Word: cronus
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Graves's short sheaf of stories tells the principal doings of the Olympians from the time Zeus seized power from Cronus (Saturn), son of Mother Earth, to the end of their reign. The author sets this date neatly at A.D. 363, the year in which the last Roman emperor to believe in the Olympians, Julian of Constantinople, was killed in battle. There are a lot of gods to discuss, and the result is that such notable heroes as Achilles and Ajax are ignored, and Odysseus, Paris and Helen are merely mentioned...
...less than respect; Zeus is a blowhard who hardly ever means what he says, and Hera, his wife, might be a garden-club president. When Zeus, who favors the Trojans, remarks that Hera protects the Greeks as if they were her own bastards, she replies pertly: "Revered Son of Cronus, what a thing to say!" Cartoonist Ronald Searle's illustrations wittily support Graves's wry treatment of the Olympians. Whether or not Graves's Iliad will endure as a satire, it is certainly the most charming translation in English since Pope's, and may also...