Zeus: King of the Gods
Zeus, Lord of the Skies, King of the Gods, was the last sibling of the Titan Kronos and the Titaness Rhea. He would have suffered the same fate as his other five Olympian siblings, Demeter, Hestia, Poseidon, Hades, and Hera, being swallowed alive, if it had not been for his mother hiding him and tricking Kronos into eating a large stone instead. He was raised in a cave with nine spirits, the Kouretes, and a goat, Amaltheia, that nursed him with her milk and the bees of the mountain provided honey. As a baby, adding on to the fact that his voice was booming, being the thunder god, he was quite boisterous and would have attracted the attention of his father, but the Kouretes banged their shields in order to drown out the child’s cries (Atsma) (Atsma).
Zeus grew up and had prepared to fight his father but he could not do it alone. There are two historical accounts that either Zeus himself sliced his father’s stomach open to free his siblings or that the Nymph Metis slipped Kronos an emetic so that he would puke out the gods and the false Zeus stone . But both accounts agree that once the other gods were freed, the Titan War had begun. Zeus led the offensive and freed the Cyclopes, the Hundred-Handed Ones, and the Hecatonchires from Tartarus. He and the other gods fought alongside these giant humanoids and the Cyclopes and their brethren taught Zeus how to craft lightning bolts. The war was devastating but the gods prevailed over the Titans and imprisoned them in Tartarus with the Hundred-Handed Ones being their jailors ("Zeus"). A few were pardoned for their participation, such as Metis, Mnemosyne, and Themis (Camfield). With the war over, the gods claimed Mount Olympus as their new sort of headquarters and...
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There is no doubt in mythology that the king of gods, Zeus, is the most supreme and powerful, ruling the sky. He controls the thunderbolt, a symbol of power feared by both gods and mortals. The Greeks and Romans honored Zeus above all other gods. He is without mistake, the god of all gods. Their stories of Zeus are plenty; his designs have molded mythology from his birth. Zeus' victory in outwitting his intelligent wife, Metis, by swallowing her pregnant, was the gateway used by the Greeks and Romans to show Zeus as the greatest god to come since his father and grandfather. However, as the stories of the gods and goddesses unfold, the Greeks and Roman's interpretation of Zeus' characteristics are different. Zeus is always upheld as the king of gods, but his other personal attributes to his godly rein are conflicting. Zeus' characteristics of fearfulness of female deities, cunningness and use of trickery, and lust in Ovid's Metamorphoses compared to the Theogony are opposed due to Hesiod's true respect of Zeus versus Ovid's lack of respect of Jupiter in Roman mythology.
It was dusk at Mount Olympus and the night sky had light up with the colours of the sun setting over it. Zeus stumbled inside and sat down to talk with the gods. Before saying a word,
Rosenberg, Donna. "The Creation of the Titans and the Gods." World Mythology. 3rd ed. Chicago: NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, Inc., 1999. 82-89. Print.
After the birth of her sixth and last child, Rhea tricked Cronos into swallowing a rock and then hid the child -- Zeus -- on earth. Zeus grew up on earth and was brought back to Mount Olympus as a cupbearer to his unsuspecting father. Rhea and Zeus connived against Cronos by mixing a noxious drink for him. Thinking it was wine, Cronos drank the mixture and promptly regulated his five other children, fully grown.
Grene, David., and Richmond Alexander Lattimore. Greek Tragedies. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Jupiter was the ruler of the gods. He is also known as Zeus to the Greeks. The King of Gods in Greek Mythology Zeus was the ruler of the sky, and had the power to create thunderstorms and lightning as well as earthquakes. He was the child of Cronus and Rhea. As the story goes he was their sixth child, and the father to protect him from being overthrown had eaten the five previous children. Zeus was taken to a city called Crete and hidden from his father. As Zeus grew older and learned of what happened he found a potion to make his father regurgitate the other children. Once this happened they all teamed up and killed their father. Zeus then became the ruler of Mount Olympus, and head of the new line of Gods. Jupiter was the predominant power holder of Roman Gods. He was ruler of the sky, the daylight, all the weather, and even the thunder and lightening.(Ruck,Carl and Staples, Danny, pg 19)
Mythology was critical to Greek people’s everyday life, just like how religion is in our modern day in age. Everyday events, such as a thunderstorm, could be linked to a god or goddess. For example, when an earthquake would happen, it would be Poseidon crashing his tritan on the ground. People’s lives revolved around the whole ideology and it served as a way to explain the unexplained and to help them in times of need. All of the stories of these great gods and goddesses were passed down generation through generation each time getting more extreme and distorted. People idolized these beings and built stunning life like sculptures of them. Zeus was the most important of all the Greek gods and also king of Mount Olympus. He became a king after
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Napoli, Donna Jo, and Christian Balit. Treasury of Greek Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, & Monsters. Washington: National Geography Society, 2011. Print.
Daly, Kathleen. Greek and Roman Mythology A to Z: a young reader’s companion. Facts on File, 1992. Print.
Zeus was a god of the sky and weather. “He was also known as the King of the gods and a ruler of mankind as he influenced the natural law and order of the cosmos.” () Although, he could pretty much intervene in every decision made by any of other gods, he had no control over the fates. Zeus was naturally the most respected and awed god by both gods and mortals. He was caring and protected his family, often intervening and making peace between them, and was as also known as wise, fair and honest, always striving for justice. However, he was fierce in punishing those who tried to escape oaths and laws. “Despite being almost a perfect icon in the Greek culture, he is also known to be quite naive in many of his many love affairs and that made him very unpredictable in terms of malice, such as kidnapping, cannibalism and murder.”
Claybourne, Anna. "Achilles." Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology. Marshall Cavendish Digital, 04 Jan 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. http://marshallcavendishdigital.com/articledisplay/41/8483/89264.
Zeus who has all his children out of his head, was the Greek god of the sky and the ruler of Mt.Olympus which makes him the ruler of all gods and men.(Atsma) First he was born but he was hidden on an island called
Zeus's father Kronos is a terrible man, for whatever reason he felt the need to eat his off spring. He had eaten all of Zues's older siblings, his mother was not going to allow for this to happen yet again. When Zues was born, his mother gave his father Kronos a rock in a blanket to eat instead of the actual baby. Kronos did not even notice, Zeus was given and raised by a "nanny" that allowed him to grow into the Mythology God that he now is. Once Zues was
Both cultures had a king of the gods. In Greek mythology there is no god who is more powerful than Zeus. He is the youngest son of Cronus and Rhea, ruler of the Titans. Cronus was told that one of his children would overthrow him, taking control of his kingdom. To be sure this would not happen, Cronus swallowed his first five children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. Rhea could not bear to see another one of her children, devoured so she replaced Zeus with a rock wrapped in swaddling. Cronus, thinking he ate Zeus, left Rhea time to leave Zeus in a cave where he was raised by a divine goat, Amaltheia (pantheon/odin). After Zeus was grown he went back to Cronus with the help of Gaia and Metis, who made an elixir to cause Cronus to vomit his brothers and sisters. Zeus then led the fights against the Titan dynasty. Afterwards they banished the Titans to Tartarus, the lowest place on earth, even lower than the underworld. Zeus and his brothers then drew straws to find who would rule where. Zeus gained rule of the sky, Poseidon ruled the seas, and Hades ruled the underworld (pantheon/odin).