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part 1 of the story
Yahweh vs Zeus

James Correnti

Prologos

    I am a creature born of nothingness. I am an accident, perhaps an act of cosmic mutation. I live in the interstices between the physical and non-physical. I have no name nor place nor time therefore the gods cannot find nor banish me. They do not want you to know the truth. I know their world and their way. Earthlings have two simple theories concerning the origin of humans and gods. One is that gods created humans, and the other, humans created gods. Both are wrong. Hesiod knew that they were of the same origin. That origin is a random by-product of the ever evolving and devolving universe. We are all the result of patterns created through chaos.
    Gods ride light waves through the darkness seeking beings whose intelligence acknowledges their presence and who seek their help. Gods and mortals are of the same universe as eagles and butterflies of the same sky. The universe and all existences that form in the physical and non-physical worlds follow similar patterns of birth, sustenance, entropy, and death. Stars, planets, and rocks as well as breathing beings and plants follow that inescapable law. Even the gods, who were formed in darkness, yield to that universal certainty. Gods exist in the non-physical darkness your scientists amazingly designate as dark matter and dark energy. This region is ninety five percent of the universe. You live in the other five percent. Their region is also the source of the ever-expanding universe, competing with and overpowering the force of your known gravity. This space is the cosmos of the gods and from there evolved the stars, the planets, you, and your world. Through scientific calculations, your astrophysicists, astronomers, and mathematicians have deduced the reality of darkness where the gods reside. Furthermore, if your scientists break through the darkness, you will wish they hadn’t. Your world is composed of matter and in the darkness resides antimatter. Your world behaves with certainty, while the world of dark matter behaves, as the quantum world of atoms, with probability where predictability ends. Gods truly are everywhere. You live in a very small space/time region. Their world frequently impinges on yours. Particles from dark matter move uninterrupted through your matter. This is why Primitive, Hellenistic, and Biblical gods have had the ability to appear to humans briefly. During these penetrations, a random particle of antimatter intersects with matter. A god at this time may copulate with a human. This chaotic primordial orgasm results in the birth of a demigod who can transcend both worlds. Other interactions take place upon a human’s physical death when their non-physical soul or energy is absorbed into the darkness.
    For the most part, gods move uniquely through space and time with quantum leaps without traveling through your known space. Their illusion of space and time is unlike your illusion of space and time. You measure your linear time through the cyclical pattern of your planet’s revolutions around the sun. Time, for gods, is nearly infinite. Their journey is a perpetual existence of exaltation and agony. They search for souls in the world of matter to find sustenance and power from worshipers in fragments of the universe. For some gods who find no worshipers, this insufferable existence may never end. You are mortal. Gods are both mortal and immortal. They will exist as long as the universe exists. Their death will come at the end of time when the universe expands to where it cannot hold itself together, gravity fails, and bursts to its own death and rebirth.
    There are many godlike mysteries that you do not comprehend. Chaos, the confusing patriarch of the Hellenistic gods, appears as a being, a place, and an event. Your Biblical god, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is equally puzzling being three entities in one. Both realms of gods confuse you with virginal and other bizarre births and experiences. Those contradictory spiritual actualities can not be understood by you. Your evolution is still in its infancy and, furthermore, may not endure to see the end of time.
    The idea of a non-physical world has led you humans down a futile path. You spend most of your lifetime imagining moments impossible to experience in the world of your senses. Your knowledge is correct. That world is as real as the air, food, and shelter you need for your physical survival. It is often a lonely confusing world for you humans who wish to rise above your confines but are required to breathe in rhythm with nature. There is no one to hold hands with, for you can’t touch in this non-physical world. No fragrance of love to fill your visceral organs. In the non-physical world you imagine there exists a sense of a beauty and truth magnificent - a beauty and truth unachievable on earth. That is why you want to spend more time with your invisible friends. That is why you take comfort in knowing that when the breath of earth leaves you, you will join them forever.
    I am here to tell the children of the earth, do not rush to those saviors. Unlike the bizarre tales of your quirky Hellenistic gods, your Biblical gods would lead you to believe that they are truth and perfection. If a weakness in gods exists, it is their egotistical belief in their power. Don’t be fooled by this apparent power and false wisdom. They need you as much as you need them. Just as you require the nutrition of life to survive, they feed off the strength of your worship of them. They help feed your spiritual gratification on earth, and when you die you go to them not as immortals but as your last offering. They absorb your spiritual energy or soul as you call it. The Olympian’s “Judges of the Dead” and your current god’s “The Last Judgment” were fabricated to comfort you. You have no life after death for you are their sustenance. You are their pets, no, their farm animals. They nurture you to use you. Heaven, Olympus, Paradise, and Nirvana are not dwellings for you. They exist in the darkness.
    Similar to your mortal nations, god nations evolve to create a culture with their own unique values and society. Three realms of gods have visited you. The first were the Prehistoric gods. That is when only earth circled the sun. Then Chaos came and created five more planets. They called your new solar system the Great Earth. He begot Nyx, his daughter and wife, and together, gave birth to the Hellenistic gods. The third was the Biblical gods you now worship. At your first flickering of conceptual intelligence, your original gods found you. Now you call them Prehistoric gods. They searched the universe for creatures with the most basic self-awareness and found humans on earth. They demanded your simple observance. These gods were very close to you. They manipulated only what you now call nature. You looked to them for food when you were hungry, for strength when you were attacked, and protection from the wrath of earth’s calamities. They had many names and spread their power throughout your culture. Upon you leaving your caves, these simple gods were banished by the invasion of your Hellenistic gods. Now those Prehistoric gods, painfully wounded, roam the darkness of the universe seeking simple beings similar to you and worlds similar to yours, yearning for the most basic intelligent planetary life to acknowledge and praise them.
    All gods travel endlessly through the darkness, from galaxy to galaxy, seeking worshipers for their survival. The Biblical gods you worship are cunning and strong. They defeated and banished your Hellenistic gods who were fallible and designed, perhaps, more similar to you. Your historians differ in their interpretations of the source and behavior of the Hellenistic gods. Only Homer and Hesiod knew something of these gods and that knowledge was confined to their mortal imaginations. It is true that gods have indirectly communicated with certain mortals on earth. Philosopher, yogi, minister, allamah, priest, rabbi, imam, and psychic are some who receive confusing signs from the gods.
    During the Hellenistic era, Hesiod communed with the muses, so therefore was more factual. However, both Homer and Hesiod anthropomorphized and documented these gods with great invention and contradiction. For example, they disagreed on the birth of Aphrodite. Other later writers and historians enhanced those mythical stories for the delight of their audience. The great philosopher, Plato, with good sense and insight, decried many of heinous acts attributed to those gods. No mortal could ever grasp the truth of the gods.
    From a faraway galaxy, the last worshippers of your Biblical gods were destroyed by the immutable forces of the universe, their spiritual energy burned by the last gasping hot breath of a dying sun. Led by the Creator Yahweh and the army of angels, they went on a timeless search through the dark transshaping universe until they heard the call from a race of enslaved earthlings who knew these Biblical gods were near and reached out to them for liberation. Even they were to be deceived.
    I do not know the origin of Chaos and Nyx. They may have been banished from another world and found your beautiful planet, or their old worshippers were destroyed in a cataclysmic event. They found you just when you were emerging from your animal ignorance. Just when your thoughts pointed to the sky in discovery. They created the Hellenistic gods to feed your intellectual and spiritual development. Those gods encompassed the whole of planet earth and were known by different names in different places.
    In kind, your Biblical gods banished those children of the Chaos and Nyx similarly and so thoroughly that they are now thought of as mere mythology. Even while many of those gods travel the darkness of the universe searching for new mortals and worlds, they are perceived in your world as gods that never existed and creations of your ancestors’ childish minds. They could not answer the Roman Emperor, Julian, who begged for their return. That, my earthlings, is an example of your new gods’ power. There were many gods who had visited your earthly home before humanity inundated the planet. Finding no sustenance, they resumed their cosmic hunt.
    The illustrious Hellenistic writers, poets, and philosophers have chronicled their gods in some detail and discord. There were over five hundred of these deities known by different names in different places on earth. I will not repeat the myriad of ancient tales of the Greeks, Romans, and others. My story tells first of the aftermath of two Hellenistic Wars and the gods who fought in them. Perhaps, war is not the correct term. These conflicts with the Gods of Olympus against the Titans and then against the Gigantes were family feuds since all of the participants were the descendants of Chaos and Nyx. These battles were ultimately won by the Gods of Olympus. However, the last secret unrecorded war with Biblical gods, “The Last War” will be exposed herein. Gods battle, kill, enslave, and banish each other...just like you. They must survive like you.
    With those two grueling wars over, the Gods of Olympus proclaimed unconditional victory and peace for eternity. Close your mortal eyes, stare deeply into the darkness and see the gods as you will, and I will bring you the truth.

BOOK ONE
I
Titanomachy
The Origin - The Aftermath

    This first major power struggle to rule the supernatural and natural worlds pitted the giant Titan leader Cronus, his four Titan brothers, and four others based on Mount Orthys, against his three insurgent sons, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and fourteen others encamped on Mount Olympus.
    Gaia, mother of the Titans, is perceived by most humans as a loving gentle earth mother, however the men in her life drove her to extremes. She became a relentless Commander in Chief directing battles within her family while struggling to protect some of her offspring. Sometimes she pitted son against father, other times father against son, and still other times orchestrating conflicts between extended family members. She had a peculiar attribute unknown to be possessed by any other god descended from Chaos and Nyx. She was born with a special power rendering her protection from any harm or banishment. She did not possess the power nor the inclination to do harm to others. For that she needed help. This first occurred when her husband Uranus became suspicious that their powerful offspring, the three Cyclopes and the three Hecatoncheires, would overthrow him. Hecatoncheires had them confined in Tartarus, the hellish region below the underworld, from which he thought they would never escape. Gaia was outraged and conspired with her Titan sons to first attack Uranus with castration and then release her imprisoned sons. Cronus, the youngest of this giant race, complied with the former but not the latter. A prophecy was retold by Gaia that the same fate would come to Cronus. Cronus, fearing this prophecy, swallowed five of his six children who were the first Olympians. With cunning and trickery Cronus’ wife, Rhea and Gaia managed to save the youngest one by birthing him in a secret cave on the Isle of Crete. His name was Zeus.
    Zeus flourished into a strong god on Crete. Five Cretan brothers, called Curetes, guarded Zeus while the two Nymph daughters of the King of Crete nurtured Zeus from infancy to adulthood. Amalthea’s goat suckled the divine baby from her horn of plenty, and Melissa fed him nourishing honey for him to grow even more quickly.
    Outside the cave, they came to Zeus one day, “You have been saved from your father’s treachery. It is time to free your siblings and claim your places as Kings and Queens of the gods. Metis is here to bring you back to your family and home.”
    This was the first god that he had ever seen. She was almost double his size. He looked up at her with amazement. “Are all gods this large? How will I defeat my father?”
    She smiled at the young warrior. “Gods and goddesses come in many sizes and shapes. It is not size; it is your will, your skill, and your weapons that decide victory.”
    Zeus proudly presented his first weapon to her. An aegis he created from Amalthea goat’s hide and horn of plenty. Metis was pleased that his first weapon was a defensive shield.
    “That will serve you well in Olympus.”
    Disguised and with the help of Metis, Zeus fed a potion to Cronus who spewed up his siblings. They then retreated to the safety of Mount Olympus. The male children, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, vowed revenge on their father. Thus, the war began.
    Their sister goddesses, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter, did not participate in the war and were given sanctuary far from Plains of Thessaly, the battlefield that lay between the Titan’s Mount of Orthys and Mount Olympus. Oceanus, the oldest Titan, and the Titan’s five wives, also remained neutral during the war. The twelfth and last Titan, the goddess Themis, went to Zeus’ side.
    After the defeat of the Titans, Zeus and his two brothers drew lots to apportion the world. Poseidon acquired the sea, Hades the underworld, and Zeus, the winner, took the sky and was crowned the undisputed ruler of the heavens, earth, and all who dwelled there. His thunderbolt, fashioned and offered to him by the Cyclopes, was one of the most powerful weapons of men and gods. Its deadly blaze of light and deafening roar was felt from heaven to the battlefield. Zeus held it close to his bosom as one would a lover, for it was one of the decisive blows that had crushed the enemy. To Poseidon, the Cyclopes had provided a trident that could create cataclysms on sea or land, and to Hades a helmet that made the wearer invisible. In addition, Hades inherited Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the Underworld.
    Now, Zeus paced his secluded chamber, above his palace, assured that the Titans were summarily defeated. He waited here for the post war meeting with his allies. Metis, his protector and now cunning lover, counsel, and future first wife, sat to the left of his throne. This exclusive space in Olympus was always open to his most trusted companions and guards, the goddesses Nike and Bia, and the gods Zelus and Kralas. For Zeus, these children of Styx encompassed glory and force, and zeal and strength, all qualities that insured victory in war. This post surrounding his throne was the reward for their heroic battles against the enemy. Nike, his favorite, was the first to arrive. She bowed and spread her golden wings in praise of the king of gods and men. The weight of her heavy wings drew her lithe body upwards.
    Zeus slightly flattered, “Please Nike, I should honor you. You have served Olympus beyond expectations.”
    Her stoic expression rarely changed. She spoke mostly through her precious extensions. This time she gently smiled and, with wings lowered, positioned herself in a special place to the right of the throne.
    Her sister and two brothers were next to arrive, and they in turn took their places surrounding the throne. These four warriors would help Zeus keep order in the world by proudly carrying out all his orders.
    Loud noises from what seemed to be intruders alerted those guards as Poseidon entered with a throaty laugh and with trident positioned for battle. The confused sentinels drew weapons.
    “Brother, have you been consorting with Aristophanes or with the vine?” Zeus questioned, “Where is Hades?”
    Poseidon burst out laughing again leaning on what appeared to be nothing. He could barely talk but managed a hilarious roar, “He’s here!”
    More laughter issued from an unseen source as Hades removed the helm of darkness from his head and gradually became discernable.
    Zeus was not amused, “Brothers, the Cyclopes fashioned our weapons for war not sport. You are ruling gods with great responsibilities. I do not care what you do in your realms, but make that the last farce in Olympus.”
    Poseidon sardonically, “Laughter, my majesty, is the most precious gift of the gods.”
    Zeus exasperated, “Our father, uncles, and cousin Monoetius have been condemned to everlasting torture in Tartarus. I spared Atlas from that gruesome pit but caused the heavens to crush the bones of that hopeless hero and leader, and I have slain our last enemy, the mortal monster Gorgô Aix. That hideous hermaphrodite goat is the most fortunate of the casualties. All that horrible punishment does not evoke a hint of a smile from me.”
    Hades remained quiet. This would be his one of his last visits to Olympus. As the newly installed ruler of the underworld including Tartarus, he would become contaminated with suffering and grief, and become an unwelcome guest in the heavens. His once neutral features had already begun to turn repugnant. Dread and malice pulsed through his spirit. No reflection of life issued from his ebony eyes. His presence in Olympus temporarily cleansed his wake of burning apathy that would permeate throughout all his other travels.
    Poseidon had reluctantly accepted Zeus’ authority but was never happy with the distribution of dominions and power. He would have preferred a Triumvirate where he and Hades shared the power with Zeus. With the help of Hades, he was fairly confident that his trident could disable the lord’s thunderbolt but those four loyal fighters that surrounded Zeus’ presence were impenetrable.
    Nonetheless, today was to be a culmination of a desperately fought war and an expression of gratitude to those siblings, children, and grandchildren of the Titans for rising up against their own patriarchs. Without them, Zeus knew that he and his brothers would be anguishing in Tartarus, that same torturous prison that he had banished the defeated Titans. He was certain that there would be no escape from that forbidden dungeon now that he had placed his ferocious fighters, the Hecatoncheires, as guardians. These multi headed, multi handed monsters had also overwhelmed the Titans with their beastly strength.
    Prometheus, among the wisest of the gods, was the only ally who would be absent from this meeting. His cunning had also secured victory for the Olympians, however his love for humans may have been greater than his loyalty to Zeus. His affections toward humans were known throughout the heavens and led some earthly historians to give him credit for creating the mortals. In addition, Prometheus was not pleased that his brothers, Atlas and Menoetius, who had sided with the Titans, were suffering the consequences. Soon after the war, before Zeus could shower praise upon him, Prometheus, in defiance, stole fire from Zeus for humans. For this and other offences, in place of rewards, he was punished and tortured more cruelly than Zeus’ enemies. He was chained to a rock on the Caucasus Mountains and tortured by a giant eagle tearing at his liver. Prometheus’ actions caused an indignant Zeus to penalize humans as well by causing them to suffer the same disgrace your current god issued in Eden. This tale of Prometheus reminded all gods to tread gingerly amongst the realm of Olympus.
    The remainder of Zeus’ small army soon filled the chamber for this last meeting. He expressed his gratitude first to the mother of his guards, “You were the first to come to my aid. I give you the singular honor of using your name for binding oaths taken by all the heavenly gods. The name Styx shall forever be revered.”
    This enchanted goddess also controlled the river separating Earth and the Underworld, and possessed the power to make one invulnerable.
    Zeus offered a respectful bow to Themis, the goddess of justice, “I regret my inability to reward you, for any gift would pale compared to your mystic ability to foretell the future.”
    This was an undeniable truth for she revealed to Zeus hints of her premonition of the fall of the Titans and, later, the defeat of the Gigantes. As one of his early brides, she was to bore him six daughters, the three Horae and the three Morae, who would amaze Zeus with their special powers.
    He invited the powerful and stubborn giant Cyclopes to settle upon Mount Olympus to forge new weapons and, most importantly, build the gates to Mount Olympus where Zeus’ family and friends would reside.
    Themis spoke to Zeus first, “My lord, you have fought a magnificent battle and saved your generation and all future inhabitants of Olympus from the oppression of my brothers. Yet, there are strong indications this peaceful period will be brief.”
    Zeus stunned, “What! What is our future? Can we prepare for it? When will peace end? Help us. Tell us more.”
    “There is nothing more I know. An anger fills the aether.”
    Zeus, with a shrewd grin, “Ha, probably issued from Tartarus and the Caucasus.”
    “No! Screams of agony come from those worlds.” Themis gave a glimpse toward Poseidon, “The anger hangs above Olympus in the heavens and falls like rain to the sea.”
    Poseidon could not meet her eyes.
    Styx reassured the group, “We have taken down the Titans, the most powerful gods in the heavens. There are no others who can hurt us.”
    Nike interjected, “Yes mother. We will protect our lord and Olympus from all forces.”
    Her siblings nodded and mumbled affirmatively.
    Arges, the most outspoken of the Cyclopes, couldn’t hide his knowledge, “My mother is made unhappy. Her first born sons suffer in Tartarus.”
    Poseidon was relieved that the focus turned from Themis to Arges.
    Zeus peered deeply into the one eye in each of the brother Cyclopes. He discerned nothing from those large vacuous pupils. “Is this true? What will she do? I envisioned her happiness when I released you and the Hecatoncheires from Tartarus. Cronus must suffer for violating my brothers and sisters.”
    “We do not know,” Arges retorted, “She can not rejoice for our freedom in the heavens while her first children anguish in our place. She does not care about right or wrong. Gaia will never be happy until all her children are liberated, especially Cronus, her baby.”
    “Do you know what her plans are to free them?”
    “No, we do not know any more than Themis.”
    With the meeting over and the chamber emptied, Zeus looked to Metis.
    She warned, “Victory has become a burden. You have a great ally in Themis. If she had not spoken, you would be ignorant of the threats. The others are in fear of you. Trust only Styx and her children.”
    Zeus reflected upon all the allies that had visited his chamber. He thought of Prometheus’ treachery and wondered, More traitors?

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