\paperw3990 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 \cf7 In the whole of the Greek literary tradition, and subsequently in the Roman world where he was known by the name of Jupiter, Zeus
is presented as the highest and most powerful of the immortals, the one to whom all owed obedience. It was by his will that good and evil were distributed among the men whom \b \cf15 \ATXht11636 Prometheus \b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 had created out of mud, but ev
en Zeus was subject to \b \cf15 \ATXht10600 Fate\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 .\par
Armed with thunder and lightning ("the Thunderer" or "the Archer"), Zeus was able to unleash storms by striking his shield and, at least up until the classical era, many natural phen
omena were attributed to his direct intervention. The oak tree was sacred to him, and it was through the rustling of its leafy branches that he revealed his presence at the oracular sanctuary of \b \cf15 \ATXht10411 Dodona\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . Another of h
is oracles was at the grove in\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht11505 Olympia\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 called Altis. His seat was the peak of Mount \b \cf15 \ATXht11507 Olympus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 .\par
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Son of the Titan\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10332 Cronus\b0 \ATXht0 \cf7 an
d \b \cf15 \ATXht11800 Rhea\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , Zeus belonged, like all the Olympians, to the second generation of gods. Cronus, warned by an oracle that one of his children would depose him, devoured them one by one as they came into the world, but Rhea,
after having fed him \b \cf15 \ATXht5 Poseidon\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , \b \cf15 \ATXht1 Hades\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , \b \cf15 \ATXht10818 Hestia\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , \b \cf15 \ATXht11 Demeter\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , and \b \cf15 \ATXht3 Hera\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , asked \b \cf15 \ATXht12102 Uranus\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 and\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10700 Gaea\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 to help her to save the life of the unborn child, Zeus. The ancient gods took Rhea to Lictos on the island of Crete, where she gave birth to the divine infan
t in a cave on Mount \b \cf15 \ATXht10903 Ida\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . After the birth of Zeus, Rhea deceived Cronus by presenting him with a huge stone wrapped in cloth, which he swallowed, believing he had gotten rid of another possible rival. The nymph (or
goat)\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10123 Amalthea\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 raised the future king of the gods, nursing him on honey provided by the nymph\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht11308 Melissa\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 .\par
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As predicted by the oracle, when Zeus reached man
hood he desired to seize the power held by Cronus. On the advice of Gaea or\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht11313 Metis\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , he convinced his father to take a drug that made him vomit the children he had swallowed and the stone that had taken Zeus' plac
e. This was later placed by Zeus himself at\cf4 \b \cf15 \ATXht10404 Delphi\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , where it became an object of veneration as the \i omphalos\i0 , the navel or center of the earth and the universe.\par
With the support of his revived brother
s and sisters, Zeus overthrew Cronus and then fought the\b \cf15 \ATXht12014 Titans\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . After the victory they drew lots to divide their power. Zeus received the sky, while his brothers Poseidon and Hades were assigned the sea and the unde
rworld respectively; the earth remained a common domain. After putting down the revolt of the\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10703 Giants\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , who had attacked Olympus\cf0 \cf7 (\b \cf15 \ATXht10704 Gigantomachia\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 ), Zeus faced his last
trial before establishing absolute mastery of the world, a terrible struggle with the monster\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht12021 Typhoeus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 or Typhon.\par
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A providential god, conscious of his responsibilities, Zeus did not allow himself to
be carried away by his own whims as did the other gods of Olympus, except in matters of love. From his unions were born gods and goddesses who took their seats in the great assembly of the Olympians; his affairs with mortal women generated other gods or
The first of Zeus' wives was \b \cf15 \ATXht11313 Metis\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , followed by \b \cf15 \ATXht12007 Themis\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . The latter marriage had an obvious
symbolic value as it generated eternal Order and Law. One tradition states that Zeus fathered Aphrodite to\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10409 Dione\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . There were other divine unions with \b \cf15 \ATXht10814 Hermione\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , Demeter, \b \cf15 \ATXht11319 Mnemosyne\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 and \b \cf15 \ATXht11209 Leto\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . It was at this point that came Zeus' "sacred marriage" with his sister Hera, his official wife.\par
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Zeus also had fleeting relationships with innumerabl
e mortal women. The most famous of the children born from these unions, apart from \b \cf15 \ATXht10811 Heracles\b0 \ATXht0 \cf7 and \b \cf15 \ATXht10 Dionysus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 who were accepted among the Olympians, were the heroes \b \cf15 \ATXht12001
Tantalus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 and \b \cf15 \ATXht11618 Perseus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . There was no region of the Hellenic world that did not boast an eponym from among the children of Zeus: the Lacedaemonians claimed descent from the god and the nymph \b \cf15 \ATXht12004 Taygete\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 ; the Argives recognized Argus as their ancestor; the Cretans boasted of originating from the children of\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10516 Europa\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . The great protagonists of the legends and many of the heroes were
connected with him: \b \cf15 \ATXht10115 Agamemnon\b0 \ATXht0 \cf7 and\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht11309 Menelaus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , for instance, were said to be descended from \b \cf15 \ATXht12002 Tantalus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , and\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10104 Achil
The master of the world often chose his lovers on a whim, taking them by subterfuge in different aspects or forms, and left his victims exposed to the revenge of his
jealous and outraged wife Hera. This is what happened to the tender\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10909 Io\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , to\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10303 Callisto\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , and to \b \cf15 \ATXht10516 Europa\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . It was also the fate of \cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht11906 Semele\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , though she bore him the divine Dionysus. On other occasions, poets and mythographers have tried see Zeus' desire to beget children on mortal women as a providential act:\b \cf0 \ATXht1004 \cf15 \ATXht11206 L
eda\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , whom he united with in the form of a swan, had to give birth to\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10808 Helen\b0 \ATXht0 \cf7 in order to provoke a bloody war that would reduce the excessive population of Greece and Asia; the trick he played on
\b \cf15 \ATXht10120 Alcmene\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 led to the birth of \b \cf15 \ATXht10811 Heracles\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , the hero destined to rid the world of monsters.
