Greek Mythology Zeus the Olympian

Greek Mythology

European Civilization

Greek Mythology Zeus the Olympian

Some Greeks believe Zeus was the one true god before Christ. Zeus is the supreme commander and he was the enforcer of justice to the gods and the mortals on earth. Zeus had the power to control the skies and with that power he was able to use nature at his own disposal. He also was gifted the ability to use the lightning bolt. He was Greece’s most feared god.

Cronus, king of the titans and Zeus’s father, married his sister Rhea. Rhea was in labor and Cronus feared that one of his kids would end up defeating him and taking over the thrown, so he ate his children, all 5 of them. Rhea was devastated, but the children Cronus ate were also gods, and gods are immortal, therefore the children were prisoned in Cronus’s stomach till somebody releases them. Rhea was in labor with the sixth child Zeus, she feared that Cronus was going to devour Zeus like he did with her other children. She hid from Cronus and gave birth to Zeus, and returned to Cronus with a rock rapped in cloth, which was supposed to be displayed as Zeus. Rhea handed the rock to Cronus and he ate the rock with no hesitation and no idea that it was a rock.

 Zeus was supposedly born on the island of Crete in a cave and grew up in the cave to fulfill his destiny. Travelers all over the world would visit that particular cave to worship it. Zeus’s birth is very familiar with Jesus and Moses’s birth. When Zeus would cry as a child the keepers would suppress shields around him so Cronus will not hear the cries of his son Zeus.

 Zeus is now fully developed into a god. He is ready to avenge his father’s savagery and release his siblings from Cronus’s stomach. If Zeus is defeated by Cronus he would be sent to Tartarus for the rest of eternity, Tartarus is another place for “hell”, that is also where Zeus’s Sister Hades lives. For Zeus to successfully destroy Cronus and the titans he needs his Olympian siblings, but first he needs to free his siblings from Cronus’s body. Zeus sneaks into Cronus’s living area and spikes one of his drinks with a potion. Cronus became very ill and threw up the egg shaped stone that was thought to be Zeus and that stone is still there as of now. After throwing up the stone his siblings are released from Cronus’s body.

The siblings flee to Zeus and plan to assist Zeus in defeating Cronus, but Zeus is going to need more help than his Olympian siblings. Zeus went to Tartarus to talk to Cronus’s siblings. Cyclops and the Hundred Handers are Cronus’s siblings that were sent to Tartarus by Cronus. After the liberation of the Cyclops and the Hundred Handers, the Cyclops gifted Zeus with the ability to use the lightning bolt from the skies.

 Thessaly is central part of Greece, the biggest plain and most fertile place in Greece then and now. This is where the ultimate battle of the gods will play out. Cronus and his titans versus Zeus and the Olympians. The battle was equivalent to all the forces in the world clashing at once, it was an apocalyptic scene. 3600 years ago a Greek island Santorini which was a volcano that erupted, the single largest blast within the past 26,000 years. This eruption was equivalent to 50,000 atomic bombs. That gave us the scars of Thessaly today. They say that the eruption had a relation with the battle of Zeus and Cronus story. Zeus is winning the battle, but Cronus brought out the most ultimate weapon. Typhon who comes from the bottom of Tartarus. He challenges Zeus one on one and Zeus eventually gets the upper hand. Zeus is victorious and is now the supreme god.

In 2003 diggers accidentally discovered a temple to Zeus at the foot of Mount Olympus in an indicating that ancient Greeks switched away from polytheism to the faith of a single God even before Christianity appeared in Greece. A statue was found by a nearby river bed. That said “Zeus the highest” in Greek. Zeus was actually the most important god and that the other gods don’t matter as much as Zeus does.

 The ancient Greek gods are very relatable they are a lot like mortals but just really big. Zeus had one weak spot, he had an uncontrollable sex drive. He disguised as other mortals or even animals to have sex with mortal women. He marries a God that goes by the name Metis, she had practical wisdom and her name meant “practical wisdom”. Zeus was told that she will have a child and he will soon take over the thrown. Zeus feared that, that would happen so he did what his father did with his siblings, but he didn’t swallow his kid he swallowed Metis. When Zeus swallowed Metis he took her in to himself where his best thinking occurred.