Zeus was the supreme god, the master of all gods and men. He lived on Mount Olympus and ruled over the society of gods. Zeus was omnipotent, he saw everything, he knew everything, and he could do everything. If all the gods together were pulling one side of a golden rope trying to pull Zeus they would fail, but Zeus could, if he wanted to, pull them all up together with the Earth and the sea, and tie them to the Mt. Olympus' top. Hera, Athena and Poseidon tried once to chain him, but they were unsuccessful. When Apollo and Poseidon confronted Zeus, they had to serve mortals. On several occasions Hera disobeyed his will; as a punishment for oppressing Heracles, Zeus tied her up with the golden rope and hanged her upon the clouds.
Zeus was the god of light, of the sky and of atmospheric phenomena: winds, clouds, rain, thunder. But Zeus not only presided over celestial manifestations causing rain, thunder and lightning. Above all he maintained order and justice in the world. To mortals he dispensed good and evil from the jars that were placed at the gate of his palace. He was responsible for punishing the murderers, for protecting the weak. He carefully monitored the events on the Earth. When Prometheus stole the fire and gave it to mortals, Zeus punished both him and the whole mankind. By the time, the human population increased enormously in size and stopped respecting gods. Zeus wanted to destroy them all by causing a big flood, but human race was saved only thanks to Deucalion (1) and Pyrrha (1). Later, in order to lessen the number of people on the Earth, Zeus caused the Trojan war. While other gods chose sides in the war, Zeus remained neutral, and tried to balance destinies of the heroes using golden scales; he even let his dearest son Sarpedon be killed in Troy.
In Hesiod's Theogony, Zeus is the youngest son of Titans, Cronus and Rhea. Because of an oracle which had predicted that he would be dethroned by one of his children, Cronus swallowed each child as it was born, hoping that he would prevent this (see Cronus). So he swallowed first his daughters Hestia, Demeter and Hera, and then his sons Hades and Poseidon. On Gaea's advice, when she was pregnant with her third son Zeus, Rhea went to Crete and there secretly gave birth to Zeus. Instead of Zeus, she wrapped up a stone in a swaddling clothes and gave it to Cronus who swallowed it without suspecting anything. Meanwhile, Gaea took her grandson to Mt.Ida (others say to Mt. Dicte) on Crete. There she gave him to Nymphs Adrasteia and Ida, daughters of Melisseus (1), king of Crete. The two Nymphs took good care of young Zeus. They put him in a golden cradle and fed him with honey and goat Amalthea's milk. They hung the cradle upon the tree so that Cronus could not find him either on the earth, or in the sky, or in the sea. The armed Curetes executed war dances around the cradle, beating their bronze shields with their swords, so that Cronus could not hear the baby crying. Later, when he became the ruler of the world, Zeus showed an exceptional gratitude to his custodians. He placed Adrasteia, Ida and Amalthea among the stars, and to the bees that had produced the honey especially for him, he gave the golden color as well as the strength to resist the harsh mountain climate.
As soon as Zeus had reached manhood, he planned to punish his father and seize the power from him. In order to get the allies for the war with Cronus, he decided to release his brothers and sisters first. He asked Metis, daughter of Oceanus, for help, and she gave Cronus a drug which made him vomit up the stone first and then all the children he had swallowed: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon. With his brothers and sisters, Zeus attacked Cronus and the Titans. The war lasted ten years. Then, Gaea prophesied victory to Zeus, if he took as allies those whom Cronus had locked in Tartarus. To do this Zeus came secretly to Campe, the gaoleress of Tartarus, killed her, took her keys and released Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires (Hundred-handed Ones). The Cyclopes then gave Zeus thunder and lightning; they gave Hades a magic helmet which made the wearer of it invisible; and they gave Poseidon a trident. So, Hades put the helmet on his head and, becoming invisible, managed to steal Cronus's weapons. While Poseidon was diverting his attention by threatening with the trident, Zeus struck down with the thunderbolt. Cronus and the Titans were defeated, and they were all (except Atlas) expelled from Heaven and locked up in Tartarus. Atlas, as their war-leader was being ordered to carry the sky on his shoulders. Having won the war, the gods shared the power among themselves. Zeus was given the Heaven and became the new ruler of the universe; Poseidon was given the Sea, and Hades the Underworld. The era of the Olympians now began.
Soon, the gods had to start a new war, this time with the Giants. Namely, Gaea was full of rage because her children were imprisoned in Tartarus. She wanted revenge and she persuaded Giants to attack gods. But once again, the Olympians achieved a victory (see Giants). The destruction of the Giants infuriated Gaea even more. To Tartarus she bore her youngest son Typhon, the largest monster ever seen, who was the Zeus's final challenge (see Typhon).
Apart from the events about Zeus' birth, childhood and coming to the throne, the most of the stories and legends about Zeus are related to his numerous love affairs. The first Zeus' wife was Metis (Wisdom), the daughter of Oceanus, who knew more things than all the gods and men put together. An oracle of Gaea and Uranus said that Metis would first give birth to a girl and then to a boy who would dethrone Zeus, just as Zeus had dethroned Cronus, and Cronus had dethroned Uranus. Zeus took no chances with any child of Metis, so he swallowed her whole when she was pregnant. When the time came for the delivery of the child, Zeus started to have so terrible headaches that his howling began to shake the heavens. Then Hephaestus split Zeus' skull with an axe, and a goddess Athena jumped out with a great shout, fully armed (see Metis, Athena).
Next, Zeus married Themis, the daughter of Uranus and Gaea, one of the Titanides, the goddess of Law and had daughters by her who were called the Horae: Eunomia (Wise Legislation), Dike (Justice) and Eirene (Peace). Then he fathered the Moirae or Fates, who were the agents of destiny. Even when she was replaced by Hera, Themis remained near Zeus as his adviser.
Oceanus' daughter Eurynome (1), gave him three beautiful daughters, the Charites or Graces. Another Titaness, Mnemosyne gave him nine Muses. With Titaness Leto, he had twins Apollo and Artemis. Zeus was also enamoured of Demeter. Because she refused him, he changed himself into a bull and took her by force. From this union was born Persephone (also called Kore).
And then Zeus married his sister Hera. The relationship between the two of them started much earlier, in the days when Cronus still reigned, but the sacred marriage took place after the Olympians won the war against the Titans. Since then, Hera was considered as the master of the Heaven, and the only lawful wife of Zeus. In this marriage, Hebe, Eilithyia and Ares were born.
Zeus wasn't a faithful husband. In spite of Hera's jealousy and consequences that this jealousy might have on the victims, Zeus continued to pursue goddesses and mortal women. Many of his love affairs took place with Zeus disguised as an animal or in some other form. In the shape of eagle he seduced the Nymph Aegina, the daughter of the river-god Asopus, and had son Aeacus by her. With her sister Antiope (1), he took the form of a Satyr, surprised her while she was asleep, and by her he had twins Amphion and Zethus. Another Nymph, Callisto, who was the companion of Artemis and had vowed to remain a virgin, Zeus took by a trick. He transformed himself into Artemis and raped her. Later that costed her life, after Artemis discovered that she was pregnant. In order to protect her, Zeus changed her into a bear, but Artemis pierced her with her arrows and she died giving birth to a son, Arcas.
The first mortal woman whom Zeus loved was Niobe (2), the daughter of Phoroneus and the Nymph Teledice, who gave birth to Argos (1) and Pelasgus (1). Another Zeus' passionate love was Io, the sister of Phoroneus, who was the target of Hera's jealousy for a very long time. Transformed into a shower of gold, Zeus loved Acrisius' daughter Danae, who bore him a son Perseus. In the shape of bull, Zeus loved Europa (1), the daughter of Agenor (1), king of Tyre. In the shape of swan he loved Leda, daughter of Thestius, King of Aetolia and the wife of Tyndareus, King of Sparta. The last mortal woman that Zeus loved was Alcmene, the wife of Amphitryon. He took her by taking her husband's shape, and from this union he had the son Heracles.
The list of Zeus' love affairs is countless. They say that there was hardly a region in the Greek world that didn't have a hero who was either a son or descendant of Zeus.
The oldest and most famous sanctuary of Zeus was at Dodona, in Epirus. It was the seat of the most ancient oracle of Zeus. People came there from all parts of Greece to consult the oracle of the sacred oak whose rustling and murmurs were regarded as the words of Zeus himself. On the origin of this oracle Herodotus, who claims to have heard it from the lips of the priestesses of Dodona says: "Two black doves flew from Thebes in Egypt, one to Libya and the other to Dodona. The latter, alighting in an oak tree, began to speak in a human voice and to say that an oracle of Zeus should be founded in this place. The people of Dodona believed that they had received an order coming from the gods, and on the dove's advice founded the oracle".
Another Zeus' old sanctuary was in Arcadia, on the Mount Lycaeus, on the top of which were two columns, both decorated with golden eagles which framed the sacrificial altar. Here, it was said, humans were sacrificed.
Zeus was dedicated the big altar in Olympia, too. This altar was made of ashes and bones of sacrificed animals and had a shape of a truncated cone which was 6.5 meters high and had diameter of the base of 37 meters. On the top of this gigantic altar, the bones of sacrificial animals were burned. It was believed that Zeus had fought Cronus for the throne in Olympia, and that in memory to his victory, he founded the Olympic games.
Between 470 BC and 456 BC the big temple in Olympia was built and dedicated to Zeus. There was the Zeus' famous statue sculptured by Phidias. The god dressed in a golden mantle was seated on the throne of bronze, gold and ivory, holding a crowned Victory in his right hand and resting his left hand on a sceptre surmounted by an eagle. This sculpture was later the inspiration for many artists.
Zeus was normally shown as a mature male of robust body, with thick hair and beard. Except in very primitive images, he was rarely nude. He usually wore a long mantle which left his chest and one arm free. His attributes were the sceptre in his left hand, the thunderbolt in his right hand, and the eagle at his feet.