Religion and mythology blend in the times of antiquity. They used to serve a different purpose in those ancient societies. The plethora of ancients gods, spirits, heroes of old, great foes and so on are archetypes of human behaviour. They tell stories which concern the fundamental characteristics of humans. Religion often intertwined with the cultural rituals which marked the coming of age of young adults - a paramount point in one's life. Ancient religions are multifaceted, because there existed no such phenomenon as globalization back then. Each region, each tribe, each distinct peoples adde their own colour and taste to fundamentally the most basic and eternal of human stories. Love, war, betrayal, coming of age, death, motherhood, cunning etc.
The organized semitic religions tell us the same stories in a new way, but the rituals no longer serve to bring people closer to earth or to serve as a threshold. Instead, they mainly serve to cement that person within the confines of his/her religion. Compare a ritual "hunt for the great snake" where a boy turns to a man with the baptism of an infant.
But such theological debates are not the purpose of this thread, though I do appreciate them greatly. Also, Zeus was a notorious adulterer - he fathered half the pantheon and Greek heroes, nymphs and very pretty girls. If that's not an excuse for men of power to shag anything that moves, I don't know what is. "Look, Zeus did it. I can't presume I'm better than the Lord of Olympus."![]()
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