Zeus

Zeus, the chief deity of the Greeks, the sovereign ruler of the world, the father of gods and men, the mightiest of the gods, and to whose will as central all must bow. He was the son of Kronos and Rhea. By the help of his brothers and sisters dethroned his father and seized the sovereign power. He is lord of the sky, the rain god. His weapon is a thunderbolt which he hurls at those who displease him. He is also known to punish those that lie or break oaths. He is married to Hera. He had many affairs and had many children by Hera and others.

Since his father Cronus was swallowing all the children, his mother Rhea gave birth to the sixth child in wilderness and left him to the care of nymphs. This child was Zeus who grew into a handsome youth on Crete. He consulted Metis on how to defeat Cronus. Metis prepaired a drink for Cronus to make him vomit up the other children he had swallowed earlier.

On Rheas request, when Zeus was allowed to return to Mount Olympus he became Cronus's cup-bearer. Zeus gave his father the specially prepaired drink. Cronus drank it and vomited the five children he had swallowed up. Being gods, the children were unharmed. They thanked Zeus and made him their leader.

When the war between Zeus and Cronus started, Cronus along with the Titans - except Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Oceanus - fought to retain their power. Atlas was their leader in battle and it looked for some time as they would win and put the young gods down.

Zeus, meanwhile, went down to Tartarus and freed the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires. When he returned in the battlefield Prometheus was also with his allies. The Cyclopes provided Zeus with lighting bolts for weapons. The Hecatoncheires set ambush armed with boulders. Zeus retreated drawing the Titans into the Hecatoncheires's ambush. When Titan followed him to the place of ambush the Hecatoncheires rained down boulders on them with such a fury that Titans thought the mountains were falling on them. It made them break and run away. Zeus thus became victorious. Cronus was thus overthrown and Zeus became the ruler of Olympus and the Universe.

After the victory, Zeus exiled the Titans, exept Atlas, who had fought against him into Tartarus. Atlas was singled out for the special punishment of holding the world on his shoulders.

Having overthrown his father, he drew lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades. Zeus won the draw and became the supreme ruler of the gods.

Zeus awarded those who were with him in the battle. He appointed them certain provinces of the universe to administer in his name - Hera to rule with him as queen above, Poseidon over the sea, Pluto over the nether world, Demeter over the fruits of the earth, and Hestia over social life of mankind.

Gaea became angry that her children were imprisoned. She gave birth to a last offspring who was named Typhoeus. He raged war against the gods. He was so fearsome that most of the gods fled. However, Zeus faced the monster, flung his lighting bolts and killed him. Typhoeus was buried under Mount Etna in Sicily.

Much later, the last challenge to Zeus rule was made by the Giants. They tried to invade Mount Olympus. They piled mountain upon mountain in an effort to reach the top. However, the gods with the help of Heracles,subdued or killed them.

To his dynasty all the powers in heaven and earth were more or less related, descended from it and dependent on it. He himself was to the Greeks the symbol of the intelligence which was henceforth to be the life and light of men, an idea which is reflected in the name Jupiter given him by the Romans, which means "father of the day". He is represented as having his throne in heaven, and as wielding a thunderbolt in his right hand, in symbol of the jealousy with which he guards the order of the world established under him as chief.