There are twelve Olympians, after all. Some sources list Hades , the god of the dead and the underworld, as the god that occupies the final seat. But other sources give that seat to Hestia , goddess of the hearth, or Dionysus , the god of wine and revelry. Our knowledge of Greek myths is pieced together from ancient documents that can be incomplete or even tell competing stories.
A sculpture of Zeus called the "Zeus of Otricoli," which is a Roman copy of the original Greek statue. This one was carved in the 4th Century Zeus is the father of all men, and king of all the Olympian gods.
He is the god that governs the skies, including things that come from the sky like thunder and lightning. Zeus is well-known for having a quick temper, too. In addition, Zeus is the god of hospitality and fair treatment of guests. Whenever a stranger was treated badly in ancient Greece, their host could soon expect a nasty visit from Zeus. Likewise, if a guest overstayed their welcome or became a burden on their host, Zeus had something to say to them as well. Zeus and his trusted messenger Hermes were sometimes said to travel in human disguise to test the hospitality of mortals.
Finally, Zeus is also the god of oath keeping. People who broke their vows, lied, or traded dishonestly in the marketplace got a taste of his retribution as well. The only way for liars or cheats to get back in good graces with Zeus was to commission and dedicate a statue to him in a sanctuary. Now you know why there are so many Greek statues of Zeus! While these are the universal traits assigned to Zeus, certain city states believed that Zeus had additional responsibilities.
For example, in Athens, Zeus was also the god of farming and the harvest Zeus name seems to date all the way back to Indo-European roots the ancient language family from which most Western languages descend. Here are some examples:. Spoiler alert: it was gigantic. Because so many statues of Zeus have survived , we know quite accurately what the ancient Greeks thought he looked like: very tall and muscular, with long curly hair and big, bushy beard.
Typically, statues of Zeus show him carrying a large scepter topped by an eagle or a lightning bolt sometimes both. In literature more than in art, he wields a huge shield named Aegis. The most famous depiction of Zeus is the Statue of Zeus at Olympia.
Although the statue was destroyed between and AD, we know what it looked like from several contemporary descriptions. Zeus is depicted holding a figure of the Nike Victory in his right hand and his scepter in his left, and he is seated on a massive throne. Where did Zeus come from? Well, his parents were both Titans, who ruled the earth prior to the Olympian pantheon. His father was Cronus the Titan god of time , and his mother was Rhea the Titan goddess of female fertility.
With a pedigree like that, you know he was born for power. Before Zeus was born, it was prophesied that he would be the most powerful of all gods. Cronus got wind of this prophecy, but he was unsure of which of his children would overtake him. Just to be safe, he decided he would eat--yes, eat-- all of his children. Rhea was pretty sick of Cronus eating all her children, so when Zeus was born, she wrapped up a stone in baby clothes and fed that to Cronus instead of little Zeus.
Zeus grew up in exile to protect him from his own father. When he got old enough, Zeus confronted Cronus and fed him a potion given to him by his grandmother Gaia the Titan goddess of the Earth. That potion made Cronus vomit up all his children!
Gross, but true. Zeus and his now-regurgitated siblings then waged war on Cronus and eventually overthrew the Titans and imprisoned them for eternity in Tartarus , a place of eternal suffering and torment. In fact, Zeus was unfaithful to an extreme, which became a major theme in his mythological stories.
Part of what makes Zeus king of the gods is his willingness to take whatever he wants—or whoever he wants—whenever he wants. By exerting his sexual strength over women, Zeus reinforces his physical power This is a relief of Zeus, carved between the 1st Century and 2nd Century.
It's on display at the Burdur Museum in Turkey. And, they are a lot of fun! Now, without further ado, here are six more mythological stories about Zeus. Just as Cronus caught wind that his son was going to overthrow him, Zeus likewise received a similar prophecy that one of his children would usurp him. Upon hearing this prophecy, Zeus ate his pregnant lover Metis Titan goddess of wisdom to prevent it. Metis , however, was not deterred.
Needless to say, it was uncomfortable having a full-grown goddess forging armor and weapons inside his gut Athena inherited traits from everyone involved: wisdom from Metis, power from Zeus, and craftsmanship from Hephaestus, making her a very formidable goddess. Well, in some stories she was so jealous that she gave birth to Hephaestus who apparently had no father as revenge. How did she give birth to the person who was responsible for the birth of the person who inspired her to give birth, you ask?
An excellent question! She really did have a terrible husband who fathered children with every maiden, goddess, and nymph that crossed his path. Growing up, Zeus fell in love with her and tried to make her return his love. However, she refused his advances. Zeus, always undeterred in such matters, exploited her compassion by turning himself into a lost little cuckoo bird. Hera took the little bird in because she was afraid that it would freeze to death.
She cradled it against her chest, where it turned back into Zeus and he attacked her. Hera was so ashamed that she married Zeus rather than admit that she had been raped. To do this, she drugged his wine. While he slept, the gods tied him to a chair with a hundred knots and took his lightning bolt from him.
You see, Briareus had one hundred hands, so he could untie all the knots at the same time. Zeus was so furious with Hera over her deception that he hung her from the sky with golden chains, and her cries shook the Earth.
Everyone was too afraid to cross Zeus again, so instead of helping her, they left her to suffer. Zeus took mercy on her, so long as she swore never again to rebel against him. Zeus was always looking down on Earth from Olympus, searching for beautiful women.
One day he glanced upon Leda , the daughter of the king Thestios. She was already married to the king of Sparta, but Zeus was never one to let a little marriage deter him from getting what he wanted.
Similarly to how he tricked Hera, Zeus transformed himself into a swan that was being pursued by an eagle. Leda took pity on and rescued the swan, which then turned into Zeus, who raped her. The attack left Leda pregnant. She then laid two eggs, from which four children were born.
Myths are weird. The two girls would grow up to have important roles during the Trojan War , whereas Castor and Pollux—twins despite having different fathers and hatching from separate eggs—would be leaders of the Spartan army in the war against Athens. Zeus had one foolproof means of seduction: transform into an animal and use that to convince a woman to let down her defenses.
He disguised himself as the most beautiful bull anyone had ever seen. Mortal kings would boast that they were descendants of Zeus. With this supreme power came a number of roles and responsibilities. Though he is most well known as god of the sky and thunder, Zeus was the supreme cultural embodiment of Greek religious beliefs. He had many epithets titles that emphasized different aspects of complete and wide ranging authority.
He was regarded as wise, fair, just, merciful, and prudent. He was also unpredictable — nobody was able to guess the decisions he would make. He was also easily angered which could be very destructive. He has previously hurled lightning bolts and caused violent storms that wreaked havoc on earth.
He is often described as a strong, imposing man with a regal body and long, often curly, hair. He usually had a short beard or scruff and carried his trusty thunderbolt at all times. If you use any of the content on this page in your own work, please use the code below to cite this page as the source of the content.
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