In Greek mythology, Zeus (pronounced /ˈzjuːs/ ) () is the King of the Gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward, with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.
Zeus was the child of Cronus and Rhea, and the youngest of his siblings. In most traditions he was married to Hera, although, at the oracle of Dodona, his consort was Dione: according to the Iliad , he is the father of Aphrodite by Dione. He is known for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera, he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus.
In Greek, the god's name is Ζεύς Zeús /zdeús/ or /dzeús/ (Modern Greek /'zefs/) in the nominative case and Διός Diós in the genitive case. His Roman counterpart was Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart Tinia. In Hindu mythology his counterpart was Indra with ever common weapon as thunderbolt, which he could hold like a staff.
Cult of Zeus
Panhellenic cults of Zeus
The major center where all Greeks converged to pay honor to their chief god was Olympia. Their quadrennial festival featured the famous Games. There was also an altar to Zeus made not of stone, but of ash, from the accumulated remains of many centuries' worth of animals sacrificed there. Outside of the major inter-polis sanctuaries, there were no modes of worshipping Zeus precisely shared across the Greek world. Most of the titles listed below, for instance, could be found at any number of Greek temples from Asia Minor to Sicily. Certain modes of ritual were held in common as well: sacrificing a white animal over a raised altar, for instance.
History
Zeus, poetically referred to by the vocative Zeu pater ("O, father Zeus"), is a continuation of * Di̯ēus , the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called * Dyeus ph 2 tēr ("Sky Father"). The god is known under this name in Sanskrit (cf. Dyaus/Dyaus Pita ), Latin (cf. Jupiter , from Iuppiter , deriving from the PIE vocative * dyeu-ph 2 tēr ), deriving from the basic form * dyeu - ("to shine", and in its many derivatives, "sky, heaven, god"). And in Germanic and Norse mythology (cf. * Tīwaz > OHG Ziu , ON Týr ), together with Latin deus , dīvus and Dis (a variation of dīves ), from the related noun * deiwos . To the Greeks and Romans, the god of the sky was also the supreme god, whereas this function was filled out by Odin among the Germanic tribes. Accordingly, they did not identify Zeus/Jupiter with either Tyr or Odin, but with Thor ( Þórr ). Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology.
Role and epithets
Zeus played a dominant role, presiding over the Greek Olympian pantheon. He fathered many of the heroes and was featured in many of their local cults. Though the Homeric "cloud collector" was the god of the sky and thunder like his Near-Eastern counterparts, he was also the supreme cultural artifact; in some senses, he was the embodiment of Greek religious beliefs and the archetypal Greek deity.
Aside from local epithets that simply designated the deity to doing something random at some particular place, the epithets or titles applied to Zeus emphasized different aspects of his wide-ranging authority:
- Zeus Olympios emphasized Zeus's kingship over both the gods in addition to his specific presence at the Panhellenic festival at Olympia.
- A related title was Zeus Panhellenios ('Zeus of all the Hellenes'), to whom Aeacus' famous temple on Aegina was dedicated.
- As Zeus Xenios , Zeus was the patron of hospitality and guests, ready to avenge any wrong done to a stranger.
- As Zeus Horkios , he was the keeper of oaths. Exposed liars were made to dedicate a statue to Zeus, often at the sanctuary of Olympia.
- As Zeus Agoraeus , Zeus watched over business at the agora and punished dishonest traders.
- As Zeus Aegiduchos or Aegiochos he was the bearer of the Aegis with which he strikes terror into the impious and his enemies. Others derive this epithet from αίξ ("goat") and οχή and take it as an allusion to the legend of Zeus' suckling at the breast of Amalthea.
- As Zeus Meilichios , "Easy-to-be-entreated", he subsumed an archaic chthonic daimon propitiated in Athens, Meilichios.
- As Zeus Tallaios , or "Solar Zeus", he was worshiped in Crete.
Some local Zeus-cults
In addition to the Panhellenic titles and conceptions listed above, local cults maintained their own idiosyncratic ideas about the king of gods and men. With the epithet Zeus Aetnaeus he was worshiped on Mount Aetna, where there was a statue of him, and a local festival called the Aetnaea in his honor. Other examples are listed below.
- As Zeus Aeneius or Aenesius , he was worshiped in the island of Cephalenia, where he had a temple on Mount Aenos.
- As Zeus Agamemnon he was worshipped at Sparta.
Cretan Zeus
With one exception, Greeks were unanimous in recognizing the birthplace of Zeus as Crete. Minoan culture contributed many essentials of ancient Greek religion: "by a hundred channels the old civilization emptied itself into the new", Will Durant observed, and Cretan Zeus retained his youthful Minoan features. The local child of the Great Mother, "a small and inferior deity who took the roles of son and consort", whose Minoan name the Greeks Hellenized as Velchanos , was in time assumed as an epithet by Zeus, as transpired at many other sites, and he came to be venerated in Crete as Zeus Velchanos , the "boy-Zeus", often simply the Kouros .
In Crete, Zeus was worshipped at a number of caves at Knossos, Ida and Palaikastro. In the Hellenistic period a small sanctuary dedicated to Zeus Velchanos was founded at the Aghia Triada site of a long-ruined Minoan palace. Broadly contemporary coins from Phaistos show the form under which he was worshiped: a youth sits among the branches of a tree, with a cockerel on his knees. On other Cretan coins Velchanos is represented as an eagle and in association with a goddess celebrating a mystic marriage. Inscriptions at Gortyn and Lyttos record a Velchania festival, showing that Velchanios was still widely venerated in Hellenistic Crete.
The stories of Minos and Epimenides suggest that these caves were once used for incubatory divination by kings and priests. The dramatic setting of Plato's Laws is along the pilgrimage-route to one such site, emphasizing archaic Cretan knowledge. On Crete, Zeus was represented in art as a long-haired youth rather than a mature adult, and hymned as ho megas kouros "the great youth". Ivory statuettes of the "Divine Boy" were unearthed near the Labyrinth at Knossos]] by Sir Arthur Evans. With the Kouretes, a band of ecstatic armed dancers, he presided over the rigorous military-athletic training and secret rites of the Cretan paideia .
The myth of the death of Cretan Zeus, localised in numerous mountain sites though only mentioned in a comparatively late source, Callimachus, together with the assertion of Antoninus Liberalis that a fire shone forth annually from the birth-cave the infant shared with a mythic swarm of bees, suggests that Velchanos had been an annual vegetative spirit. The Hellenistic writer Euhemerus apparently proposed a theory that Zeus had actually been a great king of Crete and that posthumously his glory had slowly turned him into a deity. The works of Euhemerus himself have not survived, but Christian patristic writers took up the suggestion with enthusiasm.
Zeus Lykaios in Arcadia
For more details on this topic, see Lykaia.The epithet Lykaios ("wolf-Zeus") is assumed by Zeus only in connection with the archaic festival of the Lykaia on the slopes of Mount Lykaion ("Wolf Mountain"), the tallest peak in rustic Arcadia; Zeus had only a formal connection with the rituals and myths of this primitive rite of passage with an ancient threat of cannibalism and the possibility of a werewolf transformation for the ephebes who were the participants. Near the ancient ash-heap where the sacrifices took place was a forbidden
Greek gods (Zeus, Hera) - All About Turkey
Greek gods (Zeus, Hera) Zeus. Zeus is the supreme god and ruler of Olympus. He is known by many titles: Lord of the Sky, the Cloud- gatherer, the Rain-god and Zeus the Thunderer ...
Greek Gods
Greek Gods ... Zeus: Hestia: Apollo: Hephestaus: Eros: Prisoners of Tartarus: Demeter: Dionsyus: Oranos
Zeus - Who Is the Greek God Zeus
Zeus is the name of the Greek king of the Gods, the equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter. Zeus is a sky god.
Greek god Zeus, the King of the Gods and Ruler of Mankind
Almighty Zeus(Jupiter)- the King of the Gods- Zeus, the father of the Olympian gods, ruler of mankind and dispenser of Good and Evil.
Zeus - Ancient Greek God
Zeus, an ancient Greek God, Son of Cronus, a description of his place in the Ancient Greek World.
Greek Gods and Goddesses - Clip Art & Myths - Images and pictures of ...
Zeus, Another image Zeus, from Greek coins. More on Greek Gods and Goddesses Olympian Gods and Goddesses The Top Twelve of Greek Mythology Greek Gods and Goddesses at Home
ZEUS : Greek king of the gods, god of sky & weather ; mythology ...
Zeus, the Greek god of the sky, and king of the gods, is described over a series of detailed pages which include an ENCYCLOPEDIA summary, quotes from Greek and Roman literature and ...
Zeus - Greek God Zeus
The king of the Olympian gods Zeus was known as Jupiter by the Romans.
Greek Gods Myths- Zeus-Zeus and his Fight with the Typhoon
Myths and stories of , Almighty Zeus(Jupiter)- the King of the Gods- Zeus, the father of the Olympian gods, ruler of mankind and dispenser of Good and Evil.
Greek Mythology Gods Olympians
Once when Zeus was being partcularly overbearing to the other gods, Hera convinced them to join in a revolt. ... People travled to it from all over the greek world to devine the ...