Zeus

Zeus . Son of Cronus and Rhea , he was the greatest of the gods of the Hellenic pantheon. Ruler of men and gods, he reigned in the luminous heights of heaven, Olympus , the etheric region where the gods dwelt.

Summary

[ disguise ]

• 1 Zeus
• 2 Attributes
• 3 Cult
• 4 Zeus in mythology
  • 1 Birth
  • 2 Childhood
  • 3 Zeus becomes king of the gods
    • 3.1 Zeus and Typhon
  • 4 Zeus and Hera
  • 5 Abductions
  • 6 Consorts and offspring
    • 6.1 Deities
    • 6.2 Mortals, nymphs or others
    • 6.3 Unknown mother
    • 6.4 Male lover
  • 7 Miscellaneous
• 5 Zeus in art
• 6 Zeus/Jupiter Poetry
• 7 Sources

Zeus

In Greek mythology Zeus (in ancient Greek Ζεύς Zeús) is the “father of gods and men”, who ruled over the gods of Mount Olympus like a father over a family, so that even those who were not his natural children They addressed him as such. He was the King of the Gods who oversaw the universe. He was the god of sky and thunder. His attributes include the lightning bolt, the eagle , the bull and the oak tree . In addition to his Indo-European heritage, the classic “cloud gatherer” Zeus also obtained certain iconographic features from ancient Near Eastern cultures, such as the scepter. Zeus was frequently depicted by Greek artists in two poses: standing, advancing with a thunderbolt raised in his right hand, and seated majestically.

Son of Cronus and Rhea , he was the youngest of their descendants. In most traditions he appears married to Hera , although in the oracle of Dodona his wife was Dione , with whom according to the Iliad he fathered Aphrodite . He is known for his numerous adventures and lovers, the fruit of which were many deities and heroes, including Athena , Apollo and Artemis , Hermes , Persephone , Dionysus , Perseus , Heracles , Helen, Minos, the Muses , Ares , Hebe and Hephaestus .

Its equivalent in Roman mythology was Jupiter and in Etruscan mythology, Tinia.

Attributes

He is represented with a lightning bolt , a scepter and/or an eagle , or in one of the metamorphoses into which he transformed.

Worship

God of light, of the serene sky and of lightning. In Hellenic thought, the gods have lost the cosmic value that they may have had at another time in their evolution, and are assimilated as the symbol of the unique God who embodies the Cosmos. In Rome , Zeus was identified with Jupiter, as the god of the luminous sky and protective god of the city, in his Capitol temple.

Zeus in mythology

Birth

Cronus fathered several children with Rhea: Hestia , Demeter , Hera , Hades and Poseidon , but he swallowed them as soon as they were born, as Gaia and Uranus had revealed to him that he was destined to be overthrown by his own son, just as he was. He had dethroned his father. But when Zeus was about to be born, Rhea asked Gaea for advice to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would have just punishment for his actions against Uranus and against his own children. Rhea hid on the island of Crete, where she gave birth to Zeus. She then deceived Cronus, giving him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he immediately swallowed without distrust.

Childhood

Rhea hid Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida in Crete. According to various versions of this story, Zeus was raised by:

2. A goat named Amalthea, while a company of Curetes or Corybantes (soldiers or minor gods) danced, shouted and clapped their hands to make noise so that Cronus would not hear the child’s cries.
3. A nymph called Adamantea. Since Cronus ruled the earth, the heavens and the sea, she hid him by hanging him with a rope from a tree, so that he was suspended between the earth, the sea and the sky, thus being invisible to his father.
4. A nymph called Cynosura. In gratitude, Zeus raised her among the stars after her death.
5. Melisa , who fed him goat’s milk and honey .
6. By a family of shepherds under the promise that their sheep would be safe from wolves.

Zeus becomes king of the gods

After becoming an adult, Zeus forced Cronus to first regurgitate the stone (which was left for Python under the ravines of Parnassus as a sign to mortal men, the Omphalos) and then to his brothers in the reverse order of the one in which he had swallowed them. In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to vomit up the babies, and in others Zeus opened Cronus’s stomach. Then Zeus freed Cronus’s brothers, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes , from their dungeon in Tartarus and killed his guardian, Campe. As a token of gratitude, the Cyclops gave him thunder, lightning or lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaea. In a war called the Titanomachy , Zeus and his brothers and sisters along with the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes, overthrew Cronus and the other Titans, who were imprisoned in Tartarus, a damp, gloomy, cold and foggy place deep in the earth. Earth and there they were guarded by the Hecatonchires. Atlas, one of the titans who fought against Zeus, was punished to hold up the sky.

After the battle with the Titans, Zeus divided the world with his older brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus got the sky and the air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld ) . The ancient land, Gaia, could not be claimed and was left under the dominion of the three according to their abilities, which explains why Poseidon was the god of earthquakes and Hades claimed the humans who died.

Gaea resented how Zeus had treated the Titans, because they were her children. Shortly after ascending the throne as king of the gods, Zeus had to fight with other children of Gaea, the monsters Typhon and Echidna. Zeus defeated Typhon by trapping him under a mountain, but left Echidna and her children alive as a challenge to future heroes.

Zeus and Typhon

After the Titanomachy, the goddess Gaia , mother of the Titans, was not satisfied with the result, since her children had been banished to Tartarus , to avenge themselves alongside the monstrous god Typhon . Upon seeing such a powerful creature, all the gods of Olympus escaped. Except for Zeus, who stayed to face him, Typhon’s flames collided with Zeus’s rays and everyone shuddered. In Zeus’ carelessness, Typhon took his scythe and cut his tendons, preventing him from moving. Zeus was captured, but later he would be helped by his son Hermes who would recover his tendons and by the Fates who gave Typhon poisoned food to weaken him. Once again Zeus and the colossal monster faced each other but this time Zeus would emerge victorious, as he would achieve knock out the monster with his lightning bolts and lock him in Mount Etna forever.

Zeus and Hera

Zeus was the brother and husband of Hera, with whom he had Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus, although some sources say that Hera had these children alone. Some authors include Ilithia and Eris as his daughters. Zeus is famous for his conquests of many mortal women—most notably Semele, Alcmene, Io, Europa, and Leda—and nymphs, from whom the founders of many Hellenic dynasties were born. Olympic mythography even includes unions with the goddesses Leto, Demeter, Dione and Maya.

Many myths show Hera very jealous of these love conquests, and a systematic enemy of all of Zeus’ lovers and the children they had with him. For a time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from these adventures of hers by talking to her incessantly. When Hera discovered her deception, she cursed Echo to speak only the words of others.

Hera is also depicted as deeply despising Ganymede, a Trojan boy whom Zeus took to Olympus to be cupbearer to the gods, as well as his eromeno.

Abductions

The so-called “abductions” (actually rapes ) of Zeus were not love affairs but rather mythical events that occurred in the local cults of water or forest nymphs, who were supplanted by the prevailing Olympic patrilineal order, causing a cultural and social revolution. and religious, or at least a radical reform of ancient beliefs and a reinterpreted reading of established religious practices.

It is notable that none of these abductions involved the Olympian goddesses. Zeus used to father with the nymph the eponymous progenitor of a line of kings that would survive until heroic or archaic historical times. In many cases Hera, the “jealous” goddess who represented conservative religious traditions, took excruciating revenge on the disloyal “deserter,” who succumbed to the new order. When the kidnapped girl was human, her mother was always a nymph or demigoddess.

Consorts and offspring

Deities

·         Aix . o    Egypt . ·         Demeter . o    Persephone . o    Zagreus . ·         Dione or Thalasse. o    Aphrodite ( Goddess Aphrodite ). ·         Eris. o    Slimes. ·         Gea. o    Manes. o    Orion . ·         Hera . o    Ares . o    Hebe. o    Hephaestus . o    Ilithia. ·         Leto. o    Apollo . o    Artemis . ·         Maya. o    Hermes . ·         Metis . o    Athena .

·         Mnemosyne. o    Muses (the three originals): §  Aedea. §  Meletea. §  Mnemea. o    Muses (the definitive nine): §  Calliope . §  Clio . §  Erato . §  Euterpe . §  Melpomene . §  Polyhymnia . §  Talia . §  Terpsichore . §  Urania . ·         Persephone. o    Zagreus. o    Yaco. ·         Selene. o    Ersa. o    Nemean Lion. o    Pandia. ·         Themis . o    Hours (first generation): §  Help. §  Carpus. §  Talo. o    Hours (2nd generation): §  It says (Astrea for the Romans). §  Eirene. §  Eunomia. o    Hours (third generation): §  Eporia. §  Ferusa. §  Orthosia. o    Moiras: §  Atropos. §  Clotho . §  Lachesis.

Mortals, nymphs or others

·         Alcmene. o    Heracles. ·         Antiope. o    Amphion. o    Zeto. ·         Callisto. o    Arks. ·         Carmen. o    Britomartis. ·         Danae. o    Perseus. ·         Aegina. o    Aeacus. ·         Elara. o    Ticio. ·         Electra. o    Dardanum. o    Harmony. o    Iasion. ·         Europe. o    Minos. o    Rhadamanthys. o    Sarpedon. ·         Eurynome. o    Carites: §  Aglaia. §  Euphrosyne. §  Talia. ·         Himalia. o    I quote. o    Cronio. o    Esparteo.

·         Io. o    Ceroesa. o    Epaphus. ·         Mine. o    Libyan Sibyl. ·         Laodamia. o    Sarpedon. ·         Gives. o    Beaver. o    Helena of Troy. o    Polydeuchus (Pollux). ·         Mera. o    Locro. ·         Niobe. o    Argus. o    Pelasgian. ·         Olympia of Epirus. o    Alexander the Great . ·         Otreis. o    Meliteus. ·         Pluto. o    Tantalus. ·         Pyrrha. o    Helen. ·         Semele. o    Dionisio. ·         Stay calm. o    Lacedaemon. ·         Talia. o    Palicos. ·         Yodama. o    Tebe.

unknown mother

male lover

Miscellany

• He turned Pandareus into stone for stealing the golden dog that took care of him as a child in the sacred Dictaean cave in Crete .
• He killed Salmoneus with lightning for trying to imitate him, riding in a bronze chariot and imitating the noise of thunder.
• He transformed Periphas into an eagle after his death, as a reward for having been upright and just.
• For refusing to attend his wedding with Hera, he transformed the nymph Chelona into a turtle.
• With Hera, he turned the Thracian kings Haemus and Rhodope into mountains (the Balkans or Stara Planina and the Rhodope Mountains, respectively) for his vanity.
• He condemned Tantalus to eternal torture in Tartarus for trying to trick the gods into eating the flesh of his dismembered son.
• He sentenced Ixion to be tied to a burning wheel for all eternity for attempting to rape Hera.
• He blinded the seer Phineus and sent the Harpies to pursue him as punishment for revealing the secrets of the gods.
• He rewarded Tiresias with three times the lifespan for ruling in his favor when he and Hera questioned which sex derived more pleasure from lovemaking.
• He punished Hera by hanging her from the sky by her toes for trying to drown Heracles in a storm.
• As a child he had a friend named Celmis. Many years later, Rhea was offended by Celmis’s antics and asked Zeus to turn him into a piece of steel or diamond . Zeus did so.
• He made the decision to marry Aphrodite to Hephaestus to avoid disputes over her among the many gods who desired the goddess of beauty.
• Of the many children he fathered, Heracles is often described as his favorite. When a tribe of Chthonic Giants threatened Olympus and the oracle of Delphi decreed that only the joint efforts of a mortal and a god would stop them, Zeus chose Heracles to fight at his side, thus defeating the monsters.
• After Memnon’s death, he took pity on the tears of his mother, Eos, and granted her immortality.
• Athena has sometimes been called his favorite daughter.
• Zelo, Nike, Cratos and Bía formed his entourage.
• In the ancient Olympic games, he was the main god to praise.
• Zeus condemned Prometheus to have his liver eaten by a giant eagle every day for giving the flames of Olympus to mortals.
• He turned Atalanta into a lioness.
• In some versions, he threw Hephaestus from the top of Mount Olympus.

Zeus in art

The Greek sculptor Phidias sculpted around 435 BC. C. a 14 m high statue of Zeus. The statue was erected in Olympia and was perhaps the most famous in Ancient Greece , traditionally considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Phidias made the tunic and ornaments of gold and carved the body of ivory.

Zeus / Jupiter Poetry

Zeus/Jupiter

Collector of clouds, god of thunder,
and on Olympus, father and sovereign,
to whom Phidias, a miracle in each hand,
gave a majestic and serene bearing.

He was anything but god and less good,
a faithful reflection of the human heart,
a rebellious son, a tyrannical satrap,
and dissolute in free debauchery.

In an absurd contradictory lesson,
democratic Greece gave glory
to those who came to reign through violence.

Usurper, brutal and parricide,
arbiter of death and life,
and fear reinforcing belief.