Zeus

By Daniel

Zeus was the leader and greatest of all the gods and goddesses.   He lived on Mount Olympus and was ruler of the sky while his brothers, Hades and Poseidon were rulers of the sea and the underworld.  Zeus was concerned with order, justice, respect for oaths and relationships in human affairs.

He had six wives and thirteen children.  His wives were Hera who was also his sister, Leto, Maia, Dione, Metis, and Leda.   His children were Apollo, Hercules, Perseus, Hebe, Ares, Hephaistes, Artemis, Hermes, Dionysos, Aphrodite, Sarpedon, Helen and Athena.   Cronus was his father and Rhea was his mother.  His brothers and sisters were Demeter, Hades, Hestia, Hera and Poseidon.

When Zeus was a baby Cronus, his father,  swallowed all of his siblings because he thought they would grow up to dislike him.  Zeus escaped from the fate of his siblings because his mother, Rhea, hid him from Cronus.   Zeus was raised in secret by his mother.  When Zeus grew up and Cronus found out that his mother had raised him, Cronus was so mad that he vomited out his other children, Demeter, Hades, Hestia, Hera and Poseidon.

Zeus and his siblings waged war against their father Cronus and the Titans.  They overthrew Cronus and also defeated the Titans.  During the war Prometheus who was a Titan, helped Zeus, and they became friends.  Zeus liked him until Prometheus gave humans the gift of thought and fire from the heavens.  Zeus punished Prometheus by chaining him to a rock where an eagle pecked out his liver each day.  Since Prometheus was immortal his liver grew back each night but he stayed chained to the rock for thirty years.

Zeus was not as popular as some of his children like Apollo, Hercules, Perseus and Athena.  Most of his children played important rolls on Mount Olympus.  Apollo was probably the most liked and most popular of all the gods.  Zeus however is the most important.