Shownotes Transcript
What if Atlas Dropped the Sky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYBx2CrbnWIHey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss how Hades could usurp Zeus and rise to become the new king of Olympus. I'd like to preface this video by saying that Hades wasn't an Evil God. In fact, using a contemporary lens, Hades was downright chivalrous and honorable when you compare his romantic pursuits to those of his two brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, both of them prolific philanderers, cajoling, coaxing, and coercing men, women, magical creatures, and goddesses; both of them powerful and predatory gods who only take their own pleasures into account, disregarding notions like consent and virtues like restraint. As far as I can tell, the dichotomy of good and evil as represented by two diametrically opposed nexus points seems to have been retroactively applied to the Greek pantheon, shaping the portrayal of Greek mythology in popular culture; movies like Disney's 'Hercules' and 'Clash of the Titans' portray Zeus as a force for order and good, while Hades is portrayed as evil and covetous. This seems like a direct extension of how good and evil are portrayed in the Judeo-Christian tradition, whereby good and evil are largely conveyed through God and Satan. Anyway, completely disregarding how the ancient Greeks perceived the lord of the underworld, we're going to harness today's disparaging conceptualization of Hades and run through an elaborate scenario in which Hades overthrows Zeus and becomes the new Lord of the Cosmos. Let's get into it. There are three chief factors on which success is predicated: Zeus needs to be overcome, incapacitated, and deposed, the crux of the matter; Poseidon needs to be temporarily contained to preempt him from vying against Hades for the crown in Zeus' absence; and Hades needs to operate in complete secrecy to insulate himself from any culpability, which will keep the other gods from turning on him after he takes action.