ZEUS the god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian
gods. Zeus was considered the
father of the gods and of mortals. He did not create either gods or mortals;
he
was their father in the sense of being the protector and ruler both of the
Olympian family and of the human race. He was lord of the sky, the rain
god, and
the cloud gatherer, who wielded the terrible thunderbolt. His breastplate
was
the aegis, his bird the eagle, his tree the oak.
Zeus presided over the gods on Mount Olympus
in Thessaly. His principal shrines
were at Dodona, in Epirus, the land of the oak trees and the most ancient
shrine, famous for its oracle, and at Olympia, where the Olympian Games
were
celebrated in his honor every fourth year. The Nemean games, held at Nemea,
northwest of Argos, were also dedicated to Zeus.
Zeus was the youngest son of the Titans Cronus
and Rhea and the brother of the
deities Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. According to one of
the
ancient myths of the birth of Zeus, Cronus, fearing that he might be dethroned
by one of his children, swallowed them as they were born. Upon the birth
of
Zeus, Rhea wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes for Cronus to swallow and
concealed the infant god in Crete, where he was fed on the milk of the goat
Amalthaea and reared by nymphs. When Zeus grew to maturity, he forced Cronus
to
disgorge the other children, who were eager to take vengeance on their father.
In the war that followed, the Titans fought on the side of Cronus, but Zeus
and
the other gods were successful, and the Titans were consigned to the abyss
of
Tartarus. Zeus henceforth ruled over the sky, and his brothers Poseidon
and
Hades were given power over the sea and the underworld, respectively. The
earth
was to be ruled in common by all three.
As husband to his sister Hera, he is the father
of Ares, the god of war; Hebe,
the goddess of youth; Hephaestus, the god of fire; and Eileithyia, the goddess
of childbirth.
Zeus is described as falling in love with one
woman after another and resorting
to all kinds of tricks to hide his infidelity from his wife. Stories of
his
escapades were numerous in ancient mythology, and many of his offspring;
such
as, Hercules, were a result of his love affairs with both goddesses and
mortal
women. His many affairs with mortals are sometimes explained as the wish
of the
early Greeks to trace their lineage to him.