The World of the Gods

On Mount Olympus, at the center of the world, Zeus, king of the gods, gripped his thunderbolt spear and gazed upon the realms with a smile. The gods stood like a forest before him. In the silver hall of the north, Odin sat upon the highest throne, holding the spear of the heavens as he looked down upon the world. Endless snowstorms filled his eyes. By the Nile in the south, Amun-Ra, at the helm of the solar barque, turned his gaze toward the Aegean Sea. Mountains of bones lay beneath his feet. In the land between the two rivers, Marduk, king of kings, looked west across the world. His Hero King, Gilgamesh, carried the divine oracle on his expedition to Greece, his warships stretching across the sea. At Plato’s Academy, a young man named Su Ye climbed the mountains and reached the summit.