About Zeus; the God of the heaven and Earth?

Question

Can someone explain the impact of Zeus on Ancient Greek society?

Answer 1

HISTORY OF ZEUS:


Zeus was the supreme god of gods and Greeks. He was called Jupiter by the Romans and he received that name because it was believed he had the same powers as the Roman god Jupiter! His symbols are the eagle, the oak tree, the royal sceptre and the thunder bolt. Originally he was a god of the skies and high heavens and back in the day Greeks thought of him as the only god who concerned himself with the entire universe.
Greeks associated Zeus with justice and well being. He's believed to have greatly punished the wicked and maldoers and rewarded all that did good.

He received the lightening bolt from the Cyclops who were the giants that helped Zeus in the war against his father. He uses the lightening bolt for defence along with a bright golden shield with an eagle engraved in it.

Zeus was the son of the great god Cronus and great goddess Rhea. Cronus feared his children would want to overpower him and take his place at Mt.Olympus, therefore he swallowed all of Zeus's siblings, Zeus hadn't yet been born. When Zeus was born, Rhea hid Zeus on some close by islands before Cronus could swallow him then she wrapped a stone in baby's clothes and gave it to Cronus. Cronus swallowed it believing it was his son. When Zeus reached adulthood he disguised himself and returned and tricked Cronus into drinking a liquid that forced him to vomit up all of his children, who then all gathered together to fight in a war against their father Cronus and the rest of the Titans (the race that Cronus and Rhea belonged to). Cronus was overthrown in the war by Zeus, so Zeus then took his place on Mt. Olympus and became judge and chief ruler of the 12 major gods and goddesses called the Olympians who ruled Mt.Olympus. It was believed that he settled disputes fairly but when he became angry he would throw thunder bolts. On Mt. Olympus he was also in charge of changing the seasons and making the sun come and go, both of which were very important to the other gods, goddesses and Greeks.

Zeus had two(2) brothers. They were the god Hades who ruled the underworld and the god Poseidon who ruled the seas. His sisters were goddesses Hesta, Demeter and Hera.

ZEUS later married his sister Hera who then became the queen of goddesses considering the fact that her husband Zeus was king. In their relationship they had two(2) children who are known as the gods Ares and Hephaestus. Even though being married to Hera Zeus also had many love affairs with other goddesses and mortal women. From these extra relationships on the side, his children include the gods Apollo, Dionysus, Hermes, the goddess Artemis, the heroes Heracles(Latin for Hercules) and Perseus. He also gave birth to goddess Athena who sprang full grown from his forehead. According to myths Zeus and goddess Mnemosyne became parents of the Muses(the 9 goddesses of the arts and sciences) and it is believed that he and goddess Athena were parents of the fates. Zeus fell in love often, therefore resulting in so many children Zeus cannot even name them all. Because of his many relationships his wife queen Hera became very insecure of Zeus and other women/goddesses. Zeus was "anthropomorphic" which comes from two(2) Greek words meaning the shape of man. This meant that Zeus could transform into any animal or human being that he wished to be and he would then go down on earth, and fool the mortal women who would then mate with him.

Zeus foretold the future through omens and oracles. As being the guardian of mortality, Zeus enforced moral among men, for Zeus himself was very wise!

Since Zeus's childhood was spent undercover hiding he was never able to experience the joy of being a child. When he was older he was constantly fighting wars and helping and protecting the others, along with doing many other great things though greatly did his job consist of leisurely activities. He is a very special and wise god who later died, but while he was alive he was greatly respected by most and played a major role in Greek mythology and the roles of the other gods and goddesses and the Greek people!


ANOTHER HISTORY OF ZEUS:


Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Ζεύς Zeús, genitive: Διός Diós), is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus, and god of the sky and thunder, in Greek mythology. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull and the oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical Zeus also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently envisaged by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward, a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.

The son of Cronus and Rhea, he was the youngest of his siblings. He was married to Hera in most traditions, although at the oracle of Dodona his consort was Dione: according to the Iliad, he is the father of Aphrodite by Dione. Accordingly, he is known for his erotic escapades, including one pederastic relationship with Ganymede. His trysts resulted in many famous offspring, including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera he is usually said to have sired Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus.

His Roman counterpart was Jupiter, and his Etruscan counterpart was Tinia.

Cult of Zeus

Panhellenic cults of Zeus
The major center at which all Greeks converged to pay honor to their chief god was Olympia. The quadrennial festival there featured the famous Games. There was also an altar to Zeus made not of stone, but of ash - from the accumulated remains of many centuries' worth of animals sacrificed there.

Outside of the major inter-polis sanctuaries, there were certain modes of worshipping Zeus that were shared across the Greek world. Most of the above titles, for instance, could be found at any number of Greek temples from Asia Minor to Sicily. Certain modes of ritual were held in common as well: sacrificing a white animal over a raised altar, for instance.


Colossal seated Zeus from Gaza, Roman period Istanbul Archaeology Museum)
Bust of Zeus in the British Museum
History
Zeus, poetically referred to by the vocative Zeu pater ("O, father Zeus"), is a continuation of *Di̯ēus, the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called *Dyeus ph2tēr ("Sky Father").[1] The god is known under this name in Sanskrit (cf. Dyaus/Dyaus Pita), Latin (cf. Jupiter, from Iuppiter, deriving from the PIE vocative *dyeu-ph2tēr[2]), deriving from the basic form *dyeu- ("to shine", and in its many derivatives, "sky, heaven, god").[1] And in Germanic and Norse mythology (cf. *Tīwaz > OHG Ziu, ON Týr), together with Latin deus, dīvus and Dis(a variation of dīves[3]), from the related noun *deiwos.[3] To the Greeks and Romans, the god of the sky was also the supreme god, whereas this function was filled out by Odin among the Germanic tribes. Accordingly, they did not identify Zeus/Jupiter with either Tyr or Odin, but with Thor (Þórr). Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology.[4]

Aside from forced transformation, Zeus is known to punish those who veered out of his pleasure with lightning bolts.


Role and epithets
Zeus played a dominant role, presiding over the Greek Olympian pantheon. He fathered many of the heroes and heroines and was featured in many of their stories. Though the Homeric "cloud collecter" was the god of the sky and thunder like his Near-Eastern counterparts, he was also the supreme cultural artifact; in some senses, he was the embodiment of Greek religious beliefs and the archetypal Greek deity.

The epithets or titles applied to Zeus emphasized different aspects of his wide-ranging authority:

Zeus Olympios emphasized Zeus's kingship over both the gods and the Panhellenic festival at Olympia.
A related title was Zeus Panhellenios, ('Zeus of all the Hellenes') to whom Aeacus' famous temple on Aegina was dedicated.
As Zeus Xenios, Zeus was the patron of hospitality and guests, ready to avenge any wrong done to a stranger.
As Zeus Horkios, he was the keeper of oaths. Liars who were exposed were made to dedicate a statue to Zeus, often at the sanctuary of Olympia.
As Zeus Agoraios, Zeus watched over business at the agora, and punished dishonest traders.
As Zeus Meilichios, "Easy-to-be-entreated", he subsumed an archaic chthonic daimon propitiated in Athens, Meilichios.

Some local Zeus-cults
In addition to the Panhellenic titles and conceptions listed above, local cults maintained their own idiosyncratic ideas about the king of gods and men. A few examples are listed below.


Cretan Zeus
On Crete, Zeus was worshipped at a number of caves at Knossos, Ida and Palaikastro. The stories of Minos and Epimenides suggest that these caves were once used for incubatory divination by kings and priests. The dramatic setting of Plato's Laws is along the pilgrimage-route to one such site, emphasizing archaic Cretan knowledge. On Crete, Zeus was represented in art as a long-haired youth rather than a mature adult, and hymned as ho megas kouros "the great youth". With the Kouretes, a band of ecstatic armed dancers, he presided over the rigorous military-athletic training and secret rites of the Cretan paideia.

The Hellenistic writer Euhemerus apparently proposed a theory that Zeus had actually been a great king of Crete and that posthumously his glory had slowly turned him into a deity. The works of Euhemerism have not survived, but Christian patristic writers took up the suggestion with enthusiasm.


Zeus Lykaios in Arcadia
For more details on this topic, see Lykaia.
The epithet Lykaios ("wolf-Zeus") is assumed by Zeus only in connection with the archaic festival of the Lykaia on the slopes of Mount Lykaion ("Wolf Mountain"), the tallest peak in rustic Arcadia; Zeus had only a formal connection[5] with the rituals and myths of this primitive rite of passage with an ancient threat of cannibalism and the possibility of a werewolf transformation for the ephebes who were the participants.[6] Near the ancient ash-heap where the sacrifices took place[7] was a forbidden precinct in which, allegedly, no shadows were ever cast.[8] According to Plato (Republic 565d-e), a particular clan would gather on the mountain to make a sacrifice every nine years to Zeus Lykaios, and a single morsel of human entrails would be intermingled with the animal's. Whoever ate the human flesh was said to turn into a wolf, and could only regain human form if he did not eat again of human flesh until the next nine-year cycle had ended. There were games associated with the Lykaia, removed in the fourth century to the first urbanization of Arcadia, Megalopolis; there the major temple was dedicated to Zeus Lykaios.

Apollo, too had an archaic wolf-form, Apollo Lycaeus, worshipped in Athens at the Lykeion, or Lyceum, which was made memorable as the site where Aristotle walked and taught.


Subterranean Zeus
Although etymology indicates that Zeus was originally a sky god, many Greek cities honored a local Zeus, who lived underground. Athenians and Sicilians honored Zeus Meilichios ("kindly" or "honeyed") while other cities had Zeus Chthonios ("earthy"), Katachthonios ("under-the-earth) and Plousios ("wealth-bringing"). These deities might be represented indifferently as snakes or men in visual art. They also received offerings of black animal victims sacrificed into sunken pits, as did chthonic deities like Persephone and Demeter, and also the heroes at their tombs. Olympian gods, by contrast, usually received white victims sacrificed upon raised altars.

In some cases, cities were not entirely sure whether the daimon to whom they sacrificed was a hero or an underground Zeus. Thus the shrine at Lebadaea in Boeotia might belong to the hero Trophonius or to Zeus Trephonius ("the nurturing"), depending on whether you believe Pausanias or Strabo. The hero Amphiaraus was honored as Zeus Amphiaraus at Oropus outside of Thebes, and the Spartans even had a shrine to Zeus Agamemnon.


Oracles of Zeus
Although most oracle sites were usually dedicated to Apollo, the heroes, or various goddesses like Themis, a few oracular sites were dedicated to Zeus.


The Oracle at Dodona
The cult of Zeus at Dodona in Epirus, where there is evidence of religious activity from the 2nd millennium BC onward, centered around a sacred oak. When the Odyssey was composed (circa 750 BC), divination was done there by barefoot priests called Selloi, who lay on the ground and observed the rustling of the leaves and branches (Odyssey 14.326-7). By the time Herodotus wrote about Dodona, female priestesses called peleiades ("doves") had replaced the male priests.

Zeus' consort at Dodona was not Hera, but the goddess Dione — whose name is a feminine form of "Zeus". Her status as a titaness suggests to some that she may have been a more powerful pre-Hellenic deity, and perhaps the original occupant of the oracle.


The Oracle at Siwa
The oracle of Ammon at the oasis of Siwa in the Western Desert of Egypt did not lie within the bounds of the Greek world before Alexander's day, but it already loomed large in the Greek mind during the archaic era: Herodotus mentions consultations with Zeus Ammon in his account of the Persian War. Zeus Ammon was especially favored at Sparta, where a temple to him existed by the time of the Peloponnesian War (Pausanias 3.18).

After Alexander made a trek into the desert to consult the oracle at Siwa, the figure arose of a Libyan Sibyl.


Other oracles of Zeus
The chthonic Zeuses (or heroes) Trophonius and Amphiaraus were both said to give oracles at the cult-sites.


Zeus and foreign gods
Zeus was equivalent to the Roman god Jupiter and associated in the syncretic classical imagination (see interpretatio graeca) with various other deities, such as the Egyptian Ammon and the Etruscan Tinia. He (along with Dionysus) absorbed the role of the chief Phrygian god Sabazios in the syncretic deity known in Rome as Sabazius.


Zeus in myth

The Chariot of Zeus, from an 1879 Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church
Birth
Cronus sired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and 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— an oracle that Zeus was to hear and avert. But when Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought 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 swallowed. His mother hid Zeus in a basket under a tree and was raised by a shepherd family under the promise that their sheep would be saved from wolves.


Infancy
Rhea hid Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida in Crete. According to varying versions of the story:

He was then raised by Gaia.
He was raised by a goat named Amalthea, while a company of Kouretes— soldiers, or smaller gods— danced, shouted and clashed their spears against their shields so that Cronus would not hear the baby's cry. (See cornucopia.)
He was raised by a nymph named Adamanthea. Since Cronus ruled over the Earth, the heavens and the sea, she hid him by dangling him on a rope from a tree so he was suspended between earth, sea and sky and thus, invisible to his father.
He was raised by a nymph named Cynosura. In gratitude, Zeus placed her among the stars.
He was raised by Melissa, who nursed him with goat's-milk and honey.

Zeus becomes king of the gods
After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge first the stone (which was set down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, the Omphalos) then his siblings in reverse order of swallowing. In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon in Tartarus (The Titans; he killed their guard, Campe. As gratitude, the Cyclopes gave him thunder and the thunderbolt, or lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia.) Together, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Gigantes, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans, in the combat called the Titanomachy. The defeated Titans were then cast into a shadowy underworld region known as Tartarus. Atlas, one of the titans that fought against Zeus, was punished by having to hold up the sky.

After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus got the sky and air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld). The ancient Earth, Gaia, could not be claimed; she was left to all three, each according to their capabilities, which explains why Poseidon was the "earth-shaker" (the god of earthquakes) and Hades claimed the humans that died. (See also: Penthus)

Gaia resented the way Zeus had treated the Titans, because they were her children. Soon after taking the throne as king of the gods, Zeus had to fight some of Gaia's other children, the monsters Typhon and Echidna. He vanquished Typhon and trapped him under a mountain, but left Echidna and her children alive.


Zeus and Hera
Zeus was brother and consort of Hera. By Hera, Zeus sired Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus, though some accounts say that Hera produced these offspring alone. Some also include Eileithyia as their daughter. The conquests of Zeus among nymphs and the mythic mortal progenitors of Hellenic dynasties are famous. Olympian mythography even credits him with unions with Leto, Demeter, Dione and Maia.

Among the mortals: Semele, Io, Europa and Leda. (For more details, see below).

Many myths renders Hera as jealous of his amorous conquests and a consistent enemy of Zeus' mistresses and their children by him. For a time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from his affairs by incessantly talking: when Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to repeat the words of others.


Zeus miscellany
Zeus turned Pandareus to stone for stealing the golden dog which had guarded him as an infant in the holy Dictaeon Cave of Crete.
Zeus killed Salmoneus with a thunderbolt for attempting to impersonate him, riding around in a bronze chariot and loudly imitating thunder.
Zeus turned Periphas into an eagle after his death, as a reward for being righteous and just.
At the marriage of Zeus and Hera, a nymph named Chelone refused to attend. Zeus transformed her into a tortoise (chelone in Greek).
Zeus, with Hera, turned King Haemus and Queen Rhodope into mountains (the Balkan mountains, or Stara Planina, and Rhodope mountains, respectively) for their vanity.
Zeus condemned Tantalus to eternal torture in Tartarus for trying to trick the gods into eating the flesh of his butchered son.
Zeus condemned Ixion be tied to a fiery wheel for eternity as punishment for attempting to violate Hera.
Zeus sunk the Telchines beneath the sea for blighting the earth with their fell magics.
Zeus blinded the seer Phineus and sent the Harpies to plague him as punishment for revealing the secrets of the gods.
Zeus rewarded Tiresias with a life three times the norm as reward for ruling in his favour when he and Hera contested which of the sexes gained the most pleasure from the act of love.
Zeus punished Hera by having her hung upside down from the sky when she attempted to drown Heracles in a storm.
Of all the children Zeus spawned, Heracles was often described as his favorite. Indeed, Heracles was often called by various gods and people as "the favorite son of Zeus", Zeus and Heracles were very close and in one story, where a tribe of earth-born Giants threatened Olympus and the Oracle at Delphi decreed that only the combined efforts of a lone god and mortal could stop the creature, Zeus chose Heracles to fight by his side. They proceeded to defeat the monsters.
His sacred bird was the golden eagle, which he kept by his side at all times. Like him, the eagle was a symbol of strength, courage, and justice.
His favourite tree was the oak, symbol of strength. Olive trees were also sacred to him.
Zelus, Nike, Cratos and Bia were Zeus' retinue.

YO!!!

Answer 2

It is rational, because the proof provided for the existence of these beings is the same as the proof provided for God. Your question could just as easily be applied to Neptune. It is rational to compare Neptune to Thor, Santa Clause and God? I would guess that 2200 years ago, most of Greece would have thought that it wasn't rational at all, because obviously Neptune was real and the middle eastern theory of a single God called Jehovah was clearly false. Especially considering that Alexander easily defeated this false God's followers. See it is all based on upbringing and interpretation, there is no 'truth' in religious belief, just feeling.

Answer 3

Zeus was the supreme god of gods and Greeks. He was called Jupiter by the Romans and he received that name because it was believed he had the same powers as the Roman god Jupiter! His symbols are the eagle, the oak tree, the royal sceptre and the thunder bolt. Originally he was a god of the skies and high heavens and back in the day Greeks thought of him as the only god who concerned himself with the entire universe.

Greeks associated Zeus with justice and well being. He's believed to have greatly punished the wicked and maldoers and rewarded all that did good.

He received the lightening bolt from the Cyclops who were the giants that helped Zeus in the war against his father. He uses the lightening bolt for defence along with a bright golden shield with an eagle engraved in it.

Zeus was the son of the great god Cronus and great goddess Rhea. Cronus feared his children would want to overpower him and take his place at Mt.Olympus, therefore he swallowed all of Zeus's siblings, Zeus hadn't yet been born. When Zeus was born, Rhea hid Zeus on some close by islands before Cronus could swallow him then she wrapped a stone in baby's clothes and gave it to Cronus. Cronus swallowed it believing it was his son. When Zeus reached adulthood he disguised himself and returned and tricked Cronus into drinking a liquid that forced him to vomit up all of his children, who then all gathered together to fight in a war against their father Cronus and the rest of the Titans (the race that Cronus and Rhea belonged to). Cronus was overthrown in the war by Zeus, so Zeus then took his place on Mt. Olympus and became judge and chief ruler of the 12 major gods and goddesses called the Olympians who ruled Mt.Olympus. It was believed that he settled disputes fairly but when he became angry he would throw thunder bolts. On Mt. Olympus he was also in charge of changing the seasons and making the sun come and go, both of which were very important to the other gods, goddesses and Greeks.

Zeus had two(2) brothers. They were the god Hades who ruled the underworld and the god Poseidon who ruled the seas. His sisters were goddesses Hesta, Demeter and Hera.

ZEUS later married his sister Hera who then became the queen of goddesses considering the fact that her husband Zeus was king. In their relationship they had two(2) children who are known as the gods Ares and Hephaestus. Even though being married to Hera Zeus also had many love affairs with other goddesses and mortal women. From these extra relationships on the side, his children include the gods Apollo, Dionysus, Hermes, the goddess Artemis, the heroes Heracles(Latin for Hercules) and Perseus. He also gave birth to goddess Athena who sprang full grown from his forehead. According to myths Zeus and goddess Mnemosyne became parents of the Muses(the 9 goddesses of the arts and sciences) and it is believed that he and goddess Athena were parents of the fates. Zeus fell in love often, therefore resulting in so many children Zeus cannot even name them all. Because of his many relationships his wife queen Hera became very insecure of Zeus and other women/goddesses. Zeus was "anthropomorphic" which comes from two(2) Greek words meaning the shape of man. This meant that Zeus could transform into any animal or human being that he wished to be and he would then go down on earth, and fool the mortal women who would then mate with him.

Zeus foretold the future through omens and oracles. As being the guardian of mortality, Zeus enforced moral among men, for Zeus himself was very wise!

Since Zeus's childhood was spent undercover hiding he was never able to experience the joy of being a child. When he was older he was constantly fighting wars and helping and protecting the others, along with doing many other great things though greatly did his job consist of leisurely activities. He is a very special and wise god who later died, but while he was alive he was greatly respected by most and played a major role in Greek mythology and the roles of the other gods and goddesses and the Greek people!

Answer 4

first he was Osiris ,became Zeus ,Wodan,Odin and after Jehova ,Zeus was not a greek invention he was a god that had different names with different cultures

Answer 5

That's pretty simple. Why can't you?