Zeus

**Zeus**
by Connor

Zeus was the most awe inspiring gods on Mt. Olympus. He ruled over all other gods. Zeus came to power through luck and with the help of his mother. He changed the face of Mt. Olympus and all of ancient and Modern Greek society. Zeus was a great and mighty leader who kept the world in balance.

According to Greek Mythology, in the beginning there was nothing. Doesn’t this sound similar to Christianity? The emptiness was called Chaos. From nothing then formed the two Gods Gaia (earth) and Uranus (sky). Gaia and Uranus had six twins called the titans. Their names were Oceanus and Tethys, Coeos and Phoebe, Hyperion and Thea, Creos and Themis, Iapetos and Clymene, Cronos and Rhea. The Earth and Sky God also have three titans with fifty heads and one hundred arms. But he disliked his children and returned them to his mother’s womb. Angered by this she called the titans to help her defeat her spouse. So Uranus and with the help of Kronos made a sickle to cut off his father’s genitals and cast them into the ocean, according to the myth his genitals created the God Aphrodite (God of Love). After defeating his father, Cronos and his sister Rhea got married. And they had six children known as the Olympians. Their names were: Demeter, Hestia, Poseidon, Hades, Thea, and Zeus. Cronos learned about a prophecy that told him that one of his children would overthrow him. So he thought he could prevent this by swallowing the first five children, but instead of Zeus being swallowed his mom Rhea gave Uranus a rock folded in a cloth to swallow instead of Zeus. Zeus went into hiding until he was strong enough to defeat his father. One day he ambushed his father and kicked him in the stomach so hard that he spit out his undigested children. For this action he was named King of the Gods. Zeus married his sister Hera.

Zeus had many wives and even more children. Zeus had six marriages in all. His first wife Métis, bore one God whose name is Athena, who was born out of the head of Zeus. It is believed she designed the Acropolis. Athena is the God of wisdom. Zeus’s second wife was Themis; their children were the three fates as well as Horae (God of the Hours), Eunomia (God of discipline), Dike (justice), and Eirene (peace). Zeus brought peace and order to the world with these Gods. Zeus’s third wife was Eurynome, and their children were the three graces. His fourth wife was Demeter and they had one daughter called Persephone, who is the future queen of the underworld, and the wife of Hades. Fifth wife was Mnemosyne, they had the nine muses. And last but definitely not the least is Hera, his sister. They had four children, Aresthe God of War, Eileithyia goddess of child birth, Hebe god of youth, and Hephaestus god of fire.

There are many myths of the creation of man but the myth about Greek Mythology all started when Zeus gave the task of creating man and animals to the titan Prometheus and his Brother Epimetheus. Epimetheus was supposed to give all the animals gifts. For instants turtles would receive a shell to protect themselves. But by the time they got to man they ran out of power. Prometheus created man similar to the gods. He wanted give the humans the gift of fire, but Zeus would not permit it. Prometheus disobeyed his father and gave humans the gift of fire. Zeus was so angry that he had Prometheus tied to a rock for all eternity and had an eagle rip out his liver and eat it. Prometheus healed the next day. Zeus thought that men were too powerful with fire so he had Epimetheus create women to resemble the goddesses, with beauty, grace, but he also gave them the power of seduction and lying. The first woman was Pandora. Zeus gave Pandora as a gift to Epithemuis and Zeus gave Pandora a box which he forbade her to open. But, she could not control her curiosity so she opened it and all kinds of plagues, disease, and emotions such as death, sorrow and fear poured into the world.

As with all other rulers, there is always someone trying to overthrow them. Such as the Aloads whose names are Epilates and Otus. They are said to grow an extreme amount. And when they were nine they were nine cubits broad and fifty four feet tall. When they were nine years old they decided to unseat Zeus. They wooed Hera and Artemis and enslaved Ares. But when they chose to assault Artemis she could not resist. Apollo the sun God sent a deer in-between them and they were angered and tried to kill it with their javelins but ended up killing each other. There was a revolt by the Giants. These giants were nearly invincible. They were born by the titan Gaia to destroy the Heavens. The oracle prophesized that the giants would not be defeated by the hand of a God but with the Help of a mortal known as Hercules. The immortals summoned Hercules and he destroyed the Giants. Zeus’s toughest battle was against another son of Gaia called Typhoon who surpassed all her other children in size and strength. He was so big his head grazed the sky and was taller than all mountains. His appearance was human like above the waist and from the thighs down he was viper like. He hurled rocks while hissing at the heavens. The Gods made their way to Egypt, while Zeus from afar hurled lightning bolts at the monster. After pursuing the monster to the Sicilian Sea he cast Mt. Etna on top of the monster.

Zeus represented the end of chaos. Not only did he actually restore peace to the heavens because he was powerful, he was thoughtful in his creations and successfully created life that was protected and balanced. There are many parallels between Christianity and the roman gods because they like all religions attempt to explain the unknown beginnings of humanity.

1.Rymer, Eric. 2008.__Greek Creation story, Cronus and Rhea and Birth of Zeus__.January 2004. 24 December 2009  2. Stweart, Michale. 2005. Zeus*The immortals * __Greek Mythology: From the lliadto the fall of Cronus.__ December 4. <2009.http://messagenetcommresearch.com/myths/bios/zeus.html>. 3.Rymer, Eric. 2008. __Zeus__.December 4. 2009  4.Zeus- __Greek Mythology Link__. December 7.2009. 5.Rymer, Eric. 2008. __Creation of Man__. December 4. 2009.