User blog comment:Hyperborean/"The House of Hades" – official expectations blog/@comment-4405022-20130224224515/@comment-3146930-20130303145517

Except the gods are split because their children are split. Both camps are pretty much asking their godly parents for help and it is tearing the gods apart, as you can't have Zeus help Thalia and Jupiter help Jason (if they were fighting for example). The only way to help the gods is for their children to work together and stop fighting, something the statue is supposed to do...somehow.

Zeus also closed Olympus because he felt insulted that he needed the help of puny mortals and wanted to go back to the old ways were the gods were respected, but it is unknown how much of this was Khione's influence as she was whispering in his ear. He was also attempting to get Gaea to go back to sleep by staying off earth and keeping a low profile.