Zeus was considered to be the god of the sky and the weather and his image appeared on most Greek coins. He became one of the Seven Wonders of the world. Zeus was the ruler of Olympus and a supreme god. He was known by many different names: Lord of the Sky, the Cloud-gatherer, the Rain-god and Zeus the Thunder. Zeus was child number six born to Cronos and Rhea because Cronos was afraid that one of his children would overthrow him, just like he overthrow his father, Uranus, he swallowed his five children-Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia. This infuriated Rhea and when Zeus was born she tricked Cronos into swallowing a rock wrapped in blankets. Zeus is more powerful then any other god or even all the other gods combined. His power was not boundless, Zeus had no control over The Fate and Destiny. Zeus was subject to pleasure, pain, grief, and anger, but he was most susceptible to the power of Eros-love, which often got the objects of his desire in a lot of trouble with his wife, Hera. Zeus was mighty, glorious, awesome and wise, although he did show a certain degree of surprising foolishness and shame when it came to hidind his love affairs. Aside form the endless affairs Zeus was different from the other gods in that he did not participate in the arguments and the resulting petty scheming that made up the daily activities of other gods. Zeus was the guardian of political order and peace. The aegis is his breastplate- so glorious and at the same time awful to behold that no human could see Zeus in all his magnificence and survive. His weapon is , of course the thunderbolt which he hurled at whoever displeased him. The thunderbolts were fashioned for him the three Cyclopes who also were the deciding power in the battle with the Titans. His bird is the Eagle, his tree- the Oak. Dodona was his oracle. His will was revealed by the rusting of oak leaves which was interpreted by his priests.
For more information link to:
www.mythweb.com/encyc/gallery/zeus_c.html
7 comments:
I never knew that Zeus was on Greek coins, or that he was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. These gods must've really been a huge part of Greek society.
You know,the stories of the gods started out as fiction, and then grew over the centuries. I wonder just when people started believing all that stuff was real.
Zeus is the most interesting god to me because he is in almost every ancient greek story. I think it is crazy that his father swallowed all his brothers! So what ever happened to his father after zeus became so powerful?
I am very interested in learning about these Greek gods. Zeus, i have to say, is my favorite. I like that he uses thunderbolts as his weapon. The fact that he is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World is very interesting to me, too.
Zeus is the Greek god I am most familar with, but I did not know a lot of what I read. I did not know that his brothers were swallowed and found it strange that he would eventually do the same to one of his lovers. In all the things I have read some how something always comes up about sexual behavior... Why is this??? It was neat to me that Zeus could not be seen by humans because of all his might.
Erica,
I also thought that it was crazy that his father swallowed all of his brothers. I am not really sure what happened to his father after Zeus became so powerful but I did read somewhere that Zeus made his father vomit all of his brothers up. I don't know if there is any truth to that or not.
Sarah,
Zeus is also my favorite god. I think it is becase he is so powerful. I is the father to many of the other gods on the blog. I also think it's neat that he is one of the seven wonders of the world.
Zeus seems to be interesting. To be so powerful he doesn't seem to be trying to get into everyones business.
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