History of Zeus. Zeus

One thing is clear - they feared and revered him, he was the arbiter of destinies on earth and in heaven. How many wives and children did Zeus have? How many lovers did he deceive? How many victories did Zeus win before he became the supreme deity? His father, titans, giants - all were overthrown ...

Zeus, in Greek mythology supreme deity, father of gods and men, head of the Olympian family of gods. Zeus also has the name Diy. Zeus is a native Greek deity; his name is of Indo-European origin and means " bright sky". In antiquity, the etymology of the word "Zeus" was associated with the roots of the Greek word "life", "boiling", "irrigation", "that through which everything exists."

Zeus is the son of Kronos (hence another name for Zeus - Kronid, Kronion) and Rhea, he belongs to the third generation of gods who overthrew the second generation - the titans. Zeus's father, fearing to be deposed by his children, each time swallowed the child just born to Rhea. Rhea deceived her husband by letting him swallow a wrapped stone instead of the born Zeus, and the baby, secretly from his father, was sent to Crete on Mount Dikta. According to another version, Rhea gave birth to Zeus in a cave of Mount Dikta and entrusted his upbringing to the Curetes and Corybantes, who fed him with the milk of the goat Amalthea.

According to one of the myths, Zeus, having been born, laughed continuously for 7 days, which is why the number 7 is sacred.

It was on Crete that they preserved ancient symbols worship of Zeus of Crete: a double ax (labrys), a magical weapon that kills and gives life, destructive and creative power. The image of this double ax is found on ritual things between the horns of a bull, which in Crete was also a zoomorphic incarnation of Zeus (in the form of a bull, Zeus kidnapped Europa). The main residence of Zeus Labrys (Zeus of Labrand) was considered a labyrinth; the monstrous mixanthropic Minotaur is the inhabitant of the labyrinth and is one of the incarnations of Zeus of Crete. The image of the archaic Zeus was close to Zagreus, who was later thought of as the son of Zeus.

When Rhea, instead of the baby Zeus, gave Kronos a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, Kronos realized that he had been deceived. He looked for the child in heaven, on earth and in the sea. But the nymph who courted Zeus outwitted Kronos by hanging the cradle with the baby on a tree branch.

In the system of myths about Olympian Zeus, his stay in Crete is one of the archaic vestiges and is usually associated with the motive of the secret upbringing of the infant Zeus. In Delphi, the archaic fetish omfal (“navel of the earth”) was revered - a stone swallowed by Kronos, or a stone like the navel of the baby Zeus. Omphalus would have been erected by Zeus in Python near Parnassus as a monument to marvel at all mortals. The matured Zeus brought his brothers and sisters out of the womb of Kronos, giving him a potion to drink on the advice of Metis. For this, they gave thunder and lightning into the possession of Zeus. Zeus then began a power struggle with Kronos and the other Titans. In the titanomachy, which lasted ten years, Zeus was assisted by the hundred-armed (hekatoncheirs); the Cyclopes forged thunder, lightning and perun for him. The defeated titans were thrown into Tartarus.

All those who came to honor Zeus at Olympia were struck by the “living” face of the statue of Zeus. At the foot of the statue was a pool into which oil was poured over the water. The light from the doors reflected off the oily surface, enveloping the face and shoulders of Zeus. A radiance emanated from the face of the deity, and the eyes "threw lightning."

But the fight didn't end there. Gaia, the goddess of the Earth, sends her other children, giants, and the monstrous Typhon, to Zeus. Gigantomachy began, in which the Thunderer also won. After the victory, he divided power between himself and his brothers, he himself gets the sky, Poseidon - the sea, Hades - underworld; then he settles on Mount Olympus with his relatives, his third wife, but the first in importance - Hero and children. Relative order also reigns on earth, crafts, trade, sciences and arts flourish, which he himself or his children Apollo, Athena, and the Muses patronize.

There is no rain on Olympus - no snow, no storms. High above Mount Olympus stretches an endless blue sky, golden light shines, here is a constant summer. It is below, on earth, the seasons alternate, happiness and joy replace grief and illness. On the Olympus, things are different. Sometimes Olympians quarrel, cheat on each other, they also know sorrows, but most often Olympian calm reigns here. The gods often feast in golden halls, their food is ambrosia and nectar, the affairs of the world are decided at feasts, the fate of people is determined. But the fate of the gods is not always in their own hands. Sometimes Zeus is subject to Moira (Rock).

Emperor Caligula, having heard about the grandiose statue of Zeus, decided to move it to Rome and sent workers to Olympia to dismantle it. When they began to decide where to start, Zeus laughed out loud, and they all fled in fear.

Zeus is the father of not only many gods: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, Dionysus, Persephone, but also many heroes: Hercules, Perseus, Dioscuri, etc. Olympia was the main sanctuary of Zeus, there was a famous temple and the Olympic Games were held in honor of Zeus. Olympian Zeus is the patron of humanity, urban life, the protector of the offended and the patron of those who pray, other gods obey him. He gives laws to people. He oversees the observance of oaths. He is an assistant to warriors and a strategist himself, a warrior, a commander. He is the father of many heroes. His sons are Hercules, Perseus, Dioscuri and others.

Being the father of people and gods, Zeus is also a formidable punishing force. At the behest of Zeus, Prometheus is chained to a rock. Several times Zeus destroyed human race trying to create the perfect man. He sent a flood to the earth. He contributed to the outbreak of the Trojan War to punish the people for their wickedness. In honor of Olympian Zeus, the pan-Hellenic Olympic Games were held in Olympia as a symbol of unity and mutual consent of the Greek policies. The Romans correspond to Zeus with Jupiter.

Traditionally, Zeus is depicted as a man of mature age with noble features, framed by thick curls. In the works of later artists, especially the masters of the New Age, he is a character love stories who deceives women and assumes many forms. The wives of Zeus were: Metis (swallowed by Zeus), Themis, Hera (the last "official" wife of Zeus). According to Callimachus, when Kronos ruled the world, Zeus and Hera hid their marriage for 300 years.

According to one of the myths, the wedding night of Zeus and Hera lasted 300 years.

Zeus had many lovers: Eurynomus, Demeter, Mnemosyne, Leto (Laton), Io, Europe and many others. The beloved of Zeus is also called Kalliroea, the mother of Amphoterus and Acarnanus, as well as Thebe and Phthia. Some myths claim that Zeus wanted to leave Hera for Thetis, but did not do this because of a prophecy - a nereid would give birth to a son who would surpass his father in everything. Thetis married King Peleus, and Achilles was born to them. Sinope and Medea rejected Zeus. Also, the young man of Aytos and Ganymede is called his beloved.

In the guise of a snake, he seduced Demeter, and then Persephone, in the guise of a bull and a bird - Europe, in the guise of a bull - Io, in the guise of an eagle - Ganymede, in the guise of a swan - Nemesis (who became a goose) or Leda, in the guise of a quail - Summer, in in the guise of an ant - Eurymedus, in the guise of a dove - Phthia, in the fiery guise - Aegina, in the form of a golden rain - Danae, in the guise of a satyr - Antiope, in the guise of a shepherd - Mnemosin. His lovers usually retain their human appearance, but he turns Callisto into a bear, Io into a cow. Sometimes Zeus was revered in the form of a beetle.

Zeus, mythological god ancient Hellas, is known today by literary works, paintings by artists, statues of those times. It looks like a man of a rather dense physique in adulthood.

Despite his mythical title of the Thunderer, won over the centuries, in many portraits he does not have an evil expression on his face, noble features are visible; dense overgrown Wavy hair and beard.

Apparently, the Greeks spared him because of his age, not depicting him completely naked, as in the Roman version, or like Apollo, by the way, his own son. Usually he was in a fabric cape and always with an open powerful torso - this is what the god Zeus looks like.

Statue of Zeus - one of the seven wonders of the world

Zeus here and there

IN Slavic mythology greek god Zeus is known as Perun - the god of thunder, the patron of the rulers of the Russian lands and their military squads in the ancient Russian pagan pantheon. In ancient Roman mythology, he is Jupiter, the god of blue space, bright light and, of course, the same thunderer. He, only much younger, is the god of thunder and storms in the German-Scandinavian myths.

Perun - the ancient Slavic analogue of Zeus

In love stories and in later images, usually by the masters of the New Age, one can see what Zeus looked like: the description of his appearance often differed. He was portrayed as young man or in the reincarnated form of a bull, a swan, an eagle, golden raindrops, a cloud, or a satyr. Zeus had many lovers, and each one needed a certain approach. Here are some of these women: Eurynome, Demeter, Mnemosyne, Summer (Lato) - the mother of the gods Apollo and Artemis, Io, Europe, Leda.

The lightning of Zeus can be depicted materially - these are ordinary pitchforks with notches, but double-sided, or for several teeth. In modern military phraseology, it is a flamethrower.

Therefore, the pitchfork was depicted as a bunch of flames, often held in its claws by an eagle - one of the attributes of Zeus. This god also harnessed eagles to his chariot, and his chariot was not rolling, but flying.

Jupiter - Roman God of Thunder

Zeus' tree of life

He dominated among the deities on Mount Olympus, came from a family of titans. According to the mythical gradation, the titans are the deities of the previous generation, which was replaced by the Olympians. There were six brothers and the same number of Titanide sisters who married (incest) with each other and gave birth to a new generation of gods. For example, Themis or the father of the god Helios.

The mythical wife of Zeus is the supreme goddess of the Olympian twelve gods by her husband. In addition to fulfilling her divine destiny for the female environment and obstetrics, she had a tough and unjustifiably cruel disposition, was vindictive and jealous. The latter is on the conscience of the Thunderer. It was he who gave rise to jealousy.

Hera was not the only wife. There were more women married to Zeus, at least two known were goddesses: one of the ocean, the other of law and order on earth. One can only guess about the unknown, judging by the series of children of Zeus. In the mythical reality, Zeus and some spouses were related by blood. That's why last wife God, while the father of the spouse ruled for three centuries, for some reason kept the marriage relationship with the Thunderer secret.

Zeus had the same mythical brothers and fifty-six sons (according to this indicator, Apollo "jumped" twice his father). Among them are a host of deities: Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Elena the Beautiful, Terpsichore, Melpomene, Hermes and others.

IN Greek mythology Zeus had a son Hercules (at birth he had the name Alkid) - half-man, half-god. He did not have a great mind, he was considered the most strong man on the ground.

Hercules is very confident.

Mythic Overlord

What distinguished Zeus, besides throwing lightning? The supreme god is entrusted with dominance in heaven and the distribution of virtue and negative actions on earth, balancing the sides. Zeus defeated the Titans.

God Zeus

Zeus with a cornucopia. Sculpture of the fountain in Petrodvorets.

Zeus("bright sky"), in Greek mythology, the supreme deity, the son of the titans Kronos and Rhea. The almighty father of the gods, the lord of the winds and clouds, rain, thunder and lightning caused storms and hurricanes with a blow of the scepter, but he could also calm the forces of nature and clear the sky of clouds. Kronos, fearing to be overthrown by his children, swallowed all the older brothers and sisters of Zeus immediately after their birth, but Rhea, instead of her youngest son, gave Kropos a stone wrapped in diapers, and the baby was secretly taken out and raised on the island of Crete. The matured Zeus sought to pay off his father. His first wife, the wise Metis ("thought"), the daughter of the Ocean, advised him to give his father a potion, from which he would vomit all swallowed children. Having defeated the Kronos who gave birth to them, Zeus and the brothers divided the world among themselves. Zeus chose the sky, Hades - the underworld of the dead, and Poseidon - the sea. The land and Mount Olympus, where the palace of the gods was located, were decided to be considered common.

The influence of Zeus extended to all spheres; True, he had no power over fate. Therefore, in vain the Nereid Thetis, who at one time called upon the hundred-armed giants to help Zeus, prayed in vain to save her son Achilles from death in the Trojan War. Being the "father of men and gods", Zeus was a formidable punishing force. At his command, Prometheus was chained to a rock, stealing the divine fire for people; he sent a flood to the earth and unleashed the Trojan War, punishing the human race for wickedness. But over time, the world of Olympians changes and becomes less cruel. Ores, daughters of Zeus from Themis, his second wife, brought order into the life of gods and people, and Charites, daughters from Eurynome, the former mistress of Olympus, brought joy and grace; the goddess Mnemosyne gave birth to Zeus 9 muses. Thus, in human society law, sciences, arts and moral norms have taken their place. Zeus was also the father of famous heroes - Hercules, Dioscuri, Perseus, Sarpedon, glorious kings and sages - Minos, Radamanth and Aeacus. Is it true, love affairs Zeus with both mortal women and immortal goddesses, which formed the basis of many myths, caused constant antagonism between him and his third wife Hera, the goddess of legal matrimony. Some children of Zeus born out of wedlock, such as Hercules, were severely persecuted by the goddess. In Roman mythology, Zeus corresponds to the omnipotent Jupiter.

The power of Zeus on Olympus was strengthened in another way. He entered into illegal relationships for the sake of procreation. But, what is most interesting, the children from these non-canonical marriages were in no way inferior to his other, legal ones. On the contrary, Zeus established himself on Olympus precisely through the goddesses he loved, for the sake of which he endured humiliation from the jealous Hera and for the sake of which he had to indulge in tricks.

Eurynome and the birth of Charit

EURINOME AND THE BIRTH OF HARIT. The first illegitimate wife of Zeus (according to the total number of all his seven marriages - the third) was the Oceanid Eurynomus (Hes. Theog. 907-911). She gave birth to Zeus three charming and lovely Charites (Greek charis - mercy). They embodied the good, joyful and eternally young beginning of life. The names of Harit are Aglaya (Shining), Euphrosyne (Good-thinking), Falia (Blossoming). Here, nature is turned to man with its beneficent side, despite the evil and destructive elements of the archaic.

Charites, one might say, are absolutely necessary in a world approved by Olympian Zeus and built on harmony and order. Kindness, affection, joy along with high deeds, passions and sufferings of heroes are the privilege of classical mythology. This is something that is so lacking in the archaic, which was absolutely alien to it and which ennobled and raised in their own eyes a person capable of severe courage and kind compassion for his own kind.

Demeter and the birth of Persephone

DEMETRA AND THE BIRTH OF PERSEPHONE. But it turns out that Zeus also claims to be an assistant in obtaining a livelihood. Having entered into an illegal relationship with his sister Demeter (the fourth marriage in a row), the goddess of fruitful land and harvest, Zeus begins to be responsible for feeding people, for their vitality, for their physical well-being (ibid. 912-914). And if we take into account that his daughter from Demeter, Persephone, became the wife of Hades and the mistress of the kingdom of the dead, then Zeus, as it were, again, already in his offspring, returns to the functions of the ancient deity Zeus the Underground, or Chthonius, and not just Heavenly Zeus.

Mnemosyne and the birth of the Muses

Mnemosyne and the birth of the Muses. Even more significant love union Zeus with the Titanide Mnemosyne (Greek mnemosyne - memory), although he is not consecrated by law (the fifth marriage in total). This marriage is absolutely necessary to strengthen Zeus in the world of cultural classical values ​​(ibid. 915-917; 56-62).

After all, without memory and without memory, forward movement is unthinkable, any development is impossible. Zeus unites with Memory (as he previously united with Thought) and gives birth to nine sisters, who are called Muses.

These Muses, born in Pieria, bear the name of the Olympians. Their names - Calliope, Clio, Melpomene, Euterpe, Erato, Terpsichore, Thalia, Polyhymnia, Urania - indicate the connection of the Muses with singing, dancing, music and, in general, with the refined pleasure of the spirit. Urania (Heavenly) and Clio (Giving glory) endow a person with the ability to study heaven and earth, the course of heavenly bodies and earthly affairs.

Further, no longer mythological, but real story ancient culture had every reason to consider Urania the patroness of astronomical studies, and Clio - historical research. Erato became the Muse of lyric poetry, Euterpe - the music that accompanies lyric song, Calliope - epic poetry, Melpomene - tragedy, Polyhymnia - hymn songs, Terpsichore - dance and Thalia - comedy art.

These nine Olympian muses seem to have their origins in the three muses of archaic mythology, where they expressed the first beginnings of the wisdom of the earth. Archaic muses were revered not by singers and poets, but by the giants of Aloada (Pave. IX 29, 1-2), who once made sacrifices on Mount Helikon and gave them characteristic names- Meleta (Experience), Mnema (Memory), Aoyda (Song). It turns out that once there were so-called older muses, the daughters of Uranus and Gaia, and those who are from Zeus are the younger muses. So, pre-Olympic mythology already had a number of prerequisites for the formation of not purely physical, but some new, higher needs and abilities of a person who had to consciously navigate life, fixing his knowledge in memory, and feel a certain delight of the soul.

Apparently, after all, the chthonic past of the Olympian muses made itself felt in classical mythology, because they sometimes had offspring of a clearly orgiastic and spontaneous type, for example, Corybantes and Sirens, along with such singers of heroic times as Orpheus and Lin.

Let us listen to what Hesiod, a poet and farmer from the village of Askra, located at the foot of Helikon, tells about the Olympic Muses.

In "Theogony" - a poem about the birth and generations of the gods, one of the main sources of mythology - Hesiod tells, not embarrassed by the improbability of events, about his meeting with the Muses on the Helicon peaks. It turns out that the nine Olympian sisters are in the habit of dancing round dances there, bypassing the altar of Zeus and the source of "violet-dark" water. They wash their bodies in the currents of Permes or in the spring of Hippocrene (he was knocked out of the rock with a hoof winged horse Pegasus), and then indulge in dancing. When night falls, then, dressed in impenetrable fog, the Muses descend from the sacred mountain and come down, closer to the people. They sing wonderful songs, glorifying the great Olympians - Zeus and Hera, Athena and Apollo with Artemis, Poseidon and Aphrodite with Themis, Hebe, Dione and her daughter Leto, - the ancient titans Iapetus and Kronos, Dawn and Night, the Sun and the Moon, mother Earth and ocean waters.

It was these Olympian muses who met Hesiod when he was grazing sheep at the foot of Helikon, told him about how they were skilled at cunning inventions, about how you can turn false stories into the purest truth.

In fact, the Muses revealed to Hesiod the secret of poetic fiction - what we now call fantasy. And after that, they handed Hesiod a staff carved by them from green laurel, the tree of Apollo's favorite singers and poets. Presenting their gift, the Muses breathed into the shepherd Hesiod the gift of divine songs. Unbeknownst to himself, Hesiod gave a wonderful example of a fetishistic understanding of poetic inspiration. It turns out that it, like a living being, lives in a laurel, and therefore in a laurel staff, along with which it purely physically passes into the possession of Hesiod.

So, the Muses taught Hesiod songs and created a poet, and he, in turn, glorified the daughters of Zeus in Theogony (1-116).

Their mouths pour out sweet sounds, to which no less sweet songs of the inhabitants of Olympus sound in response. The Muses sing of the divine world in all its integrity, from Earth and Heaven to Zeus and his descendants. As befits the deities of classical mythology, they not only endow people with the gift of a pleasant word, but sing the laws established by Zeus, the good morals that reign on Olympus, inspire reasonable thoughts, quench sadness, and stop quarrels.

Thus, the Muses fix in the memory of people and in the poetic word all the good undertakings of Olympian Zeus, supporting, like the Charites, Oras and Moiras, the harmonious arrangement of the world, obedient to Zeus's laws and quite consciously meaningful.

Summer gives birth to Zeus Apollo and Artemis

SUMMER BIRTH ZEUS APOLLO AND ARTEMIS. These common cultural functions of Zeus are further strengthened on Olympus with the birth of Apollo (Ges. Theog. 918-920).

Poor Leto, persecuted by the Hero, who forbade the solid earth to give shelter to her future mother, found a place with difficulty when it was time to give birth. She wanders through the cities, mountains and islands of Greece - she was in Athens, Miletus, Euboea, Samothrace, in the mountains of Pelion, Ida, on the islands of Imbros, Lemnos, Lesbos, Knidos, Naxos, Paros, Skyros, Aegina. And finally, rocky Delos (it was then called Ortigia and was floating, that is, it was not a solid land) gives her shelter in response to Leto's plea and her oath that the island will become the sacred haven of Apollo and will be revered for centuries glorified magnificent temple.

Summer suffers for nine days. She is assisted in childbirth by the mother of Zeus - Rhea, his ex-wife - Themis, the mother of Aphrodite - Dione, the wife of Poseidon - Amphitrite. Only the evil Hera delays Ilithyia, her daughter, the goddess of childbirth. However, the goddesses find a way out. They bribe Ilithyia with rich gifts. Then Leto, clasping the palm tree with her hands, gives birth to Apollo right in the soft meadow carpet (according to Apollodorus I 4, 1, Leto first gave birth to Artemis, and with her help - Apollo). And immediately the earth smiles, and the goddesses, having washed the baby, twist it with a thin white cloth, tie it with a golden belt. Themis lets nectar and ambrosia into the child's lips.

The golden belt unravels, the diapers fall off, and now Apollo demands a bow, a lyre and declares his future prophecies.

Having received what he wanted, the "far-striking" Phoebus walked along the earth, "the goddesses were dumbfounded", and "Delos shone all over, like gold", as if all bloomed with forest flowers. And mother Leto rejoiced in her heart, rejoicing that she had given birth to such a powerful son (Hom. hymn. I 25-139; Kallim. IV 55-274).

So, Summer, as the illegitimate wife of Zeus, experienced the wrath of Hera, but she also turned out to be the happy mother of the twins Apollo and Artemis. And if the image of Artemis, the virgin hunter, is rooted in ancient layers of mythology as the image of the mistress of forests and animals, then Apollo is an example of a deity in which his classical essence tried in every possible way to suppress its own archaic past.

The powerful figure of the bright solar god, the archer who punishes monsters, Musaget (Driver of the Muses), the inspired singer, the wise soothsayer and healer, the patron of shepherds, the builder of cities and the founder of legislation, could not completely supplant the werewolf, the destroyer of shepherd's herds, the phytomorphic demon, the gloomy killer of people, the sender of deadly diseases, the destroyer of cities.

However, the more Zeus strengthens on Olympus, the more power Apollo gains, gradually becoming some kind of universal classical god, identical with the world of light, and finally, the light itself, shining, and even the Driver Moir (Moiraget), holding together all world harmony. In the end, this universalism of Apollo reaches such an extent that later mythographers on the slope of antiquity will identify him with Zeus. But if you do not go into the extremes of late mythography, configured philosophically and symbolically, then Apollo of the classical period is indeed, along with Athena, one of the main pillars of Olympus and, in general, the heroic principle of being. True, unlike Athena, who was unfailingly faithful to her father, in Apollo there are noticeable tendencies towards rivalry with Zeus and self-affirmation against his father's will.

Aphrodite - daughter of Dione

APHRODITE - DIONE'S DAUGHTER. According to the traditional classical version of Homer (Il. V 370), Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and the goddess Dione, who lives peacefully with Hera on Olympus. According to the ancient version, she was born from the blood of Uranus castrated by Kronos, which fell into the sea. However, classical mythology, alien to crude chthonicism, transforms this gloomy picture and depicts the birth of the goddess of love and beauty full of splendor and splendor, outside of which the Olympian gods are not conceived.

Driven by the breath of the Zephyr along the waves, Aphrodite sailed to the island of Cyprus in airy foam. The daughters of Zeus, Ora, joyfully meet the goddess, dressing her in imperishable clothes, crowning her head with a golden crown, putting golden earrings in her ears, and wrapping a golden necklace around her neck. Accompanied by the charming Or - Eunomia, Diki, Eirena - a newcomer to the world, named Cyprida, marches to the Olympian gods. Those, as a sign of greeting, shake her right hand and, marveling at the violet-crowned Aphrodite, are ignited with passion to introduce her wife into own house(Hom. anthem. VI). The beauty and power of Aphrodite are subject to the gods (everyone except Athena, Artemis, Hestia), heroes and even wild animals - Gray wolves, bears, fiery-eyed lions, leopards, - at the sight of the goddess meekly wagging their tails (ibid. IV 2-72).

So the mysterious creature, born in the bloody foam of castrated Uranus, which fell into the sea (and Erinyes and giants were born from drops of the same blood in the earth), turns into a golden-crowned, smiling, tender Aphrodite with curved eyelashes, marking this, as it were, the second birth of Zeus Olympus and affirmation of beauty on it.

Hermes - son of Maya

HERMES - SON OF MAYA. The birth of Hermes is also associated with amazing events on Olympus (ibid. III). If this ancient, pre-Greek, perhaps Molo-Asiatic deity in origin was once a fetish, a pile of stones, a stone pillar (germ), which marked burial places, property boundaries, gates of the house, protective signs on the roads, then Olympic mythology knows another Hermes. This is the son of Zeus and Maya, one of the daughters of Atlas, the granddaughter of the titan Iapetus. He was born in Arcadia. His mother was a mountain nymph who lived in a shady cave - an oread, which Zeus visited at night, when the "white-elbowed" Hera slept peacefully.

The infant Hermes grew up as fast as the other divine children of Zeus. He was born early in the morning, at noon he was already playing the cithara, and in the evening he stole cows from Apollo.

He managed to make Kifara from the shell of a turtle he found. He simply gutted a turtle with a knife, then cut the reed stalks, strengthened them on the shell, covered them with an oxhide, made a crossbar, fitted seven strings from sheep intestines and immediately tried the strings with a plectrum, singing along with his playing.

The first thing Hermes did was to sing of his own birth, glorifying Zeus and Maya, as well as the house of his mother and happy life in him. In the evening, he was terribly hungry for meat, and he stole a herd of Apollo cows, leading them away by cunning (he led them backwards, while he himself walked barefoot, also backwards, throwing his sandals into the sea).

Having tasted richly fried meat from the slaughtered two cows, he, returning home, making his way through the keyhole, lay down in the cradle, clutching the lyre to himself and talking with his mother about his future clever tricks, dreaming of breaking into the wall of the Delphic temple and stealing gold there.

However, Hermes has to part with the lyre, which he gives to Apollo in exchange for a herd, especially since the angry god threatens to throw the nimble Hermes into the foggy Tartarus, from where neither father nor mother will bring him out. Reconciled by Zeus on Olympus, the half-brothers fell in love with each other. Hermes handed Apollo a flute made by him in addition, but he received a golden rod and the art of divination as a gift from Apollo (Apollod. III 10, 2), having sealed the gifts with an oath by the waters of Styx.

So from the ancient fetishistic demon and primitive deceiver, Hermes, only one day after his birth, reaches the position of an assistant on the paths of the living and the dead (thanks to the golden rod), and therefore the patron of heroes (the lyre is given to Apollo for the builders of Thebes, he hands Perseus a sword for the murder of Medusa, Odysseus - a magical herb that saves from witchcraft, etc.) and, therefore, an intermediary between gods and people, which was extremely necessary for the classical Olympus.

Pan - grandson or son of Zeus

PAN - GRANDSON OR SON OF ZEUS. Cheerful confusion on Olympus was caused by the birth of the grandson of Zeus, the son of Hermes and the tree nymph, the daughter of Dryop (Oak-shaped), Pan (Home hymn. XIX). This deity with the rudiments of chthonicism and mixanthropism (wool, goat horns, hooves) in classical mythology not only frightens those he meets with his tricks, but favors people, guarding the herds and increasing the offspring.

A terrible, bearded baby, overgrown with wool, was thrown away by her mother in horror, but Hermes, taking him in his arms and wrapping him in the skin of a mountain hare, brought him to Olympus. The gods laughed merrily, looking at such a cute monster, called him, "all" pleased, Pan (Greek pan - all) and adopted him into their family. Pan's position in the Olympic circle of the gods turned out to be so strong that, according to some versions, he is even the son of Zeus and the Arcadian nymph Callisto or Zeus and the goddess Hybris - Insolence, Apollo's mentor in divination (Apollod. I 4, 1).

Birth of Dionysus, son of Zeus and mortal woman Semele

THE BIRTH OF DIONYSUS, THE SON OF ZEUS AND THE MORTAL WOMAN SEMELE. Another deity, Dionysus - the embodiment of the fruitful forces of the earth - also of chthonic origin, powerful irrational spontaneity and orgiasm, turns out to be the son of Zeus in classical mythology, who is in different guises.

That is the ancient Dionysus Zagreus ( Great hunter), associated with Cretan mythology, the son of Zeus the Serpent and Persephone, then this is no less ancient Dionysus Iacchus, the son of Zeus and Demeter, associated with the Eleusinian mythology of the earth. But at the Olympic level, Dionysus is the son of Zeus and the mortal woman Semele, daughter of the Theban king Cadmus.

His birth is also unusual, like all children of Kronion who are not related to Hera. However, the cunning of Hera also affected here: she made Zeus the unwitting killer of Semele. Hera, taking the form of an old nanny, inspired Semele with the idea to demand from Zeus his appearance before his beloved in all his divine power. Bound by an oath, Zeus appeared before Semele, who was expecting the birth of a child, in thunder and lightning.

When thunder and lightning incinerated Semele and burned her tower, Dionysus, born prematurely (he was only six months old), was snatched out of the flame by Zeus (Apollo also snatched his son Asclepius from the flame of the fire), sewn into his thigh, carried to the necessary term and was born again by the father himself (Ges. Theog. 940-942; Eurip. Bacchus. 1-9, 88-98, 266-297), just as Athena was born.

Zeus gave his son through the mediation of Hermes to be raised by nymphs in the distant mountains of Nisa, and the baby grew up in a fragrant cave, topped with hops and laurel (Home hymn XXVI).

However, Dionysus, who miraculously escaped death, was pursued by the wrath of Hera, who brought madness on him, forcing him to wander through the East as far as India. This is a violent god, who, in turn, induces madness on enemies, opponents of his cult (on his relative the Theban king Pentheus, on the Thracian king Lycurgus), rushing in ecstasy, surrounded by bacchantes and bacchantes, a werewolf, forever changing his face, changeable as nature itself. Now ivy and vine, now bull and goat, lion and panther, he crushes fetters and walls, frees a person from the usual and boring measured life (no wonder he is Liei - the Liberator).

Having absorbed the orgiasm of nature, Dionysus enables a person, limited by institutions, traditions, laws, to express the excess of forces hidden in everyone, to join the boundless divine element, to feel the immensity of freedom from any bonds, to feel their own power. But Dionysus, as an Olympian deity, does not prevent his adherents from returning to a peaceful and active life, demonstrating the unity of destruction and creation, harmony, infinity and limit, the free familiarization of man with both. Dionysus, who in his most ancient incarnation was torn to pieces by the Titans and revived by Athena, this demigod of classical myths, eventually reaches the heights of Olympus and immortality as a reward for all his sufferings and even claims to be one of the twelve great Olympian gods.

Born outside of Olympus, Dionysus is especially characteristic of Olympic mythology, since in his image, which goes into the depths of chthonicism, there are remarkable tendencies of growing heroism in every possible way, which, thanks to incredible trials, suffering and exploits, will open rivalry with the gods, albeit not always successful, even punished by immortals, but nevertheless boldly affirmed by mortal people.

In the future, we will witness how the children of Zeus, so miraculously those who came into the world will become helpers and intercessors of heroes who were also born in an unusual way from the marriage of gods and mortals and dreaming of the miracle of immortal existence.

So, the birth of the children of Zeus is not the senseless excess fertility of the old chthonicism with its monsters breathing murder.

The heirs of Zeus were born for great purposes, they come to life, fulfilling the lofty plans of their father, establishing new reasonable relationships, fighting all irrationality and cleansing the earth from the destructive forces once generated by Gaia and her descendants.

Zeus is the lord of Olympus, the father of gods and people, the god of the sky, thunder and lightning.

Zeus' father was Kronos and his mother was Rhea. Since Kronos was predicted that he would die at the hands of his own son, in order to avoid this, he swallowed the child born to Rhea every time. Rhea decided to go to the trick and secretly from her husband gave birth to Zeus, and instead of a newborn, she gave Kronos to swallow a swaddled stone. According to different versions of the myth, Zeus was born in Crete or in Phrygia, bathed in the river Lusius in Arcadia. The Cretan version of the myth tells that Zeus was given to the education of the Curetes and Corybantes, who fed him with the milk of the goat Amalthea. In Crete, the baby also tasted bee honey. The cave where Zeus was hidden was guarded by guards. When little Zeus began to cry, the guards pounded their shields with spears so that Kronos would not hear the cry of the baby.

Olympian Zeus, statue by Phidias, one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Finally, Zeus grew up. He came to his father and brought his brothers and sisters out of the womb of Kronos, having drunk his father on the advice of Metis with a potion. As a token of gratitude, the brothers and sisters of Zeus gave him possession of thunder and lightning, after which his war for power with Kronos and the titans began. Titanomachy lasted for ten years. In this war, Zeus' assistants were hundred-armed, and the Cyclopes forged thunder, lightning and perun for him. In the end, Zeus was victorious and overthrew the Titans into Tartarus.

Three brothers - Zeus, Poseidon and Hades - divided power among themselves. Zeus began to rule in the sky, Poseidon ─ on the sea, Hades - in realm of the dead. The approval of Zeus on Olympus took place with great difficulty, for example, Gaia rebelled against him and sent Typhon. However, Zeus defeated this creature with fiery lightning. According to one version of the myth, Zeus sent Typhon to tartar, and according to another, Etna piled on him. However, the war did not end there, Gaia gave birth to new children - giants and gigantomachy broke out. Zeus even fought for power with his closest relatives, for example, Hera, Poseidon and Pallas Athena (according to another version of Apollo) rebelled against him. However, with the help of Thetis, Zeus summoned the hundred-armed to Olympus, who tamed the conspirators.

Zeus' first wife was Metis, who was swallowed by him. Soon the lord of Olympus married Themis, who was the goddess of justice. Their daughters were Ora and Moira - the goddess of fate. The daughters of Zeus from Eurynome, the Charites, brought joy, fun and grace to life. Demeter was also the wife of Zeus. Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, bore him nine muses. From Summer at Zeus - Apollo and Artemis. The third in a row, but the first most important wife of Zeus was Hera, the goddess of matrimony and the patroness of marriage laws.

Interesting to know: in the form of a snake, Zeus seduced Demeter, and then Persephone, in the form of a bull and a bird - Europe, in the form of a bull - Io, in the form of an eagle - Ganymede, in the form of a swan - Nemesis or Leda, in the form of a quail - Summer, in the form of an ant - Eurymedus , in the guise of a dove - Phthia, in the fiery guise - Aegina, in the form of a golden rain - Danae, in the guise of a satyr - Antiope, in the guise of a shepherd - Mnemosyne.

Zeus was the father of many heroes who carried out his divine will and good intentions. His sons are Hercules, Perseus, Dioscuri, Sarpedon, famous kings and sages: Minos, Radamanth and Aeacus.

Despite the fact that Zeus is the "father of men and gods", he is a formidable punishing force. It was on his orders that Prometheus was chained to a rock, who stole a spark of Hephaestus fire in order to help people doomed by Zeus to a miserable fate. Several times Zeus destroyed the entire human race, so he tried to create a perfect man. The flood is his doing. Only Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha survived. The Trojan War is also a kind of punishment of people for their wickedness.

The attributes of Zeus were the aegis (shield), scepter, double ax, sometimes an eagle.