Zeus' Symbols or Attributes: Thunderbolt.
Zeus's Strengths: Highly powerful, strong, charming, persuasive.
Zeus's Weaknesses: Gets in trouble over love affairs, can be moody.
Major Temple Sites of Zeus to Visit:Dodona in northwestern Greece; the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens; Mount Olympus.
Zeus's Birthplace:Zeus is most commonly believed to be born in a cave on Mount Ida on the island of Crete where he took ashore Europa at the beach of Matala. The Cave of Psychro or Diktaean Cave above the Lassithi Plain is also said to be his birthplace. His mother is Rhea and his father is Kronos; things got off to a rocky start as Kronos, fearful of being usurped, kept eating Rhea's children. Finally, she got wise after giving birth to Zeus and subsituted a swaddled rock for her husband's snack. Zeus conquered his father and freed his siblings, who were still living in Kronos' stomach.
Zeus's Tomb:Unlike mainland Greeks, the Cretans believed that Zeus died and was resurrected annually. His "tomb" was said to be on Mount Juchtas just outside of Heraklion, where from the west the mountain looks like a giant man lying on his back. A Minoan peak sanctuary crowns the mountain and can be visited, though these days it has to share space with cell phone towers.
Zeus's Spouse: Hera in most stories; a href="http://gogreece.about.com/od/greekmythology/a/Europa.htm">Europa, at least among the Cretans; Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis; Dione, mother of Aphrodite, at Dodona. Here is a picture of Zeus: at Dodona
Children: Lots and lots of them. Hercules is one famous child. Dionysos is another, and so is Athena
Basic Story: Zeus is King of the Gods of Mount Olympus, fights with his beautiful wife Hera, and drops down to earth in a variety of disguises to seduce maidens who catch his fancy. On a more serious side, he is a creator god who is sometiems considered to be too friendly to humankind by his peers.
Interesting Fact: Some experts believe that not all the names of Zeus really refer to Zeus, but instead refer to similar gods popular in local areas of Greece. Zeus Kretagenes is the Zeus born on Crete.
The "Clash of the Titans" movie associates Zeus with The Kraken - but the non-Greek Kraken is not part of the traditional mythology of Zeus.
More Fast Facts on Greek Gods and Goddesses:
The 12 Olympians - Gods and Goddesses - Greek Gods and Goddesses - Temple Sites - The Titans - Aphrodite - Apollo - Ares - Artemis - Atalanta - Athena - Centaurs - Cyclopes - Demeter - Dionysos - Eros - a href="http://gogreece.about.com/od/greekmythology/a/Europa.htm">Europa - Gaia - Hades - Helios - Hephaestus - Hera - Hercules - Hermes - Kronos - Medusa - Nike - Pan- Pandora - Pegasus - Persephone - Poseidon - Rhea - Selene - Zeus.
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