Incest in Greek MythologyIncest in Greek mythology was a common occurrence. Part of the reason is that the gods themselves set the example, and since everything that happened in society was the result of the passion of the gods, this naturally gave the characters in Greek plays the opportunity to desire their own children as well. and relatives. While the story of Oedipus the King is a seminal work on the subject, Greek mythology is full of incestuous relationships. Gods who inspired love-hate relationships between families include Hermes, who used his magical use of language to lure his brother Apollo's feelings from jealousy to love. Hermes' reward was divination, and he became the god who protected travelers, symbolized by the crossroads or choices made. Sarah Harrell states that the Hermes crossroads includes the crossroads into sexuality, characterized by the love the brothers have developed for each other. Although this love is often seen as familial and positive, Harrell invokes the retelling of Homer's Hymn to Hermes where threats of domination can be seen in terms of sexual innuendo (Harrell 309). Indeed, Harrell compares the actions of Apollo and Hermes to those of Zeus and his brother Poseidon, the rulers and progenitors of Earth. Therefore, these fraternal bonds, based on loving relationships between brothers, begin with Zeus and Poseidon, thus extending the same kind of familiarity to all brothers in the world. As further evidence of incest and Zeus' contribution to the image in Greek mythology is the story of Chiron, born from the union between Zeus and Ixion, son of Ares (Sharman-Burke and Greene 33). Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera......middle of paper......Penguin Books, 1975).Euripides. Three great plays by Euripides. Trans. By RexWarner. (New York NY: Mentor Book, The New American Library, 1958). Green, Janet M.. "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles, The Explicator, vol. 52 no. 1. (1993): Autumn, p. 2-3.Harrell, Sarah E. “Apollo's Brotherly Threats: Language of Succession and Domination in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes.” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, vol. 32 no. 4. (1991): Winter, pp. 307(23). Luyster, Robert. "Dionysus: the masks of madness." Parable, vol. 20 no. 4. (1995): Winter, pp. 43(6).Plato. Plato's Great Dialogues. Ed. by John Clive Graves Rouse. (New York NY: The New American Library, Inc., 1956). Sharman-Burke, Juliet and Greene, Liz. The mythical. (New York NY: Fireside Books, 1986). Watney, Simon. "Aphrodite of the future." Artforum, vol. 32 no. 8. (1994): April, pp. 75(3).