|
The
Brownstone Journal >>
Issues >> Vol.
VIII Spring 1999
“The King of the Gods” or An Immortal
Problem Child
Alla Zaytseva (CAS XX), majoring in
psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, is also enrolled
in the MMEDIC program, where she is taking advanced classes
in the Boston University School of Medicine. She would like
lo thank Professor Harris for following students in her Developmental
Psychology class to write on such experimental topics.
The most powerful god in ancient Greek religion
began his existence in what can be classified today as a dysfunctional
family. Problems with the mighty Zeus encountered in infancy
and childhood played a major role in shaping his well-known
character. Born into a deeply troubled marriage, of a father
who showed signs of neurotic disorder, the god had difficulties
with almost every aspect of normal infant development. In this
paper I will analyze the effect of Zeus’ early development.
Zeus, “the father of Gods and humans,” (Ruck 20) was the youngest
child of Kronos and Rhea, who also happened to be brother and
sister. Zeus’ father certainly suffered from some psychotic
disorder, possibly paranoia or even an early stage of schizophrenia.
He believed that one of his children “would prove mightier than
he and take his place” (Ruck 35). Kronos’ solution was to eat
each child as soon as it was born. Unfortunately, this form
of parental cannibalism was not a good influence on the health
of his pregnant wife. Poor Rhea lived “in panic through the
eras. Always pregnant, always mourning her previous child, always
fearful for the child to be born” (Druon 43). This severe emotional
stress could not have been good for Zeus in the prenatal development
period.
It is known that intense maternal anxiety is “associated with
a high rate of miscarriage, prematurity, low birth weight and
newborn’s respiratory illness” (Berk 122). Zeus was most likely
born premature and suffered from a low birth weight. What else
could explain the fact that his mother left home for Crete to
give birth to a child in a cave? No one would let a pregnant
woman, so close to her due-date, travel such a distance alone.
In addition, Zeus was “born in human form” (Druon 44). The human
form is similar to a god’s in structure but is smaller in size
(Ruck 39). Hence Zeus’ low birth weight. One only has to be
grateful that Dionysus the god of wine had not been born yet:
otherwise, Rhea would have been in a high risk category for
engaging in harmful behavior. Zeus narrowly avoided the Fetal
Alcohol Syndrome.
The godlet Zeus certainly possessed high survival skills. Human
infants are not capable of living without a care-taker. So,
Zeus, born as a human, was in great danger when his mother single-handedly
gave birth and then abandoned him immediately in the cave. The
infant god must have had a very strong and persistent cry, in
order for an adolescent nymph, Amalthea, to hear him. Moreover,
Zeus had to be an easy maintenance baby; otherwise he would
not have been able to attract the young nymph to the role of
a caretaker. It is seen as unlikely that an adolescent half-goddess
would abandon her fun and free lifestyle to devote herself to
the care of “human” infant who was difficult to please.
Having obtained some sort of a primary guardian, Zeus developed
a particular attachment style. Obviously, he was completely
detached from his parents, whom he never even saw, but I also
believe that he came to exhibit secure attachments to the nymph
Amalthea and a goat, which he perceived as one being and called
Amalthea (Druon 50). The goat, in her turn, nursed the infant
Zeus. This itself constitutes the first step in the growth of
a strong attachment between a caretaker and a baby from the
behaviorist point of view (Berk 263-4). Since Zeus was not exposed
to any other human or god-like creature on Crete, he did not
develop multiple attachments. His five siblings remained in
the stomach of his paranoid father, so there was no question
of sibling rivalry. Perhaps because of this lack of direct contact
between siblings, Zeus did the se not see incest as an immoral
act. In his later life, he married his sister Hera and produced
a child with another sister, Demetra.
Zeus' caretaker, Amalthea the Nymph, soon discovered the true
identity of the baby (Druon 48). This knowledge must have affected
her parenting style. The nymph was obviously a permissive-indulgent
parent. Amalthea and the goat were both ''nurturing and accepting
of the baby but avoided making demands or imposing controls
of any kind'' (Berk 383). How could they impose control? The
nymph herself was used to a carefree existence. She did what
she wanted, when she wanted, and she conveyed the same message
to the baby Zeus. As for the goat... well, let’s face it: what
demands or control can a goat impose? The fact that Zeus was
a god probably suppressed any wish to impose control over him
that the young half-goddess could entertain. Zeus' later actions
could also reinforce his categorization as a child of permissive
parents. He certainly had difficulty controlling his impulses
later in life, and when his desires (mostly sexual) conflicted
with imposed societal restraints (marital fidelity), he became
rebellious and disobedient and almost always opted for the fulfillment
of his desires.
As for trust language development, it remains a mystery. Did
gods and nymphs speak the same language? If yes, then how did
Zeus distinguish between nymph and goat speech? After all, both
must have provided a variety of verbal stimulation to the infant
Zeus. What pattern of language development did he follow: referential
or expressive style? All these questions remain buried in the
lost pages of the Greek mythology books. A few aspects of his
language development, however, can be known for certain. Zeus'
conditioning strongly supports Chomsky’s concept of the Language
Acquisition Device (Berk 235). Without the LAD, a “biologically
based innate system for picking up language.” (Berk 236), how
else would Zeus have acquired a grammatically correct language
structure? Certainly not from the goat, and likely not from
the nymph, either. We must not forget that she was a mountain
nymph - the only one around - and, therefore, could not have
had a lot of conversation practice. We can only assume that
she spoke at all. If she did, the two were probably poor conversation
partners, due to their differing statuses in the immortal realm.
Thus the King of Gods spent his infancy and childhood: immersed
in problems of identifying with his primary caregiver. He was
born as a human, raised by a nymph and a goat, and learned late
in his childhood that he was immortal. A1l these factors must
have confused the child, creating complications of his gender
and self-identity. Raised by a woman, Zeus later decided to
give birth to two of his children (Ruck 78 ). He often took
the shape of an animal when making love to mortal women. Clearly,
this was a partial result of his identification with the goat,
probably the only creature whom Zeus met which followed a normal
course of biological development. More detailed analyses of
Zeus’ childhood and adolescence show that many, many abnormalities
arose in his path. These abnormalities set in motion a transactional
model which led to the creation of the creation of the mighty
god, whose personality we know to be enormously problematic
and flawed. TBJ
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berk, L.E., Infants, Children, and Adolescents,
Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996.
Druon, M., The Memoirs of Zeus. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1963.
Ruck, C., Staples. W. G., The World of Classical
Myth: Gods and Goddesses, Heroines and Heroes. Princeton
University Press, 1993.
|
|
