obligation was to be good soldiers.^[1] Subject to military drill from infancy, the Spartans were one of the most feared military forces in world history. At Sparta's heyday in the 6th to 4th centuries BC, it was commonly accepted that "one Spartan was worth several men of any other state."^[1]

BIOGRAPHY KING LEONIDAS full version

King Leonidas I, whose name meant "lion-like," was king of Sparta between 488BC and 480BC. He is best known to history as the commander of the Spartan army at the Battle of Thermopylae during the Persian Wars. The story of his sacrifice has been an inspiration to generations and was recently brought to the big screen by Gerard Butler in the movie 300 which was based on a graphic novel of the same name by Frank Miller.

Leonidas was born around 520BC to King Anaxandridas II, a descendant of Hercules. Anaxandridas had two wives, so Leonidas had a half-brother, Cleomenes I, in addition to his younger brother Cleombrotus I and his older brother Dorieus. Although Cleomenes succeeded Anaxandridas after his death because he was probably the firstborn of the four, he was the son of Anaxandridas' second wife, so his claim to the throne was not entirely solid. The throne could have gone to Dorieus as Anaxandridas' oldest son by his first marriage.

Whether it was because he feared him as a rival or because he really did have an interest in foreign expansion, Cleomenes supported Dorieus in several foreign expeditions. Fortunately for Cleomenes, Dorieus was killed on one of these expeditions. Dorieus was not the only rival that Cleomenes faced, however. One of his greatest political enemies was his co-king Demartus. The two Spartan kings frustrated each others plans for several years until both were finally forced into exile. Demartus found his way to Persia where he became an adviser to Xerxes. It was he who cautioned Xerxes not to underestimate the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae.

Cleomenes, on the other hand, was eventually allowed to come home. He was soon accused of being insane, however, so he was put into prison and chained under the orders of his half-brothers, Leonidas and Cleombrotus. Before long, he was found dead with pieces of flesh cut from his body and a bloody knife on the floor next to him. Whether he was murdered or committed suicide remains as much of a mystery to historians as whether or not he was actually insane.

Cleomenes had no children except for his daughter Gorgo, who was already married to Leonidas, so Leonidas became king in 489BC or 488BC. He inherited a city-state in danger of conquest. For many years, the Persian Empire had exerted a powerful influence on Greece. Make city-states, especially in the region of Ionia, had already submitted to Persian rule and as recently as 491BC, Persia's King Darius had attempted to conquer Greece outright.That the Greeks defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490BC did little to ameliorate the Persian threat. Leonidas and others knew that they could always return.

That is just what the Persians did. Darius died in 486BC and was succeeded by his son Xerxes. After making extensive preparations, Xerxes set out to conquer the Greeks in 480BC. Like his father, he sent messengers to the various Greek city-states demanding a tribute of earth and water to signify submission to Persia. Most accepted the offer, but Sparta and a few others did not. The Athenians killed the messengers outright while the Spartans threw them down a well instructing them "dig it out for yourselves."

Soon, Xerxes left Babylon at the head of the enormous army he had been preparing for years. Although modern historians cannot be sure how big it was, the army probably contained several hundred thousand men. Whatever their numbers, the Persians greatly outnumbered the Greeks in Sparta, Athens, and the other resisting city-states. This was an advantage they retained throughout their campaign in Greece.

The resisting city-states put aside their differences to work together for their common defense. Their only hope in the face of such overwhelming numbers was to meet the Persians at a key choke point. After missing their opportunity to stop the Persians at the Vale of Tempe, the Greeks decided that Thermopolyae would be the place to block the Persian advance into southern Greece. There, the terrain was so narrow that it would prevent anything but a small part of the Persian army from engaging the Greeks at any given time. At Thermopolyae, Persia's numbers count for very little.

Unfortunately, Leonidas was forced to meet the Persians without the use of the full Spartan army. Whether it was intentional or not, Xerxes had planned his invasion during important religious festivals for the Greeks. The Athenians were celebrating the Olympic Games in honor of Zeus and the Spartans were celebrating the Carneian festival in honor of Apollo as the Persians threatened to conquer them. But because Spartan law forbid the army from fighting during the festival, Leonidas was only able to take his personal bodyguard to fight with him at Thermopylae. Athens was also unable to commit a full force and what troops it did send had to be used to stop the Persian navy.

It was believed that a small Greek force at Thermopylae would be sufficient to hold the Persians long enough for the Greek allies to mobilize theirfull forces after celebrating their various religious festivals. With the addition of troops from several smaller city-states, the Greek force probably number about 7,000, so they did have a reasonable chance of holding the Persians for a while. Again, the terrain of Thermopylae would be their biggest asset.

Nevertheless, Leonidas clearly realized that he would not return from Thermopylae. Partially, that was his intention. The oracle at Delphi had already prophesied that Sparta would either mourn the loss of its city, or one of its kings who was descended from Hercules. Therefore, Leonidas believed that if he went with a small force and sacrificed himself, Sparta would be saved. Obviously, he would have probably to take the whole army with him, but he had to obey Sparta's laws. Therefore, he took only a personal bodyguard consisting of 300 of his best warriors, all with born sons to carry on their family names.

That he did not plan to return home can seen in his final words to his wife, Gorgo. According to Plutarch, before Leonidas left for Thermopylae, Gorgo asked him what he wanted her to do. He said, "marry a good man that will treat you well, bear him children, and live a good life." He knew he was not coming home. He would go to Thermopylae and sacrifice himself to save Sparta. He was right because Gorgo never saw him again.

The Greek coalition army was successful at holding the Persian advance for several days. It was not until a local named Ephialtes told the Persians about a path around the Greek lines that the Greeks were doomed. Surrounded, they had no chance at all. Leonidas therefore sent most of the army away, remaining only with his 300 Spartans, their slaves, and a few others. In total, this force probably numbered about 2,000. With the exception of some Thebans who surrendered, all of the remaining Greeks were killed.

Thermopylae may have been a defeat for the Greeks, but it was no great victory for the Persians. It is hard to say exactly how many men the Persians lost, but modern estimates put the figure around 20,000 men. Further, the battle gave the Athenians enough time to evacuate Athens and flee to the island of Salamis. Because of the men and time the Persians lost at the Battle of Thermopylae, the Greeks were able to defeat them in a naval battle at Salamis and later at a land battle at Platea. Persia never again attempted to invade Greece. It was the beginning of the end for the Persian Empire and the beginning of great things in Greece.

According to Herodotus, Xerxes ordered Leonidas' head to be cut off and put on a stake and his body crucified. Eventually, his body was returned to Sparta where it was buried. He was succeeded by his son Pleistarchus who ruled with the help of a regent for several years before ruling exclusively as the 18th in the Agiad line of Spartan kings.