Personal and Professional Development Assignment - 7

Personal and Professional Development - Assignment Example From this study it is clear that  the most common approaches to self-managed learning include workshops, seminars and conferences, social networks, internet, and in-service trainings. It is possible to learn through seminars, conferences and workshops because people use these forums for expressing their experiences and finding new ways of making changes for the future. Seminars, workshops, and conferences are effective in self-managed learning because they provide participants with opportunities for presenting their knowledge about various aspects to other people, who also learn new things from them.This essay declares that social networks provide additional forums for self-managed learning. Social networks include Facebook, Twitter, and My Year Book. People spend time chatting with friends and learning new inventions and information from others through their posts. The internet contains several articles written by various authors and on a variety of subjects, including accounting, management, economics, and marketing. The internet provides the most convenient source of information; knowledge from the internet learners can be transfer and put to practical applications at their workplaces. In-service trainings constitutes learning programs organizations plan, develop and administer to their employees. These programs are effective in self-managed learning because they are provided by the organization that exactly understands its needs and skill requirements.   Ã‚  

Andrea Jung Ceo of Avon Essay Example for Free

Andrea Jung Ceo of Avon Essay Andrea Jung CEO of Avon By: Theresa Bell Andrea Jung CEO of Avon Abstract Andrea Jung has had many executive positions during her career as a vice president, merchandising manager, general merchandising manager, senior vice president and general merchandising manager, executive vice president and is now Avons CEO, a Fortune 500 company, and has been for almost the last decade. She is Avons first female CEO since it began in 1886. Andrea Jung has introduced new technology to the company and a new line of make-up. The cosmetics are now being sold in 143 different countries brining its profits up 41%. She gave Avon a revamp when she took over gaining trust, reliability, and gaining a competitive advantage over their competitors. She used a low-cost business-level strategy to gain the advantage over the competitors. The way Avon sales their product has not changed it still sales product by a door to door method, but they used new technology to go worldwide making the company more profitable. In 2011 Avon profit has dropped 18% making stakeholders question Andrea Jungs business-style management skill today. Avon needs a new plan inorder to gain the advantage over their competitors and this leads the stakeholders to question Andrea Jungs focus on management. Theresa Bell Keiser University Ron Phillips/Principles of Management December 6, 2011 Andrea Jung CEO of Avon From the start, Avon embraced the revolutionary concept of women’s economic empowerment, and this continues to be the driving force for Avon. Building on this rich heritage is Avon’s broader commitment to corporate responsibility and the company’s role as a global citizen. Added to the core commitment to women are two additional pillars of Avon corporate citizenship: philanthropy and environmental stewardship, supported by policies and programs across the companys entire business enterprise to ensure that Avon holds true to its mission and vision. (http://www. avoncompany. com/corporatecitizenship/corporateresponsibility/index. html) Andrea Jung is the Chairman and CEO of Avon and has been for almost a decade, in 2005 she ranked number 5 in the top 50 most powerful women at the age of 48 years old (http://money. nn. com/popups/2006/fortune/mostpowerfulwomen/7. html ). Andrea Jung took over as CEO, after Charles Perrin had problems within the company serving as its CEO for only two years. In 1999, Jung took over as CEO becoming Avons first female CEO since the company began in 1886. Since Jung has taken over as CEO, Avon has gone internationally selling worldwide, instead of just being sold to American women. Jung started a new line of make-up directed at teenage girls and college-age women to build Avons revenue and to gain younger customers. In doing this Jung has taken Avon in a different direction, Avon is now being sold in 143 countries, women selling directly to buyers, and selling worldwide this has brought more business into the company making it a more profitable company. Since Jung started selling worldwide nearly 40 percent of sales are from South and Central America. (http://www. notablebiographies. com/supp/Supplement-Fl-Ka/Jung-Andrea. html). Avon is now being sold in Mexico, Russia, and Canada, taking the company into a more competitive market. Jung has brought technology into the company focusing on the product sold to gain an advantage over their competitors. In her first five years as CEO, Andrea Jung gave Avon a badly needed facelift. Revenues rose from $5. 3 billion to $7. 7 billion, and profits nearly tripled The business style she used was low cost. Avon had taken the advantage over their competitors when Jung took over as CEO in 1999. Jung was responsible for the profits almost tripling using her business style of management. Today Andrea Jung is under fire by the stakeholders due to a drop in sales. Avons sales have dropped by 18% leaving them to question Jungs business management style. The company is in need of a turn around plan to gain the advantage over their competitors. The company is under two different investigations to find out if the company bribed officials overseas from Latin, and China. Jung is working on a long-term plan to fix the problems that the company is suffering from today. http://www. appleinsider. com/articles/11/10/28/apple_board_member_andrea_jung_facing_scrutiny_at_avon. html   http://www. avoncompany. com/corporatecitizenship/corporateresponsibility/index. html   http://money. cnn. com/popups/2006/fortune/mostpowerfulwomen/7. html http://www. notablebiographies. com/supp/Supplement-Fl-Ka/Jung-Andrea. html   http://www. appleinsider. com/articles/11/10/28/apple_board_member_andrea_jung_facing_scrutiny_at_avon. html.

Essay on Hector as the Ideal Homeric Man of Homers Iliad

Hector as the Ideal Homeric Man of Homer's Iliad        Ã‚  Ã‚   Homer's Iliad enthralls readers with its’ valiant heroes who fight for the glory of Greece. The Iliad, however, is not just a story of war; it is also a story of individuals. Through the characters' words and actions, Homer paints portraits of petulant Achilles and vain Agamemnon, doomed Paris and Helen, loyal Patroclus, tragic Priam, versatile Odysseus, and the whole cast of Gods. Ironically, the most complete character in the epic is Hector, enemy hero, and Prince of Troy. Hector is in many ways the ideal Homeric man: he is a man of compassion and piety, a man of integrity and bravery, a man who loves his family, and above all, a man who understands and fulfills his social obligations under the stringent rules of the heroic code.    Hector, returning to the city from a series of ferocious setbacks at the hands of the Acheans, is introduced as a man of compassion and piety. His behavior as a hero and as a son is markedly different from the behavior exhibited by Agamemnon and Achilles. When he enters the Scaean Gates, he is immediately surrounded by "the wives and daughters of Troy...asking about their sons, brothers, friends and husbands" (VI, 150-151). The very fact that the women approach Hector, intimidating as he must be in his bloodstained armor, is revealing. Up to this point, the women in the story have been silent victims of the raging tempers of the men around them. In contrast, the women of Troy display confidence in Hector's character by approaching him without fear. Though he himself is exhausted and discouraged, Hector patiently responds to the anguished women, demonstrating the compassion he feels for his fighting men and their families. So many ... ...ties serve as a foil against the cruelty, arrogance, and self-indulgence that cripples some of the other heroes in the Iliad. To the Greeks of Homer's time, Hector stands out as a symbol of what might have been... and a model for what could be.    Works Cited and Consulted: Clarke, Howard. Homer's Readers: A Historical Introduction to the Iliad and the Odyssey. Newark, Del.: University of Delaware Press, 1981. Goodrich, Norma. Myths of the hero. New York: Orion Press, 1962. Homer: Iliad. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin Books, 1990. Nagy, Gregory. Concepts of the Greek Hero. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979. Richardson, Nicholas. The Iliad : A Commentary. Vol. VI: books 21-24. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1993. Segal, Charles. Heroes and Gods in the Odyssey. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994.   

Analysis of “You may turn over and begin” by Simon Armitage

â€Å"You may turn over and begin† is an interior monologue of a person who is sitting an exam, seemingly on the subject of General Studies. The title itself lends itself well to this theme as â€Å"you may turn over and begin† are the words an exam invigilator says as an exam begins. The poem follows the thoughts of the speaker who may or may not be Armitage himself as he sits the exam whilst musing over exam questions and other things that enter the speakers thoughts when he has finished the paper. The first line of the poem could be said to be the title itself as it directly links to the first line of the main body of the poem. While the title is said by someone else the remainder of the poem is the thoughts of the speaker, the fact that it is someone's thoughts is reinforced by the seemingly random train of thought and the subjects themselves which are personal in nature- i.e. the speakers thoughts on â€Å"milk white breasts and†¦ virginity† in lines 12 and 13. The questions themselves are not typical of a general studies exam and are seemingly random, much like thought processes often are, though reference to â€Å"the decameron† could be linked to the adolescent and hormonal thoughts of lines 12 and 13. Armitage's reputation for representing and understanding youth culture is highlighted by his reference to the general studies exam as â€Å"..a doddle, a cinch for anyone with an ounce of common sense† in lines 6 and 7. This concept of general stud ies remains true today while the speaker's insight on the use of â€Å"†¦a calculator with a memory feature† to cheat shows the writer's comprehension of such things. Lines 10 and 11 reinforce the idea of general studies being an unimportant exam as the speaker neglects to check the work, instead choosing to let the mind wander. The next few couplets reflect on the injustice of male/female relations at that age whereby the boys are in a frenzied hormonal state while the girls remain untouchable â€Å"long and cool†¦out of reach†. Use of imagery is evident as mention of the â€Å"†¦the heat† in line 14 points to enforced sexual repression on the part of men that age, while â€Å"†¦long and cool like cocktails† indicates the heightened maturity of women (though referred to as girls by the speaker) at that age. There is further imagery shown by the lines describing â€Å"†¦their buns and pigtails only let out for older guys† which makes the link between the exertion of control evident in those hairstyles, which in turn is relaxed for older men. This is a metaphorical representation of sexual control. As is common with thought patterns the subject suddenly changes in line 20 where the speaker reminisces on an occasion when the cold control of teenage girls is lost as a â€Å"jot of consolation†. The following couplets detail a comical situation which dispels some of the faà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ade the speaker has built up about teenage girls. Lines 24-27 detail the girl primping herself but 28 and 29 tell of the motorbike pulling away, it is a typical of a story which would circulate around a college and the speaker reinforces this in line 30, referring to it as a â€Å"†¦rumour†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . The final line answers the first question posed by the exam paper and once again follows the theme of random thoughts as the answer just pops up, much as it would into one's mind. It may also be noted of this poem that, due to strong allusions to the fact, that it is Armitage or at least a male who is writing this, though there are no specific mentions of the speakers sexuality, merely re ferring to his/herself in the first person ‘I'. The structure of the poem is both random and yet structured. The lines are set out in 16 couplets (possibly a connection to the age of the speaker at time). Enjambment is evident in how the lines straddle separate couplets which connotes the theme of random thoughts without structure or regulated progress. The metre itself also reflects this with a seemingly random variance in syllables which reflects the fairly random process of thought. While the majority of the lines within a couplet hold a similar metre (lines 1-2 with a 8 and 9 syllables respectively etc) one couplet that does stand out as breaking that mould that of lines 12 and 13. Line 12 has 14 syllables while 13 has 4 with â€Å"virginity†. The separation of the word from the others and putting it on its own both represents the importance of the subject to adolescent males while also possibly representing the speakers embarrassment about the subject. The use of couplets serves to create a slow methodical rhythm in the poem. Coupled with this, examples of unstressed and stressed syllables within the couplet rhyme create a sense of the multiple choice nature of the paper the speaker is sitting. This is particularly evident in the first and second couplet. The rhythm is fairly structured when read aloud, this is compounded by use of strong para-rhyme- e.g. â€Å"..specifically/virginity†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , â€Å"†¦Honda/amber†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . The absence of a strict rhyme scheme or metre is in keeping with the unsystematic nature of the thoughts of a person, though it must be noted that there is some structure to the poem as there is in some sections of the monologue of the speaker. An example of this is line 20 â€Å"One jot of consolation† which seems an unlikely sentence to actually think, though it does serve to create a division in the speaker's thoughts on lusting after girls from the story about the â€Å"†¦spind ly girl riding pillion†. Armitage is very much perceived as being of the ‘poetry is the new rock and roll' era so it is not surprising that much of the vernacular and thoughts are akin to that which people of the college age. As is true of many contemporary poets the use of brands is evident â€Å"†¦her man's new Honda† while much of the lexis, as previously mentioned, is colloquial, I.e. â€Å"†¦a doddle, a cinch†. Particular attention is made to the appearance of the girl in lines 24 to 27 with pre modification evident, â€Å"†¦her tight jeans† which continues the theme of a hormonal teenager lusting after girls. The poem itself is a mixture of teen angst and comedy. We can assume that Armitage writes this poem from personal experience as most men can identify with the thoughts of the speaker, while everyone who has taken the general studies exams will identify with the speakers opinion on it as a bit of a waste of time. As a male I can sympathise with the speaker while a female reading this would be, in my opinion, more likely to focus on the comedy aspect of the poem rather than the hormonal maelstrom that is shown in the first half of the poem. While the structure, rhythm and lexis all support the context of the poem it may be said that while the theme of random thought is well presented there are sections which detract from the success of the attempt to achieve this theme. This mainly manifests itself in the ordered nature of some of the narration and use of simile (â€Å"long and cool like cocktails†) which is not a realistic thought. Despite this the devices used combine to good effect in this perception which is very easy to identify with.

Accounting Made Essay

Managerial Accounting refers to the accumulation and preparation of financial reports for internal users only (e. g. management). Managerial Accounting includes all manipulations of financial information for use by managers in performing their specified organizational functions and additionally in ensuring the proper used and handling of an entity’s resources. â€Å"It is the internal business building role of accounting and finance professionals who work inside organizations. These professionals are involved in designing and evaluating business processes, budgeting and forecasting, implementing and monitoring internal controls and analyzing, synthesizing, and aggregation information – to help drive economic value† (IMA). Financial Accounting vs. Managerial Accounting Financial Accounting is primarily concerned with the recording of business transactions and the eventual preparation of financial statements. See more: The Issues Concerning Identity Theft Essay Its purpose is to record the transactions carried out by an organization, principally companies with their environment, in order to summarize at regular intervals their financial position and assets, as well as the net profit or loss on operations. Financial accounting focuses on general purpose reports known as financial statements intended for internal and external users and is subject to reporting according to GAAP (e. g. accrual method of accounting). This financial information is generally for the public, as required by law, and consists of a summary of the company’s past transactions. These all-purpose reports with historical date are prepared for use of different parties and the presentation of the financial statements are done formally, and are still useful even if submitted late. The nature of accounting information is monetary and reports the about the company as a whole. On the other hand, Managerial Accounting is responsible to a lesser degree of financial statement presentations to external users because their reports, which are usually confidential, are primarily for internal purposes or users. Also, it is not subject to reporting according to GAAP (e. g. ash basis). The reports have a strong future orientation, due to the fact that these are used to forecast the company’s health. These, not being required by law, may also be presented informally and timeliness of report is often more important than precision or accuracy and are for specific users only. The nature of its accounting information is both monetary and non-monetary and reports only parts or segments of the company. Other sources refer to Management Accounting as similar to Cost Accounting. However, Cost Accounting is only a subset of both financial and management accounting. This is because management involves many decisions based upon cost information. Accurate product costs must be determined according to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and according to decision relevance for internal purposes. Accounting Basics Accounting standards are needed so that an establishment’s financial statements with fairly and consistently describe its financial performance. Without these vital standards, comparisons and evaluations between companies will be quite difficult since financial statements will be based on individual company accounting rules. The activities that are part of managerial accounting include: (a) explaining manufacturing and non-manufacturing costs and how they are reported in the financial statements; (b) computing the cost of rendering a service or manufacturing a product; (c) determining the behavior of costs and expenses as activity levels change and analyzing cost-volume-profit relationships within a company; (d) assisting management in profit planning and formalizing the plans in the form of budgets; (e) providing a basis for controlling costs and expenses by comparing actual results with planned objectives and standard costs; and (f) accumulating and using relevant data for management decision making. Ethical Standards Managerial accountants recognize that they have an ethical obligation to their companies and the public. The IMA has developed a code of ethical standards entitled Standards of Ethical Conduct for Management Accountants. This code divides the managerial accountant’s responsibilities into four aspects: competence, confidentiality, integrity, and objectivity. Competence includes performing duties in accordance with laws, regulations and the like and preparing complete and clear reports and recommendations. Confidentiality refers to refraining from disclosing confidential information and from using or appearing to use confidential information for unethical or illegal advantage. Integrity involves refusing gifts or favors, recognizing and communicating professional limitations, active or passive subversion of the company’s attainment of objectives, communicating both favorable and unfavorable information, and refraining from activities that would discredit the profession. Lastly, objectivity refers to communicating information fairly and objectively and disclosing fully all relevant information that could influence a decision. Management functions involve performing three broad functions, namely planning, directing and motivating, and controlling. Planning requires the management to look ahead and establish their objectives or goals as a company, keeping in mind that these objectives add value to the business under its control. Directing and motivating involves coordinating diverse activities and human resources to produce a smooth-running operation. Controlling, on the other hand, is the process of keeping the form’s activities on track. In controlling operations, management determines whether planned goals are being met and what changes are necessary when there are deviations from targeted objectives, All these management functions become the foundation for the cause of applying management accounting. To be able to properly account for the success or failure of the business, accounting processes are used and standards are imposed. Ultimately, the purpose or goal is to objectively assess the performance of a corporation to be able to help forecast its future health.

Objectification and Humanization Essays - Sexualization, Free Essays

Objectification and Humanization Essays - Sexualization, Free Essays Objectification and Humanization People in almost every developed country and culture on earth have attained unprecedented levels of personal freedom and equality to their fellow human beings. Of course, people did not suddenly start enjoying this relative freedom and equality at the turn of the 21st century. It took centuries of social movements, hundreds of poignant social thinkers, and a countless number of social activists to get from a social structure of nobility and peasants to the equal opportunity we enjoy now. The majority of soc ial problems that people have faced over the centuries, from slavery to gender and race inequality, have fallen under the overarching problem of objectification. Objectification itself is fairly simple concept, but the many problems that stem from objectif ication are what are so complex and problematic. Although objectification of people is primarily negative and harmful to society, people can have positive experiences with objectification. Finally, while the object ification of people is dwindling, there ar e still ways to diminish its presence in everyday life, especially with resocialization as Simone de Beauvoir recommends. Before any discussion of objectification can be conducted, it must be clearly defined. It is the treatment of a person as an object. For instance, before putting on a shirt, one doesn't politely ask the shirt if they can stick their arms into it. In fact, one doesn't even ask permission from a dog to pet it; they ask the owner. Why would the dog mind? It's just an animal after all. Howe ver, it is unacceptable to touch a stranger or even an acquaintance, forget pet them, before asking them. This is because of respect we have for someone's personhood. When we objectify someone, we strip them of their personhood. For instance, one doesn't a sk an apple or a prostitute about their opinions on local government policies, but this would be a casual conversation topic for conversation between two people. The apple is incapable of forming opinions, and a prostitute may as well not have opinions whi le he or she is on the job. Of course, objectification is not treating someone li ke they are actually a shirt or an apple. It is more like stripping an individual of their humanitytheir emotions, thoughts, feelings, and intellectin favor of focusing on a small aspect of them. This one aspect can vary quite a bit. In the case of the prostitute, their physical appearance and sexuality have been objectified. Those aspects are all that matter to their clients. In fact, service people of all types are objec tified, especially menial positions like a cashier. One could argue that it is, if fact, objectifying to just use a cashier as a means to buy goods. That may be true, but it is not where the negative consequences of objectification come from. Instead, cash iers are often seen and treated like vending machines. When a vending machine doesn't dispense the bag of chips that you paid for, it is acceptable to get frustrated with it, maybe shake it or kick it to try to make the bag of chips fall. Although it is no t necessarily acceptable, it is common that cashiers will get treated in similar ways. Cashiers can expect to be yelled at at some point over the course of their career if, for instance, the fries aren't coming out fast enough, or if they can't let a custo mer return shirts without a receipt, or if the food doesn't taste good enough, even though all of these things are outside of their control. This is because c ashiers have been objectified. To their customers, all they are is a face that says, "Hello, may I take you order?", "That will be $5.50," and then eventually gives them their food. It's easy for customers to forget that the cashier is more than a machine, so it's unfortunately quite easy for a customer to treat the cashier like machine. The main reper cussion of treating service people in this way is that it is very emotionally stressful for the worker. It is not uncommon for cashiers and other service people to spend their breaks crying in the back of the store because of how cruelly

Birth of the Olympian Gods and Goddesses

Birth of the Olympian Gods and Goddesses How did the world start according to your worldview? Was there a sudden cosmic spark emerging from nowhere? Did life then emerge from some sort of almost living form? Did a supreme being create the world in seven days and form the first woman from the rib of the first (male) human? Was there a great swirling chaos from which emerged a frost giant and a salt-licking cow? A cosmic egg? Greek mythology contains creation stories that are very different from either the familiar story of Adam and Eve or the Big Bang. In Greek myths about the early world, themes of parental treachery alternate with tales of filial betrayal. Youll also find love and loyalty. There are all the essentials of good plot lines. Birth and cosmic creation are linked. Mountains and other physical parts of the world are born through procreation. Granted, it is procreation between things that we dont think of as procreating, but this is an ancient version and part of the ancient mythological worldview.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1. Parental Treachery: In Generation 1, the sky (Uranus), who is seemingly without any love at all for his offspring (or maybe he just wants his wife all to himself), hides his children inside his wife, Mother Earth (Gaia).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2. Filial Betrayal: In Generation 2, the Titan father (Cronus) swallows his children, the newborn Olympians. In Generation 3, the Olympic gods and goddesses have learned from the examples of their ancestors, so there is more parental treachery:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Zeus swallows one mate and sews the soon-to-be born offspring of another inside himself after he kills the mother.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hera, the wife of Zeus, creates a god without a mate, but even he isnt safe from his parents, for Hera (or Zeus) hurls her son from Mt. Olympus. 1st Generation Generation implies a coming into being, so that which was there from the beginning is not and cannot be generated. What has always been there, whether it be a god or a primeval force (here, Chaos), is not the first generation. If for convenience, it requires a number, it can be referred to as Generation Zero. Even the first generation here gets a bit tricky if examined too closely since it could be said to cover 3 generations, but thats not terribly relevant for this look at parents (particularly, fathers) and their treacherous relations with their children. According to some versions of Greek mythology, at the beginning of the universe, there was Chaos. Chaos was all alone [Hesiod Theog. l.116], but soon Gaia (Earth) appeared. Without the benefit of a sexual partner, Gaia gave birth to Uranus (Sky) to provide covering and father half-siblings. With Uranus serving as the father, mother Gaia gave birth to the 50-headed Hecatonchiresthe Cyclopes (Cyclops)the 12 Titans 2nd Generation Eventually, the 12 Titans paired off, male and female: Cronus and RheaIapetus and ThemisOceanus and TethysHyperion and TheiaCrius and MnemosyneCoeus and Phoebe They produced rivers and springs, second generation Titans, Atlas and Prometheus, moon (Selene), sun (Helios), and many others. Much earlier, before the Titans had paired off, their father, Uranus, who was hateful and rightly fearful that one of his sons might overthrow him, shut all his children inside his wife, their Mother Earth (Gaia). And he used to hide them all away in a secret place of Earth so soon as each was born, and would not suffer them to come up into the light: and Heaven rejoiced in his evil doing. But vast Earth groaned within, being straitened, and she made the element of grey flint and shaped a great sickle, and told her plan to her dear sons. - Hesiod Theogony, which is all about the generation of gods. Another version comes from 1.1.4 Apollodorus*, who says Gaia was angry because Uranus had thrown his first children, the Cyclopes, into Tartarus. [See, I told you there was love; here, maternal.] At any rate, Gaia was angry with her husband for imprisoning their children either within her or in Tartarus, and she wanted her children released. Cronus, the dutiful son, agreed to do the dirty work: he used that flint sickle to castrate his father, rendering him impotent (without power). 3rd Generation Then the Titan Cronus, with his sister Rhea as a wife, sired six children. These were the Olympic gods and goddesses: HestiaHeraDemeterPoseidonHadesZeus Cursed by his father (Uranus), the Titan Cronus was afraid of his own children. After all, he knew how violent he had been towards his father. He knew better than to repeat the mistakes his father had made in leaving himself vulnerable, so instead of imprisoning his children in his wifes body (or Tartarus), Cronus swallowed them. Like her mother Earth (Gaia) before her, Rhea wanted her children to be free. With the help of her parents (Uranus and Gaia), she figured out how to defeat her husband. When it was time to give birth to Zeus, Rhea did it in secret. Cronus knew she was due and asked for the new baby to swallow. Instead of feeding him Zeus, Rhea substituted a stone. (No one said the Titans were intellectual giants.) Zeus matured safely until he was old enough to force his father to regurgitate his five siblings (Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia). As G.S. Kirk points out in The Nature of Greek Myths, with the oral rebirth of his brothers and sisters, Zeus, once the youngest, became the oldest. At any rate, even if the regurgitation-reversal doesnt persuade you that Zeus could claim to be the oldest, he became the leader of the gods on snow-capped Mt. Olympus. 4th Generation Zeus, a first generation Olympian (although in the third generation since the creation), was father to the following second generation Olympians, put together from various accounts: AthenaAphroditeAresApolloArtemisDionysusHermesHephaestusPersephone The list of Olympians contains 12 gods and goddesses, but their identities vary. Hestia and Demeter, entitled to spots on Olympus, sometimes surrender their seats. Parents of Aphrodite and Hephaestus Although they may have been Zeus children, the lineage of 2 second-generation Olympians is in question: Some claim Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty) sprang from the foam and severed genitals of Uranus. Homer refers to Aphrodite as the daughter of Dione and Zeus.Some (including Hesiod in the introductory quote) claim Hera as the sole parent of Hephaestus, the lame blacksmith god. But Zeus himself gave birth from his own head to bright-eyed Tritogeneia (29), the awful, the strife-stirring, the host-leader, the unwearying, the queen, who delights in tumults and wars and battles. But Hera without union with Zeus for she was very angry and quarreled with her mate bare famous Hephaestus, who is skilled in crafts more than all the sons of Heaven.-Hesiod Theogony 924ff It is interesting, but to my knowledge insignificant, that these two Olympians who had uncertain parentage married. Zeus as Parent Many of Zeus liaisons were unusual; for instance, he disguised himself as a cuckoo bird to seduce Hera. Two of his children were born in a manner he might have learned from his father or grandfather; that is, like his father Cronus, Zeus swallowed not only the child but the mother Metis while she was pregnant. When the fetus had fully formed, Zeus gave birth to their daughter Athena. Lacking the proper feminine apparatus, he gave birth through his head. After Zeus had frightened or burned his mistress Semele to death, but before she was completely incinerated, Zeus removed the fetus of Dionysus from her womb and sewed it into his thigh where the wine god-to-be developed until ready for rebirth. *Apollodorus, a 2nd Century B.C. Greek scholar, wrote a Chronicles and On the Gods, but the reference here is to the Bibliotheca or Library, which is falsely attributed to him.