Zeus

 Zeus King of the Gods, the Heavens and Mt. Olympus Important Facts __Weapons:__ Lightening Bolt, Control of the Weather, Transfiguration __Alliances__: All the Olympian Gods

Overview [|Zeus,] the youngest son of [|Cronus] and [|Rhea], he was the supreme ruler of Mount Olympus and of the Pantheon of gods who resided there. Being the supreme ruler he upheld law, justice and morals, and this made him the spiritual leader of both gods and men.

Background Zeus' father, Cronus, sired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his own son as he had overthrown his own father. But when Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Uranus and Gaia to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowedFor years, Rhea and her nymphs guided, raised and prepared Zeus for the ultimate challenge, to take on his father. With the help of his mother, Zeus was able to trick Cronus into taking a position that made him regurgatate the five previous children he had swallowed. With the guidance of Zeus, the six gods and goddesses forced their father into Tartarus. Together they agreed to rule together.

Zeus' Olympian Family While he agreed to share the power with his brothers, he had his eye on Hera to be his wife. Only after turning himself into a bird, did Zeus trick Hera into agreeing to become his wife. With Hera, Zeus fathered three children, Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus. But Zeus was not a very faithful husband. With his liaisons with other goddesses he fathered the twins Apollo and Artmis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Minos and the Muses. He is also recorded to be the father of Athena (or Athene) but there are differing accounts as to her Athena's mother was. In some cases it was not a happy ending. The prince was taken to Mount Olympus, where he became Zeus' cup-bearer. Zeus also used his charm and unprecedented power to seduce those he wanted, so when Zeus promised [|Semele] that he would reveal himself in all his splendor, in order to seduce her, the union produced [|Dionysus], but she was destroyed when Zeus appeared as thunder and lightening. [|Themis], the goddess of justice bore the three [|Horae], goddesses of the seasons to Zeus, and also the three Moirae, known as these Fates. When Zeus had an affair with [|Mnemosyne], he coupled with her for nine consecutive nights, which produced nine daughters, who became known as the [|Muses]. They entertained their father and the other gods as a celestial choir on Mount Olympus. They became deities of intellectual pursuits

Zeus' Tricking Mortals Mortals were not impervious to Zeus' tricks. By disguising himself as the husbands, lovers and exotic animals of many, he fathered some of the greatest mortal heros of mythology like minos, Perseus and [|Heracles.] When he seduced the Spartan queen Leda, by transforming himself into a beautiful swan, and from the egg which Leda produced, two sets of twins were born: Castor and Polydeuces and Clytemnestra and Helen of Troy. He visited princess Danae as a shower of gold, and from this union the hero [|Perseus] was born. He abducted the Phoenician princess Europa, disguised as a bull, then carried her on his back to the island of Crete where she bore three sons: Minos , <span class="wiki_link_ext">Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. Zeus also took as a lover the Trojan prince <span class="wiki_link_ext">Ganymede. He was abducted by an eagle sent by Zeus (some legends believe it was Zeus disguised as an eagle). . Also the three <span class="wiki_link_ext">Charites or Graces were born from Zeus and <span class="wiki_link_ext">Eurynome. From all his children Zeus gave man all he needed to live life in an ordered and moral way.

<span style="font-size: 130%; color: rgb(134,4,4);">Zeus Today <span style="font-size: 90%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The building of the Temple of Olympian Zeus actually began in the 6th Century by Peisistratos but work was stopped either because of a lack of money or because Pisistratus's son, Hippias, was overthrown in 510 BC. The temple was not finished until the Emperor Hadrian completed in 131 AD, seven hundred years later. Regretably, time has not been kind to the temple of Zeus. Originally there were 104 Corinthian columns of which only 15 remain standing. One of the columns actually blew down in a storm in 1852. Hadrian had erected a giant gold and ivory status of Zeus inside the temple with an equally large one of himself next to it. None of these statues remain. Visitors can still walk the grounds, but many choose to visit the Parthenon, where many temples to Zeus' children still remain, mostly in tact.

<span style="font-size: 130%; color: rgb(134,4,4);">Zeus in the Lime Light Zeus has been immortalized in numerous pieces of fiction, poems, plays, in movies and most recently on television. Among the most famous Hollywood renderings of Zeus and his control over the mortal world include: //Jason and the Argonauts, Disney's Hercules, and Clash of the Titans//. Seen in this clip, Zeus helps his mortal son, Perseus,by offering words of advise from above as he attempts to slay the Gorgon, Medusa. media type="youtube" key="zBtAO4dYL98" height="243" width="299"

<span style="font-size: 130%; color: rgb(134,4,4);">Work Cited "Persesu and Medusa". retrieved 21 April 2009<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBtAO4dYL98

"The Temple of Zeus". Retrieved 21 April 2009<http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/theoryandpractice/zeus%20temple-thumb.jpg

"The Temple of the Olympian Zeus." __Athens Travel__. Retrieved 22 April 2009<http://www.athensguide.com/temple-of-olympian-zeus/index.htm.

"Zeus." __Encyclopedia Mythica__. 2009. Encyclopedia Mythica Online. 22 Apr. 2009 <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/z/zeus.html>.

"Zeus." __Wikipedia, the Free Encylopedia.__ 2009. 21 April 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus