Thursday, August 01, 2013

Zeus / Jupiter


 Zeus was the youngest child of Cronus and Rhea. As well as the god of the sky, Zeus was also the god of social customs-the protector of kings and of strangers. The Roman Jupiter was, even more, the embodiment of the state and its irresistible military power.
He was married to Hera, though he is famous for his amorous adventures that resulted in many offspring. Cronus sired children by his wife Rhea, but, like his father before him, he was a tyrant, swallowing the children as soon as they were born. When Zeus, Rhea's last child, was born, she instead gave Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he unwittingly swallowed. Rhea secretly took the infant Zeus to Crete, where he was raised in a cave. Followers called Curetes beat their shields outside the cave to hide the infant's crying.

When Zeus grew up, he overthrew Cronus and forced him to vomit up the children he had swallowed. There followed the Titanomachy, or battle against the Titans, in which, thanks to the thunderbolt manufactured by the Cyclopes, Zeus and the Olympians were victorious. Despite his supremacy Zeus was not omnipotent. He was challenged by other gods and was subject to Fate.
by Barry Powell, 30 Second Mythology

No comments: