in theunderworld of Tartarus. Under the leadership of Cronus they deposed Uranus and madeCronus their ruler. ZEUSZeus was the youngest son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea and the brother ofPoseidon, Hades, Hestia, Semeter, and Hera. According to myth at the birth of Zeus,Cronus, fearing that he might be dethroned by one of his children, swallowed them as theywere born. Upon the birth of Zeus, Rhea his mother wrapped a stone in swaddling clothesfor Cronus to swallow and concealed Zeus in Crete. When Zeus grew up, he forcedCronus to vomit up his brothers and sisters. The other children were adults now and eagerto get vengeance on their father. The Titans fought on the side of Cronus, but Zeus andthe other gods won, and the Titans were taken in chains to the underworld of Tartarus. Zeus became ruler over the sky, and his brothers Poseidon and Hades were given powerover the sea and the underworld. The earth was to be ruled by all three brothers.Zeus, according to Homer, was the father of the gods and of mortals. He was theprotector and ruler both of the Olympian family and of the human race. He was lord ofthe sky, the rain god, and the cloud gatherer, who wielded the thunderbolt. Hisbreastplate was the aegis, his bird the eagle, his tree the oak. Zeus’s shrines were atDodona, in Epirus, the land of the oak trees and the most ancient shrine, famous for itsoracle, and at olympia, where the Olympian Games were celebrated in his honor everyfour years. The Nemean games, held at Nemean, northwest of Argos, were also dedicatedto Zeus. From the Greek poet Homer’s writings, Zeus is pictured in two very differentways. He is represented as the god of justice and mercy, the protector of the weak, thepunisher of the wicked and rewarded of the good. The goddess Hera became Zeus’s wife,and queen of the gods. They had two children, the gods Ares and Hephaestus. Zeus hadmany love affairs and goddesses and mortal women. Hi...
