EARLY PORTRAYAL

As Zeus Pater, he is the Indo-European sky-god. He is also the thunder-god. Indo-European cultures typically have a distinct thunder-god, but as with so many mythic patterns, the Greeks followed the lead of Asia Minor in having both functions fulfilled by a single deity. Thus Zeus has features otherwise characteristic of the Indo-European thunder-god -- his weapons are thunder and lightning, and his sacred tree is the oak. As befits a sky-god, his bird is the eagle. Another early characteristic of Zeus is the aegis.

In the earliest source, Homer, Zeus is not omnipotent or even omniscient. His authority is limited to the sky; his brothers Poseidon and Hades are equally powerful in their domains.

A RIVAL TO ZEUS

Homer knows of a plot to overthrow Zeus by Poseidon, Hera, and Athena. In the Iliad they regularly oppose Zeus. In the Linear B tablets, there is mention of "the king and two queens" and "Poseidon and the two queens;" this alliance, suggestive of the Twin Goddesses, appears to be ancient. Clearly, in early times Zeus' reign was neither supreme nor unchallenged. (On the other hand, it must be noted that the opposition in the Iliad is internally consistent with the tensions of the poem.)

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

When the Greeks arrived in the southernmost Balkan peninsula, bringing their god Zeus with them, the mythic substratum on which they built was characterized by localized, often chthonic, fertility figures. The Greeks established their sky god's dominance by diminishing local divinities. The indigenous deities at the ancient cult site of Olympia were virtually eliminated. Often, in the case of goddesses, their power was subsumed through the sexual dominance of Zeus. For example, in many sources the important Pelasgian goddess Themis (or Ge-Themis) was the mother of the Morai (the Fates) and the Horai (the Seasons) by Zeus.

With time, Zeus' co-rulers become secondary. Understandably, the power of Hades, god of the Underworld, is strictly circumscribed. Zeus' other brother, Poseidon, is powerful as god of the sea, but for a littoral people the Greeks had a curiously ambivalent attitude toward the sea. Power centralized around Zeus. By the Classical period his supremacy is unchallenged.

EARLY PORTRAYAL As Zeus Pater, he is the Indo-European sky-god. He is also the thunder-god. Indo-European cultures typically have a distinct thunder-god, but as with so many mythic patterns, the Greeks followed the lead of Asia Minor in having both functions fulfilled by a single deity. Thus Zeus has features otherwise characteristic of the Indo-European thunder-god -- his weapons are thunder and lightning, and his sacred tree is the oak. As befits a sky-god, his bird is the eagle. Another early characteristic of Zeus is the aegis. In the earliest source, Homer, Zeus is not omnipotent or even omniscient. His authority is limited to the sky; his brothers Poseidon and Hades are equally powerful in their domains. A RIVAL TO ZEUS Homer knows of a plot to overthrow Zeus by Poseidon, Hera, and Athena. In the Iliad they regularly oppose Zeus. In the Linear B tablets, there is mention of "the king and two queens" and "Poseidon and the two queens;" this alliance, suggestive of the Twin Goddesses, appears to be ancient. Clearly, in early times Zeus' reign was neither supreme nor unchallenged. (On the other hand, it must be noted that the opposition in the Iliad is internally consistent with the tensions of the poem.) OTHER DEVELOPMENTS When the Greeks arrived in the southernmost Balkan peninsula, bringing their god Zeus with them, the mythic substratum on which they built was characterized by localized, often chthonic, fertility figures. The Greeks established their sky god's dominance by diminishing local divinities. The indigenous deities at the ancient cult site of Olympia were virtually eliminated. Often, in the case of goddesses, their power was subsumed through the sexual dominance of Zeus. For example, in many sources the important Pelasgian goddess Themis (or Ge-Themis) was the mother of the Morai (the Fates) and the Horai (the Seasons) by Zeus. With time, Zeus' co-rulers become secondary. Understandably, the power of Hades, god of the Underworld, is strictly circumscribed. Zeus' other brother, Poseidon, is powerful as god of the sea, but for a littoral people the Greeks had a curiously ambivalent attitude toward the sea. Power centralized around Zeus. By the Classical period his supremacy is unchallenged.