Zeus the king of gods

The king of gods

Zeus is the son of Cronus and Rhea. He is considered the king of the gods and the ruler of Mount Olympus. He overthrew Cronus, his father. The latter swallowed all his children as soon as they were born. But Rhea fled to an island, Crete, where she gave birth to Zeus. In Greek mythology Zeus was raised by a gaot named amalthea. With the help of the Olympians Zeus Overthrew his father and became the god of the sky, weather, thunder, law, order, and fate.

Erotic Escapades

In most traditions he was married to Hera. According to the Iliad, he is the father of Aphrodite by Dione. He is known for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera, he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus.

Depiction

His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists either as:

• standing, striding forward, with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, 
• or seated in majesty.

(see the picure)