Zeus (Day, Bright Sky) Greek The chief god of Greek mythology. He was the son of Cronus and Rhea, both Titans; brother of Hades, Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, and Hera, who was also his wife. Over time the Romans attributed many of the legends of Zeus to their own supreme god, Jupiter. Zeus was a sky and weather god, having authority over the sky, the winds, the clouds, rain, thunder, and lightning. His name has a close connection with the Latin word for day, dies. Zeus was also the god of battle, the patron of games and agriculture and protector of the state. He was called the father of both gods and humans. After defeating his father, Cronus, Zeus reigned supreme over the gods of Olympus, the home of the gods. He was the father of many children by Titanesses, goddesses, Nymphs, and mortal women. Among his offspring were Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athene, and Dionysus. (See The Loves of Zeus, below.) His most famous sanctuary was at Dodona. Zeus is often depicted as wearing a crown of oak leaves (the oak tree was sacred to him), and bearing a scepter in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other. Often he wore his shield, called an Aegis, and had an eagle at his feet. The Childhood of Zeus - Mythology. Cronus the Titan, father of Zeus, learned that one of his children would kill him, so he swallowed his children as soon as they were born. Thus Hades, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, and Poseidon disappeared into his mouth. But Rhea, wife of Cronus and mother of Zeus, saved her last child by wrapping a stone in swaddling clothes and presenting it to Cronus, who promptly swallowed it. The stone was called the Omphalos, later set up at Delphi as the "navel of the Earth." Rhea hid Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida (2), in Crete. There he was nursed by the she-goat Amalthea and the Nymphs Adrastia and Ida (1). Young warriors known as the Curetes clashed their weapons together to disguise the infant's cries. Zeus Rescues His Siblings - Mythology. After young Zeus grew to manhood, he left Mount Ida, where he had been sheltered by Nymphs, and went to visit the Titaness Metis. Metis was very wise. She advised Zeus how to get Cronus, the Titan father of Zeus, to disgorge his brothers and sisters, whom Cronus had swallowed. Zeus was to disguise himself as a cupbearer and offer Cronus a drink so vile that the Titan would immediately vomit and his offspring would reappear. This Zeus did and all went according to plan. His brothers and sisters, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon were expelled alive and well from the body of their father. The stone, which Cronus had been made to believe was Zeus wrapped in baby clothes, was also expelled and later set up at Delphi as the Omphalos, or navel, of the Earth. The War with the Titans - Mythology. Once Zeus had induced Cronus into releasing his brothers and sisters, the siblings decided to go to war against Cronus and the Titans. For 10 long years, Zeus fought against the Titans, who were led by the mighty Atlas, for Cronus was now old. Finally Zeus enlisted the help of Gaia (Earth), who advised him to release the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handed Ones (the Hecatoncheires), who had been imprisoned in the Underworld. Zeus did this, and in gratitude the Cyclopes gave Zeus the thunderbolt as a weapon. They gave a helmet of invisibility to Hades, and to Poseidon, a trident. With these weapons and the help of the Hundred-Handed Ones, Cronus and all the Titans were overthrown, and never troubled Greece again. Atlas was ordered, as punishment, to carry the sky on his shoulders forevermore. When the war was over, the three brothers, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, drew lots to see who should rule the universe. To Poseidon fell the rule of the seas and rivers; to Hades, the Underworld; and to Zeus all the rest of the universe, except for Olympus, which was to be the realm of all the gods and goddesses. The war between the Titans and the Olympian gods may have been a symbolic description of the invasion of the land now called Greece, by the migrating tribes who became the first Greeks. They brought their gods with them, including Zeus. The This ancient Roman copy of a Greek bust of Zeus was made in the third century and found in 1775 in excavations of the ancient site at Otricoli, north of Rome. It is now in the Vatican Museums in Vatican City. (Photograph by Marie-Lan Nguyen.) 152 Zeus ancient gods were displaced or absorbed by those of the conquerors. Zeus and Hera - Mythology. The wife of Zeus was his sister, Hera. One of the most famous myths about their coming together was that Zeus took the form of a cuckoo, who appeared before her wet and shivering. Touched by pity, Hera wrapped the bird in her arms to warm it. Then Zeus resumed his usual form and persuaded Hera to become his wife. They were solemnly married on Mount Olympus. Although Hera remained the official consort of Zeus, the god continued to court goddesses, nymphs, and mortal women, so that Hera lived in constant anger and jealousy. By Hera, Zeus had two sons, Ares and Hephaestus, and one daughter, Hebe. Some versions of the myth say that Hera gave birth to Hephaestus, the smith god, without any help from Zeus. Hera and Zeus were also the parents of Eileithya, according to some sources. Zeus and Metis - Mythology. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, Zeus's first wife was not Hera, but Metis, the wise one. She conceived a child by Zeus. Warned by Uranus and Gaia that the child would pose a threat to him, Zeus swallowed Metis, thus absorbing wisdom into himself. The child was born, nevertheless. It was the great goddess Athene, who sprang fully grown and clad in armor from the forehead of Zeus. The Loves of Zeus - Mythology. Zeus was a wise and just ruler but, in spite of the anger and jealousy of his wife, Hera, he was inclined to have numerous love affairs. Scholars explain the amorous exploits of Zeus as symbols of the new and powerful religion taking over lesser religious traditions and merging with them, which is what happened in ancient Greece as various migrating tribes overcame and sometimes absorbed the ancient inhabitants and their cults. Perhaps, more simply, the ancient Greeks were trying to create for themselves the noble ancestry that would have come from the union of the great god Zeus with their ancestors. To make a conquest, Zeus sometimes assumed a different shape. He became a cuckoo for Hera, a swan for Leda, a bull for Europa, and a quail for Leto. The few remains of the great temple known as the Olympian Temple of Zeus stand on a huge block of land in Athens, Greece. Begun in the seventh century, B.C. the temple was completed in the second century A.D. It was the largest temple in Athens, but only a small portion of its pillars still stand. One pillar, which fell in 1852, lies in pieces in the foreground. (Photograph by Chris Fleming. Used under a Creative Commons License.) Zeus 153 Among the supernatural females Zeus dallied with were Electra (2), daughter of Atlas, mother of Harmonia (though some say that Harmonia was the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite) Eurynome, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, who bore The Three Graces Leto, who became the mother of Apollo and Artemis Maia (1), daughter of Atlas and Pleione, mother of Hermes Mnemosyne (Memory), who gave birth to nine daughters who were the Muses Taygete, daughter of Atlas, mother of Lacedaemon Themis (Law), who bore the Horae (Seasons); Eunomia (Wise Legislation); Dike (Justice); Eirene (Peace); and the Fates, who are the daughters of Nyx (Night) Among the mortal women Zeus mated with were Antiope, daughter of King Nycteus of Thebes, who bore twin sons Amphion and Zethus. Danae, daughter of Acrisius, who bore Perseus Europa, daughter of Agenor and Telephassa Io, sister of Phoroneus, who bore Epaphus Leda, wife of Tyndareus, who bore Pollux and Helen by Zeus and Castor and Clytemnestra by Tyndareus Niobe, daughter of Tantalus and the nymph Laodice, who bore Argos, founder of the city of Argos. Semele, daughter of Cadmus, who bore Dionysus Among the Olympian goddesses was Demeter, who bore Persephone. He also had an affair with Lamia, a queen of Libya, whose children Hera killed as they were born. Lamia became a demon who devoured children.
