FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT ZEUS: KING OF OLYMPUS

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