In Greek mythology Zeus was an important god, who belonged to the Greek pantheon. His main role was the supreme king, ruler over all on Earth.
Who was Zeus?
Zeus was the first of the gods and a very imposing figure. Often referred to as the “Father of gods and men,” he is a sky god who controls lightning (often using it as a weapon) and thunder. Zeus is the king of Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods, where he rules the world and imposes his will on gods and mortals alike.
He is a god of oracles, especially in the sacred oak of Dodona. In the story of the Trojan War, Zeus, as judge, listens to the claims of other gods in support of his side. He then makes decisions about acceptable behavior. He remains neutral most of the time, allowing his son Sarpedon to die and glorifying his favorite, Hector.
Zeus sat atop Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece, where he ruled over all the other gods of the Greek pantheon and their children. The Greek pantheon was the temple of the 12 Olympian gods, which consisted of Zeus and his brothers.
Meaning of his name
His name derives directly from the Proto-Indo-European god Dyēus, whose name means sky or radiance. The full name of this god literally meant Father of Heaven, which is reflected in some of the names given to the corresponding gods in various pantheons: Roman = Jupiter, Etruscan = Tinia and Hindu = Indra.
Etymology
The root of “Zeus” and “Jupiter” is in a Proto-Indo-European word for the often personified concepts of “day / light / sky”.
History of Zeus
Zeus was the supreme god of the gods and the Greeks. He was called Jupiter by the Romans and was so named because he was believed to have the same powers as the Roman god Jupiter! His symbols are the eagle, the oak tree, the royal scepter and the thunder. He was originally a god of the heavens and the high heavens and at one time the Greeks thought of him as the one god who dealt with the entire universe.
The Greeks associated Zeus with justice and welfare. He is believed to have greatly punished the wicked and evildoers and to have rewarded all who did good. This God received the thunderbolt from the Cyclops who were the giants who helped Zeus in the war against his father. He uses the lightning bolt as a defense along with a shiny golden shield with an eagle engraved on it.
Since he spent his childhood undercover hiding, he was never able to experience the joy of being a child. When he was older he constantly fought wars, helped and protected others, as well as doing many other great things, although largely his work consisted of leisure activities.
He is a very special and wise god who died later in life, but while he was alive he was highly respected by most and played an important role in Greek mythology and in the roles of the other gods and goddesses and the Greek people.
Birth
Zeus’ parents were the great god Cronus and the goddess Rhea. Cronus feared that his children would want to dominate him and take his place on Mount Olympus, so he swallowed all of her siblings, Zeus was not yet born. When Zeus was born, Rhea hid Zeus on some nearby islands before Cronus could swallow him and then wrapped a stone in the baby’s clothes and gave it to Cronus.
Cronus swallowed it believing it to be his child. When Zeus reached adulthood, he disguised himself and returned and tricked Cronus into drinking a liquid that forced him to vomit up all his children, who then gathered to fight a war against their father Cronus and the rest of the Titans (the race to which Cronus and Rhea belonged). Cronus was overthrown in the war by Zeus, so he took his place on Mount Olympus and became judge and head of the 12 main gods and goddesses called the Olympians who ruled Mount Olympus.
He was believed to settle disputes fairly, but when angry he would hurl bolts of thunder. On Mount Olympus he was also in charge of changing the seasons and making the sun come and go, two very important things to the other gods, goddesses and Greeks.
This God had two (2) brothers. They were the god Hades who ruled the underworld and the god Poseidon who ruled the seas. His sisters were the goddesses Hesta, Demeter and Hera.
Birthplace legends
Zeus is believed to have been born in a cave on Mount Ida on the island of Crete, where he brought ashore his wife Europa abducted from the beach of Matala. The Cave of Psychro, or Diktaean Cave, above the plain of Lassithi, is also said to be his birthplace.
His mother is Rhea and his father is Cronos. Things got off to a rocky start when Cronus, fearful of being usurped, kept eating Rhea’s children. Finally, she became wise after giving birth to Zeus and replaced the baby with a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes. Zeus conquered his father and freed his siblings, who still lived in Cronus’ stomach.
Wife
Zeus and Hera, were brothers, and they married then became the queen of the goddesses considering the fact that her husband Zeus was the king. In their relationship they had two sons who are known as the gods Ares and Hephaestus. Despite being married to Hera, Zeus also had many love affairs with other goddesses and mortal women.
Sons
From these extra relationships on the side, his children include the gods Apollo, Dionysus, Hermes, the goddess Artemis, the heroes Heracles (Latin for Hercules) and Perseus. She also gave birth to the goddess Athena who sprouted from her forehead. According to the myths, Zeus and the goddess Mnemosyne became parents of the Muses (the 9 goddesses of the arts and sciences) and it is believed that he and the goddess Athena were parents of the fates. Zeus often fell in love, therefore, the result is that Zeus cannot even name all the children.
Because of his many relationships, his wife, Queen Hera, became very insecure of Zeus and other women/goddesses. Zeus was “anthropomorphic,” which comes from two Greek words meaning the form of man. This meant that Zeus could transform himself into any animal or human being he wished to be and then he would descend to earth, and deceive mortal women who would then mate with him.
This God foretold the future through omens and oracles. As the guardian of mortality, he enforced morality among men, for Zeus himself was very wise.
What powers did Zeus have?
Zeus was the most powerful of the Greek gods and had a number of powers. His most famous power is the ability to throw lightning bolts. His winged horse Pegasus carried his lightning and he trained an eagle to retrieve it. He could also control the weather by causing rain and great storms.
This powerful God also had other powers. He could imitate people’s voices so that they sounded like anyone else. This god could also shape-shift so that he looked like an animal or a person. If people made him angry, he would sometimes turn them into animals as punishment.
Attributes
This God is shown with a beard and long hair. His other attributes include scepter, eagle, cornucopia, aegis, ram and lion. The cornucopia or horn (of the goat) comes from the story of his Zeus’ childhood when he was suckled by Amalthea.
Zeus in the Bible
Zeus is mentioned twice in the New Testament, first in Acts 14:8-13: When the people living in Lystra saw the apostle Paul heal a lame man, they considered Paul and his companion Barnabas as gods, identifying Paul with Hermes and Barnabas with Zeus, even trying to offer them sacrifices with the crowd.
Two ancient inscriptions discovered in 1909 near Lystra testify to the worship of these two gods in that city: one of them refers to the “priests of Zeus”, and the other mentions “Hermes the greater” and “Zeus the sun god”.
The second event is in Acts 28:11: the name of the ship in which the prisoner Paul sailed from the island of Malta bore the figure “Sons of Zeus”, also known as Castor and Pollux.
The deuterocanonical book of 2 Maccabees 6:1, 2 speaks of King Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), who in his attempt to do away with the Jewish religion, ordered that the temple in Jerusalem be desecrated and rededicated to Zeus (Jupiter Olympus).
Zeus and the Iliad
The Iliad is a poem by Homer about the Trojan War and the battle for the city of Troy. As god of heaven, lightning, thunder, law, order, justice, Zeus controlled ancient Greece and all the mortals and immortals who lived there. The Iliad covers the Trojan War, in which Zeus plays an important role.
Notable scenes involving Zeus
- Book 2: Sends Agamemnon a dream and is able to partially control his decisions due to the effects of the dream.
- Book 4: Promises Hera to destroy the city of Troy at the end of the war.
- Book 7: Zeus and Poseidon ruin the Achaean fortress.
- Book 8: Forbids the other gods from fighting each other and has to return to Mount Ida where he can think about his decision that the Greeks will lose the war.
- Book 14: Se is seduced by Hera and is distracted while helping the Greeks.
- Book 15: Wakes up and realizes that Poseidon his own brother has been helping the Greeks, while also sending Hector and Apollo to help fight the Trojans ensuring that the city of Troy will fall.
- Book 16: He is upset that he could not help save Sarpedon’s life because it would contradict his earlier decisions.
- Book 17: This god is emotionally hurt by Hector’s fate.
- Book 20: He lets the other gods help their respective sides in the war.
- Book 24: Also demands that Achilles release Hector’s corpse to be buried honorably.
Myths of Zeus
There are many myths about Zeus. Some involve demanding acceptable behavior from others, whether human or divine. Zeus was enraged by Prometheus’ behavior. The titan had tricked Zeus into taking the unsacrificed portion of the original sacrifice so that mankind could enjoy food.
In response, the king of the gods deprived mankind of the use of fire so that they could not enjoy the blessing they had been given, but Prometheus found a way around this and stole some of the gods’ fire by hiding It is in a fennel stalk and then gives it to mankind. He punished Prometheus by having his liver pecked out every day.
But he himself behaves badly, at least by human standards. It is tempting to say that his main occupation is that of the seducer. To seduce, he sometimes changed his form to that of an animal or a bird. When he impregnated Leda, he appeared as a swan.
When he abducted Ganymede, he appeared as an eagle to carry Ganymede to the house of the gods where he would replace Hebe as cupbearer; and when he took Europa away, he appeared as a tempting white bull, although why Mediterranean women were so enamored of bulls is beyond the imaginative capacities of this urban dweller, sets in motion the search for Cadmus and the settlement of Thebes. The search for Europa provides a mythological version of the introduction of letters to Greece.
Sacred sites of worship of Zeus
Zeus had an oracle, the oldest in fact, at Dodona in northern Greece, where ascetic priests served an oracle that interpreted the sounds of the wind in the branches of the sacred oaks and the babbling of the water of the sacred spring.
Another great sanctuary dedicated to him was at Olympia, where every four years since 776 B.C. the Olympic Games drew crowds from all parts of the Greek world to honor the father of the gods and where 100 oxen were sacrificed to Zeus at the end of each of the Games.
Also at Olympia, the immense 5th century BC temple of Zeus housed the gigantic gold and ivory statue of the god by Pheidias, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.
Other important sacred sites for the god were on Mount Lycaios, in Athens, Nemea, Pergamum, Stratos and in Libya.
There were surprisingly few festivals in honor of Zeus, one of which was the Athenian Diasia. In general, however, this god, as head of the Greek pantheon, was omnipresent and therefore had no particular attachment to specific cities.
Zeus, however, was venerated in most family homes, where an altar was often dedicated to him in each courtyard, since as Zeus Herkeios, he protected the family home and property in general. He was also Zeus Xenios, the god of hospitality, Zeus Polieus, protector of cities, Zeus Horkios guardian of oaths and Zeus Soter, the general protector and benefactor of all.
Tomb
Unlike the mainland Greeks, the Cretans believed that he died and was resurrected annually. His tomb is said to be on Mount Juchtas, or Yuktas, outside Heraklion, where, from the west, the mountain looks like a giant man lying on his back. A shrine of the Minoan peak crowns the mountain and can be visited. Although these days it has to share space with cell phone towers.
Fun facts about Zeus
- Zeus became the ruler of heaven and earth after a revolt against his father, Cronus. In his position as king of the gods
- Zeus had to mediate when the other immortals were angry with each other.
- He is the father of Athena, who is said to have sprung from his head. She was his favorite daughter, with whom he shared the thunderbolt and the auspices.
- Hades and Poseidon were his brothers.
- His wife Hera was also his sister.
- He was not a faithful husband; he was known to have many affairs with mortal women.
- This God fathered Hercules, the famous Greek hero, by deception. He disguised himself as Amphitrite, Alcmene’s husband, to have sex with her.
- He begat Perseus by impregnating Danaë. When he did so, he appeared to her in the form of a golden shower.
- The name Zeus also means “shining” or “sky”.
- His weapon of choice was lightning, made for him by the mythical creatures, the Cyclops.
- Zeus, more recently known for causing thunder and lightning, was once a rain god. He was always associated with the weather in some way.
More myths and affairs
- Also Homer description was not an extension of nature; instead, he had a standard of right and wrong that made him more identifiable with humanity.
- Before monarchies became obsolete, He protected the king and his family.
- Hesiod calls he “the lord of justice.” Perhaps because of this, he was reluctant to join a side in the Trojan War. He preferred the Trojans, but wanted to remain neutral because Hera preferred the Greeks. She was insufferable when he openly opposed her.
- Metis, the goddess of prudence, was Zeus’ first love.
- Ares, Hephaestus, Hebe and Eileithyia are the children of Zeus and Hera.
- His union with Leto gave birth to the twins Apollo and Artemis.
- When he seduced the Spartan queen Leda. Zeus was transformed into a beautiful swan, and two sets of twins were born.
- When this God had an affair with Mnemosyne, he joined her for nine nights. This scenario produced nine daughters, who became known as the Muses.
- He punished men by giving them women. His servants were called Strength and Violence.
