Netflix’s Kaos is a retelling of Greek myth in the modern world. Created by Charlie Covell, Kaos stars Jeff Goldblum as a paranoid and self-obsessed Zeus facing the possibility of his dominance from Mount Olympus coming to an end. Kaos, described by Goldblum as “a magic carpet to disaster,” shares the screen with the likes of Janet McTeer as Hera, Cliff Curtis as Poseidon, and Nabhaan Rizwan as Dionysus — deities in league with Prometheus (Stephen Dillane) to bring him down.
Covell developed Kaos out of his fascination with man’s constant return to Greek mythology. Covell draws heavily on the ancient tales but does so with a higher level of accessibility for contemporary audiences. As a result, Kaos is full of extremely subtle nods to Greek myth and more blatant and entertaining direct references to classical works woven together to make the show both fun and moving.
What Kaos gets right about Greek myth holds a lot of secrets about how Covell used his sources. Zeus’s sexual activities, Greek beliefs about the afterlife, and the tenuous struggle to remain in control as seen in Kaos are pulled directly — and indirectly — from ancient stories.
Zeus of Greek Myth Did Impregnate a Lot of People
In this latest retelling of the Olympian gods, Jeff Goldblum’s masterful portrayal of Zeus as a paranoid deity highlights the tenuous position a figure in power feels. For Zeus in Kaos, his relationship with his family is just as laden with fear and anxiety as how humanity regards him. Zeus’s children are especially troublesome and, when Dionysus appears to give his father a gift, the King of the Gods is reminded that none of his children like him — and that he doesn’t like any of them either.
Zeus didn’t exercise his selfish sexual ways in god form and regularly disguised himself. For starters, he appeared to Leda as a swan, to Europa as a bull, and to Danae as a gold shower. In Greek mythology, these efforts produced children like Helen of Troy, King Minos of Crete, and Perseus — familiar names for fans of on-screen adaptations of Greek myth, including Kaos.
Hera was openly antagonistic to Dionysus in Kaos, something that echoed her treatment of her brother-husband’s children in Greek myth. There are differences in how Hera punished Dionysus’s mother in the ancient tellings of their story, however. Hera didn’t turn Dionysus’s mother, Semele, into a bee, but gave her a much more tragic end. Hera tricked Semele into asking Zeus to appear to her in the same form he took with his wife:
“Zeus, unable to refuse her, arrived in her bridal chamber in a chariot with lightning flashes and thunder, and sent a thunderbolt at her. Semele died of fright, and Zeus grabbed from the fire her sixth-month aborted baby, which he sewed into his thigh.”
Zeus later undid the stitches and Dionysus was born.
Getting to the Afterlife Was as Challenging as Kaos Makes It Look
When Riddy dies, a coin is placed in her mouth to ensure payment for passage to the afterlife or, on Kaos, through the frame. As she attempts to cross from the land of the living to the land of the dead, she’s told she can’t because her husband, Orpheus, took the coin before she was buried. As a result, she’s given 200 years of hard labor as a punishment.
The coin, called Charon’s Obol, was for payment to Charon, the ferryman on the River Acheron [or the River Styx, according to Roman authors]. Without a coin, an individual was buried improperly and, according to Virgil’s Aeneid, fated to “haunt this place for a hundred years before he’s allowed to revisit the longed-for stream at last.”
The coin isn’t the only part of the underworld Kaos got right. Caeneus’s three-headed dog, Fotis, is a Cerebus. In Greek myth, there was only one Cerebus, a gnarly beast referred to as the Hound of Hades or the Hell-Hound. Cerebus had “a serpent for a tail and along his back the heads of all kinds of snakes.” Hesiod described his duties in his Theogony:
“As people go in he fawns on all, with actions of his tail and both ears, but he will not let them go back out, but lies in wait for them and eats them up, when he catches any going back through the gates.”
Prometheus Is Key to the Mythological Prophecy About Zeus’ Downfall, Too
At the heart of Kaos is the prophecy about Zeus’ rule coming to an end, “A line appears, the order wanes, the Family falls, and Kaos reigns.” Introduced from the outset by Prometheus, the prediction causes Zeus to become increasingly paranoid. When Zeus asks Prometheus about the validity of the prophecy, the cliff-bound god lies to him while informing onlookers that it is, in fact, unfolding before their eyes.
In Prometheus Bound by Greek playwright Aeschylus, Prometheus holds the key to Zeus’ undoing — and to his salvation. Zeus restrains Prometheus “with inextricable bonds, cruel chains, and drove a shaft through his middle, and set on him a long-winged eagle, which used to eat his immortal liver.” Prometheus’ offense, giving fire to mortals to better their lives, was seen as a betrayal by Zeus.
While on that cliff, Prometheus predicted, “Truly the day shall come when, although I am tortured in stubborn fetters, the prince of the blessed [Zeus] will need me to reveal the new design whereby he shall be stripped of his sceptre and his dignities.” Prometheus is referring to the identity of the goddess who will bear the son fated to overthrow Zeus. The king of the gods does take steps to keep this from happening. When he learns that Thetis, one of his lovers, is destined to birth a son more powerful than his father, he marries her off to a mortal.
Zeus also discovers that his lover and advisor, Metis, is preordained to do the same thing. Events unfold very differently in this instance, however. After Metis became pregnant, Zeus swallowed her, later giving their child “birth by way of his head.” That child was the goddess Athena.
