Zeus

Rise to power

Zeus was the youngest child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Warned that one of his children would overthrow him, Cronus swallowed each baby as it was born. Rhea saved Zeus by handing her husband a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes and hiding the infant in a cave on Crete, where he was nursed by the goat Amaltheia. Grown to manhood, Zeus forced his father to bring up his brothers and sisters and led them in a ten-year war against the Titans. Armed with thunderbolts forged by the Cyclopes, he won.

King of gods and men

Zeus and his brothers drew lots to divide the world: Zeus took the sky, Poseidon the sea and Hades the underworld, while the earth and Olympus were shared by all. As king, Zeus upheld justice, oaths and the sacred duty of hospitality, and he punished those who broke them. He was also a famously unfaithful husband to Hera, fathering gods and heroes including Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Dionysus, Heracles and Perseus.

Key myths

• The swallowed stone and the war against the Titans
• The birth of Athena, fully armed, from his head
• The punishment of Prometheus for stealing fire
• His many disguises, as a swan, a bull and a shower of gold

Worship

His greatest sanctuary was at Olympia, where the Olympic Games were held in his honour and Phidias’ colossal gold and ivory statue sat in his temple. At Dodona in north-western Greece, priests read his will in the rustling leaves of a sacred oak.