Zeus

 

 

          Zeus was the God of the Sky and the king of all the Olympian gods and goddesses. He overthrew his father, Cronus, for the throne. After he had killed Cronus, him and his brothers, Poseiden and Hades, drew lots to see who got the throne. Of course, Zeus ended up winning and becoming supreme leader of the gods. He hurls his weapon, a lightning bolt, at those who displease him at any given time.

 

          Zeus was first known to the Greeks as the god of all aerial phenomena; secondly as the personification of the laws of nature; thirdly as the lord of state-life; and fourthly as the father of gods and men. As the god of aerial phenomena he could, by shaking his aegis, produce storms, tempests, and intense darkness. At his command the mighty thunder rolls, the lightning flashes, and the clouds open and pour forth their refreshing streams to fructify the earth. As the personification of the operations of nature, he represents those grand laws of unchanging and harmonious order, by which not only the physical but also the moral world is governed. Hence he is the god of regulated time as marked by the changing seasons, and by the regular succession of day and night, in contradistinction to his father Cronus, who represents time absolutely, i.e. eternity. As the lord of state-life, he is the founder of kingly power, the upholder of all institutions connected with the state, and the special friend and patron of princes, whom he guards and assists with his advice and counsel. He protects the assembly of the people, and, in fact, watches over the welfare of the whole community. As the father of the gods, Zeus sees that each deity performs his or her individual duty, punishes their misdeeds, settles their disputes, and acts towards them on all occasions as their all-knowing counsellor and mighty friend. As the father of men, he takes a parental interest in the actions and well-being of mortals. He watches over them with tender attentiveness, rewarding truth, charity, and uprightness, but severely punishing perjury(telling lies under truth) , cruelty, and want of hospitality. Even the poorest and most forlorn wanderer finds in him a powerful advocate, for he, by a wise and merciful dispensation, ordains that the mighty ones of the earth should succor their distressed and needy brethren.