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Zeus
Blessing:
Zeus is the mightiest of the Olympians, the king of Gods and men, whose law governs all that happens in the universe. His concerns are sovereignty, power, justice, oaths, and the social and familial order. But he is also concerned with the home and its larder. He guards guests, strangers, suppliants, and children. He is associated with storms, clouds, rain, forests, and caves. He is the father of most of the Gods and many heroes.
Epithets:
Agoraios (of the Marketplace), Aigiokhos (Aegis-Bearer), Aliterios (Cleansing from Sin), Basileus (King), Boulaios (of Counsel), Eleutherios (Liberator), Epidotes (Bountiful), Erigdoupos (Loud-Thundering), Eunemos (of Calm Winds), Euboulos (Good Counsellor), Gamelios (of Marriage), Hellenios (of the Greeks), Heraios (of Hera), Herkeios (Guardian of the Fence), Hersos (Divine Child), Hiksios (Protector of Suppliants), Horkos (of Oaths), Hupatos (Most High), Hypsistos (Heavenly), Kappotas (the Downpourer), Kataibates (Descender, as lightning), Katakhthonios (Subterranean), Kathatsios (the Purifying), Keraunos (Thunderbolt), Kharmon (He Who Rejoices), Khthonios (Eathly), Kretogenes (Born on Crete), Kronides (Son of Kronos), Ktesios (Who Protects Provisions), Lukaios (of the Wolf), Maimaktes (Stormy), Meilikhios (Gentle), Nephelegereta (Cloud-Gatherer), Olumpios (Olympian), Ombrios (of Rain), Ourios (Sending Fair Winds), Pater (Father), Phanter (He Who Signals), Philios (Friendly), Phratrios (of the Phratry), Polieus (of the City), Soter (Saviour), Sthenios (Mighty), Tallaios (Sun), Teleios (Accomplisher), Tropaios (of the Battle Monument), Xenios (Protector of Strangers)
Symbols:
lightning bolt, eagle, scepter, aegis
Animal(s):
eagle, cuckoo, swan, bull, goat
Sacrifices:
honey, aspen, hyssop, oak, poplar, fig, damiana, banyan, storax, jasmine, ambergris, ginseng, galbanum, saffron, bulls
Primary Cult Center(s):
Athens, Olympia, Dodona, Crete
Festivals:
Diasia: 23 Anthesterion
Diisoteria: 30 Skiraphorion (June-July)
Gamelia: 27 Gamelion (January-February)
Nemean Games: 2nd and 4th years of the Olympiad
Olympic Games: Hekatombion, 1st year of the Olympiad
Olumpieia: 19 Mounikhion (April-May)
Pandia: 17 Elaphebolion (March-April)
Ways to honor:
Live justly. Honor your commitments. Examine your ideas about fatherhood. Thank Zeus for rain. Listen to thunderstorms.
For more information:
(Zeus appears so constantly in myths and Greek literature that attempting a comprehensive listing of sources would be impossible. I have provided a number of the more important ones only. The Iliad, Theogony, Library of Apollodorus, and Ovid's Metamorphoses are good places to start.)Aeschylus Fragment 105
Apollodorus' Library 1.1.5, 1.2.1-2, 1.3.1-2, 1.3.6, 1.4.2, 1.6.2, 1.8.3, 1.9.8, 2.1.4, 2.4.2, 2.4.8, 3.1.2, 3.9.1, 3.10.2-4, 3.4.4, 3.5.1, 3.8.2, 3.10.6, 3.12.1
Cleanthe's Hymn to Zeus
Herodotus' The Histories 1.131.1, 2.55-58
Hesiod's Theogony 29, 453, 507, 545, 565, 585, 617, 654, 687, 729, 820, 853, 885, 901, 929, 938
Hesiod's Works and Days 42, 59, 83
Homer's Iliad 1.493, 1.531, 1.568, 1.593, 1.568, 2.1, 2.353, 3.242, 5.239, 5.363, 5.720, 5.764, 8.18-27, 8.200, 14.155, 14.193, 14.242, 14.270, 14.312, 14.352, 15.155, 15.184, 15.34, 15.5, 15.78, 15.184, 16.233-234, 16.430, 16.439
Homer's Odyssey 6.207-208, 14.327-328
Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 5.33, 177
Homeric Hymn to Apollo 3b.305,
Homeric Hymn to Artemis 27
Homeric Hymn to Athene 28
Homeric Hymn to Dionysos 1
Homeric Hymn to the Dioscuri 17, 33
Homeric Hymn to Hera 12
Homeric Hymn to Hermes 4
Homeric Hymn to the Most High, the Son of Kronos 23.1
Papyri Graeci Magicae 5.459-489
Pausanias' Description of Greece 2.24.4, 8.38.4, 9.3.1
Pindar's Olympian Odes 7.32
Plato's Gorgias 523b-e
