Wars devastate any realm and population they are started in and some wars are started by the Gods like Zeus. Not only did the King of the Gods start the great Titanomachy on earth, but the legendary Trojan War as well for his own ends. Why did the King of the Gods start wars on earth?
Zeus started two different wars on earth but not all of them were intentionally started to devastated the planet. The Titanomachy was started on earth because his father’s base of operations was on earth but the Trojan War was started intentionally for his own interests.
Both the Great Titanomachy and the Trojan War were wars that greatly affected the earth and costed the earth many lives, including those that were considered heroes. Why would the King of the Gods, who swore to protect the realm and keep order, start a war on Earth?
The Reason Why The Great Titanomachy Started
Long ago before the Olympians ruled the realm as Gods of the Greek Pantheon, the Titans reigned supreme during the Golden Age. This all came to an end when Cronus and Rhea gave birth to the original Olympians, Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and finally, Zeus.
Zeus gathered his siblings and started a great war against the Titans from atop Mount Olympus for supremacy over the cosmos and eventually overthrew their predecessors. The Titans would then be banished into the depths of Tartarus, preventing any further retaliation.
This war almost destroyed the earth as the seas were scorched and the land was bombarded by rocks thrown by both sides of the war. It was never the intention of Zeus to harm earth as he thought of it as collateral damage that wasn’t avoidable for the war.
Cronus’ base of operations was Mount Othrys, therefore Zeus could only fight the war on earth from Mount Olympus. Zeus didn’t choose earth as the main battleground but he fought the war anyway to overthrow his father.
The Gods had to repopulate the earth and heal its wounds and it even angered the Primordial God, Gaia, for devastating her lands. We all know what happened next and the mythology left behind by the Olympians ever since.
This war on earth was unavoidable, but that doesn’t mean all wars caused by Zeus were though…
The Reason Why The Trojan War Started
The Trojan War started with a prophecy that seemed unrelated to it as it involved a love contest between the Gods. Years before the Trojan War began, both Zeus and Poseidon fell in love with the same sea-nymph and quarreled over who should make her their bride.
Zeus and Poseidon would then go back on their word as they were told that there were consequences to marrying the sea-nymph. The prophecy goes that Thetis would bear a princely-son that would be stronger than his father and have a weapon more powerful than anything.
To prevent this from happening, Zeus decided to marry off Thetis to an elderly King Peleus. The King of the Gods then held a huge feast to celebrate their marriage which would become the catalyst that started the Trojan War.
Zeus was a frequent adulterer and was never faithful to his wife, Hera. He had many relationships, Gods and mortals, and fathered many children, some of which are legendary heroes while others were nothing but problems.
Not only that, but Zeus felt that the world was getting overly crowded and needed a solution to the overpopulation that was happening. To depopulate the earth, he used the celebration as the start of the Trojan War to selfishly right his own mistakes at the cost of human lives.
The King of the Gods was also afraid of being overthrown by his children like his father before him. An omen was given to him by Prometheus that he would one day be dethroned by a powerful offspring of his, and that made the God fear for his life.
He wanted to kill most of his demi-god children to reduce the possibility of being overthrown and disregarded the collateral damage that might be caused by the war alone.
The Trojan War
During the celebration feast, a quarrel happened between the three Goddesses, Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera over the Apple of Discord which would be given to the fairest being at the feast by Peleus and Thetis.
As a result of this, Zeus made all three of the Goddesses settle the debate by asking Hermes to bring them to Prince Paris of Troy to settle the debate once and for all. All three Goddesses offered the prince gifts to win his favor.
Athena offered a victory in battle, Hera offered him to become the king of all men, while Aphrodite offered him Helene, the most beautiful woman in the world at that time. The prince would then pick Aphrodite’s gift as his gift of choice.
Unfortunately for Paris, Helene was the wife of the King of Sparta, Menelaus. To claim his gift, Paris went to Sparta under the disguise of a diplomatic mission to abduct Helene back to Troy. During the abduction, Helene was shot by cupid and instantly fell in love with Paris.
This angered the King of Sparta who sparked a war against Greece to reclaim his wife. The Trojan War began and lasted for 10 long years, birthing the legends of Greek mythology such as Odysseus, Achilles, the Trojan Horse, and Hector.
The war ended when Odysseus came up with a brilliant plan that infiltrated the Capital of Troy, causing its capture by the Spartans. Troy was offered a giant wooden horse as a peace token but it held many Greek soldiers inside who broke out and captured the city of Troy from within.
With the war over, the only victor was Zeus as he killed many of the earth’s population and many of his demi-god children. Even after the war, many heroes were punished for their actions.
Conclusion
Zeus started two wars on earth for his own sake and it devastated the planet twice. Though unintentional, the Great Titanomachy was started on earth to fight for supremacy over the Cosmos.
The Trojan War, however, was a war orchestrated by the King of the Gods to right his wrongs and deal with the overpopulation on earth. The war lasted for 10 years and resulted in the deaths of many heroes, all for the sake of Zeus.
Zeus may be the King of the Gods but he will do anything for his own interests if it threatens his rule. He is known to exploit the mortals to his own ends and will stop at nothing to preserve himself.
