Mythic Monday: 6 Despicable Dads

Yesterday we celebrated the terrific fathers and the strong, loving men in our lives. Today we examine the flip side. The Greek myths are known for being violent and bloodthirsty. One doesn’t have to look too hard to find a number of atrocious fathers. For their dire deeds, they always got their comeuppance.

Tantalus – Known as the first mortal to murder his own kinfolk, this guy invited a number of people, including several gods and goddesses, to his home for dinner. He secretly killed his son, barbecued him, and served the unfortunate soul to his guests. Hospitality—NOT. The act went unnoticed only by Demeter, deep in mourning for her abducted daughter Persephone. In her distress, she accidentally ate a bite of the young man’s shoulder. All the other deities realized the situation right away. As punishment for his heinous act, Zeus banished Tantalus to Hades. The father of the gods implanted within Tantalus a powerful thirst and hunger, and bobbled sparkling water and a bright red apple just out of his reach. For eternity. From Tantalus’ name comes the word tantalize.

Uranus – He developed an antipathy toward some of his children and wanted to get rid of them. A number of the children had fifty heads and some made do with only one eye (Cyclops). Uranus banished many of them to live in dark places underground, out of sight and out of mind. Not satisfied, he plotted the murder of others. When his wife Gaia discovered his plan, she enlisted preventative help from their son Cronus, one of the Titans. With a jagged sickle made of adamantine (a hard and brilliant variety of corundum), Cronus whacked apart his father.

Cronus – As the clichés go, what goes around comes around and you reap what you sow. Fearful his throne of power would be usurped by one of his children, Cronus decided to murder them as soon as they were born. Since a goddess is rarely fooled, his wife Rhea knew what he was up to and plotted to thwart his plans. For their newborn son Poseidon, she substituted a young foal, which Cronus promptly devoured. Along the same lines, she substituted a boulder for the infant Zeus. While Cronus plopped the boulder in his mouth and swallowed it down, thinking he had rid himself of another potentially dangerous son, the real baby was whisked safely off to Crete.

Zeus – Without belaboring the much overrated life of Zeus, let’s just focus on one aspect of his fatherhood. He spread his seed willy nilly throughout the land and then mostly ignored the fruits of his labor. Zeus serves as the original deadbeat dad.

Danaus – He vied with his twin brother Aegyptus for the throne of Egypt. Danus assumed the throne and went on to father fifty daughters. Aegyptus fathered fifty sons, who wanted to marry the girls. To escape war, Danaus fled the land with his daughters and became king of Argos. When the fifty sons showed up on his doorstep, still desiring to marry the girls, Danaus decided to take action. He approved the marriages, and a massive wedding took place. Believing his brother and nephews conspired to dethrone him, Danaus convinced his daughters to commit a horrible crime. On their wedding night, at the direction of their father, forty-nine of the girls murdered their husbands. Only one felt pity for her husband and disobeyed. For that, Danaus tried to have her executed. She was spared by Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and the husband she saved eventually killed Danaus for his crime.

Theseus – There is much to admire about the hero Theseus, king of Athens, but I’m disappointed in the way he treated his son Hippolytus. Hippolytus was Theseus’s son by his beloved wife Hippolyta, an Amazon queen who died young. Theseus performed marvelous feats, including defeating the fearsome Minotaur with the help of the Minoan princess, Ariadne. He deserted Ariadne and returned home to Greece. In his old age Theseus married Phaedra, the younger sister of Ariadne. Drawn to the masculine appeal of Hippolytus, now a grown young man, Phaedra set out to seduce him. When he spurned her, she lied to Theseus and said his son had raped her. Instead of believing his son, Theseus took the word of his deceitful wife and sent a mighty curse against him. His horses dragged Hipplolytus to his death beside the sea. Only then did Theseus realize he had committed an act of betrayal by not trusting in his son. In mortal anguish, he threw himself off the high cliffs.

Cheers & Happy Reading,

Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Paranormal Fantasy Romance