In Greek mythology, Tartarus was considered to be a part of the Greek underworld called Hades. It was a sunless abyss below Hades in which Zeus was said to have imprisoned the Titans. The Titans were the children of Uranus (father-heaven) and Gaea (mother-earth) and their descendants were actually the personification of the violence of the physical world (earthquakes and volcanoes). They were extremely violent creatures in the ancient world. They were so powerful and strong that they were considered to be gods by the Greeks, but in reality, they are various groups of demons. According to Greek mythology, individuals who rejected and angered the Greek gods had to go to Tartarus to be ruled by the gods there.
To understand something about the time in which Noah lived and became a mature believer, it is important to note some of the history regarding Greek mythology. Some of the most popular events in Greek mythology were the Titan wars, battles that took place in the ancient world between the children of Uranus (heaven) and Gaea (earth). Uranus and Gaea had three categories of children: 1) The Titans are the personification of the convulsions of the physical world; e.g., volcanoes and earthquakes, these were the great and violent creatures already mentioned. 2) Children that were called Cyclops, they were one-eyed giants, and in the Greek are called Arges, Brontes, and Steropes. 3) Children that are called the hundred-handed monsters, also composed of three beings. These were also what GEN 6:4 calls the Nephilim and the Mighty men of renown. Uranus, their father, feared the hundred-handed monsters, so he put them in Tartarus. Their mother, Gaea, was indignant, and called on her older children, the Titans, for help, but only one would; he was called Chronos, meaning time or chronology. Chronos attacked his father and became the ruler of heaven and earth, and from this came the core of demons which are called sons of the gods. Chronos married his sister Rhea, and they had six children, three boys and three girls. The girls were named Vesta, Series, and Juno, the boys were called Pluto (Hades), Neptune, and Jupiter (Zeus). Zeus was considered the chief deity of the pantheon, a sky and weather god, who was identical with the Roman god Jupiter. Zeus was regarded as the father, ruler and protector of both gods and men. In fact, Zeus is mentioned in Act 14, a verse that has as its background the story of a young couple in love, Bacchus and Philemon, who were supposedly turned into two trees in front of the temple to Zeus because of their love for each other. ACT 14:8-15 And at Lystra there was sitting a certain man, without strength in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked. This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze upon him, and had seen that he had faith to be made well, said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he leaped up and {began} to walk. And when the multitudes saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us. And they {began} calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes [known as a messenger of the gods], because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose {temple} was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.” Notice that even in the early church the belief in the sons of the gods was prevalent). |
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