ZEUS THE KING OF THE GODS

Family of Zeus

• Parents: Zeus was the last child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea.
• Siblings: Zeus had five older siblings. Two brothers (Poseidon, Hades), and three sisters (Hestia, Hera, Demeter). 
• Wife: Zeus married his own sister Hera, the goddess of marriage and monogamy, but was giving her plenty of reasons to be jealous, since Zeus was renowned of his numerous love affairs. As a result, Zeus fathered plenty of children.

Role and Responsibilities

-       Zeus had his golden throne on the highest summit of Mount Olympus and was respected and awed by all Gods and mortals. He was the "Lord of Justice", punishing anyone who lied or broke an oath, but was fair and always striving to keep a balance of all things.

-      Furthermore, Zeus was responsible for the weather and was shaping it according to his temper. When in high spirits, Zeus was blessing the world 

with fine weather; in case of bad mood, however, he would throw rain, winds, lightnings and thunderbolts to cause disaster to the mortals.

-      But even Zeus powers had their limits, for, however powerful as he was, he had neither the right nor the ability to intervene in the decisions of the Fates.

The Personality of Zeus

-      Zeus was carefree and loved to laugh out loud. He possessed the perfect knowledge and was just, merciful and prudent. However, he was rather unpredictable, since no one could guess the decisions he would make.

Appearance of Zeus

-      Zeus was strong and imposing, with long, oftentimes curly hair.

Symbols of Zeus

-     The symbols of Zeus were the scepter, the throne and the thunderbolt, which was as a gift from the Cyclopes because he liberated them. Zeus tree was the oak tree and his sacred animal was the eagle.

The Birth of Zeus, the King of the Gods

    Zeus was born by the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Cronus was notorious for being a very jealous and greedy deity. Out of the fear one of his children could take his throne, Cronus swallowed every child Rhea was giving birth to.

     However, when Rhea gave birth to her last child, Zeus, she managed to trick Cronus with the help of  the Titans Uranus and Gaea. She gave her husband a rock in swaddling clothes to swallow, as a substitution to her child, and sent Zeus away to the Greek island of Crete. Special daemons named "Curetes" made noise by hitting their shields, so that Cronus would to not hear the cries of the baby.

     Zeus was raised secretly by the Nymphs and was fed with honey and milk from the goat nurse 

Amaltheia with the help of her broken-off horn.

     

     Soon came the day where Zeus was mature enough to claim the Kingdom of the World and he started 

a battle against his father and the Titans. This battle is also known as "Titanomachy". First, Zeus 

managed to liberate his elder brothers and sisters from his father's stomach by giving him a special herb and making him disgorge. 

    Then, with the help of his siblings, Zeus overthrew the Titans in the depths of the Underworld, the Tartarus.

    After overthrowing his father Cronus, Zeus was confronted with the Giants and also the monster 

Typhon, which he both defeated successfully. Time had come for the Kingdom of the World to be in the 

hands of Zeus and his siblings!

   Justly, Zeus drew lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades to let luck determine who would become the new King of the Gods. Zeus won the draw and he officially became the ruler of the Earth and the Sky and the Lord of Mount Olympus, the highest mountain of Greece.

Zeus and the island of Aegina

      According to Greek mythology, Zeus, the King of the gods, once fell in love with the most beautiful of the 20 daughters of the river god Asopus. Her name was Aegina. So he abducted the girl and took her to the small island of Oenone, close to Attica.

     There, she gave birth to a boy and called him Aeacus. Soon, Aeacus became the King of the island and the island received the name of his mother Aegina.

     In order to inhabit Aegina and make it strong, Zeus took all the ants ("myrmigia" in Greek) of the 

island and transformed them into warriors with 6 hands and black armor. For this reason, the 

inhabitants of Aegina received the name "Myrmidons".

    Later, the Myrmidons would be commanded by the Greek hero Achilles and become the fiercest 

fighters of Ancient Greece.

Zeus and his Fight with Typhon

     After the glorious victory of the Olympian gods over the Titans, Mother Earth Gaea became very angry with Zeus, the King of the Olympian Gods, because she felt that he had treated her sons, the Titans, unjustly.Gaea therefore unified with Tartarus (the symbol of the depths of the Underworld) to create a devastating monster which was meant to destroy Zeus and take his place. They gave the monster the name "Typhoeus" (Typhon). 

     Typhon had frightful features and enormous powers. Soon, he attacked the home of the gods, flaming rocks at it, hissing, screaming and gushing mighty streams of fire from his mouth. The bare sight of the creature was enough for the Olympian gods to run away scared and flee to Egypt, where they transformed into animals. When Athena, the goddess of wisdom, accused Zeus for cowardness, he decided to confront Typhon. Armed with thunder and lightnings, he struck at the monster with a sickle and then chased him until Mount Casion, which rises over Syria.

     Seeing Typhon severely wounded, Zeus engaged him in a hand-to-hand combat. But all at once, 

Typhon wrapped Zeus in his coils, held him firmly and wrested the sickle from him. Typhon soon left 

Zeus helpless by cutting the tendons from his hands and feet. Then he took Zeus to the Corycian 

Cave, on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, and appointed his sister Delphyne, a she-dragon that was 

half beast and half maiden, to guard Zeus. 

     However, Hermes, the son of Zeus and the goat-footed Aigipan managed to fit the tendons back into 

Zeus without being observed. Immediately after Zeus recovered his strength, he made a sudden 

descent from heaven on a chariot drawn by a winged horse. Hurling thunderbolts, he pursued Typhon 

strongly and when they reached the island of Sicily, Zeus threw the enormous Mount Aetna at the 

monster, pinning him underneath.

The volcanic eruptions that rise up from Mount Aetna to this day are said to be issued by the 

thunderbolts of Zeus.