Zeus Kroníon (descendant of Cronus), or simply Zeus (Greek Ζευς) or Dias (Greek Διας) ("divine king") is the leader of the gods and god of the sky and thunder in Greek mythology, equivalent to the Roman god Jupiter (from Jovis Pater or "Father Jove") and associated in the syncretic classical imagination with various other deities, such as the EgyptianAmmon, EtruscanTinia.
However, disregarding linguistic evidence, some people claim that the worship of Zeus originated among the Mycenean heirs of Minoans, where he was known as the Earthshaker.
Zeus Ceneus was a frequent epithet of Zeus', referring to a temple on Cape Canaeum of Euboea. Another epithet was Zeus Panhellenios, ('Zeus of all the Hellenes'), to whom Aeacus' famous temple on Aegina was founded as well as Zeus Lycaeus, in which he was the god of the sun and light (see also Lycaon and that section below). He (along with Dionysus) absorbed the role of the chief Phrygian god Sabazios in the syncretic deity known in Rome as Sabazius.
Zeus' role in the Greek Olympic pantheon can not be overstated. He fathered many of the heroes and heroines (see list at bottom of article) and was featured in many of their stories. Though he was the god of the sky and thunder, he was also the most supreme cultural artifact; in some senses, he was the embodiment of Greek religious beliefs and the archetypal Greek deity. For example, in much of Greek literature, Zeus was seen as the patron of hospitality and guests and the keeper of oaths. Liars who were exposed were made to dedicate a statue to Zeus, often at the sanctuary of Olympia.
In Epirus, there was an oracle devoted to Zeus called Dodona. The shrine of Dodona is extremely ancient, and dates to pre-Hellenic times. Originally, the oracle was both Zeus' and the Earth Mother's. The Earth Mother eventually earned the name Dione and was relegated to a minor or nonexistent part elsewhere in the Greek pantheon. Only at Dodona did she retain her position, as votive inscriptions found at the site attest.
In the 2nd millennium BC, the cult of the holy beech or oaktree sprung up at Dodona. By the thirteenth and 14th century BCE, priests had begun to interpret the rustling of the oak or beech leaves to determine the future. When Homer wrote the Iliad (circa 750 BCE), no buildings were present and the priests slept on the ground. By the time Herodotus wrote about Dodona, female priestesses called peleiades had replaced the male priests. A much later story, Jason and the Argonauts mentioned that Jason's ship, the Argos, had the gift of prophecy because it was made out of oak wood from Dodona.
Cronussired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his own son as he had overthrown his own father. But when Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Uranus and Earth to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes which he promptly swallowed.
He was raised by a goat named Amalthea, while a company of Kouretes, soldiers, or smaller gods danced, shouted and clapped their hands to make noise so that Cronus would not hear the baby's cry.
He was raised by a nymph named Adamanthea. Since Cronus ruled over the Earth, the heavens and the sea, she hid him by dangling him on a rope from a tree so he was suspended between earth, sea and sky and thus, invisible to his father.
He was raised by a nymph named Cynosura. In gratitude, Zeus placed her among the stars after her death.
After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge the other children in reverse order of swallowing: first the stone, which was set down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, then the rest. In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon in Tartarus; he killed their guard, Campe. As gratitude, the Cyclopes gave him thunder and the thunderbolt and lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. Together, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Gigantes, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans.
After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder brothers, Poseidon and Hades by drawing lots: Zeus got the land, Poseidon the sea and Hades the world of the shadows (the dead). (See also: Penthus)
Soon after taking the throne as king of the gods, Zeus fought the monstersTyphon and Echidna, defeating them. He left them and their children alive as challenges for future heroes.
Zeus was brother and husband of Hera. Their son was Hephaistos. Zeus is famous for his many extramarital affairs with various goddesses - notably Demeter, Latona, Dione and Maia -- and mortal women -- notably Semele, Io, Europa and Leda (for more details, see "Affairs" below). His wife, Hera, was very jealous and consistently tried to harm Zeus' mistresses and their children by him. For a time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from his affairs by incessantly talking. When Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to only speak the words of others (hence our modern word "echo").
Though Zeus was often petty and malicious, he also had a righteous streak, perhaps best exemplified in his aid on behalf of Atreus and his murder of Capaneus for unbridled arrogance.
Zeus killed Salmoneus with a thunderbolt for attempting to equal him, riding around on a bronzechariot and loudly imitating thunder.
As a child, Zeus had had a friend named Celmis. Many years later, Rhea became offended by the antics of Celmis and asked Zeus to turn him into a lump of steel or diamond. Zeus obliged.
Zeus turned Periphas into an eagle after his death, as a reward for being righteous and just.
At the marriage of Zeus and Hera, a nymph named Chelone was disrespectful (or refused to attend). Zeus condemned her to eternal silence.
Zeus made the decision to marryAphrodite off to Hephaestus in order to prevent violence over her between the many gods who lusted after the goddess of beauty.
Zeus, with Hera, turned King Haemus and Queen Rhodope into mountains (Balkan and Despoto, respectively) for their vanity.
Lycaon, son of Pelasgus and Meliboea was the mythical first king of Arcadia. He was the father of Callisto and, according to some, he raised her son Arcas. He, or his fifty impious sons, entertained Zeus and set before him a dish of human flesh; the god pushed away the dish in disgust and either killed the king and his sons by lightning or turned them into wolves (Apollodorus iii. 8 ; Ovid, Metamorphoses i. 198). Some say that Lycaon slew and dished up his own son Nyctimus (Clem. Alex. Protrept. ii. 36 ; Nonnus, Dionys. xviii. 20 ; Arnobius iv. 24).
Pausanias (viii. 2) says that Lycaon sacrificed a child to Zeus on the altar on mount Lycaeus, and immediately after the sacrifice was turned into a wolf. This gave rise to the story that a man was turned into a wolf at each annual sacrifice to Zeus Lycaeus, but recovered his human form if he abstained from human flesh for ten years. The oldest city, the oldest cult (that of Zeus Lycaeus), and the first civilization of Arcadia are attributed to Lycaon. His story has been variously interpreted. According to Weizsäcker, he was an old Pelasgian or pre-Hellenic god, to whom human sacrifice was offered, bearing a non-Hellenic name similar to Avkos, whence the story originated of his metamorphosis into a wolf. His cult was driven out by that of the Hellenic Zeus, and Lycaon himself was afterwards represented as an evil spirit, who had insulted the new deity by setting human flesh before him. Robertson Smith considers the sacrifices offered to the wolf-Zeus in Arcadia to have been originally cannibal feasts of a wolf-tribe, who recognized the wolf as their totem. Usener and others identify Lycaon with Zeus Lycaeus, the god of light, who slays his son Nyctimus (the dark) or is succeeded by him, in allusion to the perpetual succession of night and day. According to Ed. Meyer, the belief that Zeus Lycaeus accepted human sacrifice in the form of a wolf was the origin of the myth that Lycaon, the founder of his cult, became a wolf, i.e. participated in the nature of the god by the act of sacrifice, as did all who afterwards duly performed it.
As a young man, Tiresias found two snakes mating and hit them with a stick. He was then transformed into a woman. Seven years later, Tiresias did the same thing again and became a man again. A time later, Zeus and Hera asked him which sex, male or female, experienced more pleasure during sexual intercourse. Zeus claimed it was women and vice versa. Tiresias sided with Zeus. Hera struck him blind. Since Zeus could not undo what she had done, he gave him the gift of prophecy.
Arcas was the son of Zeus and the nymphCallisto, whom Hera turned into a bear. Arcas unknowningly attempted to kill his mother during a hunt, not recognizing her. Zeus put them both in the sky as Ursa Major (Callisto) and Ursa Minor (Arcas).
