ZEUS -- ODIN

ZEUS

Zeus is the ruler of the Greek gods.

He is the son of Cronos and Rhea, in fact the only son of these two to survive to
adulthood.
Zeus had been hidden by Rhea so that Cronos would not swallow him like he had
all of his other offspring; he had been warned that one of his children would
eventually overthrow him. Rhea sent Zeus to the island of Crete where he was
raised.
Zeus eventually killed his father. After he killed Cronos,
he restored life to his brothers and sisters.
He then drew lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades to see who would become
ruler
of the various parts of the universe. Zeus won the draw and became the supreme
ruler
of the gods. He is lord of the sky, the rain god. His weapon is a thunderbolt,
made for him by the Cyclopes under the direction of Hephaestus,
which he hurls at those who displease him. He married a succession of spouses
with whom he had many children including:
Athena, The Fates, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes.
His last, and most well-known wife is Hera but he is
famous for his many affairs.

ODIN

Odin is the leader of the Norse gods and has a myriad of names including Allfather,

Ygg, Bolverk (evil doer), and Grimnir.

He also has many functions within the myths including being a god of war,
poetry, wisdom, and death. However, he is not considered the "main" god
of each of these functions.

Odin's symbol is his magical spear named Grungir which never misses its mark.
He also owns a magic ring called Draupnir which can create nine of itself every
night.
It was this ring that Odin laid on his son Balder's funeral pyre and which Balder
returned to Odin from the underworld. Odin also has two wolves,
Geri and Freki, and two ravens, Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory).
He sends his ravens out every day to gather knowledge for him.

Odin was destined to die at Ragnarok; Fenris-Wolf swallowed him. Knowing

his fate, he still chose to embrace it and do battle, showing the true
warrior ethic. He is the god of warriors and kings, not the common man.
Among his children are:Thor, Hermod, and Balder.
He is married to Frigg, the goddess of marriage.

DIRECT COMPARISON
The first obvious similarity between Zeus and Odin is in their appearance.
Both are very large men, but they are not depicted as fat men.
Both look very powerful and foreboding. They also are both shown as having beards.
A beard represents manliness, in a very basic way as facial hair is something that
every man can have. In this sense the beard as a signature feature of these gods
brings
in a sense of attachment to the people within the societies that worshipped them.
If they had a different signature feature, for example wings, this would remove
the gods from the common man. The beard is something ordinary people can relate to.

It may also be of note that the stereotypical view of Vikings and Norsemen almost
always includes beards on the men. Maybe they were trying to emulate their head god

or maybe the god was "created" in the image of the ordinary man.

Zeus and Odin were respective rulers over the gods in their mythologies.
Zeus was known for upholding the law and social order. In fact, one of his titles
was
Zeus Horkios which literally means "the Guarantor of Oaths."
This is quite similar ot Odin's recording of all the laws, contracts and agreements

onto his spear which he was bound to uphold. They both had their palaces in the sky

to some extent.Mt. Olympus was very high

(in the mythologies; the real Mt. Olympus is a mountain, but not very high.)
It is also important to note that when the three brothers (Zeus, Poseidon, and
Hades)
were deciding which part of the world each would get, Zeus chose the sky.
There are many stories of Zeus looking down from Mt. Olympus into the lives of
other men.
This is also the case with Odin. He could watch other people, gods and mortals
alike,
from his throne Hlidskialf in Asgard, Asgard being the palace in the sky where the
gods met.
So there are distinct similarities between Asgard and Mt. Olympus:
both were in the sky, both allowed for the observation of the rest of the world,
both were the meeting place for the gods in their respective mythologies.

The actions of the two gods are very important to look at as well.
Zeus is well-known for going off into the world of mortals and trying to have
"relations"
with the mortals. Often times he would change shape in order to accomplish this.
He took such forms as a bull, swan, golden shower, and a quail, for example.
This shape-shifting was also a typical action of Odin.
He changed himself into animals occasionally, such as a snake or an eagle.
(Interestingly, Zeus is often depicted as an eagle!) But, more often than not,
Odin changed himself into "The Wanderer." In this form he was known to wear a long
grey cloak and a wide brimmed hat that covered or cast shadows over his missing
eye.
In this form he attempted, on many occasions, to have "relations," often spawning
offspring.
There is one story of Odin and Rind where Odin must change his shape multiple times

to meet the needs of Rind who he is wooing. He transforms from captain of her
father's army
to a smith to a warrior and finally is accepted into her arms only after taking his

natural form as a god.

This raises one important difference between the two:
the attitudes of the two respective wives of the gods, Hera and Frigg.
Hera is well-known for her jealous and vengeful reactions to Zeus actions.
However, Frigg does not have the same reaction. To see the development of this
thought,
see the wives' page.

Another commonality of the two gods is their interaction with mortals.

In both their visiting and aiding of these mortals Zeus and Odin identified certain
people
that they considered great and offered them their assistance.
This supports the theory that these mythologies, because they were serving
generally
less-advanced societies (industrially, socially and intellectually),
created gods who would come down and physically interact with mortals,
gave the gods a sense of tangibility to the society. At this point could a society
have been able to accept a flawless, omnipotent being, especially one on a cosmic
level,
rather than a physical level? If a god could come to a man and physically aid him,
that would be an incentive to believe and worship.

Both of these gods have a specific symbol of power.

Zeus has his lighting bolt, and Odin has his spear.
Both of these items have a somewhat negative interpretation.
Lighting is a destructive force and a spear is a weapon used to kill.
In our society, gods are usually displayed to have a very positive light
surrounding
them and a weapon may seem strange to us as a symbol of a god.
We must also see that the gods both used their respective weapons by throwing them.

Maybe this is the beginning of the thoughts of a cosmic entity

-- the gods did not have to be physically there, but could project their intentions

from afar. The fact that both of these symbols were destructive in one form or
another
raises a few questions: Were these cultures looking for a destructive god?
Were they still at a state that a primitive personification of man was desired as a
god?
Were these societies looking at chaos and destruction as being more important in
the society
than order? It may be that the fear that they invoke will have people thinking that
they can
be punished, and if they are punished it will not be a simple slap on the wrist,
but rather a spear or lightning bolt hurled at them.
So I believe that this fear was used when the myths were being originally fashioned

so that one would be intimidated to believe and worship.

One last thing to be considered about these two gods, and their manliness,
is that both of them were very fertile.
They were both fathers to many offspring,
thus spreading their wonderful qualities around to other beings.
What I think these societies needed was a powerful man, one who was warlike,
strong, large, intimidating and prolific.
This was they type of god that one in those times could fear and respect,
and therefore worship fairly easily.