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Historical person

Zeus

Zeus was the chief god of the Greek pantheon and ruler of Olympus. Myths of his defeat of the Titans, distribution of divine authority and interventions in human affairs make him central to Greek ideas about sovereignty, justice and fate.

Zeus’s authority in myth is not absolute: stories repeatedly show him negotiating fate, family rivalries and the claims of other gods while enforcing oaths, hospitality and political order. Major sanctuaries at Olympia and Dodona made his worship central to interstate Greek religious life. Roman religion identified him with Jupiter, extending many of his attributes into the religious and political symbolism of the Roman world.

In Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound and Other Plays, in Prometheus Bound, the Titan Prometheus is chained to a remote mountainside as punishment for defying Zeus and giving fire and knowledge to humanity. In Homer’s The Iliad, after Agamemnon takes Briseis from him, Achilles withdraws from the Greek army and asks his divine mother, Thetis, to persuade Zeus to favour the Trojans. Without their greatest warrior, the Greeks are driven back towards their ships, while Hector leads the Trojan assault and appears close to breaking their resistance. Zeus is treated fictionally in Homer’s The Odyssey and Hesiod’s Complete Works of Hesiod.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Zeus (1 series)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World in Order

by various authors 32 books 4.6(13,212)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World brings together foundational works of literature, history, philosophy, drama and poetry from the earliest civilisations through classical Greece and Rome. The wider Penguin Classics series began in 1946 with E. V. Rieu’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey, reflecting its original aim of making important texts…

All books in this series