Greek Mithology Zeus God Of Thunder

God of heaven and ruler of the Olympian gods. Zeus (called Jupiter by the Romans) is the Roman god Jupiter. According to Homer, Zeus was considered the father of gods and mortals. It was not the creator of gods and men, simply was father as protector and ruler both of the Olympic family and the human race.

Lord of heaven, god of rain and cloud accumulator, who wielded the terrible thunderbolt. His main weapon was the aegis, his bird, eagle, his tree, oak.

Zeus presided over the gods on Mount Olympus in Thessaly. Her main temples were at Dodona, in Epirus, the land of the oaks and the oldest temple, famous for its oracle, and in Olympia where the Olympics were held in his honor every four years. The games of Nemea, northwest of Argos, were also dedicated to Zeus.
Origin of Zeus

Zeus was the youngest son of the titan of the Titan Cronus and Rhea and brother of the deities Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera.

According to one of the ancient myths about the birth of Zeus, Cronus, fearing to be overthrown by one of his sons, devoured them when they were born. The birth of Zeus, Rhea wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes to trick Cronus and hid the child god in Crete, where they were fed milk from the goat Amalthea and nymphs raised him.

After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge the other children in reverse order of swallowing: first the stone which was left to Python under the glens of Parnassus as a sign to mortal men, the Omphalos, and then the rest. In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus Cronus' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon in Tartarus, and he killed their guard, Campe. In gratitude, the Cyclopes gave him thunder, or lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia.

In the Titanomachy (war of the Titans against the Olympians), Zeus and his brothers and sisters, with the Giants and Cyclopes Hecatonchires fought and overthrew Cronus and the other Titans, who were imprisoned in Tartarus, a wet area, bleak, cold and foggy in the depths of the earth. Ironically, Zeus also imprisoned there Hecatonchires and also to the Cyclops.

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 sea and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld). The old earth, Gaia, could not be recovered and remained under the control of the three according to their abilities, which explains why Poseidon was the god of earthquakes and Hades claimed the humans that died.

Gaia resented the way Zeus had treated the Titans, because they were his children. Soon after ascending the throne as king of the gods, Zeus had to fight with other children of Gaea, the monsters Typhon and Echidna. He vanquished Typhon and trapped him under a mountain, but left Echidna and her children alive as challenges for future heroes.

When Zeus grew to maturity, forced Cronus to disgorge the other children, who were eager to avenge his father. During the war that followed, the Titans fought on the side of Cronus, but Zeus and other gods achieved victory and the Titans were consigned to the depths of Tartarus. From that moment, Zeus ruled the sky, and his brothers Poseidon and Hades were given power over the sea and underworld respectively. The three jointly ruled the earth.

In the work of Greek poet Homer, Zeus is represented by two very different ways: as a god of justice and mercy, and as head of the punishment to evil.