ZEUS (zoose or zyoose; Roman
name Jupiter) was the supreme god
of the Olympians. He was the father
of the heroes Perseus and Heracles,
the latter of whom once wrestled him
to a draw.
Zeus was the youngest son of the
Titans Cronus and Rhea. When he
was born, his father Cronus intended
to swallow him as he had all of
Zeus's siblings: Poseidon, Hades,
Hestia, Demeter and Hera. But Rhea
hid the newborn in a cave on Mount
Dicte in Crete. (To this day, the
guides at the "cave of Zeus" use their
flashlights to cast shadow puppets in
the cave, creating images of baby
Zeus from the myth.)
When he had grown up, Zeus caused
Cronus to vomit up his sisters and
brothers, and these gods joined him
in fighting to wrest control of the
universe from the Titans and Cronus,
their king. Having desposed his
father and the other Titans, Zeus
imprisoned most of them in the
underworld of Tartarus.
Then he and his brothers Poseidon
and Hades divided creation between
them. Poseidon received the sea as
his domain, Hades got the
Underworld and Zeus took the sky.
Zeus also was accorded supreme
authority on earth and on Mount
Olympus.
