 Zeus is the supreme god and ruler of
all the gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus and were called
Olympians.
He became the undisputed master of the universe, and as the god of
rain, drought, storms - in short, all good and bad weather - he was worshipped as the source of all heavenly manifestations.
He commanded tempests and created storms, and
kept peace and order among the quarrelsome family of Olympians through
the use of his fearsome thunderbolts, which nobody dared to challenge,
god or mortal.
Mighty Zeus!
He is known by many titles, including: Lord of the Sky, God, the Cloud-gatherer,
Zeus of the Thunderbolt, the Sky Dweller, the Rain-god
and Zeus the Thunderer.
The many names of
Zeus indicate which force of nature was considered to be the most important in Ancient Greece -
Rain. In quite a few other
mythologies the reigning deity was usually a Sun God, but in Greece
the climate is hot and dry making rain the scarce, life-giving force.
Zeus was the sixth child born to
the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Cronus, ruler of the Titans
and the supreme god at the time, was warned by an oracle that one of his own
children would overthrow him, just like he overthrew his father, Uranus. To
prevent this from happening he swallowed his first five children as each was
born to Rhea.
Cronus & Rhea
These five children
who were imprisoned in their father Cronus' belly were Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter and
Hestia. One by one Cronus swallowed each of his babies as Rhea presented
them to him.
Needless
to say, seeing her children eaten by her husband infuriated Rhea and when Zeus was born she tricked Cronus
into swallowing a rock wrapped in blankets. Cronus foolishly swallowed the
stone and thought himself safe.
Then Rhea sent the baby to Gaea (Mother Earth) who secretly took Zeus to be raised on the island of Crete,
in a cave at a place called Dicte, away from
his unsuspecting father.
There the ash nymph Adrasteia and her sister Ide were placed in charge of his
care. They guarded the child in the cave and tried to prevent Cronus from
discovering his existence.
Baby Zeus
The ash nymphs took great pains to safeguard the baby. On occasion they
even hung Zeus in a cradle from a tree, so that he could be found neither in
heaven nor on earth nor in the sea and, gathering youths, gave them brazen
shields and spears and asked them to go around the tree clashing their shields
and making noise lest the cries of little Zeus be heard.
These Curetes, as his early attendants were called, were assisted in
the upbringing of Zeus by the divine goat Amaltheia, which means
"tender". He suckled on Amaltheia's milk and when the goat
died to honor it Zeus turned her skin into his Aegis, which he used as a
protective shield.
When he grew a
little older Zeus tricked his way into becoming the cup-bearer to his father
Cronus and with the help of his mother Rhea and the Titaness Metis he slipped
his father a drink which made him disgorge the swallowed siblings of
Zeus. They were unharmed because they were gods.
Knowing that he
would need allies and weapons if he were to overthrow his father, Zeus
next freed the
Cyclopes from Tartarus, a terrible place in the Underworld where Cronus had imprisoned them, and they
gratefully gave him his famous thunderbolts as a gift.
To his brother
Poseidon they gave a trident, which he used to shake the earth and sea in much the same fashion as
Zeus did his thunderbolts, and to Hades the Cyclopes gave a helmet
which, when worn, rendered the person invisible. Cool gifts!
Properly armed and
with a formidable army at his command, Zeus and the other children of Cronus attacked their father,
assisted by the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, which means One Hundred
Handed Ones.
It was a furious battle against
Cronus and his fellow
Titans but at last Hades, wearing his helmet of invisibility, snuck up
behind Cronus, Poseidon rendered him immobile with his trident, and Zeus
struck him senseless with his thunderbolt. Thus ended the reign of Cronus and
the Titans.
Zeus & Titan!
Since the Olympians
and their parents could not die, Zeus banished Cronus to a distant
island in the Atlantic Ocean. That island could be the Azores, or even
Torrey Island, off the coast of Ireland. Other accounts have the Titan
going to Italy or even being imprisoned in Tartarus.
Eventually Cronus
managed to escape from this island prison and made his way in a small
boat to Italy, where he changed his name to Saturn and settled quietly
among the Italians.
The reign of Cronus
while there became known as the Golden Age, and mortals in Italy lived
without work or trouble, feasting on acorns, honey, wild fruit and
pig-nuts, and drinking only milk and water. Wars were unheard of and
their days were spent dancing and singing without care.
But back to the
victors in the Titanomachy, as the Battle of the Titans versus the
Olympians was called...The three brothers then drew lots to split the
spoils of victory and determine who gets what. Zeus
drew the heavens and became supreme ruler, Poseidon became the god of
the sea and Hades the ruler of the Underworld.
The Earth was
common to all three reigning gods, and they all held power over its
creatures.
The gigantic,
one-eyed Cyclopes, who had helped Zeus in his battle against Cronus and
his cronies, then honored Zeus by building a splendid and majestic
palace at the topmost peak of Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in
Greece.
This enormous
palace, set well above the clouds at the top of Mount Olympus, was built
on much the same plan as royal palaces on earth. It featured great and
impenetrable walls, too steep to climb.
The living quarters
of Zeus and his wife Hera were at the southern end, just behind the
Council Hall, and overlooking all the famous cities in Greece, including
Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, Argos and Mycenae. It was a majestic
view.
Description of the Throne of Zeus
by Robert Graves
"King Zeus had an enormous throne of polished black Egyptian
marble, decorated in gold. Seven steps led up to it, each of them enameled
with one of the seven colors of the rainbow. A bright blue covering
above showed that the whole sky belonged to Zeus alone; and on the right
arm of his throne perched a ruby-eyed golden eagle clutching jagged
strips of pure tin, which meant that Zeus could kill whatever enemies he
pleased by throwing a thunderbolt of forked lightning at them. A purple
ram's fleece covered the cold seat. Zeus used it for magical rainmaking
in times of drought."
Thank you Robert Graves!
Mighty Zeus!
After assuming
leadership of the Olympians and becoming supreme ruler, Zeus got a
little too full of himself and did some wild things, which often made
his fellow gods angry.
Among them was his
decision to pursue and marry Metis, who had helped him trick Cronus into
disgorging his siblings. She wasn't too keen to marry Zeus and changed
her form to escape him. Not to be outdone, he changed his shape right
along with her and relentlessly pursued her until finally she tired and
agreed to marry him.
Gaea, Mother Earth,
then warned that any son born of the union of Metis and Zeus would grow
up to overthrow his father, so Zeus decided to swallow Metis to prevent
this from happening.
In time Zeus
developed a "splitting" headache and shortly thereafter the
great goddess Athena was born from his head. The god of the forge and
smiths, Hephaestus, seeing the discomfort that his King Zeus was in,
took an axe and sliced open the head of Zeus, relieving his pain and
bringing forth Athena.
Athena was dressed
in a robe that Metis had created while trapped inside Zeus, and the
goddess of Wisdom was carrying a splendid shield and spear (No wonder
Zeus had a headache!) She came into being shouting a war cry that was
heard on heaven and earth.
Thus rid of his
first wife, Zeus next set his sights on his sister Hera. Like Metis, she
wanted nothing to do with him. Knowing that he needed drastic measures
to get near Hera, Zeus transformed himself into a sad and bedraggled
looking cuckoo bird, soaked from a strong downpour. Hera cast one look
at this pitiful bird and held him to her heart, so as to warm him.
That's when Zeus turned back into his regular awesome form and ravished
Hera, who was helpless in his arms.
They married and
thus was formed the union of King Zeus, the Father-god, and Queen Hera,
the Mother-goddess. Their royal honeymoon was said to have lasted 300
years!
Mighty Zeus!
But Zeus was
impulsive and arrogant when he was a young ruler, and eventually the
other Olympians tired of his antics and conspired to revolt against his
reign.
Hera, Poseidon and
Athena, along with other Olympian conspirators, trapped Zeus and bound
him in his throne, taking away his fearsome thunderbolts and rendering
him helpless.
But while the
Olympians were arguing among themselves as to who the next ruler would
be, the Titaness Thetis summoned Briarius, one of the hundred-handed
Hecatonchires, who released Zeus and returned his thunderbolts. It goes
without saying that the mutinous Olympians were in for a rude surprise
when King Zeus showed up in the midst of their argument, looking for
paybacks!
Poseidon and Hermes
were treated as minor conspirators by Zeus and they swore and oath never
to challenge his rule again. To punish them he banished them to earth
for one year, where they had to serve a mortal king as common labourers.
Zeus wisely chose
not to punish his favorite daughter, Athena, saying that she played a
reluctant part in the palace revolt.
But Zeus saved his
sternest punishment for his wife Hera, the leader of the uprising. He
strung her from the heavens using a fine, unbreakable silver thread and
to further torment her he tied two huge and heavy anvils from each of
her feet. Talk about pain!
For four days she
hung suspended and none of the other Olympians dared come to her aid,
fearing for their own welfare. They knew not to mess with Zeus when he
was enraged like that, as sorry as they felt for Hera.
But Zeus had
finally had enough, for her moans and groans kept him awake at night.
After making her promise in an unbreakable oath that she would honor and
respect him forever, he set her free. He did truly love her, after all,
regardless of her attempt to overthrow him.
It
should be noted that Hera truly
loved her husband, even though she was insanely jealous of his countless
affairs.
Zeus & Hera
Eventually Zeus
settled down and matured, becoming a good and generous god who rewarded
just behavior and punished those who performed evil. He became wise and
magnanimous and his rule was worshipped and rejoiced throughout the
universe.
There were a couple
more challenges to the rule of Zeus, including the Alodae (Aloads), who
were two mythical giants, Otus and Ephialtes. These brothers amazingly
grew every year a cubit in breadth and a fathom in height and when they
were only nine years old they were 54 feet high.
The Alodae figured
that they could breach Mount Olympus by building a bridge of mountains
up to it, so they tried to pile Mt. Pelion upon Mt. Ossa upon Mt. Olympus.
They attempted to make the sea dry up by filling it with mountains, and
to turn the mountains into sea. However, before they could do so, the brothers were slain by Apollo's
arrows.
Mount Olympus!
.Next came the
challenge of the Giants. These were huge creatures with a thousand hands
and serpents for feet, created by Gaea (Mother Earth) because she was
angry at Zeus for defeating her children, the Titans, and imprisoning
them at Tartarus. They also attacked Olympus and an oracle had foretold
that no god could kill them, but a mortal could. Heracles (Hercules),
son of Zeus by a mortal woman, came to his father's assistance and slew
the Giants.
Well, you know that
didn't sit well with Gaea, who now was more mad than ever. She mated
with Tartarus and a fearsome monster was born, by the name of Typhon
(Typhoon). This horribly ugly beast had human shape but from the thighs downward he had huge coils of
snakes, one hundred miles long, which when drawn out, reached to his very head and emitted a loud hissing.
Typhon was taller
than the mountains and his head brushed the stars, his hissing hands
horrible to behold. When the Olympians saw Typhon approaching their
palace they recoiled in fear and changed their shape into animals,
running away to hide in Egypt.
Only brave Athena
stood her ground and she goaded and made fun of Zeus, calling him a
coward and trying to spur him to face his attacker. Zeus finally
regained his courage and returned to fight Typhon. A battle to end all
battles ensued, with both participants sustaining serious damage and the
earth shaking from their mighty blows.
At last Typhon
picked up tall Mount Aetna, in Sicily, to hurl at Zeus and that's when
the King of the Olympians unleashed one hundred perfectly-thrown
thunderbolts at the monster. The mountain crumbled from the mighty
thunderbolts, burying Typhon underneath it.
Angry Zeus!
Typhon was never
seen again, but occasionally one can hear him rumbling, deep down below
the surface of Mount Aetna.
Zeus is more powerful than any other god or
even all the other gods combined. But, unlike many gods
in other religions he was neither all-powerful nor all-seeing. He could be, and in fact was, opposed,
deceived and tricked by gods and men alike.
His power, although great, was not
boundless. For example, Zeus had
no control over The Three Fates and destiny. It was said that when the
Fates spoke, even Zeus listened, for they alone could decide the path of
gods and mortals alike.
Like all Greek
divinities, Zeus was subject to pleasure, pain, grief,
and anger, but he was most susceptible to the power of
Eros (Love), which often got the objects of his desire in
a lot of trouble with his wife, Hera. Since she couldn't punish Zeus,
she took out her anger on the women.
The representation of Zeus was a most noble one -
mighty, glorious, often kind, awesome and wise, although he did show
a certain degree of surprising foolishness and naïveté when it came to hiding his love affairs.
Some historians
attribute this less than noble behavior of the
"noblest one of all" to the fact that Zeus was
most likely a compilation of many "supreme
gods" from different areas. When his worship spread
to an area which already worshipped another god, some of the previous god’s qualities as well as his wife or lover
were transferred to Zeus.
Aside from the endless affairs Zeus was different from
other gods in that he did not participate in the
arguments and the resulting petty scheming that made up
the daily activities of other gods. Being this wise
ruler, he also demanded just and righteous action from
men.
Council of the gods
Zeus was however vengeful, as can be seen in the punishment of
Prometheus. For
stealing fire from Olympus and giving it to mortals, Zeus
sentenced Prometheus to be forever tied to a rock, and an
eagle would come daily and feast on his liver. It was not until many
years later that Heracles (Hercules) would come and kill the eagle,
freeing Prometheus.
Prometheus bound
Zeus had two special attendants, Nike (Victoria), the
goddess of victory, and his cup-bearer, Hebe, who was one
of his numerous daughters. After Hebe married Heracles,
Ganymedes replaced her as the cup-bearer for Zeus. Zeus had seen the boy
Ganymedes and had become captivated by his beauty. He either sent his
eagle, or assumed the form of an eagle himself, and kidnapped the boy.
He was brought to Mount Olympus where he became his personal cup-bearer.
In
Roman Mythology, Zeus’ counterpart, Jupiter, was
also attended by Fama (fame) and Fortuna (luck and
chance, Tyche in Greek).
The Nine Muses
would sit by his throne and sing sweetly of his glory, as he feasted on
nectar and ambrosia, the food of the gods.
The Olympians I
His strongmen were Force and Violence, who
lived up to their names. The messenger god Hermes was often the
accomplice of Zeus in his various escapades.
Zeus was the guardian of political order and peace.
The Aegis is his shield and breastplate, fashioned from the skin of the
divine goat Amalthea - so glorious and
at the same time awful to behold that no human could see
Zeus in all his magnificence and survive.
His favorite
daughter Athena eventually was given the Aegis by Zeus. Athena had
sprung full-grown from his head and was the only Olympian whom Zeus
permitted to use his thunderbolts, his favorite weapon which he hurled
at whoever displeased him.
Zeus is identified
with his bird,
the Eagle. His tree is the Oak. A place called Dodona was the seat of his oracle. His
will was revealed by the rustling of oak leaves which was
interpreted by his priests.
The flying horse Pegasus, once it came to
Olympus, would often retrieve his thrown thunderbolts, same as Zeus'
royal eagle.
Zeus' Children
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