Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the Greek pantheon. He is a sky father and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
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.[Hard 2004, p. 79.] At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione,[ Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Zeus.] by whom the Iliad states that he fathered Aphrodite. According to the Theogony, Zeus's first wife was Metis, by whom he had Athena.[Hesiod, Theogony 886900.] 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 .
He was respected as a sky father who was chief of the gods[Homeric Hymns.] and assigned roles to the others:[Hesiod, Theogony.] "Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence."[Walter Burkert, Greek Religion.][See, e.g., Homer, Iliad, I.503 & 533.] He was equated with many foreign , permitting Pausanias to observe "That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men".[Pausanias, 2.24.4.] Among his symbols are the thunderbolt and the eagle.[ Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Zeus.] In addition to his Dyeus, the classical "cloud-gatherer" (Greek language: Νεφεληγερέτα, )[.] 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). Diogenes Laërtius quotes Pherecydes of Syros as spelling the name Ζάς.
[ ] The earliest attested forms of the name are the
Mycenaean Greek ,
di-we (dative) and ,
di-wo (genitive), written in the
Linear B syllabic script.
[ ]
Zeus is the Greek continuation of *Dyēus the name of the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called * ("Sky Father").[Robert S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill Publishers, 2009, p. 499.] The god is known under this name in the Rigvedic deities (Vedic Sanskrit Dyaus Pita), Latin (compare Jupiter, from Iuppiter, deriving from the Proto-Indo-European vocative *),[.] Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology.
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".[ "Plato's Cratylus by Plato, ed. by David Sedley, Cambridge University Press, 6 November 2003, p. 91] This etymology, along with Plato's entire method of deriving etymologies, is not supported by modern scholarship.
Diodorus Siculus wrote that Zeus was also called Zen, because the humans believed that he was the cause of life (zen).[Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.11.1.]
Zeus was called by numerous alternative names or surnames, known as . Some epithets are the surviving names of local gods who were consolidated into the myth of Zeus.
Mythology
Birth
In
Hesiod's
Theogony ( – 700 BC),
Cronus, after castrating his father Uranus,
[See Gantz, pp. 10–11; Hesiod, Theogony 159–83.] becomes the supreme ruler of the cosmos, and weds his sister Rhea, by whom he begets three daughters and three sons:
Hestia,
Demeter,
Hera,
Hades,
Poseidon, and lastly, "wise" Zeus, the youngest of the six.
[Hard 2004, p. 67; Hansen, p. 67; Tripp, s.v. Zeus, p. 605; Caldwell, p. 9, table 12; Hesiod, Theogony 453–8. So too Apollodorus, 1.1.5; Diodorus Siculus, 68.1.] He swallows each child as soon as they are born, having received a prophecy from his parents, Gaia and Uranus, that one of his own children is destined to one day overthrow him as he overthrew his father.
[Gantz, p. 41; Hard 2004, p. 67–8; Grimal, s.v. Zeus, p. 467; Hesiod, Theogony 459–67. Compare with Apollodorus, 1.1.5, who gives a similar account, and Diodorus Siculus, 70.1–2, who does not mention Cronus's parents, but rather says that it was an oracle who gave the prophecy.] This causes Rhea "unceasing grief",
[Cf. Apollodorus, 1.1.6, who says that Rhea was "enraged".] and upon becoming pregnant with her sixth child, Zeus, she approaches her parents, Gaia and Uranus, seeking a plan to save her child and bring retribution to Cronus.
[Hard 2004, p. 68; Gantz, p. 41; Smith, s.v. Zeus; Hesiod, Theogony 468–73.] Following her parents' instructions, she travels to
Lyctus in
Crete, where she gives birth to Zeus,
[Hard 2004, p. 74; Gantz, p. 41; Hesiod, Theogony 474–9.] handing the newborn child over to Gaia for her to raise, and Gaia takes him to a cave on Mount Aegaeon (Aegeum).
[Hard 2004, p. 74; Hesiod, Theogony 479–84. According to Hard 2004, the "otherwise unknown" Mount Aegaeon can "presumably ... be identified with one of the various mountains near Lyktos".] Rhea then gives to Cronus, in the place of a child, a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallows, unaware that it is not his son.
[Hansen, p. 67; Hard 2004, p. 68; Smith, s.v. Zeus; Gantz, p. 41; Hesiod, Theogony 485–91. For iconographic representations of this scene, see Louvre G 366; Clark, p. 20, figure 2.1 and Metropolitan Museum of Art 06.1021.144; LIMC 15641; Beazley Archive 214648. According to Pausanias, 9.41.6, this event occurs at Petrachus, a "crag" nearby to Chaeronea (see West 1966, p. 301 on line 485).]
While Hesiod gives Lyctus as Zeus's birthplace, he is the only source to do so,[West 1966, p. 291 on lines 453–506; Hard 2004, p. 75.] and other authors give different locations. The poet Eumelos of Corinth (8th century BC), according to John the Lydian, considered Zeus to have been born in Lydia,[Fowler 2013, pp. 35, 50; Eumelus fr. 2 West, pp. 224, 225 = = PEG fr. 18 (Bernabé, p. 114) = Lydus, De Mensibus 4.71]. According to West 2003, p. 225 n. 3, in this version he was born "probably on Mount Sipylos".] while the Alexandrian poet Callimachus (), in his Hymn to Zeus, says that he was born in Arcadia.[Fowler 2013, p. 391; Grimal, s.v. Zeus, p. 467; Callimachus, Hymn to Zeus (1) 4–11 (pp. 36–9).] Diodorus Siculus (fl. 1st century BC) seems at one point to give Mount Ida as his birthplace, but later states he is born in Dikti,[Fowler 2013, p. 391; Diodorus Siculus, 70.2, 70.6.] and the mythographer Apollodorus (first or second century AD) similarly says he was born in a cave in Dicte.[Apollodorus, 1.1.6.] In the second century AD, Pausanias wrote that it would be impossible to count all the people claiming that Zeus was born or brought up among them.
Infancy
While the
Theogony says nothing of Zeus's upbringing other than that he grew up swiftly,
[Hard 2004, p. 68; Gantz, p. 41; Hesiod, Theogony 492–3: "the strength and glorious limbs of the prince increased quickly".] 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.
[West 1983, p. 122; Apollodorus, 1.1.6.] They feed him on the milk of the she-goat Amalthea,
[Hard 2004, p. 612 n. 53 to p. 75; Apollodorus, 1.1.7.] while the
Kouretes guard the cave and beat their spears on their shields so that
Cronus cannot hear the infant's crying.
[Hansen, p. 216; Apollodorus, 1.1.7.] Diodorus Siculus provides a similar account, saying that, after giving birth, Rhea travels to
Mount Ida and gives the newborn Zeus to the Kouretes,
[Diodorus Siculus, 7.70.2; see also 7.65.4.] who then takes him to some nymphs (not named), who raised him on a mixture of honey and milk from the goat Amalthea.
[Diodorus Siculus, 7.70.2–3.] He also refers to the Kouretes "raising a great alarum", and in doing so deceiving Cronus,
[Diodorus Siculus, 7.65.4.] and relates that when the Kouretes were carrying the newborn Zeus that the
umbilical cord fell away at the river Triton.
[Diodorus Siculus, 7.70.4.]
Hyginus, the author of the 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.[Gantz, p. 42; Hyginus, Fabulae 139.] 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.[Gantz, p. 42; Hard 2004, p. 75; Hyginus, Fabulae 139.] 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.[Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 191 on line 182; West 1983, p. 133 n. 40; Hyginus, Fabulae 182 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 158).]
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.[Hard 2004, p. 75–6; Gantz, p. 42; Epimenides fr. 23 Diels, p. 193 =. Zeus later marks the event by placing the constellations of the Dragon, the Greater Bear and the Lesser Bear in the sky.] 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.[Gantz, p. 41; Gee, p. 131–2; Frazer, p. 120; Musaeus fr. 8 Diels, pp. 181–2 =; Olivieri, p. 17)]; Musaeus apud Hyginus, De astronomia 2.13.6. According to Eratosthenes, Musaeus considers the she-goat to be a child of Helios, and to be "so terrifying to behold" that the Titans ask for it to be hidden in one of the caves in Crete; hence Earth places it in the care of Amalthea, who nurses Zeus on its milk.]
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 "splits 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.[Hard 2004, p. 75; Antoninus Liberalis, 19.]
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.
[Gantz, p. 44; Hard 2004, p. 68; Hesiod, Theogony 492–7.] Zeus then sets up the stone at
Delphi, so that it may act as "a sign thenceforth and a marvel to mortal men".
[Hard 2004, p. 68; Hesiod, Theogony 498–500.] Zeus next frees the
Cyclopes, who, in return, and out of gratitude, give him his thunderbolt, which had previously been hidden by Gaia.
[Hard 2004, p. 68; Gantz, p. 44; Hesiod, Theogony 501–6. The Cyclopes presumably remained trapped below the earth since being put there by Uranus (Hard 2004, p. 68).] 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.
[Hard 2004, p. 68; Gantz, p. 45; Hesiod, Theogony 630–4.] 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.
[Hard 2004, p. 68; Hesiod, Theogony 624–9, 635–8. As Gantz, p. 45 notes, the Theogony is ambiguous as to whether the Hundred-Handers were freed before the war or only during its tenth year.] He gives them nectar and ambrosia and revives their spirits,
[Hesiod, Theogony 639–53.] and they agree to aid him in the war.
[Hesiod, Theogony 654–63.] 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.
[Hesiod, Theogony 687–735.]
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.[Hard 2004, p. 69; Gantz, p. 44; Apollodorus, 1.2.1.] 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.[Hard 2004, p. 69; Apollodorus, 1.2.1.] 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.
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.[Gantz, p. 48; Hard 2004, p. 76; Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Zeus; Homer, Iliad 15.187–193; so too Apollodorus, 1.2.1; cf. Homeric Hymn to Demeter (2), 85–6.]
Challenges to power
Upon assuming his place as king of the cosmos, Zeus's rule is quickly challenged. The first of these challenges to his power comes from the Giants, who fight the Olympian gods in a battle known as the Gigantomachy. According to Hesiod, the Giants are the offspring of Gaia, born from the drops of blood that fell on the ground when Cronus castrated his father Uranus;
[Hard 2004, p. 86; Hesiod, Theogony 183–7.] there is, however, no mention of a battle between the gods and the Giants in the
Theogony.
[Hard 2004, p. 86; Gantz, p. 446.] It is Apollodorus who provides the most complete account of the Gigantomachy. He says that Gaia, out of anger at how Zeus had imprisoned her children, the Titans, bore the Giants to Uranus.
[Gantz, p. 449; Hard 2004, p. 90; Apollodorus, 1.6.1.] There comes to the gods a prophecy that the Giants cannot be defeated by the gods on their own, but can be defeated only with the help of a mortal; Gaia, upon hearing of this, seeks a special
pharmakon (herb) that will prevent the Giants from being killed. Zeus, however, orders
Eos (Dawn),
Selene (Moon) and
Helios (Sun) to stop shining, and harvests all of the herb himself, before having
Athena summon
Heracles.
[Hard 2004, p. 89; Gantz, p. 449; Apollodorus, 1.6.1.] In the conflict,
Porphyrion, one of the most powerful of the Giants, launches an attack upon Heracles and Hera; Zeus, however, causes Porphyrion to become lustful for Hera, and when he is just about to violate her, Zeus strikes him with his thunderbolt, before Heracles deals the fatal blow with an arrow.
[Hard 2004, p. 89; Gantz, p. 449; Salowey, p. 236; Apollodorus, 1.6.2. Compare with Pindar, Pythian 8.12–8, who instead says that Porphyrion is killed by an arrow from Apollo.]
In the Theogony, after Zeus defeats the Titans and banishes them to Tartarus, his rule is challenged by the monster Typhon, a giant serpentine creature who battles Zeus for control of the cosmos. According to Hesiod, Typhon is the offspring of Gaia and Tartarus,[Ogden, pp. 72–3; Gantz, p. 48; Fontenrose, p. 71; Fowler, p. 27; Hesiod, Theogony 820–2. According to Ogden, Gaia "produced him in revenge against Zeus for his destruction of ... the Titans". Contrastingly, according to the Homeric Hymns (3), 305–55, Hera is the mother of Typhon without a father: angry at Zeus for birthing Athena by himself, she strikes the ground with her hand, praying to Gaia, Uranus, and the Titans to give her a child more powerful than Zeus, and receiving her wish, she bears the monster Typhon (Fontenrose, p. 72; Gantz, p. 49; Hard 2004, p. 84); cf. Stesichorus fr. 239 Campbell, pp. 166, 167 = (see Gantz, p. 49).] described as having a hundred snaky fire-breathing heads.[Gantz, p. 49; Hesiod, Theogony 824–8.] Hesiod says he "would have come to reign over mortals and immortals" had it not been for Zeus noticing the monster and dispatching with him quickly:[Fontenrose, p. 71; Hesiod, Theogony 836–8.] the two of them meet in a cataclysmic battle, before Zeus defeats him easily with his thunderbolt, and the creature is hurled down to Tartarus.[Hesiod, Theogony 839–68. According to Fowler, p. 27, the monster's easy defeat at the hands of Zeus is "in keeping with Hesiod's pervasive glorification of Zeus".] Epimenides presents a different version, in which Typhon makes his way into Zeus's palace while he is sleeping, only for Zeus to wake and kill the monster with a thunderbolt.[Ogden, p. 74; Gantz, p. 49; Epimenides fr. 10 Fowler, p. 97 = = FGrHist 457 F8].] Aeschylus and Pindar give somewhat similar accounts to Hesiod, in that Zeus overcomes Typhon with relative ease, defeating him with his thunderbolt.[Fontenrose, p. 73; Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 356–64; Pindar, Olympian 8.16–7; for a discussion of Aeschylus's and Pindar's accounts, see Gantz, p. 49.] Apollodorus, in contrast, provides a more complex narrative.[Apollodorus, 1.6.3.] Typhon is, similarly to in Hesiod, the child of Gaia and Tartarus, produced out of anger at Zeus's defeat of the Giants.[Gantz, p. 50; Fontenrose, p. 73.] The monster attacks heaven, and all of the gods, out of fear, transform into animals and flee to Egypt, except for Zeus, who attacks the monster with his thunderbolt and sickle.[Hard 2004, p. 84; Fontenrose, p. 73; Gantz, p. 50.] Typhon is wounded and retreats to Mount Kasios in Syria, where Zeus grapples with him, giving the monster a chance to wrap him in his coils, and rip out the sinews from his hands and feet.[Hard 2004, p. 84; Fontenrose, p. 73.] Disabled, Zeus is taken by Typhon to the Corycian Cave in Cilicia, where he is guarded by the "she-dragon" Delphyne.[Fontenrose, p. 73; Ogden, p. 42; Hard 2004, p. 84.] Hermes and Aegipan, however, steal back Zeus's sinews, and refit them, reviving him and allowing him to return to the battle, pursuing Typhon, who flees to Mount Nysa; there, Typhon is given "ephemeral fruits" by the Moirai, which reduce his strength.[Hard 2004, p. 84–5; Fontenrose, p. 73–4.] The monster then flees to Thrace, where he hurls mountains at Zeus, which are sent back at him by the god's thunderbolts, before, while fleeing to Sicily, Zeus launches Mount Etna upon him, finally ending him.[Hard 2004, p. 85.] Nonnus, who gives the longest and most detailed account, presents a narrative similar to Apollodorus, with differences such as that it is instead Cadmus and Pan who recovers Zeus's sinews, by luring Typhon with music and then tricking him.[Ogden, p. 74–5; Fontenrose, pp. 74–5; Lane Fox, p. 287; Gantz, p. 50.]
In the Iliad, Homer tells of another attempted overthrow, in which Hera, Poseidon, and Athena conspire to overpower Zeus and tie him in bonds. It is only because of the Nereid Thetis, who summons Briareus, one of the Hecatoncheires, to Olympus, that the other Olympians abandon their plans (out of fear for Briareus).[Gantz, p. 59; Hard 2004, p. 82; Homer, Iliad 1.395–410.]
Partners before Hera
According to Hesiod, Zeus takes Metis, one of the
Oceanid daughters of
Oceanus and Tethys, as his first wife. However, when she is about to give birth to a daughter,
Athena, he swallows her whole upon the advice of Gaia and Uranus, as it had been foretold that after bearing a daughter, she would give birth to a son, who would overthrow him as king of gods and mortals; it is from this position that Metis gives counsel to Zeus. In time, Athena is born, emerging from Zeus's head, but the foretold son never comes forth.
[Gantz, p. 51; Hard 2004, p. 77; Hesiod, Theogony 886–900. Yasumura, p. 90 points out that the identity of the foretold son's father is not made clear by Hesiod, and suggests, drawing upon a version given by a scholiast on the Iliad (see below), that a possible interpretation would be that the Cyclops Brontes was the father.] Apollodorus presents a similar version, stating that Metis took many forms in attempting to avoid Zeus's embraces, and that it was Gaia alone who warned Zeus of the son who would overthrow him.
[Smith, s.v. Metis; Apollodorus, 1.3.6.] According to a fragment likely from the Hesiodic corpus,
[Potentially from the Melampodia (Hard 2004, p. 77).] quoted by Chrysippus, it is out of anger at Hera for producing
Hephaestus on her own that Zeus has intercourse with Metis, and then swallows her, thereby giving rise to Athena from himself.
[Gantz, p. 51; Hard 2004, p. 77; Hesiod fr. 294 Most, pp. 390–3 = = Galen, On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato 3.8.11–4 (p. 226)].] A scholiast on the
Iliad, in contrast, states that when Zeus swallows her, Metis is pregnant with Athena not by Zeus himself, but by the Cyclops Brontes.
[Gantz, p. 51; Yasumura, p. 89; Scholia bT on Homer's Iliad, 8.39 (Yasumura, p. 89).] The motif of Zeus swallowing Metis can be seen as a continuation of the succession myth: it is prophesied that a son of Zeus will overthrow him, just as he overthrew his father, but whereas Cronos met his end because he did not swallow the real Zeus, Zeus holds onto his power because he successfully swallows the threat, in the form of the potential mother, and so the "cycle of displacement" is brought to an end.
[Hard 2004, p. 77. Compare with Gantz, p. 51, who sees the myth as a conflation of three separate elements: one in which Athena is born from Zeus's head, one in which Zeus consumes Metis so as to obtain her wisdom, and one in which he swallows her so as to avoid the threat of the prophesied son.] In addition, the myth can be seen as an allegory for Zeus gaining the wisdom of Metis for himself by swallowing her.
[Hard 2004, p. 77–8; see also Yasumura, p. 90.]
In Hesiod's account, Zeus's second wife is Themis, one of the Titan daughters of Uranus and Gaia, with whom he has the Horae, listed as Eunomia, Dike and Eirene, and the three Moirai: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.[Gantz, p. 51; Hard 2004, p. 78; Hesiod, Theogony 901–6. Earlier, at 217, Hesiod instead calls the Moirai daughters of Nyx.] A fragment from Pindar calls Themis Zeus's first wife, and states that she is brought by the Moirai (in this version not her daughters) up to Olympus, where she becomes the bride of Zeus and bears him the Horae.[Gantz, p. 52; Hard 2004, p. 78; Pindar fr. 30 Race, pp. 236, 237 =.] According to Hesiod, Zeus lies next with the Oceanid Eurynome, by whom he becomes the father of the three Charites: Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia.[Gantz, p. 54; Hard 2004, p. 78; Hesiod, Theogony 907–11.] Zeus then partners with his sister Demeter, producing Persephone.[Hard 2004, p. 78; Hansen, p. 68; Hesiod, Theogony 912–4.] Zeus's next union is with the Titan Mnemosyne; as described at the beginning of the Theogony, Zeus lies with Mnemosyne in Piera each night for nine nights, producing the nine Muses.[Gantz, p. 54; Hesiod, Theogony 53–62, 915–7.] His next partner is the Titan Leto, by whom he fathers the twins Apollo and Artemis, who, according to the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, are born on the island of Delos.[Hard 2004, p. 78; Hesiod, Theogony 918–20; Homeric Hymn to Apollo (3), 89–123. The account given by the Homeric Hymn to Apollo differs from Hesiod's version in that Zeus and Hera are already married when Apollo and Artemis are born (Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 18).] In Hesiod's account, only then does Zeus take his sister Hera as his wife.[Hesiod, Theogony 921.]
Marriage to Hera
While Hera is Zeus's last wife in Hesiod's version, in other accounts she is his first and only wife.
[Hard 2004, p. 78.] In the
Theogony, the couple has three children,
Ares, Hebe, and
Eileithyia.
[Hard 2004, p. 79; Hesiod, Theogony 921–3; so too Apollodorus, 1.3.1. In the Iliad, Eris is called the sister of Ares ( 4.440–1), and Parada, s.v. Eris, p. 72 places her as a daughter of Zeus and Hera.] While Hesiod states that Hera produces Hephaestus on her own after Athena is born from Zeus's head,
[Hard 2004, p. 79; Gantz, p. 74; Hesiod, Theogony 924–9; so too Apollodorus, 1.3.5.] other versions, including Homer, have Hephaestus as a child of Zeus and Hera as well.
[Hard 2004, p. 79; Gantz, p. 74; Homer, Iliad 1.577–9, 14.293–6, 14.338, Odyssey 8.312; Scholia bT on Homer's Iliad, 14.296; see also Apollodorus, 1.3.5.]
Various authors give descriptions of a youthful affair between Zeus and Hera. In the Iliad, the pair are described as having first lay with each other before Cronus is sent to Tartarus, without the knowledge of their parents.[Gantz, p. 57; Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 24; Hard 2004, pp. 78, 136; Homer, Iliad 14.293–6. Gantz points out that, if in this version Cronus swallows his children as he does in the Theogony, the pair could not sleep with each other without their father's knowledge before Zeus overthrows Cronus, and so suggests that Homer may have possibly been following a version of the story in which only Cronus's sons are swallowed.] A scholiast on the Iliad states that, after Cronus is banished to Tartarus, Oceanus and Tethys give Hera to Zeus in marriage, and only shortly after the two are wed, Hera gives birth to Hephaestus, having lay secretly with Zeus on the island of Samos beforehand; to conceal this act, she claimed that she had produced Hephaestus on her own.[Gantz, p. 57; Scholia bT on Homer's Iliad, 14.296. Cf. Scholia A on Homer's Iliad, 1.609 (Dindorf 1875a, p. 69); see Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 20; Hard 2004, p. 136.] According to another scholiast on the Iliad, Callimachus, in his Aetia, says that Zeus lay with Hera for three hundred years on the island of Samos.[Hard 2004, p. 136; Callimachus, fr. 48 Harder, pp. 152, 153 =]; see also Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 20.]
According to a scholion on Theocritus' Idylls, Zeus, one day seeing Hera walking apart from the other gods, becomes intent on having intercourse with her, and transforms himself into a cuckoo bird, landing on Mount Thornax. He creates a terrible storm, and when Hera arrives at the mountain and sees the bird, which sits on her lap, she takes pity on it, laying her cloak over it. Zeus then transforms back and takes hold of her; when she refuses to have intercourse with him because of their mother, he promises that she will become his wife.[Hard 2004, p. 137; Scholia on Theocritus, 15.64 (Wendel, pp. 311–2) =; Gantz, p. 58. The scholiast attributes the story to the work On the Cults of Hermione, by an Aristocles.] Pausanias similarly refers to Zeus transforming himself into a cuckoo to woo Hera, and identifies the location as Mount Thornax.[ BNJ, commentary on 33 F3; Pausanias, 2.17.4, 2.36.1.]
According to a version from Plutarch, as recorded by Eusebius in his Praeparatio evangelica, Hera is raised by a nymph named Macris[According to Sandbach, Macris is another name for Euboea, who Plutarch calls Hera's nurse at Moralia 657 E (pp. 268–71) (Sandbach, p. 289, note b to fr. 157).] on the island of Euboea when Zeus kidnaps her, taking her to Mount Cithaeron, where they find a shady hollow, which serves as a "natural bridal chamber". When Macris comes to look for Hera, Cithaeron, the tutelary deity of the mountain, stops her, saying that Zeus is sleeping there with Leto.[Hard 2004, p. 137; Plutarch fr. 157 Sandbach, pp. 286–9 =; Gifford 1903b, p. 92)].] Photius, in his Bibliotheca, tells us that in Ptolemy Hephaestion's New History, Hera refuses to lay with Zeus, and hides in a cave to avoid him, before an earthborn man named Achilles convinces her to marry Zeus, leading to the pair first sleeping with each other.[Ptolemy Hephaestion apud Photius, Bibliotheca 190.47 (Harry, pp. 68–9; English translation).] According to Stephanus of Byzantium, Zeus and Hera first lay together at the city of Hermione, having come there from Crete.[Stephanus of Byzantium s.v. Hermion (II pp. 160, 161).] Callimachus, in a fragment from his Aetia, also apparently makes reference to the couple's union occurring at Naxos.[Hard 2004, pp. 136–7; Callimachus fr. 75 Clayman, pp. 208–17 =]. Callimachus seems to refer to some form of liaison between Zeus and Hera while describing a Naxian premarital ritual; see Hard 2004, pp. 136–7; Gantz, p. 58. Cf. Scholia on Homer's Iliad, 14.296; for a discussion on the relation between the Callimachus fragment and the passage from the scholion, see Sistakou, p. 377.]
Though no complete account of Zeus and Hera's wedding exists, various authors make reference to it. According to a scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica, Pherecydes states that when Zeus and Hera are being married, Gaia brings a tree which produces golden apples as a wedding gift.[Gantz, p. 58; FGrHist 3 F16a =]; FGrHist 3 F16b =].] Eratosthenes and Hyginus attribute a similar story to Pherecydes, in which Hera is amazed by the gift, and asks for the apples to be planted in the "garden of the gods", nearby to Mount Atlas.[Fowler 2013, p. 292; Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 3 (Hard 2015, p. 12; Olivieri, pp. 3–4) = = FGrHist 3 F16c].] Apollodorus specifies them as the golden apples of the Hesperides, and says that Gaia gives them to Zeus after the marriage.[Apollodorus, 2.5.11.] According to Diodorus Siculus, the location of the marriage is in the land of the Knossos, nearby to the river Theren,[Hard 2004, p. 136; Diodorus Siculus, 5.72.4.] while Lactantius attributes to Varro the statement that the couple are married on the island of Samos.[Varro apud Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.17.1 (p. 98).]
There exist several stories in which Zeus, receiving advice, is able to reconcile with an angered Hera. According to Pausanias, Hera, angry with her husband, retreats to the island of Euboea, where she was raised, and Zeus, unable to resolve the situation, seeks the advice of Cithaeron, ruler of Plataea, supposedly the most intelligent man on earth. Cithaeron instructs him to fashion a wooden statue and dress it as a bride, and then pretend that he is marrying one "Plataea", a daughter of Asopus. When Hera hears of this, she immediately rushes there, only to discover the ruse upon ripping away the bridal clothing; she is so relieved that the couple are reconciled.[Hard 2004, p. 137–8; Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 99; Pausanias, 9.3.1–2.] According to a version from Plutarch, as recorded by Eusebius in his Praeparatio evangelica, when Hera is angry with her husband, she retreats instead to Cithaeron, and Zeus goes to the earth-born man Alalcomeneus, who suggests he pretend to marry someone else. With the help of Alalcomeneus, Zeus creates a wooden statue from an oak tree, dresses it as a bride, and names it Daidale. When preparations are being made for the wedding, Hera rushes down from Cithaeron, followed by the women of Plataia, and upon discovering the trick, the couple are reconciled, with the matter ending in joy and laughter among all involved.[Plutarch fr. 157 Sandbach, pp. 292, 293 =; Gifford 1903b, p. 93)].]
Affairs
After his marriage to Hera, different authors describe Zeus's numerous affairs with various mortal women.
[Grimal, s.v. Zeus, p. 468 calls his affairs "countless".] In many of these affairs, Zeus transforms himself into an animal, someone else, or some other form. According to a scholion on the
Iliad (citing Hesiod and
Bacchylides), when Europa is picking flowers with her female companions in a meadow in Phoenicia, Zeus transforms himself into a bull, lures her from the others, and then carries her across the sea to the island of Crete, where he resumes his usual form to sleep with her.
[Hard 2004, p. 337; Gantz, p. 210; Scholia Ab on Homer's Iliad, 12.292 (Dindorf 1875a, pp. 427–8) = = Merkelbach-West fr. 140, p. 68] =].] In
Euripides'
Helen, Zeus takes the form of a swan, and after being chased by an eagle, finds shelter in the lap of Leda, subsequently seducing her,
[Gantz, pp. 320–1; Hard 2004, p. 439; Euripides, Helen 16–21 (pp. 14, 15).] while in Euripides's lost play
Antiope, Zeus apparently took the form of a
satyr to sleep with Antiope.
[Hard 2004, p. 303; Euripides fr. 178 Nauck, pp. 410–2.] Various authors speak of Zeus raping Callisto, one of the companions of
Artemis, doing so in the form of Artemis herself according to Ovid (or, as mentioned by Apollodorus, in the form of
Apollo),
[Hard 2004, p. 541; Gantz, p. 726; Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.409–530; see also Amphis apud Hyginus, De astronomia 2.1.2. According to Apollodorus, 3.8.2 he took the form "as some say, of Artemis, or, as others say, of Apollo".] and Pherecydes relates that Zeus sleeps with
Alcmene, the wife of
Amphitryon, in the form of her own husband.
[Gantz, p. 375; FGrHist 3 F13b =; FGrHist 3 F13c =].] Several accounts state that Zeus approached the Argive princess
Danae in the form of a shower of gold,
[Hard 2004, p. 238; Gantz, p. 300; Pindar, Pythian 12.17–8; Apollodorus, 2.4.1; FGrHist 3 F10 =].] and according to Ovid he abducts
Aegina in the form of a flame.
[Gantz, p. 220; Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.113. In contrast, Nonnus, Dionysiaca 7.122 (pp. 252, 253), 7.210–4 (pp. 260, 261) states that he takes the form of an eagle.]
In accounts of Zeus's affairs, Hera is often depicted as a jealous wife, with there being various stories of her persecuting either the women with whom Zeus sleeps, or their children by him.[Gantz, p. 61; Hard 2004, p. 138.] Several authors relate that Zeus sleeps with Io, a priestess of Hera, who is subsequently turned into a cow, and suffers at Hera's hands: according to Apollodorus, Hera sends a gadfly to sting the cow, driving her all the way to Egypt, where she is finally transformed back into human form.[Gantz, p. 199; Hard 2004, p. 231; Apollodorus, 2.1.3.] In later accounts of Zeus's affair with Semele, a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, Hera tricks her into persuading Zeus to grant her any promise. Semele asks him to come to her as he comes to his own wife Hera, and when Zeus upholds this promise, she dies out of fright and is reduced to ashes.[Hard 2004, pp. 170–1; Gantz, p. 476.] According to Callimachus, after Zeus sleeps with Callisto, Hera turns her into a bear, and instructs Artemis to shoot her.[Gantz, p. 726.] In addition, Zeus's son by Alcmene, the hero Heracles, is persecuted continuously throughout his mortal life by Hera, up until his apotheosis.[Grimal, s.v. Hera, p. 192; Tripp, s.v. Hera, p. 274.]
According to Diodorus Siculus, Alcmene, the mother of Heracles, was the very last mortal woman Zeus ever slept with; following the birth of Heracles, he ceased to beget humans altogether, and fathered no more children.[Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.14.4.]
List of disguises used by Zeus
|
| Eagle or flame of fire | Aegina | [Gantz, p. 220.] |
| Amphitryon | Alcmene | [Hard 2004, p. 247; Apollodorus, 2.4.8.] |
| Satyr | Antiope | [Hard 2004, p. 303; Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Antiope; Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, 4.1090.] |
| Artemis or Apollo | Callisto | [Gantz, p. 726; Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Callisto; Grimal, s.v. Callisto, p. 86; Apollodorus, 3.8.2 (Artemis or Apollo); Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.401–530; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.1.2.] |
| Shower of gold | Danaë | [Hard 2004, p. 238] |
| Bull | Europa | [Hard 2004, p. 337; Lane Fox, p. 199.] |
| Eagle | Ganymede | [Hard 2004, p. 522; Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.155–6; Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods 10 (4).] |
| Cuckoo | Hera | [Hard 2004, p. 137] |
| Swan | Leda | [Hard 2004, p. 439; Euripides, Helen 16–22.] |
| Goose | Nemesis | [Hard 2004, p. 438; Cypria fr. 10 West, pp. 88–91 =.] |
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.
|
| Heracles | Alcmene | Hesiod Theogony | 8th cent. BC | [Hard 2004, p.244; Hesiod, Theogony 943.] |
| Persephone | Demeter | Hesiod Theogony | 8th cent. BC | [Hansen, p. 68; Hard 2004, p. 78; Hesiod, Theogony 912.] |
| | Eurynome | Hesiod Theogony | 8th cent. BC | [Hard 2004, p. 78; Hesiod, Theogony 901–911; Hansen, p. 68.] |
| Eunomia | Orphic Hymns | 2nd/3rd cent. AD | [West 1983, p. 73; Orphic Hymn to the Charites (60), 1–3 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. 49).] |
| Euanthe or Eurydome or Eurymedousa | Cornutus | 1st cent. AD | [Cornutus, Compendium Theologiae Graecae, 15 (Torres, pp. 15–6).] |
| Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe | Hera | Hesiod Theogony | 8th cent. BC | [Hard 2004, p. 79; Hesiod, Theogony 921.] |
| Apollo, Artemis | Leto | Hesiod Theogony | 8th cent. BC | [Hard 2004, p. 78; Hesiod, Theogony 912–920; Morford, p. 211.] |
| Hermes | Maia | Hesiod Theogony | 8th cent. BC | [Hard 2004, p. 80; Hesiod, Theogony 938.] |
| Athena | Metis | Hesiod Theogony | 8th cent. BC | [Hard 2004, p. 77; Hesiod, Theogony 886–900.] |
| | Mnemosyne | Hesiod Theogony | 8th cent. BC | [Hard 2004, p. 78; Hesiod, Theogony 53–62; Gantz, p. 54.] |
| Dionysus | Semele | Hesiod Theogony | 8th cent. BC | [Hard 2004, p. 80; Hesiod, Theogony 940.] |
| | Themis | Hesiod Theogony | 8th cent. BC | [Hesiod, Theogony 901–905; Gantz, p. 52; Hard 2004, p. 78.] |
| | Hesiod Theogony | 8th cent. BC | |
| Aphrodite | Dione | Homer Iliad | 8th cent. BC | [Homer, Iliad 5.370; Apollodorus, 1.3.1] |
| Perseus | Danaë | Homer Iliad | 8th cent. BC | [Homer, Iliad 14.319–20; Smith, s.v. Perseus (1).] |
| Pirithous | Dia | Homer Iliad | 8th cent. BC | [Homer, Iliad 14.317–18; Smith, s.v. Peirithous.] |
| Minos | Europa | Homer Iliad | 8th cent. BC | [Gantz, p. 210; Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Minos; Homer, Iliad 14.32–33; Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 89 Most, pp. 172–5 =.] |
| Rhadamanthus | Homer Iliad | 8th cent. BC | [Homer, Iliad 14.32–33; Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 89 Most, pp. 172–5 =; Gantz, p. 210; Smith, s.v. Rhadamanthus.] |
| Sarpedon | Hesiod Cat. | 6th cent. BC | [Smith, s.v. Sarpedon (1); Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Sarpedon (1); Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 89 Most, pp. 172–5 =.] |
| Amphion, Zethus | Antiope | Homer Odyssey | 8th cent. BC | [Homer, Odyssey 11.260–3; Brill's New Pauly s.v. Amphion; Grimal, s.v. Amphion, p. 38.] |
| Angelos | Hera | Sophron | 5th cent. BC | [ RE, s.v. Angelos 1; Sophron apud Scholia on Theocritus, Idylls 2.12.] |
| Eleutheria | | | [Eleutheria is the Greek counterpart of Libertas (Liberty), daughter of Jove and Juno as cited in Hyginus, Fabulae Preface.] |
| Eris | Homer Iliad | 8th cent. BC | [Parada, s.v. Eris, p. 72. Homer, Iliad 4.440–1 calls Eris the sister of Ares, who is the son of Zeus and Hera in the Iliad.] |
| Hephaestus | Homer Iliad | 8th cent. BC | [Hard 2004, p. 79, 141; Gantz, p. 74; Homer, Iliad 1.577–9, 14.293–6, 14.338, Odyssey 8.312; Scholia bT on Homer's Iliad, 14.296.] |
| Sarpedon | Laodamia | Homer Iliad | 8th cent. BC | [Homer, Iliad 6.191–199; Hard 2004, p. 349; Smith, s.v. Sarpe'don (2).] |
| Helen, Castor and Pollux | Leda | Homer Iliad | 8th cent. BC | [Gantz, pp. 318–9. Helen is called the daughter of Zeus in Homer, Iliad 3.199, 3.418, 3.426, Odyssey 4.184, 4.219, 23.218, and she has the same mother (Leda) as Castor and Pollux in Iliad 3.236–8.] |
| Helen of Troy | Nemesis | Cypria | 7th cent. BC | [ Cypria, fr. 10 West, pp. 88–91; Hard 2004, p. 438.] |
| Graecus, Latinus | Pandora II | Hesiod Cat. | 6th cent. BC | [Gantz, p. 167; Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 2 Most, pp. 42–5 =.] |
| Hellen | Pyrrha | Hesiod Cat. | 6th cent. BC | [Parada, s.vv. Hellen (1), p. 86, Pyrrha (1), p. 159; Apollodorus, 1.7.2; Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 5 Most, pp. 46, 47 =; West 1985, pp. 51, 53, 56, 173, table 1.] |
| Magnes, Makednos | Thyia | Hesiod Cat. | 6th cent. BC | [Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 7 Most, pp. 48, 49 =.] |
| Tyche | Aphrodite | Pindar | 5th cent. BC | [Pindar, Olympian 12.1–2; Gantz, p. 151.] |
| Targitaos | Borysthenis | Herodotus | 5th cent. BC | [Herodotus, Histories 4.5.1.] |
| Carius | Torrhebia | Hellanicus | 5th cent. BC | [Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica s.v. Torrhēbos, citing Hellanicus and Nicolaus] |
| Tityos | Elara | Pherecydes | 5th cent. BC | [ Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Tityus; Hard 2004, pp. 147–148; FGrHist 3 F55 =)].] |
| Coria (Athene) | Coryphe | Cicero DND | 1st cent. BC | [Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.59.] |
| Cronius, Spartaios, Cytus | Himalia | Diodorus Siculus | 1st cent. BC | [Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.55.5] |
| Saon | Nymphe | Dion. Hal. | 1st cent. BC | [Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 5.48.1; Smith, s.v. Saon.] |
| Heracles | Lysithoe | Cicero DND | 1st cent. BC | [Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.42.] |
| Aegipan | Aega, Aix or Boetis | Hyg. Fabulae | 1st cent. AD | [Hyginus, Fabulae 155] |
| Korybantes | Calliope | Strabo | 1st cent. AD | [Strabo, Geographica 10.3.19] |
| Colaxes | Hora | Valer. Flacc. | 1st cent. AD | [Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 6.48ff., 6.651ff] |
| Tantalus | Pluto | Hyg. Fabulae | 1st cent. AD | [Hyginus Fabulae 82; Antoninus Liberalis, 36; Pausanias, 2.22.3; Gantz, p. 536; Hard 2004, p. 502.] |
| Asopus | Eurynome | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [Apollodorus, 3.12.6; Grimal, s.v. Asopus, p. 63; Smith, s.v. Asopus.] |
| Pan | Hybris | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [Apollodorus, 1.4.1; Hard 2004, p. 216.] |
| Arcas | Callisto | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [Apollodorus, 3.8.2; Pausanias, 8.3.6; Hard 2004, p. 540; Gantz, pp. 725–726.] |
| Endymion | Calyce | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [ Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Calyce (1); Smith, s.v. Endymion; Apollodorus, 1.7.5.] |
| Argus, Pelasgus | Niobe | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [Apollodorus, 2.1.1; Gantz, p. 198.] |
| Dardanus | Electra | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [Apollodorus, 3.12.1; Hard 2004, 521.] |
| Emathion | Nonnus | 5th cent. AD | [Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.195.] |
| Iasion or Eetion | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | |
| Harmonia | Diodorus Siculus | 1st cent. BC | [Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.48.2.] |
| Aeacus | Aegina | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [Apollodorus, 3.12.6; Hard 2004, p. 530–531.] |
| Damocrateia | Pythaenetus | | [ FGrHist 299 F5 =.] |
| Britomartis | Carme | Paus. | 2nd cent. AD | [Pausanias, 2.30.3; March, s.v. Britomartis, p. 88; Smith, s.v. Britomartis.] |
| Hecate | Asteria | Musaeus | | [Gantz, pp. 26, 40; Musaeus fr. 16 Diels, p. 183; on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.467] |
| Heracles | Athenaeus | 3rd cent. AD | [Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.42; Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 9.392e (pp. 320, 321).] |
| Acragas | Asterope | Steph. Byz. | 6th cent. AD | [Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Akragantes; Smith, s.v. Acragas.] |
| Dionysus | Demeter | | | [ on Pindar, Pythian Odes 3.177; Hesychius] |
| Dodon | Europa | Acestodorus | | [ FGrHist 1753 F1b.] |
| Agdistis | Earth (Gaia) | Paus. | 2nd cent. AD | [Smith, s.v. Agdistis; Pausanias, 7.17.10. Agdistis springs from the earth in a place where Zeus's seed landed.] |
| Manes | Dion. Hal. | 1st cent. BC | [Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.27.1; Grimal, s.v. Manes, p. 271.] |
| Centaur | Nonnus | 5th cent. AD | [Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14.193.] |
| Melinoë | Persephone | Orphic Hymns | 2nd/3rd cent. AD | [Morand, p. 335; Orphic Hymn to Melinoë (71), 3–4 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. 57).] |
| Zagreus | Nonnus | 5th cent. AD | [Grimal, s.v. Zagreus, p. 466; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 6.155.] |
| Dionysus | | | |
| Dionysus | Selene | Cicero DND | 1st cent. BC | [Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.21-23.] |
| Ersa | Alcman | 7th cent. BC | [Hard 2004, p. 46; Keightley, p. 55; Alcman fr. 57 Campbell, pp. 434, 435.] |
| Nemea | Schol. Pindar | | [Cook 1914, p. 456; Smith, s.v. Selene.] |
| Pandia | Homeric Hymns 32 | 5th cent. BC | [ Homeric Hymns (32), 15–16; Hyginus, Fabulae Preface; Hard 2004, p. 46; Grimal, s.v. Selene, p. 415.] |
| Persephone | Styx | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [Apollodorus, 1.1.3.] |
| Rhea | Athenag. | 2nd cent. AD | [West 1983, p. 73; Orphic fr. 58 Kern =; Meisner, p. 134.] |
| Palici | Thalia | Servius | 4th/5th cent. AD | [Smith, s.v. Thaleia (3); Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Palici, p. 1100; Servius, On Aeneid, 9.581–4.] |
| Myrmidon | Eurymedousa | | | [Grimal, s.v. Myrmidon, p. 299; Hard 2004, p. 533] |
| Cres | Idaea | Steph. Byz. | 6th cent. AD | [Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Krētē.] |
| Epaphus | Io | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [Grimal, s.v. Epaphus; Apollodorus, 2.1.3.] |
| Keroessa | Nonnus | 5th cent. AD | [Nonnus, Dionysiaca 32.70] |
| Meliteus | Othreis | Ant. Lib. | 2nd/3rd cent. AD | [Antoninus Liberalis, 13.] |
| Lacedaemon | Taygete | Paus. | 2nd cent. AD | [Pausanias, 3.1.2.] |
| Archas | Themisto | Istros | | [ Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Themisto; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Arkadia =.] |
| Megarus | Nymph Sithnid | Paus. | 2nd cent. AD | [Pausanias, 1.40.1.] |
| Olenus | Anaxithea | Steph. Byz. | 6th cent. AD | [Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Ōlenos.] |
| Milye, Solymus | Chaldene | Steph. Byz. | 6th cent. AD | [Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Pisidia; Grimal, s.v. Solymus, p. 424.] |
| Arcesius | Euryodeia | | | |
| Orchomenus | Hesione | | | [Smith, s.v. Orchomenus (3).] |
| Agamedes | Iocaste | | | [Smith, s.v. Agamedes.] |
| Acheilus | Lamia | Ptol. Heph. | | [Ptolemy Hephaestion apud Photius, Bibliotheca 190.47 ( English translation).] |
| Libyan Sibyl (Sibyl) | Lamia | Paus. | 2nd cent. AD | [Pausanias, 10.12.1; Smith, s.v. Lamia (1).] |
| Locrus | Maera | | | [Eustathius ad Homer, p. 1688] |
| Achaeus | Phthia | Servius | 4th/5th cent. AD | [Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 1. 242] |
| Aethlius | Protogeneia | Apollod. | 1st/2nd cent. AD | [Apollodorus, 1.7.2; Pausanias, 5.1.3; Hyginus, Fabulae 155.] |
| Aetolus | Hyg. Fabulae | 1st cent. AD | [Hyginus, Fabulae 155.] |
| Opus | Pindar | 5th cent. BC | [Pindar, Olympian Ode 9.58.] |
| Aegyptus | Thebe | Tzetzes | 12th cent. AD | |
| Heracles | John Lydus | 6th cent. AD | [John Lydus, De mensibus 4.67.] |
| Thebe | Iodame | Tzetzes | 12th cent. AD | [Tzetzes on Lycophron, 1206 (pp. 957–962).] |
| Veritas | No mother mentioned | | | |
| Ate | Homer Iliad | 8th cent. BC | [Homer, Iliad 19.91.] |
| Nysean | Ap. Rhod. | 3rd cent. BC | |
| Eubuleus | Orphic Hymns | 2nd/3rd cent. AD | [ Orphic Hymn to Dionysus (30), 6–7 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. 27)] |
| Litae | Homer Iliad | 8th cent. BC | [Homer, Iliad 9.502; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 10.301 (pp. 440, 441); Smith, s.v. Litae.] |
| Rioni River | Valer. Flacc. | 1st cent. AD | [Valer. Flacc., Argonautica 5.205] |
| Calabrus, Geraestus, Taenarus | Steph. Byz. | 6th cent. AD | [Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica s.v. Tainaros] |
| Corinthus | Paus. | 2nd cent. AD | [Pausanias, 2.1.1.] |
| Crinacus | Diodorus Siculus | 1st cent. BC | [Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.81.4] |
Prometheus and conflicts with humans
When the gods met at Mecone to discuss which portions they will receive after a sacrifice, the titan
Prometheus decided to trick Zeus so that
humans receive the better portions. He sacrificed a large ox, and divided it into two piles. In one pile he put all the meat and most of the fat, covering it with the ox's grotesque stomach, while in the other pile, he dressed up the bones with fat. Prometheus then invited Zeus to choose; Zeus chose the pile of bones. This set a precedent for sacrifices, where humans will keep the fat for themselves and burn the bones for the gods.
Zeus, enraged at Prometheus's deception, prohibited the use of fire by humans. Prometheus, however, stole fire from Olympus in a fennel stalk and gave it to humans. This further enraged Zeus, who punished Prometheus by binding him to a cliff, where an eagle constantly ate Prometheus's liver, which regenerated every night. Prometheus was eventually freed from his misery by Heracles.[Hesiod, Theogony 507-565]
Now Zeus, angry at humans, decides to give humanity a punishing gift to compensate for the boon they had been given. He commands Hephaestus to mold from earth the first woman, a "beautiful evil" whose descendants would torment the human race. After Hephaestus does so, several other gods contribute to her creation. Hermes names the woman 'Pandora'.
Pandora was given in marriage to Prometheus's brother Epimetheus. Zeus gave her a jar which contained many evils. Pandora opened the jar and released all the evils, which made mankind miserable. Only hope remained inside the jar.[Hesiod, Works and Days 60–105.]
When Zeus was atop Mount Olympus he was appalled by human sacrifice and other signs of human decadence. He decided to wipe out mankind and flooded the world with the help of his brother Poseidon. After the flood, only Deucalion and Pyrrha remained.[Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.216–1.348] This Flood myth is a common motif in mythology.
In the Iliad
The
Iliad is an
ancient Greek epic poem attributed to
Homer about the
Trojan War and the battle over the City of
Troy, in which Zeus plays a major part.
Scenes in which Zeus appears include:
-
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.
[Hyginus, Fabulae 146.]
In the Orphic "Rhapsodic Theogony" (first century BC/AD),[Meisner, pp. 1, 5] 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.[West 1983, pp. 73–74; Meisner, p. 134; Orphic frr. 58 = 153 Kern.]
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.[Apollodorus, 3.76.]
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.[Apollodorus, 3.13.5.][Pindar, Isthmian odes 8.25]
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.[Apollodorus, 3.10.4] 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.[Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 4.71.2]
The winged horse Pegasus carried the thunderbolts of Zeus.[Hesiod, Theogony 285]
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.[Hard 2004, p. 554; Apollodorus, Epitome 1.20]
Once, Helios the Solar deity 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.[Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.747– 2.400; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.42.2; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 38.142– 435] 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.[Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods Zeus and the Sun]
Roles and epithets
Zeus played a dominant role, presiding over the
Ancient Greece 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
religion beliefs and the
archetype 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 surnames or titles which distinguish different conceptions of the god.
These 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,
[Homer, Iliad 1.202, 2.157, 2.375; Pindar, Isthmian Odes 4.99; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.13.7.] although others derive it from "goat" (αἴξ) and okhē (οχή) in reference to Zeus’s nurse, the divine goat Amalthea.[Spanh. ad Callim. hymn. in Jov, 49]
-
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 Ancient Athens
-
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
Cults
Panhellenic cults
from
Gaza City portrayed in the style of Zeus. Roman period Marnas
[; Johannes Hahn: Gewalt und religiöser Konflikt; The Holy Land and the Bible] 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 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,
[Durant, The Life of Greece ( The Story of Civilization Part II, New York: Simon & Schuster) 1939:23.] 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",
[Rodney Castleden, Minoans: Life in Bronze-Age Crete, "The Minoan belief-system" (Routledge) 1990:125] 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.[Pointed out by Bernard Clive Dietrich, The Origins of Greek Religion (de Gruyter) 1973:15.] On other Cretan coins Velchanos is represented as an eagle and in association with a goddess celebrating a mystic marriage.[A.B. Cook, Zeus Cambridge University Press, 1914, I, figs 397, 398.] Inscriptions at Gortyn and Lyttos record a Velchania festival, showing that Velchanios was still widely venerated in Hellenistic Crete.[Dietrich 1973, noting Martin P. Nilsson, Minoan-Mycenaean Religion, and Its Survival in Greek Religion 1950:551 and notes.]
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.["Professor Stylianos Alexiou reminds us that there were other divine boys who survived from the religion of the pre-Hellenic period — Linos, Ploutos and Dionysos — so not all the young male deities we see depicted in Minoan works of art are necessarily Velchanos" (Castleden) 1990:125] 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,[Richard Wyatt Hutchinson, Prehistoric Crete, (Harmondsworth: Penguin) 1968:204, mentions that there is no classical reference to the death of Zeus (noted by Dietrich 1973:16 note 78).] 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.["This annually reborn god of vegetation also experienced the other parts of the vegetation cycle: holy marriage and annual death when he was thought to disappear from the earth" (Dietrich 1973:15).]
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
The epithet
Zeus Lykaios (Λύκαιος; "wolf-Zeus") is assumed by Zeus only in connection with the archaic festival of the
Lykaia on the slopes of
Lycaeus ("Wolf Mountain"), the tallest peak in rustic Arcadia; Zeus had only a formal connection
[In the founding myth of Lycaon's banquet for the gods that included the flesh of a human sacrifice, perhaps one of his sons, Nyctimus or Arcas. Zeus overturned the table and struck the house of Lyceus with a thunderbolt; his patronage at the Lykaia can have been little more than a formula.] 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
ephebos who were the participants.
[A morphological connection to lyke "brightness" may be merely fortuitous.] Near the ancient ash-heap where the sacrifices took place
[Modern archaeologists have found no trace of human remains among the sacrificial detritus, Walter Burkert, "Lykaia and Lykaion", Homo Necans, tr. by Peter Bing (University of California) 1983, p. 90.] was a forbidden precinct in which, allegedly, no shadows were ever cast.
[Pausanias, 8.38.]
According to Plato,[ Republic 565d-e] a particular clan would gather on the mountain to make a sacrifice every nine years to Zeus Lykaios, and a single morsel of human entrails would be intermingled with the animal's. Whoever ate the human flesh was said to turn into a wolf, and could only regain human form if he did not eat again of human flesh until the next nine-year cycle had ended. There were games associated with the Lykaia, removed in the fourth century to the first urbanization of Arcadia, Megalopolis; there the major temple was dedicated to Zeus Lykaios.
There is, however, the crucial detail that Lykaios or Lykeios (epithets of Zeus and Apollo) may derive from Proto-Greek *λύκη, "light", a noun still attested in compounds such as ἀμφιλύκη, "twilight", λυκάβας, "year" (s course") etc. This, Cook argues, brings indeed much new 'light' to the matter as Achaeus, the contemporary tragedian of Sophocles, spoke of Zeus Lykaios as "starry-eyed", and this Zeus Lykaios may just be the Arcadian Zeus, son of Aether, described by Cicero. Again under this new signification may be seen Pausanias' descriptions of Lykosoura being 'the first city that ever the sun beheld', and of the altar of Zeus, at the summit of Mount Lykaion, before which stood two columns bearing gilded eagles and 'facing the sun-rise'. Further Cook sees only the tale of Zeus's sacred precinct at Mount Lykaion allowing no shadows referring to Zeus as 'god of light' (Lykaios).[A. B. Cook ( 1914), Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, Vol. I, p.63, Cambridge University Press]
Additional cults
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
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 Molossians kings sacrificed to Zeus Areius (Αρειος). Strabo mention that at Tralles there was the Zeus Larisaeus (Λαρισαιος).[Strabo, Geographica 14.1.42.] 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).[ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 4.33.2]
Hecatomphonia
Hecatomphonia (), 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.
[ A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), Hecatomphonia][ Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Hecatomphonia][ Perseus Encyclopedia, Hecatomphonia][ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 4.19.3]
Non-panhellenic 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 Etna, where there was a statue of him, and a local festival called the Aetnaea in his honor.
[Schol. ad Pind. Ol. vi. 162] Other examples are listed below. As
Zeus Aeneius or
Zeus Aenesius (Αινησιος), he was worshiped in the island of
Cephalonia, where he had a temple on
Mount Ainos.
[Hesiod, according to a scholium on Apollonius of Rhodes. Argonautika, ii. 297]
Oracles
Although most oracle sites were usually dedicated to
Apollo, the heroes, or various goddesses like
Themis, a few oracular sites were dedicated to Zeus. In addition, some foreign oracles, such as Baʿal's at Heliopolis, were associated with Zeus in Greek or
Jupiter in Latin.
The Oracle at Dodona
The cult of Zeus at
Dodona in
Epirus, where there is evidence of religious activity from the second millennium BC onward, centered on a sacred oak. When the
Odyssey was composed (circa 750 BC), divination was done there by barefoot priests called
Selloi, who lay on the ground and observed the rustling of the leaves and branches.
[ Odyssey 14.326-7] By the time
Herodotus wrote about Dodona, female priestesses called
peleiades ("doves") had replaced the male priests.
Zeus's consort at Dodona was not Hera, but the goddess Dione — whose name is a feminine form of "Zeus". Her status as a titaness suggests to some that she may have been a more powerful pre-Hellenic deity, and perhaps the original occupant of the oracle.
The Oracle at Siwa
The oracle of Ammon at the
Siwa Oasis in the Western Desert of
Egypt did not lie within the bounds of the Greek world before Alexander's day, but it already loomed large in the Greek mind during the archaic era:
Herodotus mentions consultations with
Zeus Ammon in his account of the Persian War. Zeus Ammon was especially favored at
Sparta, where a temple to him existed by the time of the Peloponnesian War.
[Pausanias, 3.18.]
After Alexander made a trek into the desert to consult the oracle at Siwa, the figure arose in the Hellenistic imagination of a Libyan Sibyl.
Identifications with other gods
Foreign gods
Zeus was identified with the
Roman mythology god Jupiter and associated in the syncretic classical imagination (see interpretatio graeca) with various other deities, such as the Egyptian
Amun and the Etruscan
Tinia. He, along with
Dionysus, absorbed the role of the chief
god
Sabazios in the
Syncretism deity known in Rome as
Sabazius. The Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes erected a statue of Zeus Olympios in the Judean Temple in Jerusalem.
[2 Maccabees 6:2] Hellenizing Jews referred to this statue as
Baal Shamen (in English, Lord of Heaven).
[David Syme Russel. Daniel. (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1981) 191.]
Zeus is also identified with the Hindu deity
Indra. Not only they are the king of gods, but their weapon - thunder is similar.
[Devdutt Pattanaik's Olympus: An Indian Retelling of Greek Myths]
Helios
Zeus is occasionally conflated with the Hellenic
sun god,
Helios, who is sometimes either directly referred to as Zeus's eye,
[Sick, David H. (2004), "Mit(h)ra(s) and the Myths of the Sun", Numen, 51 (4): 432–467, ] or clearly implied as such.
Hesiod, for instance, describes Zeus's eye as effectively the sun.
[Ljuba Merlina Bortolani, Magical Hymns from Roman Egypt: A Study of Greek and Egyptian Traditions of Divinity, Cambridge University Press, 13 October 2016] This perception is possibly derived from earlier Proto-Indo-European religion, in which the sun is occasionally envisioned as the eye of
Dyeus (see
Hvare-khshaeta).
in his now lost tragedy
Mysians described Zeus as "sun-eyed", and Helios is said elsewhere to be "the brilliant eye of Zeus, giver of life".
[Cook, p. 196] In another of Euripides's tragedies,
Medea, the chorus refers to Helios as "light born from Zeus."
[Euripides, Medea 1258; The Play of Texts and Fragments: Essays in Honour of Martin Cropp by J. Robert C. Cousland, James, 2009, p. 161]
Although the connection of Helios to Zeus does not seem to have basis in early Greek cult and writings, nevertheless there are many examples of direct identification in later times.[Cook, pp 186–187] The Hellenistic period gave birth to Serapis, a Greco-Egyptian deity conceived as a chthonic avatar of Zeus, whose solar nature is indicated by the sun crown and rays the Greeks depicted him with.[Cook, pp 188–189] Frequent joint dedications to "Zeus-Serapis-Helios" have been found all over the Mediterranean,[Cook, p. 190] and a series of inscriptions from Lajat give evidence of the cult of "Zeus the Unconquered Sun".[Cook, p. 193] There is evidence of Zeus being worshipped as a solar god in the Aegean island of Amorgos, based on a lacunose inscription Ζεὺς Ἥλιος ("Zeus the Sun"), meaning sun elements of Zeus's worship could be as early as the fifth century BC.[Cook, p. 194]
The Crete Zeus Talos had solar elements to his cult. "Talos" was the local equivalent of Helios.[Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks 1951:110.]
Later representations
Philosophy
In
Neoplatonism, Zeus's relation to the gods familiar from mythology is taught as the
Demiurge or Divine
nous, specifically within
Plotinus's work the
Enneads[In Fourth Tractate 'Problems of the Soul' The Demiurge is identified as Zeus.10. "When under the name of Zeus we are considering the Demiurge we must leave out all notions of stage and progress, and recognize one unchanging and timeless life."] 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.
One of the inscriptions refers to the "priests of Zeus", and the other mentions "Hermes Most Great" and "Zeus the sun-god".
[The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, edited by J. Orr, 1960, Vol. III, p. 1944.]
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).
Genealogy
==Gallery==
See also
-
Family tree of the Greek gods
-
Agetor
-
Ambulia – Spartan epithet used for Athena, Zeus, and Castor and Pollux
-
Hetairideia – Thessalian Festival to Zeus
-
Temple of Zeus, Olympia
-
Zanes of Olympia – Statues of Zeus
Footnotes
Notes
-
Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary, edited and translated by Francis Celoria, Routledge, 1992. . Online version at ToposText.
-
Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
-
Arnim, Hans von, Stoicorum veterum fragmenta, Volume II, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Stuttgart, Teubner, 1964. Online version at De Gruyter. Internet Archive.
-
Athanassakis, Apostolos N., and Benjamin M. Wolkow, The Orphic Hymns, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013) . Google Books.
-
Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters, Volume IV: Books 8-10.420e, edited and translated by S. Douglas Olson, Loeb Classical Library No. 235, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2008. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
-
Bernabé, Alberto, Poetae epici Graeci: Testimonia et fragmenta, Pars I, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Stuttgart and Leipzig, Teubner, 1996. . Online version at De Gruyter.
-
Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 15, Tuc-Zyt, editors: Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider, Brill Publishers, 2009. . Online version at Brill.
-
Burkert, Walter, (1985) 1977. Greek Religion, especially section III.ii.1 (Harvard University Press)
-
Caldwell, Richard, Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (1 June 1987). . Internet Archive.
-
Callimachus, Aetia. Iambi. Lyric Poems, edited and translated by Dee L. Clayman, Loeb Classical Library No. 421, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2022. Online version at Harvard University Press.
-
Callimachus, Callimachus and Lycophron, with an English Translation by A. W. Mair; Aratus, with an English Translation by G. R. Mair, London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam, 1921. Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive.
-
Campbell, David A., Greek Lyric, Volume II: Anacreon, Anacreontea, Choral Lyric from Olympus to Alcman, Loeb Classical Library No. 143, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1988. . Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive.
-
Campbell, David A., Greek Lyric, Volume III: Stesichorus, Ibycus, Simonides, and Others, Loeb Classical Library No. 476, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1991. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
-
Campbell, David A., Greek Lyric, Volume IV: Bacchylides, Corinna, Loeb Classical Library No. 461, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1992. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
-
Cook, Arthur Bernard, Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion (3 volume set), (1914–1925). New York, Bibilo & Tannen: 1964.
-
Volume 1: Zeus, God of the Bright Sky, Biblo-Moser, 1 June 1964, (reprint)
-
Volume 2: Zeus, God of the Dark Sky (Thunder and Lightning), Biblo-Moser, 1 June 1964,
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External links
