![]() "Dear Earth! do thou too bring forth!' said the goddess, and smiting the mountain with her staff she caused to gush from it a copious flow of water, which she named the Neda, from one of the nymphs who assisted at her labour, and who then conveyed the babe to Cnossos in Crete. She sought for water to wash the new-born babe, but in vain, for Arcadia was then a land unwatered by streams the Ladon, the Alpheios, and their kindred floods had not yet appeared. ![]() Rhea, they said, came to Mount Parrhasion, amidst whose thickets she brought forth her divine son. The Arcadians, on the other hand, asserted that Zeus first saw the light among their mountains. This legend was gradually pragmatised Zeus became a mortal king of Crete, and not merely the cave in which he was reared, but the tomb which contained his remains, was shown by the 'lying Cretans.’ According to another account the infant deity was fed on ambrosia brought by pigeons from the streams of Ocean, and on nectar which an eagle drew each day with his beak from a rock. She there brought forth her babe, whom the Melian nymphs received in their arms Adrasteia rocked him in a golden cradle, he was fed with honey and the milk of the goat Amaltheia, while the Curetes danced about him clashing their arms to prevent his cries from reaching the ears of Kronos. According to this tradition Rhea, when about to be delivered of Zeus, retired to a cavern near Lyctos or Cnossos in Crete. A very ancient tradition, however, (for it occurs in Hesiod)made the isle of Crete the scene of the birth of the monarch of Olympos. Though Homer names the parents of nearly all the gods who appear in his poems, and it follows thence that they must have been born in some definite places, he never indicates any spot of earth as the natal place of any of his gods. The Theogony, as we have seen, represents Zeus as the lastborn child of Kronos and Rhea, and according to it the supreme power was freely conferred on him by his brothers, and he thus became the acknowledged head of the Olympian gods, the objects of Grecian worship. No indecent altercations occur both gods and men submit to his power without a murmur, yet he is anxious to show the equity of his decrees and to ‘justify his ways.’ In the Odyssey the character of this god is, agreeably to the more moral tone of that poem, of a higher and more dignified order. In his palace on Olympos Zeus lives after the fashion of a Grecian prince in the midst of his family altercations and quarrels occur between him and his queen, Hera and, though in general kind and affectionate to his children, he occasionally menaces or treats them with rigour. ![]() Earthly monarchs obtain their authority from him they are but his vicegerents, and are distinguished by epithets derived from his name. Zeus is called the 'father of men and gods' his power over both is represented as supreme, and his will is fate. He and his brothers, Poseidon and Hades, divided the world by lot among them, and the portion which fell to him was the 'extensive heaven in air and clouds.' All the aerial phenomena, such as thunder and lightning, wind, clouds, snow, and rainbows, are therefore ascribed to him and he sends them either as signs and warnings, or to punish the transgressions of man, especially the perversions of law and justice, of which he is the fountain. Zeus is in the Ilias the eldest son of Kronos and Rhea. The four first we shall place here: the two last, as wives of Zeus, will find their more appropriate situation along with their children. The Kronids, or children of Kronos and Rhea, were Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Hera, and Demeter. ![]() The Kronids:-Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia “Zeus,” from The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy by Thomas Keightley, 1838. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs. Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value.
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