Instructor's Notes for Greek and Roman Mythology 101

Zeus
*Identified with Jupiter by the Romans
*3 Zeuses:
-Arcadian Zeus (Zeus Lukaios), written about by Callimachus, 3rd century BCE
-Dodonaean Zeus, most ancient oracle sacred to Zeus was at Dodona of the oak trees
-Cretan Zeus (Zeus Diktaios), in Crete was worshiped as a boy-god

Homer
*Calls Zeus the eldest son of Kronos and Rhea

Hesiod
*Calls Zeus the youngest of his siblings: Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera

Baby Zeus (Cretan Zeus)
*hidden by Rhea in a cave on Mt. Dikte in Crete. The Curetes danced about clashing their shields to hide the baby cries and Amaltheia and/or other nymphs fed and cared for him

Curetes (Kouretes)
*Cretan daimones; above account comes from Apollodorus.
*Hesiod says the Curetes, mountain nymphs, and satyrs were offspring of the daughters of Hecaterus.
*kouros means 'youth' in Greek

Grown Zeus
*persuaded Metis to feed an herbal emetic to Kronos, causing him to spew up the other gods. Zeus then led his siblings in war against the Titans for control of Olympus.
*advised by Gaia to release the Cyclopes and Hekatonchires to help in the fight, which lasted 10 years.
*confined the male Titans mostly in Tartarus and set the Hekatonchires as guards. The Cyclopes Arges, Brontes, and Steropes (Pyracmon) became his armorers until Apollo killed them.
*cast lots with Hades and Poseidon to win supremacy.

Gaia
*Decided she wasn't pleased with another male ruler, and gave birth to the Giants, who attacked Olympus. Zeus, the other gods, and some of Zeus' demigod children defeated the Giants.
*Then gave birth to Typhöeus, a horrible monster who sent the gods fleeing to Egypt, where they hid as animals.

Zeus
*Stayed to fight Typhöeus alone; the monster cut off and hid the sinews from Zeus' hands and feet. Hermes and Aegipan found them and put them back on.
*Defeated the monster with thunderbolts and threw Sicily on top of him.
*Now must fight off an assault from Poseidon, Hera, and Athena who try to bind him. The nymph Thetis calls up help to dissuade them and they calm down.

He Gets Around
*First takes Metis as his wife, but ate her after Gaia warned him that Metis' 2nd child (some accounts say the child of her child) would overthrow him.
*Next is Themis (divine justice), a Titaness, who bore him the Horae (Seasons).
*Eurynome, and Oceanid, gave birth to the Graces
*Demeter bore Persephone (Kore)
*Mnemosyne (Memory) bore the 9 Muses
*Leto, whose name means 'hidden,' bore Apollo and Artemis.
*Hera, who he takes as his wife after charming her by turning into a cuckoo, bore Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus depending on the account, and sometimes also Eileithyia, although often Eileithyia is represented as an extension of Hera.
*Maia the Pleiad bore Hermes in Arcadia.
*Semele bore Dionysus in some myths, in other Orphic myths he is the son of Persephone and Zeus.
*Alcmene bore Herakles.
*Niobe the Argive bore him Argus.
*Io was seduced by Zeus as a bull; he turned into a cow to protect her, but Hera found out anyways and sent a gadfly to chase her all the way to Egypt, where she bore Epaphus.
*Europa was also seduced by Zeus as a bull; she is taken to Crete and bore the judges Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon.
*Danaë was seduced by Zeus in the form of a golden shower, and bore Perseus.
*Leda was charmed by Zeus as a swan; she bore several children but the ones usually attributed to Zeus were Helen and Pollex (Polydeuces). Sometimes Nemesis is said to be the mother.
*Antiope bore Amphion and Zethus.
*Also fell in love with Ganymede, a young Trojan prince, whom he brought to Olympus and installed as cupbearer.
*Many other liaisons with nymphs, goddesses, and mortals.

Responsibilities
*As a Rain God, he sends the rain to the earth.
*Governed over the affairs of fellow gods and humankind.
*Severely punished mortals aspiring to godhood, including Salmoneus, Ceÿx, Alcyone (gave away divine secrets); Tantalus and Phineus (hospitality violations); Ixion (wooed Hera); Asclepius (raised a man from the dead.)
*Acts as judge between the gods.

Humanity
*At first Zeus was not a fan, and withheld fire, afraid they'd grow too powerful.
*When humankind grew wicked and stopped sacrificing and respecting the gods, he sent a devastating flood, but the titan Prometheus warned his son Deucalion to build a boat. Afterwards Zeus instructed Themis to help Deucalion and wife Pyrrha to repopulate the earth.
*Fierce protecter of supplicants and guests, Zeus is the god of hospitality.
*Served as an impartial judge between gods and men or women.

Zeus
*The word is from an Indo-European word meaning 'to shine'.
*"The Cloud-Gatherer"
*'Dios' in the genitive case
*In Hellenic Greek life, he protects the agoraios (people's assembly), boulaios (council), herkaios (household), horkios (the oath), xenios (the law of hospitality), and hikesios (suppliants). He is also the avenger and punisher of crimes, and source of prophetic power.

1. Tripp, Edward ed. The Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology. New York: New American Library, 1974.
2. West, M. L. ed. Hesiod: Theogony. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
3. The Perseus Project: www.perseus.tufts.edu