Zeus
Zeus EuropeThe supreme deity in Greek mythology— the usurping son of the Titans Kronos and Rhea. In the Theogony, written soon after 700 BC, Hesiod states that Zeus was ‘wise in counsel, father of gods and men, under whose thunder the broad earth quivers’. He defeated his father Kronos, and forced him to yield up not only his swallowed children, such as Poseidon and Hades, but also the imprisoned offspring of Ouranos, his grandfather. In gratitude the primeval Cyclopes presented Zeus with his powerful arms: thunder and lightning. The defeated Titans—the descendants of Ouranos and Gaia—Zeus confined in Tartarus, the realm beneath the underworld.
A composite figure, the sky god of the Greeks was active in the daily affairs of the world, but he was never looked upon as a creator deity. The origins of the world were far distant: they were entangled, Hesiod notes, in the myths concerning Ouranos, sky, and Gaia, earth. The ancient Greeks...
[The entire page is 488 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
