FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT ZEUS: KING OF OLYMPUS
Added on: 23rd Aug 2016
ZEUS WAS THE CHILD OF KRONOS AND RHEA, THE
YOUNGEST OF HIS SIBLINGS, THOUGH SOMETIMES HE
IS RECKONED THE OLDEST, AS THE OTHERS REQUIRED
DISGORGING FROM KRONOS’S STOMACH
ZEUS AVOIDED BEING SWALLOWED BY HIS FATHER,
WHO HAD BEEN TOLD ONE OF HIS CHILDREN WOULD
OVERTHROW HIM, WHEN RHEA HID HIM IN A CAVE
ON MOUNT IDA IN CRETE HE SOUGHT HELP FROM GAIA
ACCORDING TO ANOTHER LEGEND, ZEUS WAS
RAISED BY A GOAT NAMED AMALTHEA, WHILE A
COMPANY OF SOLDIERS DANCED, SHOUTED AND
CLASHED THEIR SPEARS AGAINST THEIR SHIELDS
EVERY NIGHT SO THAT KRONOS WOULD NOT HEAR
THE BABY’S CRIES
ZEUS VANQUISHED HIS FATHER AND RELEASED HIS
SIBLINGS, WHO WERE STILL LIVING IN KRONOS’S
STOMACH
THANKS TO THIS ACTION AND AFTER THE REVOLT
AGAINST HIS FATHER, ZEUS BECAME THE RULER
OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. ALONG WITH HADES (GOD
OF THE UNDERWORLD) AND POSEIDON (GOD OF
THE SEA), ZEUS SHARED THE RULE OF THE WORLD
AND BECAME KING OF OLYMPUS
EVEN THOUGH HE’S KNOWN FOR CAUSING THUNDER
AND LIGHTNING, ZEUS WAS ONCE A RAIN GOD.
ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, HE WAS ALWAYS
ASSOCIATED WITH THE WEATHER
MAYBE THAT EXPLAINS WHY THE LEGENDARY
GREEK POET HOMER BELIEVED HEAVEN WAS
LOCATED ON THE SUMMIT OF OLYMPUS, THE
HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN GREECE AND THE
LOGICAL HOME FOR A WEATHER GOD
PHYSICALLY, ZEUS IS OFTEN DESCRIBED OR DEPICTED
IN ART AS A STRONG, TALL, MUSCULAR MAN, WITH A
BLACK OR GREY BEARD AND LONG CURLY HAIR
HIS WIFE, HERA, WAS ALSO HIS SISTER. HOWEVER,
ZEUS WAS NOT VERY FAITHFUL TO HER AND HE’S
WIDELY KNOWN FOR HIS MANY EROTIC ESCAPADES.
THESE RELATIONSHIPS RESULTED IN MANY GODLY
AND HEROIC OFFSPRINGS, INCLUDING APOLLO,
ARTEMIS, HERMES, PERSEPHONE, DIONYSUS,
PERSEUS, MINOS, THE MUSES, AND THE
GREAT HERACLES
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