GODS AND GODDESSES ANIME AND MANGA LITERATURE ARTEMIS' REALM

ZEUS Zeus is known as the father and king of the Gods. Being the supreme ruler he upheld law, justice and morals, and this made him the spiritual leader of both gods and men. He has always been associated as being a weather god, as his main attribute is the thunderbolt, he controlled thunder, lightning and rain. The name Zeus is related to the Greek word dios, meaning "bright". His other attributes as well as lightning were the scepter, the eagle and his aegis (this was the goat-skin of Amaltheia). Zeus was Cronus' and Rhea's youngest son. Cronus had been told that one of his children would despose of him and so he swallowed all his new born children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon. Rhea (who was Cronus' wife and sister) didn't want this happening to her youngest son Zeus so when he was born she wrapped a stone in a blanket and gave it to Cronus to eat in the place of Zeus. Cronus, thinking it was the newborn baby, swallowed the stone. Meanwhile Rhea had her baby taken to Crete, and there, in a cave on Mount Dicte, the divine goat Amaltheia suckled and raised the infant Zeus. When Zeus was grown he returned to his father's domain and compelled him to regurgitate Zeus' five siblings and then overthrew Cronus and the titans and banished them. Once in control Zeus, Hades and Poseidon divided the universe between them: Zeus had the heavens, Hades the underworld and Poseidon the seas. According to legend, Metis, the goddess of prudence, was the first love of Zeus. At first she tried in vain to escape his advances, but in the end succumbed to his endeavor, and from their union Athena was conceived. Gaia warned Zeus that Metis would bear a daughter, whose son would overthrow him. On hearing this Zeus swallowed Metis, the reason for this was to continue to carry the child through to the birth himself. Hera (his wife and sister) was outraged and very jealous of her husband's affair, also of his ability to give birth without female participation. To spite Zeus she gave birth to Hephaestus parthenogenetically (without being fertilized) and it was Hephaestus who, when the time came, split open the head of Zeus, from which Athena emerged fully armed. Zeus had many offspring; his wife Hera bore him Ares, Hephaestus, Hebe and Eileithyia, but Zeus had numerous liaisons with both goddesses and mortals. He either raped them, or used devious means to seduce the unsuspecting maidens. His union with Leto (meaning the hidden one) brought forth the twins Apollo and Artemis. Once again Hera showed her jealousy by forcing Leto to roam the earth in search of a place to give birth, as Hera had stopped her from gaining shelter on terra-firma or at sea. The only place she could go was to the isle of Delos in the middle of the Aegean, the reason being that Delos was, as legend states, a floating island. One legend says that Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and Dione Besides deities, he also fathered many mortals. In some of his human liaisons Zeus used devious disguises: a swan, a shower of gold, a bull. In art, Zeus was usually portrayed as bearded, middle aged but with a youthful figure. He would look very regal and imposing. Artists always tried to reproduce the power of Zeus in their work, usually by giving him a pose as he is about to throw his bolt of lightening. There are many statues of Zeus, but without doubt the Artemisium Zeus is the most magnificent. It was previously thought to be Poseidon, and can be seen in the Athens National Archaeological Museum. A lot of this information was obtained from