Category Archives: Iliad
Eagle – Sacred Bird
The Golden Eagle specifically is Zeus’ sacred bird. A giant bird that had once been the seer Phineus, was always by Zeus’ side.
The Sky Tides
They are a group of four siblings: Bia (“Force”), Kratos (“Power“), Nike (“Victory”), and Zelus (“Zeal”). They are the winged enforcers or Sky Tides for Zeus. The four siblings received this honor from Zeus as their mother, Styx was the first to come to show her support during the Titanomachy or War against the Titans.
Hounds Of Zeus
Not really hounds, they were just called that, and by they, I mean the Harpies, the winged half-bird half-women creatures of Greek myth.
I can only imagine that Zeus claimed the famed winged horse to hold and carry his thunderbolts after Perseus’ adventures. At least the version where Perseus tames the winged horse and isn’t using Hermes’ winged sandals.
Zeus’ Cup Bearer
Zeus’ Herald Of The Gods
Hermes is often employed by Zeus to act as his personal herald and envoy for his decrees, sometimes acting as a diplomat.
Zeus’ Messenger Of The Gods
While more modern takes on Greek mythos place Hermes to this role, it belongs to Iris, goddess of the rainbow who relayed messages and commands to the other gods word for word.
Zeus’ High Council
This was slightly surprising to come across, that Zeus would have councilors.
On this council sat Themis, the goddess of law and order, along with their daughters the Moirai or Fates and the Horai or Seasons. These goddesses were tasked with maintaining the order of the cosmos and have it function.
Themis also had the additional job of summoning all of the gods to Zeus’ courtyard when he was ready to declare a new law or edict.
Of course, if we looked at them as the real power behind the throne… but that could just be inviting hubris…
Keeper Of Fate & Divine Destiny
Before the birth of the Moirai, it was Zeus who dispensed out fate, the good and the bad that he doled out from the jars of Fate that he kept near his feet. When a mortal’s time of death was carefully weighed on a set of golden scales.
Once the Moirai were born, the task of men’s fates and their time of deaths were given to them.
Xenia – Hospitality Laws
Xenia is the Greek word for the concept of hospitality and forms the ancient customs of Hospitality. Of all the attributes that Zeus is known for, he was originally the deity who presided over this custom of Xenia. For this, he was known as Zeus Xenios and was at one time, the god of travelers.
Xenia consists of three basic rules:
1) The respect from host to guest. The host must be hospitable to the guest and provide them with food and drink and a bath, if required. It was not polite to ask questions until the guest had stated his or her needs.
2) The respect from guest to host. The guest must be courteous to their host and not be a burden.
3) The parting gift (xenion) from host to guest. The parting gift was to show the host’s honor at receiving the guest.
The custom of Xenia was really important in ancient times as people believed that the gods mingled among them. If a person played a poor host to a stranger, there was the risk of inciting the wrath of a god disguised as the stranger.
This custom of Xenia extended to include the protection of traveling musicians, known as Rhapsode who could expect to receive hospitality in the form of a place to sleep, food and possible other gifts in return for a night of entertainment and news from other parts of the world. The protection and safety of these Rhapsode was believed to be enforced by the god Zeus and any harm to them or violation of Xenia was sure to place the offender at the mercy of Zeus or any god he deemed necessary to enforce this rule.
This is one of Zeus’ symbols, it was created from the skin of the goat Amaltheia that helped raise him as an infant. It was either a breastplate or shield.
This is the stone that Cronus had swallowed was apparently set down at Pytho in the glens of Parnassus as proof to mortal people that the event really happened.
The stone would be placed at the Delphi Oracle as Zeus had wanted to find the center of the earth. In his search, Zeus sent out two eagles from either ends of the earth and where they met at would mark the center.
This variation of Zeus was worshiped in Ancient Athens as the god of farmlands and crops. He had a festival held on the 10th of Maimakterion to commemorate the start of plowing the fields. Sacrifices were also made to Zeus Georgos at the time of harvesting.
In a story that won’t end well, Antiochus IV Epiphanes erected a statue of Zeus Olympios in the Judean Temple in Jerusalem. This figure was known as Baal Shamen or “Lord of Heaven” among the Hellenized Jews of the time.
There is a story that appears in the Apocrypha, namely 2 Maccabees where the Maccabees or The Hammerers come in to reclaim the temple, tear down the statue and we get the story of Channukah or the Miracle of Lights.
Zeus did not prove almighty in this one.
Other Biblical Mentions
In the New Testament, Zeus will be mentioned twice in Acts. First in Acts 14 where two of the Apostles: Paul and Barnabas are mistaken for the gods Hermes and Zeus in the city of Lystra. Where people get excited for archeological proof, in 1909, two inscriptions were found near Lystra testifying of the worship of Hermes and Zeus.
Well sure, the Greek gods were worshiped in a lot of places around the Mediterranean, so I imagine finding mention of them in a lot of places to be common. Zeus was the head of the pantheon and All-Father, he would have been everywhere.
The other mention will occur again in Acts 28, where the ship taking the prisoner Paul to the island of Malta; the figurehead is said to of the “sons of Zeus” Castor and Pollux.
In this school of thought and philosophy, Zeus’ relation to the other gods is that of the Demiurge or the Divine Mind. This idea is found in Plotinus’ work the Enneads and the Platonic Theology of Proclus.
Grecian Flood Myth
In a myth connected to the constellation and zodiac sign Aquarius, Zeus is the one who causes a great flooding of the earth. A man by the name of Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha are who survive a great flood that washed over the earth. Deucalion had been told by his father, Prometheus in some versions of this story, to build a boat and to fill it with provisions. The two did and they floated in the boat over the sea for nine days and nights before coming to ground on Mount Parnassus.
Safe now, the two found that they were the only survivors and began to wander more as the flood waters receded. Deucalion and his wife couldn’t have been the only survivors of this flood if they were able to consult an oracle who told them to “throw over your shoulders the bones of your mother.”
The solution seemed pretty easy to Deucalion who guessed that the bones of Mother Earth must be stones and so he and Pyrrha began picking up stones to toss over their shoulders. After a bit of this, they looked back and saw that there were now people. The stones thrown by Deucalion had become men and the stones thrown by Pyrrha had become women.
In this myth, Aquarius is seen or becomes a taker as well as giver of life. This myth of a world flood and the rebirth of life on Earth is a very common myth that can be found in numerous cultures around the world.
Sometimes in an effort to have the Grecian Flood myth story parallel the Biblical Flood story of Noah and the Ark, it is Zeus himself who tells Deucalion to build a boat and not Prometheus.
Homer’s The Iliad is the main source for the gods’ involvement in the Trojan War. Zeus sided with the Trojans during this war while Hera took the side of the Greeks. Zeus took a rather significant part in the story of the Trojan War.
A lesser-known work, The Cypria and attributed to Stasinus, reveals the whole Trojan War was planned on by Zeus and Themis. There’s only about 50 lines of text from the Cypria and it’s seen as a prequel to Homer’s The Iliad and explains how the events come about.
Zeus’ part of this epic starts off by sending Agamemnon a dream and through which, the god is able to influence Agamemnon’s decisions. Next is Zeus telling Hera that he’s going to destroy the City of Troy come the end of the war. Together, both Zeus and Poseidon destroy the Achaeans fortress.
The war hits a point where Zeus tells all the other Olympian gods that they can’t fight each other as Zeus returns to Mount Ida where he thinks over his decision on having the Greeks lose this war.
Soon it is Hera’s time to shine as she seduces her husband Zeus, distracting him with her affections while helping out the Greeks.
When Zeus wakes up, he discovers that not only has Poseidon been helping the Greeks, but Hector and Apollo have been helping to fight the Trojans. Follow it up by Zeus getting upset that he can’t save Sarpedon’s life as that would contradict an earlier decree he made. Zeus is further upset by what happens to Hector.
Now Zeus decides that yeah, the other gods can join in and help out whichever side they owe it to. Towards the end, Zeus’ last part in the story, he demands that Achilles release Hector’s body so it can have an honorable burial.
The Theogony is an 8th to 7th century B.C.E. epic poem written by Hesiod. It is perhaps the most famous, if not familiar story that tells the origins of the Greek pantheon. The most interesting parts are the story of Zeus usurping the throne from his father Cronus after having swallowed all of his other children.
It’s interesting in hindsight, come 1876 when the Enuma Elish is translated and then, later in 1946 with the translation of the Hittite Kingship of Heaven text, that we are able to see a strong Middle Eastern influence on Greek myths.
Ammon – Egyptian God
Zeus is sometimes equated with this god.
Ba’al – Canaanite God
A sun god, Ba’al was Hellenized and worshiped as Zeus Helioupolites at Heliopolis, modern-day Baalbek.
Baal Zephon – Canaanite God
A weather god of the ancient Canaanites. The Hellenized version of this god is known as Zeus Kasios where he was worshiped at a site along the Syrian-Turkish border.
Hadad – Canaanite God
Another Canaanite sun deity who was Hellenized as Zeus Adados. The Assyrian Adad also had the same Hellenized name.
Indra – Hindu God
Zeus is seen as similar to this deity in India.
Jupiter – Roman God
Where Zeus is the head of the Greek Pantheon, his Roman counterpart is Jupiter
Thanks greatly to the influence of the Romans, many people will identify and equate Zeus with Jupiter. The Romans were famous for subsuming many deities in their conquest across Europe, particularly the Mediterranean area, and identifying their gods with those of a conquered culture. The most famous being the Greeks, where many deities were renamed to those of Roman gods. Prominent examples like Zeus and Jupiter, Hera and Juno, Ares and Mars, and so on down the line.
With the Hellenization of Latin literature, many Greek writers and even Roman writers rewrote and intertwined the myths of these two deities so that they would virtually become one and the same. And that’s the tradition passed down through the centuries and has become accepted. Just that there are still some differences that separate the two.
Odin & Thor – Norse Gods
Zeus is equated with each of these deities in Norse mythology. Odin as he is the All-Father and head of the Norse Pantheon, Thor as he is a god of Thunder & Lightning like Zeus.
Perun – Slavic God
Zeus is equated as a cognate of this god.
Sabazios – Phrygian God
As Greek culture spread throughout the Mediterranean region, absorbing the local beliefs and equating the local deities with those of the Greek pantheon, Sabazios is one deity whose attributes and role were absorbed by both Dionysus and Zeus, notably as a divine child and god of rebirth.
Teshub – Hurrian God
A storm and sky god of the Hurrians, as Zeus Labrandos, Zeus is equated with this deity, particularly in his worship at Caria. He held a sacred site at Labranda where Zeus would be shown wielding a double-edged ax known as a labrys.
Tinia – Etruscan God
A cognate for Zeus in the little-known Etruscan beliefs and mythology.
Vajrapāni – Buddhist
In Greco-Buddhist art, Zeus is depicted as Vajrapāni, the protector of the Buddha.
Velchanos – Minoan God
Zeus is equated with this deity in Crete or Minoan culture, such that the name Velchanos is used as another name or epitaph. As a separate deity, before getting Hellenized, Velchanos was very likely an Vegetation Deity or Spirit. Velchanos was likely associated with the rooster and bees, which is why the Boy-Zeus in Hellenized Crete will be shown with those animals.
Birth Of A God
We start with Cronus and Rhea, the parents of Zeus and all his siblings.
As the story goes, Cronus defeated his father, Uranus, overthrowing him to become the leader and King of the Titans. Shortly after, Cronus receives a prophesy that just as he killed his father, so too, would a child of his kill him.
This prompts Cronus to decide to devour his children whole as soon as they are born. This happens five times. Poor Rhea just gets to where she can’t take it anymore. With the birth of her sixth child, Zeus, Rhea, with the help of Gaia hides him away and manages to convince Cronus that this large stone is their latest child. Bon Appetite, Cronus eats the “stone baby” none the wiser that he’s been tricked.
Here, it gets a little muddled as to what exactly happens next for Zeus’ infancy and being raised in secret before returning to reclaim his birthright.
It largely depends on which accounts of the story you read.
At Rhea’s behest, Gaia takes the infant Zeus to Crete where she hides in a cave located on Mount Dicte or Mount Ida.
There, Gaia raised the child with the divine goat, Amalthea providing milk for the infant Zeus. The Kouretes, soldiers or minor gods would dance, shout and clash their spears to hide the sounds of the baby’s cries from Cronus.
If Amalthea is instead a nymph, she raises a young Zeus in a cave called Dictaeon Andron on the Lasithi plateau.
Sounding a little more messed up, in Hyginus’ Fabulae, another nymph Adamanthea is who takes and raises Zeus. She dangled the infant on a rope between the heavens and sea as Cronus ruled over the earth, thus preventing him from discovering his son. Yay?
Cynosura is sometimes said to have raised Zeus and in thanks, he placed her up in the heavens to become a constellation.
Then there’s Melissa who nursed the infant on goat milk and honey.
The Promise They Were Sheeped
And while they’re not nymphs, a family of shepherds raises the baby with the promise that their flock of sheep would be protected from wolves.
Claiming His Birthright
An older Zeus returns to fulfill the prophecy killing his father Cronus. With either Gaia or Metis’ help, Zeus is able to administer a potion that causes Cronus to regurgitate all of his siblings along with the stone that was swallowed.
An alternate scenario has Zeus splitting open Cronus’ stomach, freeing all of his brothers and sisters: Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia. Incidentally, Hades is the last of Cronus’ children that is either regurgitated or comes out after Zeus splits their father open.
There is a ten-year-long divine war known as the Titanomachy, and by the end, Zeus takes his place as ruler and king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Hades and the other gods take up their roles as part of the newly formed Pantheon.
During the war, Gaia gave a prophesy to Zeus that he would have victory over the Titans by freeing the Cyclops who were then prisoners in Tartaros. Zeus slew Campe, the jail-keeper of the Cyclops. As a reward and thanks for releasing them, the Cyclcops forged weapons for the three brothers. Thunderbolts for Zeus, a Trident for Poseidon and a Bident for Hades along with a magical helmet of invisibility.
During this war, Hades used his helmet of invisibility to sneak into the Titans’ camp and destroy their weapons. After the war, the Titans were imprisoned within Tartoros and the Hecatoncheires were placed in charge of guarding the new prisoners. One titan, Atlas would be punished by forever having to hold the earth up.
Dividing the Spoils of War – After defeating Cronus and all of his father’s followers, the three brothers, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus divided up rulership of the cosmos between them. Hades would become ruler of the Underworld; Poseidon would become ruler of the seas and Zeus would become ruler of the air. The earth, the domain of Gaia, would be available to all three gods.
Iliad – The Iliad describes the three brothers as pulling lots to determine who would rule which realm.
Hades & Typhon – While not exactly a flattering story of Hades; the story is that of Zeus battling the giant monstrous serpent Typhon during or after the Titanomachy. Hesiod’s Theogony describes Hades as cowering down below in the Underworld while Zeus is busy hurling thunderbolts and battling Typhon to take his place as king of the Olympian gods.
Gigantomachy – Battle For The Heavens!
While the Titans would be defeated, Zeus would still have to contend with other beings to secure his throne. Namely, because Gaia wasn’t happy with how her children, the Titans were treated and imprisoned in Tartarus. There would come a series of three additional attacks.
The first were the Gigantes, another of Gaia’s children who would be defeated and sent to Tartarus.
Typhon & Echidna
Second would come the mighty Typhon, husband to Echidna and Father of All Monsters. Typhon or Typhoeus is described as a serpentine monster that breathes fire. Zeus fought him using his thunderbolts and aegis.
Eventually, Zeus would defeat Typhon and trap him under Mount Etna. Echidna would be allowed to live along with her monstrous children. In Grecian myths, this is how Mount Etna became a volcano. In other versions of the myth, the gods Hermes and Pan would come to Zeus’ aid.
The third would be the twin brothers. These two would attempt to gain entrance to the heavens by stacking Mount Ossa on top of Mount Olympus. Then by stacking Mount Pelion on top of Mount Ossa.
That doesn’t seem like it would work. Zeus manages to defeat the Aloadae and just as he had with the Titans, he banished them too down to Tartarus.
One Last Final Challenge
It is curious that only when I went researching Zeus that I came across this story for the first time.
Sometime after Zeus has succeeded in overcoming all the previous challenges from Gaia, the various giants, and titans to become ruler of the heavens, a young Zeus had gotten rather prideful, temperamental, and arrogant in his rulership.
Enter Apollo, Hera, and Poseidon (and depending on the source, all the other gods except Hestia join in) deciding that Zeus needs to be taught a lesson.
While Zeus is sleeping, they come in to steal his thunderbolts and tie him up with some one hundred knots. Powerless, Zeus lays there until the Nereid, Thetis comes and seeing the god’s predicament, call the Hecatoncheire, Briareus who comes and unties Zeus.
With Briareus’ support, Zeus is able to put an end to the rebellion and punish those involved. Most notable is Hera who is punished as she led the rebellion. Zeus only relents and ends the punishments after Hera and all the gods swear never to rise up against him again.
Metis – First Marriage (Birth Of Athena)
Most mythological accounts jump straight to Zeus being married to Hera. Before that, there was Metis, the daughter of the Ocean and goddess of Wisdom, Prudence, and Cunning.
Metis resisted Zeus’ advances at first but eventually, she gives in to him and from their union would eventually come Athena. Just not a normal birth would follow for Athena.
Sins Of The Father – Now, just as Cronus did to his father Uranis and Zeus did to Cronus in time… Gaia informed Zeus that Metis would bear a daughter and from her, there would be a son who would overthrow him.
Thinking he’s clever and going to break the cycle of constant fratricide, Zeus goes and swallows Metis whole on the belief that this would prevent the unwanted birth or because he gives birth to a child, it will prevent the prophecy.
Birth Of Athena – By swallowing Metis, Zeus will either give birth to Athena, causing a lot of anger and outrage from Hera as this is Zeus circumventing the entire birthing process.
Hera is so angry with Zeus over this, that she gives birth to Hephaestus by immaculate conception or parthenogenetically, take your pick. Either way, Hera gives birth without the need for sex.
Sometime later, Zeus is experiencing a skull splitting headache. When he goes to seek relief and splits open his head with Hephaestus’ help, out pops Athena fully clothed, armed and already an adult.
Good thing Hera gave birth to Hephaestus. Who knows what Zeus would have done to alleviate his splitting headache?
The other version that I’m familiar with, Metis is swallowed with Zeus never knowing that she was ever pregnant to begin with.
I Have A Gut Feeling – I’ve found this story a bit curious in swallowing Metis. The ancient Greeks believed that the stomach rather than the brain were the source of intellect and emotions. With this belief, mindset in mind, it makes sense why Zeus would swallow Metis, that way, her powers of wisdom existed in some form inside him.
It gives a new meaning to the phrase: “thinking with one’s stomach” or “listening to one’s gut” would come from.
Hera – Second Marriage
Going back to the normal course of events with Greek myths, Zeus is married to his sister Hera. For gods and immortals, this works out. There just weren’t very many other options. For those who are mortal and human, ewww…. Inbreeding. Don’t do it!
Naturally, being his wife, goddess of marriage, birth, women, and fidelity, I do not blame Hera for getting angry with Zeus. The myths will say she was jealous and vengeful towards Zeus’ lovers and numerous children. Hera’s myths likely reflect what life was like for woman of the day. If she couldn’t punish her husband outright, she took her anger out on his lovers and any resulting children.
Zeus had to trick Hera into marrying him too. Knowing that Hera holds an affinity for animals, the god came to her in the form of a cuckoo. When Hera picked up the bird to hold close to her, Zeus transformed back his godly form and shamed her into having to marry him.
I really just don’t see how that will be a lasting or happy marriage.
Hera & Echo – This is one of the more famous stories depicting Hera’s anger and jealously. The nymph Echo was instructed by Zeus to distract Hera while he was out having his many “affairs.” Since Hera couldn’t punish Zeus, she would punish others. In Echo’s case, she was cursed to forever repeat what was said to her.
There are plenty of studies to show and suggest that the Greeks were originally a matriarchal people. As patriarchy took over and the myths are rewritten, the resistance of the older religion and people twisted these myths and stories around to make Hera look jealous and petty as so many of the Greek gods appear to be when their myths, especially original ones get co-opted and rewritten.
Battle Of The Sexes – If you don’t already have an idea of Zeus’ amorous reputation in mythology, keep reading, you will…
Hera would be rather upset and angry with her husband from his numerous affairs. I can only imagine, that as the goddess of marriage, Hera would try to have it out with Zeus over having sex and who got the most pleasure out of it.
The mortal Tiresias was given the job of acting as a judge for this contest. When he ruled in favor of Zeus that men have more pleasure in having sex, Tiresias was rewarded with getting to live three times longer than other mortals.
Your Reputation Precedes You Sir!
Politely put, Zeus has quite a reputation with all of the “love interests” and “affairs” and the vast number of children he is to have fathered over the millennia. Zeus is rather busy for a married man, I mean god.
There are numerous stories of Zeus’ many love affairs, romances and some of which that are just outright rape stories no matter how euphemistically later rewrites try to retell them.
There’s a certain prestige, especially seen in the ancient Egyptian culture where all the Pharaohs are earthly incarnations of Ra. This divine birthright is what justifies them to be the rulers over the common, ordinary people.
I can imagine a similar thing happening among the Greeks where they want to claim a divine heritage to justify their rule over various cities states. Stories that often just served to explain how a thing came to be, why something is and to explain divine right of rulership.
We also know there’s two major areas of Greek history, the Mycenean Greek era and the those whom we think of as the Ancient or Classical Greeks with a dark age period in between. If you look at the myths carefully from these periods, Poseidon had been the ruler of the Olympian gods during the Mycenean era of Greek history. This later changes to Zeus being the head of the pantheon.
There is also a Neolithic, Cycladic culture that is best known for its female idols. Couple this with Hera and her vehemence towards Zeus and his numerous affairs. Now it appears to be clear that the Greek myths we get of Zeus are the result of revisionist history and storytelling.
As there’s a theological takeover of replacing Poseidon with Zeus as the head of the pantheon and a patriarchal takeover of the regions that reduce goddesses like Hera’s importance. Just taking a close look at some of these myths, you can see the hints of it and some of the discrepancies that come up as Greece and then Rome expanded, trying to absorb all of these locals myths and to equate local deities and variations with their own.
The most obvious being the Titanomachy story where Zeus and his siblings all displace the older pantheon and the survivors get absorbed into the new divine order.