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Zeus (/zjuːs/, Ancient Greek: Ζεύς)[a] is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek
religion and mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. His name
is cognate with the first syllable of his Roman equivalent Jupiter.[2]
Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, though sometimes
reckoned the eldest as the others required disgorging from Cronus's stomach. In most traditions,
he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe,
and Hephaestus.[3][4] At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione,[5] by whom
the Iliad states that he fathered Aphrodite.[8] According to the Theogony, Zeus' first wife
was Metis, by whom he had Athena.[9] Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These
resulted in many divine and heroic offspring,
including Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of
Troy, Minos, and the Muses.[3]
He was respected as a sky father who was chief of the gods[10] and assigned roles to the others:
[11]
"Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in
his presence."[12][13] He was equated with many foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to
observe "That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men".[14] Zeus' symbols are
the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical
"cloud-gatherer" (Greek: Νεφεληγερέτα, Nephelēgereta)[15] also derives certain iconographic traits
from the cultures of the ancient Near East, such as the scepter.
Name
The god's name in the nominative is Ζεύς (Zeús). It is inflected as
follows: vocative: Ζεῦ (Zeû); accusative: Δία (Día); genitive: Διός (Diós); dative: Διί (Dií). Diogene
s Laërtius quotes Pherecydes of Syros as spelling the name Ζάς.[16]
Zeus is the Greek continuation of *Di̯ ēus, the name of the Proto-Indo-European god of the
daytime sky, also called *Dyeus ph2tēr ("Sky Father").[17][18] The god is known under this name in
the Rigveda (Vedic Sanskrit Dyaus/Dyaus Pita), Latin (compare Jupiter, from Iuppiter, deriving
from the Proto-Indo-European vocative *dyeu-ph2tēr),[19] deriving from the root *dyeu- ("to shine",
and in its many derivatives, "sky, heaven, god").[17] Albanian Zoj-z and Messapic Zis are clear
equivalents and cognates of Zeus. In the Greek, Albanian, and Messapic forms the original
cluster *di̯ underwent affrication to *dz.[20][21] Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose
name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology.[22]
The earliest attested forms of the name are the Mycenaean Greek 𐀇𐀸, di-we and 𐀇𐀺, di-wo,
written in the Linear B syllabic script.[23]
Plato, in his Cratylus, gives a folk etymology of Zeus meaning "cause of life always to all things",
because of puns between alternate titles of Zeus (Zen and Dia) with the Greek words for life and
"because of".[24] This etymology, along with Plato's entire method of deriving etymologies, is not
supported by modern scholarship.[25][26]
Diodorus Siculus wrote that Zeus was also called Zen, because the humans believed that he was
the cause of life (zen).[27] While Lactantius wrote that he was called Zeus and Zen, not because
he is the giver of life, but because he was the first who lived of the children of Cronus.[28]
Zeus was called by numerous alternative names or surnames, known as epithets. Some epithets
are the surviving names of local gods who were consolidated into the myth of Zeus. [29]
Mythology
Birth
Uranus Gaia
Cronus Rhea
Infancy
While the Theogony says nothing of Zeus's upbringing other than that he grew up swiftly, [45] other
sources provide more detailed accounts. According to Apollodorus, Rhea, after giving birth to
Zeus in a cave in Dicte, gives him to the nymphs Adrasteia and Ida, daughters of Melisseus, to
nurse.[46] They feed him on the milk of the she-goat Amalthea,[47] while the Kouretes guard the
cave and beat their spears on their shields so that Cronus cannot hear the infant's crying.
[48]
Diodorus Siculus provides a similar account, saying that, after giving birth, Rhea travels
to Mount Ida and gives the newborn Zeus to the Kouretes,[49] who then takes him to some
nymphs (not named), who raised him on a mixture of honey and milk from the goat Amalthea.
[50]
He also refers to the Kouretes "rais[ing] a great alarum", and in doing so deceiving Cronus,
[51]
and relates that when the Kouretes were carrying the newborn Zeus that the umbilical cord fell
away at the river Triton.[52]
Hyginus, in his Fabulae, relates a version in which Cronus casts Poseidon into the sea and
Hades to the Underworld instead of swallowing them. When Zeus is born, Hera (also not
swallowed), asks Rhea to give her the young Zeus, and Rhea gives Cronus a stone to swallow.
[53]
Hera gives him to Amalthea, who hangs his cradle from a tree, where he is not in heaven, on
earth or in the sea, meaning that when Cronus later goes looking for Zeus, he is unable to find
him.[54] Hyginus also says that Ida, Althaea, and Adrasteia, usually considered the children
of Oceanus, are sometimes called the daughters of Melisseus and the nurses of Zeus.[55]
According to a fragment of Epimenides, the nymphs Helike and Kynosura are the young Zeus's
nurses. Cronus travels to Crete to look for Zeus, who, to conceal his presence, transforms
himself into a snake and his two nurses into bears.[56] According to Musaeus, after Zeus is born,
Rhea gives him to Themis. Themis in turn gives him to Amalthea, who owns a she-goat, which
nurses the young Zeus.[57]
Antoninus Liberalis, in his Metamorphoses, says that Rhea gives birth to Zeus in a sacred cave
in Crete, full of sacred bees, which become the nurses of the infant. While the cave is considered
forbidden ground for both mortals and gods, a group of thieves seek to steal honey from it. Upon
laying eyes on the swaddling clothes of Zeus, their bronze armour "split[s] away from their
bodies", and Zeus would have killed them had it not been for the intervention of
the Moirai and Themis; he instead transforms them into various species of birds.[58]
Ascension to power
According to the Theogony, after Zeus reaches manhood, Cronus is made to disgorge the five
children and the stone "by the stratagems of Gaia, but also by the skills and strength of Zeus",
presumably in reverse order, vomiting out the stone first, then each of the five children in the
opposite order to swallowing.[60] Zeus then sets up the stone at Delphi, so that it may act as "a
sign thenceforth and a marvel to mortal men".[61] Zeus next frees the Cyclopes, who, in return,
and out of gratitude, give him his thunderbolt, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. [62] Then
begins the Titanomachy, the war between the Olympians, led by Zeus, and the Titans, led by
Cronus, for control of the universe, with Zeus and the Olympians fighting from Mount Olympus,
and the Titans fighting from Mount Othrys.[63] The battle lasts for ten years with no clear victor
emerging, until, upon Gaia's advice, Zeus releases the Hundred-Handers, who (similarly to the
Cyclopes) were imprisoned beneath the Earth's surface.[64] He gives them nectar and ambrosia
and revives their spirits,[65] and they agree to aid him in the war.[66] Zeus then launches his final
attack on the Titans, hurling bolts of lightning upon them while the Hundred-Handers attack with
barrages of rocks, and the Titans are finally defeated, with Zeus banishing them to Tartarus and
assigning the Hundred-Handers the task of acting as their warders.[67]
Apollodorus provides a similar account, saying that, when Zeus reaches adulthood, he enlists the
help of the Oceanid Metis, who gives Cronus an emetic, forcing to him to disgorge the stone and
Zeus's five siblings.[68] Zeus then fights a similar ten-year war against the Titans, until, upon the
prophesying of Gaia, he releases the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers from Tartarus, first slaying
their warder, Campe.[69] The Cyclopes give him his thunderbolt, Poseidon his trident and Hades
his helmet of invisibility, and the Titans are defeated and the Hundred-Handers made their
guards.[70]
According to the Iliad, after the battle with the Titans, Zeus shares the world with his brothers,
Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus receives the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the
underworld, with the earth and Olympus remaining common ground.[71]
Challenges to power
ZEUS
Metis[107]
Athena[108]
Themis
Eurynome[107] Demeter
The Charites
Mnemosyne
The Muses
Leto
Apollo Artemis
Marriage to Hera
Affairs
Offspring
The following is a list of Zeus's offspring, by various mothers. Beside each offspring, the earliest
source to record the parentage is given, along with the century to which the source dates.
Dat hid
Offspring Mother Source
e e
8th
Hes. Theo
Heracles Alcmene cent. [157]
g.
BC
8th
Hes. Theo
Persephone Demeter cent. [158]
g.
BC
Dat hid
Offspring Mother Source
e e
8th
Hes. Theo
Eurynome cent. [159]
g.
BC
show 2nd
Orphic
Eunomia cent. [160]
Hymns
Charites AD
1st
Euanthe or Eurydome or Eurymed
Cornutus cent. [161]
usa
AD
8th
Hes. Theo
Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe Hera cent. [162]
g.
BC
8th
Hes. Theo
Apollo, Artemis Leto cent. [163]
g.
BC
8th
Hes. Theo
Hermes Maia cent. [164]
g.
BC
8th
Hes. Theo
Athena Metis cent. [165]
g.
BC
show 8th
Hes. Theo
Mnemosyne cent. [166]
g.
Muses BC
8th
Hes. Theo
Dionysus Semele cent. [167]
g.
BC
[168]
show Themis Hes. Theo 8th
g. cent.
Dat hid
Offspring Mother Source
e e
Horae BC
show 8th
Hes. Theo
cent. [169]
g.
Moirai BC
1st
Aegipan Aega, Aix or Boetis Hyg. Fab. cent. [170]
AD
5th
Tyche Aphrodite Pindar cent. [171]
BC
Asteria
3rd
Heracles Athenaeus cent. [173]
AD
6th
Acragas Asterope Steph. Byz. cent. [174]
AD
1st
Corybantes Calliope Strabo cent. [175]
AD
1st
Coria (Athene) Coryphe Cic. DND cent. [176]
BC
[178]
Aphrodite Dione Hom. Il. 8th
cent.
Dat hid
Offspring Mother Source
e e
BC
1st/
2nd
Asopus Eurynome Apollod. [179]
cent.
AD
Acestodoru
Dodon Europa [180]
2nd
Agdistis Paus. cent. [181]
AD
1st
Manes Earth Dion. Hal. cent. [182]
BC
5th
Cyprian Centaurs Nonnus cent. [183]
AD
5th
Angelos Sophron cent. [184]
BC
Eleutheria [185]
Hera
8th
Eris Hom. Il. cent. [186]
BC
8th
Hephaestus Hom. Il. cent. [187]
BC
[188]
Pan Hybris Apollod. 1st/
Dat hid
Offspring Mother Source
e e
2nd
cent.
AD
7th
Helen of Troy Nemesis Cypria cent. [189]
BC
2nd
Orphic
Melinoë cent. [190]
Hymns
AD
2nd
Rhea Athenag. cent. [191]
AD
Persephone
5th
Zagreus Nonnus cent. [192]
AD
Dionysus
1st
Dionysus Cic. DND cent. [193]
BC
7th
Ersa Alcman cent. [194]
BC
Selene
Schol. Pind
Nemea [195]
5th
Pandia HH 32 cent. [196]
BC
Dat hid
Offspring Mother Source
e e
1st/
2nd
Persephone Styx Apollod. [197]
cent.
AD
4th/5th
Palici Thalia Servius cent. [198]
AD
1st/
2nd
Aeacus Apollod. [199]
cent.
AD
Aegina
Pythaenetu
Damocrateia [200]
8th
Amphion, Zethus Antiope Hom. Od. cent. [201]
BC
5th
Targitaos Borysthenis Hdt. cent. [202]
BC
1st/
2nd
Arcas Callisto Apollod. [203]
cent.
AD
2nd
Britomartis Carme Paus. cent. [204]
AD
[205]
Dardanus Electra Apollod. 1st/
2nd
cent.
AD
Dat hid
Offspring Mother Source
e e
5th
Emathion Nonnus cent. [206]
AD
1st/
2nd
Iasion or Eetion Apollod. [205]
cent.
AD
1st
Harmonia Diod. Sic. cent. [207]
BC
1st
Cronius, Spartaios, Cytus Himalia Diod. Sic. cent. [209]
BC
1st
Valer.
Colaxes Hora cent. [210]
Flacc.
AD
6th
Cres Idaea Steph. Byz. cent. [211]
AD
1st/
2nd
Epaphus Apollod. [212]
cent.
AD
Io
5th
Keroessa Nonnus cent. [213]
AD
[214]
Saon Nymphe Dion. Hal. 1st
cent.
Dat hid
Offspring Mother Source
e e
BC
2nd/
3rd
Meliteus Othreis Ant. Lib. [215]
cent.
AD
1st
Tantalus Plouto Hyg. Fab. cent. [216]
AD
2nd
Lacedaemon Taygete Paus. cent. [217]
AD
5th
Carius Torrhebia Hellanicus cent. [219]
BC
2nd
Megarus Nymph Sithnid Paus. cent. [220]
AD
6th
Olenus Anaxithea Steph. Byz. cent. [221]
AD
1st/
2nd
Endymion Calyce Apollod. [222]
cent.
AD
6th
Milye, Solymus Chaldene Steph. Byz. cent. [223]
AD
Dat hid
Offspring Mother Source
e e
8th
Perseus Danaë Hom. Il. cent. [224]
BC
8th
Pirithous Dia Hom. Il. cent. [225]
BC
5th
Pherecyde
Tityos Elara cent. [226]
s
BC
8th
Minos Hom. Il. cent. [227]
BC
8th
Rhadamanthus Europa Hom. Il. cent. [228]
BC
6th
Sarpedon Hes. Cat. cent. [229]
BC
Arcesius Euryodeia
12th
Thebe Iodame Tzetzes cent. [232]
AD
2nd
Libyan Sibyl (Herophile) Lamia Paus. cent. [234]
AD
8th
Sarpedon Laodamia Hom. Il. cent. [235]
BC
8th
Helen, Castor and Pollux Leda Hom. Il. cent. [236]
BC
1st
Heracles Lysithoe Cic. DND cent. [237]
BC
1st/
2nd
Argus, Pelasgus Niobe Apollod. [239]
cent.
AD
6th
Graecus, Latinus Pandora Hes. Cat. cent. [240]
BC
4th/5th
Achaeus Phthia Servius cent. [241]
AD
Protogeneia 1st/
2nd
Aethlius Apollod. [242]
cent.
AD
[243]
Aetolus Hyg. Fab. 1st
cent.
Dat hid
Offspring Mother Source
e e
AD
5th
Opus Pindar cent. [244]
BC
6th
Hellen Pyrrha Hes. Cat. cent. [245]
BC
12th
Aegyptus Tzetzes cent. [232]
AD
Thebe
6th
Heracles John Lydus cent. [246]
AD
6th
Magnes, Makednos Thyia Hes. Cat. cent. [247]
BC
8th
Ate Hom. Il. cent. [248]
BC
3rd
Nysean Ap. Rhod. cent. [249]
BC
2nd
Orphic
Eubuleus cent. [250]
Hymns
AD
[251]
Litae Hom. Il. 8th
Dat hid
Offspring Mother Source
e e
cent.
BC
1st
Valer.
Phasis cent. [252]
Flacc.
AD
6th
Calabrus, Geraestus, Taena
Steph. Byz. cent. [253]
rus
AD
2nd
Corinthus Paus. cent. [254]
AD
1st
Crinacus Diod. Sic. cent. [255]
BC
Book 2: Zeus sends Agamemnon a dream and is able to partially control his decisions
because of the effects of the dream
Book 4: Zeus promises Hera to ultimately destroy the City of Troy at the end of the war
Book 7: Zeus and Poseidon ruin the Achaeans fortress
Book 8: Zeus prohibits the other Gods from fighting each other and has to return to Mount
Ida where he can think over his decision that the Greeks will lose the war
Book 14: Zeus is seduced by Hera and becomes distracted while she helps out the Greeks
Book 15: Zeus wakes up and realizes that his own brother, Poseidon has been aiding the
Greeks, while also sending Hector and Apollo to help fight the Trojans ensuring that the City
of Troy will fall
Book 16: Zeus is upset that he could not help save Sarpedon's life because it would then
contradict his previous decisions
Book 17: Zeus is emotionally hurt by the fate of Hector
Book 20: Zeus lets the other Gods lend aid to their respective sides in the war
Book 24: Zeus demands that Achilles release the corpse of Hector to be buried honourably
Other myths
When Hades requested to marry Zeus's daughter, Persephone, Zeus approved and advised
Hades to abduct Persephone, as her mother Demeter would not allow her to marry Hades.[262]
In the Orphic "Rhapsodic Theogony" (first century BC/AD),[263] Zeus wanted to marry his
mother Rhea. After Rhea refused to marry him, Zeus turned into a snake and raped her. Rhea
became pregnant and gave birth to Persephone. Zeus in the form of a snake would mate with his
daughter Persephone, which resulted in the birth of Dionysus.[264]
Zeus granted Callirrhoe's prayer that her sons by Alcmaeon, Acarnan and Amphoterus, grow
quickly so that they might be able to avenge the death of their father by the hands
of Phegeus and his two sons.[265]
Both Zeus and Poseidon wooed Thetis, daughter of Nereus. But when Themis (or Prometheus)
prophesied that the son born of Thetis would be mightier than his father, Thetis was married off
to the mortal Peleus.[266][267]
Zeus was afraid that his grandson Asclepius would teach resurrection to humans, so he killed
Asclepius with his thunderbolt. This angered Asclepius's father, Apollo, who in turn killed
the Cyclopes who had fashioned the thunderbolts of Zeus. Angered at this, Zeus would have
imprisoned Apollo in Tartarus. However, at the request of Apollo's mother, Leto, Zeus instead
ordered Apollo to serve as a slave to King Admetus of Pherae for a year.[268] According
to Diodorus Siculus, Zeus killed Asclepius because of complains from Hades, who was worried
that the number of people in the underworld was diminishing because of Asclepius's
resurrections.[269]
The winged horse Pegasus carried the thunderbolts of Zeus.[270]
Zeus took pity on Ixion, a man who was guilty of murdering his father-in-law, by purifying him and
bringing him to Olympus. However, Ixion started to lust after Hera. Hera complained about this to
her husband, and Zeus decided to test Ixion. Zeus fashioned a cloud that resembles Hera
(Nephele) and laid the cloud-Hera in Ixion's bed. Ixion coupled with Nephele, resulting in the birth
of Centaurus. Zeus punished Ixion for lusting after Hera by tying him to a wheel that spins
forever.[271]
Once, Helios the sun god gave his chariot to his inexperienced son Phaethon to drive. Phaethon
could not control his father's steeds so he ended up taking the chariot too high, freezing the
earth, or too low, burning everything to the ground. The earth itself prayed to Zeus, and in order
to prevent further disaster, Zeus hurled a thunderbolt at Phaethon, killing him and saving the
world from further harm.[272] In a satirical work, Dialogues of the Gods by Lucian, Zeus berates
Helios for allowing such thing to happen; he returns the damaged chariot to him and warns him
that if he dares do that again, he will strike him with one of this thunderbolts. [273]
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.
Popular conceptions of Zeus differed widely from place to place. Local varieties of Zeus often
have little in common with each other except the name. They exercised different areas of
authority and were worshiped in different ways; for example, some local cults conceived of Zeus
as a chthonic earth-god rather than a god of the sky. These local divinities were gradually
consolidated, via conquest and religious syncretism, with the Homeric conception of Zeus. Local
or idiosyncratic versions of Zeus were given epithets — surnames or titles which distinguish
different conceptions of the god.[29]
These epithets or titles applied to Zeus emphasized different aspects of his wide-ranging
authority:
Zeus Aegiduchos or Aegiochos: Usually taken as Zeus as the bearer of the Aegis, the
divine shield with the head of Medusa across it,[275] although others derive it from "goat" (αἴξ)
and okhē (οχή) in reference to Zeus' nurse, the divine goat Amalthea.[276][277]
Zeus Agoraeus (Ἀγοραῖος): Zeus as patron of the marketplace (agora) and punisher of
dishonest traders.
Zeus Areius (Αρειος): either "warlike" or "the atoning one".
Zeus Eleutherios (Ἐλευθέριος): "Zeus the freedom giver" a cult worshiped in Athens[278]
Zeus Horkios: Zeus as keeper of oaths. Exposed liars were made to dedicate
a votive statue to Zeus, often at the sanctuary at Olympia
Zeus Olympios (Ολύμπιος): Zeus as king of the gods and patron of the Panhellenic
Games at Olympia
Zeus Panhellenios ("Zeus of All the Greeks"): worshipped at Aeacus's temple on Aegina
Zeus Xenios (Ξένιος), Philoxenon, or Hospites: Zeus as the patron of hospitality (xenia)
and guests, avenger of wrongs done to strangers
A bust of Zeus.
Additional names and epithets for Zeus are also:
Contents
A
B
C
D
E
G
H
I
K
L
M
N
O
P
S
T
X
Z
A
Abrettenus (Ἀβρεττηνός) or Abretanus: surname of Zeus in Mysia[279]
Achad: one of his names in Syria.
Acraeus (Ακραίος): his name at Smyrna. Acraea and Acraeus are also attributes given to
various goddesses and gods whose temples were situated upon hills, such as
Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Pallas, Artemis, and others
Acrettenus: his name in Mysia.
Adad: one of his names in Syria.
Zeus Adados: A Hellenization of the Canaanite Hadad and Assyrian Adad, particularly his
solar cult at Heliopolis[280]
Adultus: from his being invoked by adults, on their marriage.
Aeneius (Αἰνήιος) or Aenesius ( Αἰνήσιος), was worshipped in Cephalonia, where he had a
temple on mount Aenos.[281]
Aethiops (Αἰθίοψ), meaning the glowing or the black. He was worshipped in Chios.[282]
Aetnaeus (Αἰτναῖος), due to the Mount Etna. There was a statue of Zeus and a festival was
celebrated there.[283]
Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων), was worshipped at Sparta. Eustathius believes that the epithet
is because of the resemblance between Zeus and Agamemnon, while others believe that it
signifying the Eternal, from ἀγὰν and μένων.[284]
Agetor (Ἀγήτωρ), leader and ruler of men.[285]
Agonius (Ἀγώνιος), helper in struggles and contests.[286]
Aleios (Ἄλειος), from "Helios" and perhaps connected to water as well.[287]
Alexicacus (Ἀλεξίκακος), the averter of evil.[288]
Amboulios (Αμβουλιος, "Counsellor") or Latinized Ambulius[289]
Apemius (Apemios, Απημιος): Zeus as the averter of ills
Apomyius (Απομυιος): Zeus as one who dispels flies
Aphesios (Αφεσιος; "Releasing (Rain)")
Argikeravnos (ἀργικέραυνος; "of the flashing bolt").[290]
Astrapios (ἀστραπαῖός; "Lightninger"): Zeus as a weather god
Atabyrius (Ἀταβύριος): he was worshipped in Rhodes and took his name from the Mount
Atabyrus on the island[291]
Athous (Αθώος), derived from Mount Athos, on which the god had a temple.[292]
Aithrios (Αἴθριος, "of the Clear Sky").[290]
Aitherios (Αἰθέριος, "of Aether").[290]
B
Basileus (Βασιλευς, "King, Chief, Ruler")
Bottiaeus/ Bottaios (Βοττιαίος, "of the Bottiaei"): Worshipped at Antioch[293] Libanius wrote
that Alexander the Great founded the temple of Zeus Bottiaios, in the place where later the
city of Antioch was built.[294][295]
Zeus Bouleus/ Boulaios (Βουλαίος, "of the Council"): Worshipped at Dodona, the
earliest oracle, along with Zeus Naos
Brontios and Brontaios (Βρονταῖος, "Thunderer"): Zeus as a weather god
C
Cenaean (Kenaios/ Kenaius, Κηναῖος): a surname of Zeus, derived from cape Cenaeum[296]
[289]
Cults
Marble eagle from the sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos, Archaeological Museum of Dion.
Panhellenic cults
Colossal seated Marnas from Gaza portrayed in the style of Zeus.
Roman period Marnas [328]
was the chief divinity of Gaza (Istanbul Archaeology Museum).
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.
Zeus Velchanos
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, [329] 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",[330] 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 ("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 Hagia
Triada site of an earlier Minoan town. 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.[331] On other Cretan coins Velchanos is represented as an eagle and in association with a
goddess celebrating a mystic marriage.[332] Inscriptions at Gortyn and Lyttos record
a Velchania festival, showing that Velchanios was still widely venerated in Hellenistic Crete.[333]
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.[334] 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,[335] 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.[336] 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.
Zeus Lykaios
Further information: Lykaia
Although etymology indicates that Zeus was originally a sky god, many Greek cities honored a
local Zeus who lived underground. Athenians and Sicilians honored Zeus Meilichios (Μειλίχιος;
"kindly" or "honeyed") while other cities had Zeus Chthonios ("earthy"), Zeus
Katachthonios (Καταχθόνιος; "under-the-earth") and Zeus Plousios ("wealth-bringing"). These
deities might be represented as snakes or in human form in visual art, or, for emphasis as both
together in one image. They also received offerings of black animal victims sacrificed into sunken
pits, as did chthonic deities like Persephone and Demeter, and also the heroes at their tombs.
Olympian gods, by contrast, usually received white victims sacrificed upon raised altars.
In some cases, cities were not entirely sure whether the daimon to whom they sacrificed was a
hero or an underground Zeus. Thus the shrine at Lebadaea in Boeotia might belong to the
hero Trophonius or to Zeus Trephonius ("the nurturing"), depending on whether you
believe Pausanias, or Strabo. The hero Amphiaraus was honored as Zeus Amphiaraus at
Oropus outside of Thebes, and the Spartans even had a shrine to Zeus Agamemnon.
Ancient Molossian kings sacrificed to Zeus Areius (Αρειος). Strabo mention that at Tralles there
was the Zeus Larisaeus (Λαρισαιος).[343] In Ithome, they honored the Zeus Ithomatas, they had
a sanctuary and a statue of Zeus and also held an annual festival in honour of Zeus which was
called Ithomaea (ἰθώμαια).[344]
Hecatomphonia
Hecatomphonia (Ancient Greek: ἑκατομφόνια), meaning killing of a hundred, from ἑκατόν "a
hundred" and φονεύω "to kill". It was a custom of Messenians, at which they offered sacrifice to
Zeus when any of them had killed a hundred enemies. Aristomenes have offered three times this
sacrifice at the Messenian wars against Sparta.[345][346][347][348]
Non-panhellenic cults
Evolution of Zeus
Nikephoros ("Zeus holding Nike") on Indo-Greek coinage: from the Classical motif of Nike
handing the wreath of victory to Zeus himself (left, coin of Heliocles I 145-130 BC), then to a
baby elephant (middle, coin of Antialcidas 115-95 BC), and then to the Wheel of the Law,
symbol of Buddhism (right, coin of Menander II 90–85 BC).
Later representations
Philosophy
In Neoplatonism, Zeus' relation to the gods familiar from mythology is taught as the Demiurge or
Divine Mind, specifically within Plotinus's work the Enneads[368] and the Platonic
Theology of Proclus.
The Bible
Zeus is mentioned in the New Testament twice, first in Acts 14:8–13: When the people living
in Lystra saw the Apostle Paul heal a lame man, they considered Paul and his
partner Barnabas to be gods, identifying Paul with Hermes and Barnabas with Zeus, even trying
to offer them sacrifices with the crowd. Two ancient inscriptions discovered in 1909 near Lystra
testify to the worship of these two gods in that city.[369] One of the inscriptions refers to the "priests
of Zeus", and the other mentions "Hermes Most Great" and "Zeus the sun-god". [370]
The second occurrence is in Acts 28:11: the name of the ship in which the prisoner Paul set sail
from the island of Malta bore the figurehead "Sons of Zeus" aka Castor and Pollux (Dioscuri).
The deuterocanonical book of 2 Maccabees 6:1, 2 talks of King Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), who in
his attempt to stamp out the Jewish religion, directed that the temple at Jerusalem be profaned
and rededicated to Zeus (Jupiter Olympius).[371]
a[373]
b[374]
Ares Hephaestus
Metis
Athena[375]
Leto
Apollo Artemis
Maia
Hermes
Semele
Dionysus
Dione
a[376] b[377]
Aphrodite
Link : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus