One transformation that occurred in Greek and Roman mythology was the transformation of Zeus into an eagle in order to abduct a young Trojan man – Ganymede – in order to serve as his personal cupbearer. As a young man, he attracted attention from the Gods – Zeus in particular – due to his outstanding beauty. In the form of an eagle, he brought Ganymede to Olympus, where he was presented with an offer to become cupbearer in order to become immortal, blessed with external youth, and the prospect of serving eternally in the banquets of the Gods.
Although Zeus is well-known for having many affairs, Ganymede is a special case. Few of Zeus's lovers were selected to reside with the immortal Gods living on Mount Olympus. According to Xenophon’s Symposium, Ganymede was the only one among his lovers to be given the gift of immortality.
Most sources place an emphasis on Ganymede’s youth, thus highlighting themes of pederasty in Roman and Greek mythology. But through exploring this idea in history, we run the risk of presuming that all Greeks were in favour of this kind of behaviour, yet this was not the case. In specific, Plato claimed that the Cretans invented the story of Ganymede in order to justify their immoral practices, indicating that not everyone in Athens believed this situation to be ideal. This opinion of his is presented in Laws 1.636c-d as he writes, “And we all accuse the Cretans of concocting the story about Ganymede. Because it was the belief that they derived their laws from Zeus, they added on this story about Zeus in order that they might be following his example in enjoying this pleasure as well.”
Overall, this myth presents issues that are still prevalent in society today, yet we have laws as a form of protection. The fact that the major deities, such as Zeus, were involved in these practices, suggests that they were not worthy of worship and demonstrates reasons for the change in religious beliefs between the present day and ancient times.
~Shivani
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