Of all the gods of the Greek pantheon, Zeus ( Jupiter in Rome ) is undoubtedly the one that was most revered of all and the one that most myths starred in all Greek religion. Not in vain, it is the most powerful god of all, which earned him the nicknames of "father of all the gods" or "father of gods and mortals" . If you want to know some of the most famous myths of Zeus, as well as some of lesser known but at the same time of the most interesting, continue reading Supercurioso and we will tell you.
5 myths of Zeus that are very curious
1. Chronos: father of Zeus
According to Greek mythology, Cronus and Rhea were two titans who ruled the world and who, as predicted by a prophecy, the throne of Cronus would be taken away by one of his sons . In this way, each time that Rhea gave birth to a son, Cronos, the god of time, swallowed them and swallowed them to prevent the prophecy from coming true.
However, the mother of Zeus, fed up with this situation, deceived Cronos when Zeus was born, and gave him a stone wrapped in diapers, which the god of time devoured without even noticing it. Thus, Zeus managed to save himself from being swallowed by his father and when he was an adult, he forced Cronos to vomit all his devoured brothers (some of the later Olympic gods).
All together they fought Cronos, making the prophecy come true and, from then on, it was Zeus who ruled the world instead of his father.
2. Second generation gods: the sons of Zeus
Many of the myths of Zeus revolve around their children because, the gods of Olympus, can be divided into two generations. The first one corresponds to the children of Cronos , that is, Zeus and his brothers . The second, constitutes a new generation of gods who, despite being younger, occupied a place in the Greek pantheon as great gods of Olympus and, in this case, were sons of Zeus .
It is the case of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis , Zeus shared a bed with Leto, a mortal, who ended up becoming the mother of two of the most influential gods of Olympus and all of Greece. In addition to these gods, Zeus also fathered Hephaestus , god of the forge (although there are versions that suggest that this is only Hera's son); to Ares, god of war; to Dionysus , god of wine; to Hermes , the messenger god; and to the caste Athena , goddess of wisdom.
3. The rape of Europe
One of the most famous myths of Zeus of all is the one that narrates the rapture of Europe. Although Zeus was married to the goddess Hera This did not prevent him from having numerous lovers and even bastard children, fruits of these unions and, one of them, it was Europe. Europe was a Phoenician maiden of extreme beauty and of which Zeus was infatuated. The father of all gods he became a white bull and mixed himself between the father's cattle of the girl to be able to approach her. When Europe proved that the bull was meek, it climbed on its back. Then, Zeus took advantage of the situation to run and then, abandoning Phenicia, swimming through the waters of the Mediterranean with the girl on her back.
Finally, he arrived at the Island of crete , where Zeus revealed his true identity and shared the bed with Europe, which would later become the first queen of the island of Crete, starting the lineage of the Cretan monarchy that would result in the mythical King Minos and his son half bull and half human, the Minotaur.
4. Lovers of both sexes
Although in most of the myths of Zeus that narrate their love affairs the protagonists are women, the father of all the gods also had male lovers, as is the case of Ganymede . Ganymede was a Trojan prince who had gone to Mount Ida to complete the part of his education far from the city, which was common in most young Greeks who passed from childhood to adulthood. Being in this solitude, Zeus fell in love with the young man and, transforming himself into an eagle, he fell on him and kidnapped him, taking him to the Mount Olympus . There he became the cupbearer of the gods for the day, while at night Ganymede would become his lover.
Learn more stories about this god's love affairs: The lovers of Zeus. The most amazing cases.
5. The punisher of Prometheus
One of the labors of Zeus as the father of gods and men was to direct the designs of the world. This makes numerous Zeus myths in which appears as a judge and as a punisher of the actions that are carried out against his mandate. A good example is the one we find in the myth of Prometheus . According to the myth, fire was one of the most precious assets possessed by the gods on Mount Olympus. However, men went through cold and hardships on earth. This touched the heart of a titan, Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to men , making them go from being beasts to civilized beings who lived in the polis of Greece. When Zeus learned of the theft, he chained Prometheus to the top of a hill, and made an eagle (an animal devoted to the father of all gods) devour his liver every day, which grew at night so that the eagle could return to devour it the next morning, preventing the torment of Prometheus could have an end.
Are you interested in the punishments of the gods? So, you're 4 Tortures of the underworld: Tantalum, Sisyphus, Ixion and Titius , they will leave you speechless.
As you can see, some of the myths of Zeus are also some of the most important myths of the ancient Greco-Roman tradition. Not in vain, Zeus was the most important of all the gods of the Greek pantheon , had its equivalence in Rome in the god Jupiter, and in Egypt with the god Amun. He is undoubtedly a powerful and authoritarian god, who exercises his rule over mortals and immortals without shaking his hand in making his decisions.