Tag: son

The 12 Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece

2 Comments

The Ancient Greeks believed in 12 gods and goddesses who were understood to reside upon Mount Olympus. These deities included Zeus (pronounced “zoose”) the king of the gods, Hera (pronounced “hare-ah”) the wife of Zeus and goddess of marriage and childbirth, Apollo (pronounced “ah-pol-oh”) the son of Zeus, sun god, and god of music and healing, Artemis (pronounced “art-em-is”) the daughter of Zeus, twin sister of Apollo, and the goddess of the moon and hunting, Aphrodite (pronounced “af-row-dye-tee”) the daughter of Zeus and goddess of love and sexual desire, Ares (pronounced “air-eez”) the son of Zeus, god of war and battle, and lover of Aphrodite, Poseidon (pronounced “po-sai-den”) the brother of Zeus and god of the sea, storms, and earthquakes, Demeter (pronounced “de-me-tur”) a lover of Zeus and the goddess of agriculture and fertility, Athena (pronounced “ah-tee-nah”) the daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom and war, Hephaestus (pronounced “heh-fai-sch-tus”) the son of Zeus and god of fire and art, Hermes (pronounced “hur-meez”) the son of Zeus, god of commerce and travel, as well as being a personal messenger for his father, and finally Hestia (pronounced “hess-tee-yah”) the sister of Zeus and goddess of the home and family

The Reason Monogamy Was Created

Leave a comment

Sexual monogamy and the control of women’s reproductive rights by men became an important issue to society as an economic response to agriculture. Sexual monogamy became a problem when men who owned property and livestock wanted to pass down an inheritance to their sons, as they needed to ensure their bloodline was pure without any sons born of another male. Prior to this, predominantly in hunter-gatherer societies, monogamy was not considered a vital tenant of society and straying outside the confines of monogamy was widely accepted as a societal and sometimes even cultural normative due to the unrestricted freedom of time and location of where one was during the day, however after the advent of agriculture, time was drastically different in its allocation amongst women and men as certain duties were required to be performed to ensure a proper harvest

Wu Zetian: China’s Only Female Ruler

Leave a comment

The Wu Dynasty ruled by emperor Wu Zetian (pronounced “woo zai-chen”) was the only female to ever rule China in her own right. She was made a concubine because of her renowned beauty and slept with both the emperor Taizong and his son Gaozong after emperor Taizong’s death which was considered incest during this period. Wu clawed her way to the top of China’s political ladder, challenging the male dominated patriarchy of the Chinese government and the traditional Confucianism teachings by introducing Buddhism. After Wu died, her daughter and China’s prime minister were murdered to bring back Confucianism. Many scholars and historians have attributed Wu to the downfall of the Wu Dynasty, vilifying her by referring to her as sex crazed with many lovers and a person who was guilty of murdering her own child. In reality, it is true Wu was crueler than any male leader before or after her. 1200 years would pass before another female leader would emerge; emperous Ching Shih (pronounced “See-shi”) in the 19th century