Zeus (mythology)

"I smite thee!"

- Zeus: "Bellerophon" the play

Zeus is the god of lightning, thunder and storms in Greek mythology he became the king of the Olympian pantheon.

Gaea, Uranus, Cronus and the Titans
The story of Zeus starts with the union of his grandparents, Gaea, and Uranus, the earth and sky. Gaea bore many children from her union with Uranus, the Titans, giant divine beings of considerable beauty. Gaea also gave birth to the more monstrous one-hundred armed giants called Heka-Gigases and the one eyed giants called Cyclopsi. Though Gaea loved all her children Uranus was ashamed of the more monstrous of his children feeling they were not worthy to walk upon his beautiful wife and so he placed the Heka-Gigases and Cyclopsi in the nether-pits of Tartarus deep bellow the earth. Gaea was heartbroken and enraged so she carved a scythe of her very bone that would be able to cut Uranus himself, she offered it to whichever one of her children was willing to face their father and until he agreed to free the Heka-Gigases and Cyclopsi. The youngest of the Titans, Cronus, Titan of time, agreed to take up arms against his father. Cronus fought Uranus however he made no threats or demands and instead completely deposed his father, castrated him, forced him to surrender his power and banished him. Cronus never freed his sibling from Tartarus either and so he earned the spite of Gaea, but under his rule the Titans became the first gods of man kind.

Though Cronus dethroned and castrated his father before Uranus departed he said one of Cronus's own children would surely do the same to him. Later the Titan of foresight, Prometheus, prophesied that indeed one of Cronus's own children would depose him. Cronus became fearful of his rule and when his wife/sister Rhea gave birth to their first child, Hestia, Cronus ate her rather than risk her growing up to depose him. Rhea would become pregnant and give birth five more times, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter and Hera all met the same fate as Hestia. On Rhea's sixth and final pregnancy she could no longer bare to see he child killed and knew she would not be able to implore Cronus' mercy so she made arrangements to have her son Zeus spared. Rhea warped rocks in swaddling cloths and let Cronus eat it thinking it was baby Zeus. Rhea had spirited Zeus off to be raised by her mother Gaea, the earth, Uranus' widow. Of course Gaea was upset about Cronus dethroning her husband and banishing him and without keeping his word to free his siblings so she was more than happy to support the young god prophesied to dethrone Cronus.Gaea raised and protected Zeus on a small island of Crete, she kept him hidden from Cronus in thick mists that surrounded the island and had nymph artisans working on it all day and night so the clanging would drown out young Zeus whenever he cried. Gaea told Zeus of what his father had done to her husband, children and his siblings grooming Zeus to one day take his revenge on Cronus. Gaea made Zeus swear that once he freed his siblings he would also free her children still sealed in Tartarus.

The Titanomachy
When Zeus came of age he set out to confront Cronus, before Zeus returned home he met Metis, Titaness of prudence. Zeus fell in love with Metis and they became lovers and before long Metis was conspiring with him to overthrow Cronus. Metis gave Zeus poison and gave it to Cronus, while Cronus was reeling from the effects of Metis' poison Zeus arrived and fought Cronus. By some accounts Zeus carved open Cronus' stomach and freed his siblings, while other accounts say that the poison induced vomiting and during the confrontation with Zeus Cronus vomited up all five of Zeus's siblings, either way Zeus's siblings were all freed from their father's stomach and joined him in the fight. Cronus saw he was outmatched and called for the the Titans to protect him and attack the gods, thus began the "Titanomachy" or Titan God War.

Some of the Titans joined Zeus and the gods like Prometheus, who foresaw Zeus would win and wanted to be on the winning team, he also convinced his brother Epimethius, Titan of antiquity to join Zeus. Zeus and his siblings also garnered the attention of Hecate, Titaness of witchcraft who joined the gods having grown tired of Cronus' tyranny. While the other gods were still fighting the Titans Zeus freed the Heka-Gigases and Cyclopsi who eagerly joined the fight against Cronus. Eventually the Gods won over the Titans, Zeus imprisoned most of the defeated Titans in Tartarus, except for the Titan of strength Atlas, who Zeus punished by turning his strength against him by forcing him to hold up the sky. Of course Zeus did not punish the Titans who had joined his side, leaving Prometheus Epimethius, Hecate, Rhea, Metis and the monstrous titans. Zeus assumed the new throne as king of the heavens and the new guardian of mortal-kind. Zeus set up a great palace on top of Mont Olympus he made Metis his first wife and ruled the world from mountain tops.

Rule of the Gods
In this new age man-kind would become the dominant mortal life form by being given the gift of intellect but they would also be given sin and discord. Zeus first split up the rule over the world with his brothers, his oldest brother Poseidon, god of the Sea was given the vast oceans to rule once he rested control of them from Gaea's second husband Nereus. Hades, god of wealth was given the Underworld to rule where he could keep an eye on the deepest gates of Tartarus seeing to it they were never opened and establishing a kingdom of the departed souls. Zeus himself created his palace on Mount Olympus and established eleven other positions for other gods as his vassals, Zeus and his eleven brethren were refereed to as the Twelve Olympians commonly. The Twelve Olympians shared in the powers of the Titans that Zeus had inherited and each among them was given a formal throne in the meeting halls of Olympus. Not all Greek gods could claim to be one of the Twelve Olympians but the ones that did were considered the most important. Some gods such as Pan coveted the position of being one of the twelve, others like Hades openly refused to accept the title, considering the power not worth being subject to Zeus' authority. Zeus himself was firmly in control of the Twelve Olympians and could retract their empowered abilities at a moment's notice if they turned on him, this however still made his five siblings a substantial threat since all had claimed power from the titan' personally.

Zeus feared he would be deposed by his first child just as his father and grandfather had so shortly after she became pregnant Zeus would divorce Metis and began to court his sister Hera. Hera would become Zeus' queen despite being his second wife however Metis was made Zeus' personal adviser. Though Metis and Zeus had an easy divorce Promethus warned Zeus that the child would be greater than him. Zeus was afraid of his child but did not wish to harm Metis partly because of their history and partly because he depended on her as his adviser but Zeus eventually found a way to neutralize Metis without sending her to Tartarus. After much thought one day Zeus challenged Metis to a game they played where each god would try to turn into a smaller animal than the other, Metis won the game by eventually turning into a may-fly, Zeus congratulated her and then swallowed her whole. Metis flew into Zeus' head and was abosrbed into his brain thus Zeus always had Metis's sound advice and as part of him he never had worry about the child being born...or so he thought. One day Zeus was plagued by terrible headaches. Though he tried to ignore it at first the headaches eventually became so bad he doubled over in pain. His by then son Hephaestus cracked open Zeus' head to release the pressure and out emerged a fully grown and clothed goddess, Metis' daughter, Athena who had grown in Zeus' head even as her mother was becoming part of his brain. Athena had been clothed by Metis and brought up in Zeus' subconscious but eventually grew too big to be contained within. To Zeus' surprise Athena pledged her loyalty to her father rather than challenging him, for this Athena became Zeus' favorite child. In time Athena was praised even more than Zeus and became a major goddess through-out Greece despite being a second generation god. In this way Prometheus' prediction came true for though greater than Zeus, Athena maintained loyalty to her father and in this way the cycle of ascension among the gods came to a conclusion.

Powers and Abilties
Atmokinesis: Zeus was the God of Weather, so he had omnipotent control over the weather and storms.

Aerokinesis: Zeus was the god of air.

Electrokinesis/ Thunderbolts: Thunderbolts were Zeus's weapons and that was one of the main reasons he was so powerful.

Gamakinesis: Zeus was the god who controlled life-force in mortal organisms. He gained that control from Phanes, the Protagenos of Life-force.

Massive Strength: Zeus was stronger than all the lesser gods combined. Only Poseidon and Hades rivalled him.

Shapeshifting: Many women were seduced by Zeus using shapeshifting.

The Master Bolt: When Zeus freed the Cyclopes, they forged him the Master Bolt, which along with Poseidon's Trident and Hades's Helmet, was one of the greatest weapons in existence. The Master Bolt was the original and the most powerful thunderbolt. It could create more thunderbolts and electricity; shake the earth; boil the oceans; dry freshwater bodies and wipe out entire human and animal populations. When hurled, it could split into several lightning bolts, creating a thunderstorm. The Master Bolt was powerful enough to hurl Kronos from his throne, shear the summit of Etna and raze entire cities to oblivion.

Aegis: Zeus's shield and breastplate set. It was created from the impregnable skin of the divine goat Amaltheia, who had nursed Zeus since birth. Athena covered it in bronze and set the image of Medusa. The face terrified Zeus's enemies and when Zeus shook the shield, it created thunderstorms. The Aegis was so tough, it was the only defense against Zeus's Master Bolt.

Power over the Lesser Gods (except his brothers and sisters).

Semi-Omniscience: Zeus could see the world below him but not in a complete detail. It was like "seeing the forest but not the Trees in particular".

Titan Abilities: After defeating the Titans, Zeus gained their powers. Zeus could control Day and Night, summon the Sun and Moon, command Influential Power and control the effects of time.

Personality
Zeus is seen as brave, easy going and charismatic but also perverted and egocentric. Though Zeus's machismo and womanizing were admirable traits in ancient days in modern times Zeus is seen as just plain perverted because of the evolution of morality over the years. Because of the change in acceptable social moires Zeus has changed from the embodiment of heroic to an infamous anti-hero. Zeus got into many fights with his siblings who were the only gods considered on par with him and thus not completely subject to his authority. Poseidon in particular got into many squabbles over power with Zeus. Zeus would cheat on his second wife Hera many times and most of the affairs were not consintial and Zeus frequently assumed the form of other men to have his way with attractive women, and on one occasion a man. Regardless of character flaws Zeus is consider one of the most iconic gods of the ancient world and a hero of primordial man well into the golden age of history.