Download - Zeus, King of the Gods
Zeus, King of the Gods
By: Regina Fleck
Overview
• Name- greek word dios meaning “bright” • Symbols: lightning, scepter, eagle • Chief judge and peacemaker • “father of gods and men”-Homer• any god who tried to defeat him, sent to
Tartarus
Theogony
• Usurped the kingdom of the mortals from his father
• Cronus and Titans versus Zeus • Escaped death as an infant• Divided the universe after victory – Zeus: heavens – Poseidon: sea – Hades: underworld
Women and Children
• Hera, wife and sister • Through children, gave man all he needed to
live in ordered and moral way • Seduced both gods and mortals• Bore Athena on his own • Apollo and Artemis: favorite children
Zeus in Art
• Thunderbolts, lightning • Full beard • Vast sky
Zeus in Oedipus Rex
• “Here are priests, by weight of age, as I am a priest of God.”-Priest of Zeus
• “Wisest in the ways of God.”-Priest of Zeus • Fate which binds Oedipus • “What is God singing in his profound Delphi of
gold and shadow?”- Chorus • “As for the criminal I pray to God…”-Oedipus