Siapakah Zeus Monaco Wikipedia
Charity work and patronages
Albert holds affiliations and patronages within numerous philanthropic organizations. He is the vice-chairman of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, an American charity founded in 1982, after his mother's death, which supports emerging artists in theatre, dance, and film, as Princess Grace did in her lifetime.[citation needed] Albert holds patronages with AS Monaco,[64] the World Olympians Association,[65] the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the Peace and Sport Organization, and Junior Chamber International. He holds official and honorary presidencies within the Monaco Red Cross, Comité Olympique Monégasque, Association Mondiale des Amis de l'Enfance, The Automobile Club de Monaco, The Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo, and Jumping International de Monte Carlo. Albert is affiliated with International Paralympic Committee, Junior Chamber International, and Art of the Olympians. Albert is also a global adviser to Orphans International.
Non-panhellenic cults
In addition to the Panhellenic titles and conceptions listed above, local cults maintained their own idiosyncratic ideas about the king of gods and men. With the epithet Zeus Aetnaeus he was worshiped on Mount Aetna, where there was a statue of him, and a local festival called the Aetnaea in his honor.[354] Other examples are listed below. As Zeus Aeneius or Zeus Aenesius (Αινησιος), he was worshiped in the island of Cephalonia, where he had a temple on Mount Aenos.[355]
Although most oracle sites were usually dedicated to Apollo, the heroes, or various goddesses like Themis, a few oracular sites were dedicated to Zeus. In addition, some foreign oracles, such as Baʿal's at Heliopolis, were associated with Zeus in Greek or Jupiter in Latin.
The cult of Zeus at Dodona in Epirus, where there is evidence of religious activity from the second millennium BC onward, centered on a sacred oak. When the Odyssey was composed (circa 750 BC), divination was done there by barefoot priests called Selloi, who lay on the ground and observed the rustling of the leaves and branches.[356] By the time Herodotus wrote about Dodona, female priestesses called peleiades ("doves") had replaced the male priests.
Zeus's consort at Dodona was not Hera, but the goddess Dione — whose name is a feminine form of "Zeus". Her status as a titaness suggests to some that she may have been a more powerful pre-Hellenic deity, and perhaps the original occupant of the oracle.
The oracle of Ammon at the Siwa Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt did not lie within the bounds of the Greek world before Alexander's day, but it already loomed large in the Greek mind during the archaic era: Herodotus mentions consultations with Zeus Ammon in his account of the Persian War. Zeus Ammon was especially favored at Sparta, where a temple to him existed by the time of the Peloponnesian War.[357]
After Alexander made a trek into the desert to consult the oracle at Siwa, the figure arose in the Hellenistic imagination of a Libyan Sibyl.
Kampf gegen die Giganten
Die Herrschaft der olympischen Götter unter Zeus wurde durch einen Angriff der Giganten bedroht. In der Gigantomachie aber besiegten die Götter die Giganten.
Der Schild des Zeus heißt Aigis oder Ägis (griech. Ziegenfell). Dieser wurde von Hephaistos geschmiedet und wird meist als schuppen- und schlangenbewehrter Halskragen dargestellt. Die Aigis ist Sinnbild der schirmenden Obhut (Ägide) der Götter.
Verheiratet war Zeus mit seiner Schwester Hera, mit der er vier Kinder hatte, Ares, Hebe, Eileithya und Hephaistos. Aber er hatte auch viele Liebschaften, unter anderem mit der Göttin Leto, einer Tochter des Titanen Koios, die ihm Apollon, den Gott des Lichts und der Musik, und Artemis, heilbringende Göttin der Natur und der Jagd, gebar, oder Leda, von der er die Dioskuren Kastor (Castor) und Polydeukes (Pollux) bekam. Daneben war er auch Vater vieler Nymphen, Halbgöttinnen und Sterblicher. Diese Liebschaften waren nie von Dauer, vor allem wegen Heras maßloser Eifersucht. Um die Kinder, die aus diesen Seitensprüngen entstanden waren (unter anderem Herakles und die schöne Helena), kümmerte er sich aber. Die einzige Liebschaft von Dauer war wahrscheinlich die zum Königssohn Ganymed. Dieser war so schön, dass Zeus ihn in Gestalt eines Adlers auf den Olymp entführte. Dort diente er ihm als Mundschenk. Auch die Göttin Aphrodite soll nach Homer eine Tochter von Zeus und der Dione gewesen sein. Geläufiger ist jedoch die Version des Hesiod, nach der sie aus dem Schaum (daher ihr Name, von griech.: aphros=Schaum) entstand, der sich um die abgeschnittenen Genitalien des Uranos im Meer vor Kythera gebildet hatte. Seine Lieblingstochter Athene, die Göttin der Weisheit, entsprang seinem Kopf, nachdem er von Hephaistos geöffnet worden war. Auch andere Götter stammen von ihm ab, wie Dionysos, der Gott des Weines (siehe Schenkelgeburt), die Göttin Iris, die als Botschafterin die Kommunikation zwischen Menschen und Göttern sicherstellte, oder Hermes, der Götterbote und Schutzgott der Kaufleute und der Diebe.
Um Frauen zu verführen, nahm Zeus oft eine andere Gestalt an:
Das älteste und erste in der Antike berühmte Zeus-Orakel befand sich im Eichenhain von Dodona (die Eiche ist ebenfalls der heilige Baum des Zeus). Auch in Olympia gab es ein Zeus-Orakel; hier wurde der Zeus Olympios verehrt. Auf Kreta nahmen Kulte Bezug auf seine Geburt und Kindheit mit Höhlen- und Geburtskulten. Siehe auch Höhle von Psychro, Idäische Grotte.
Verehrt wurde Zeus als Allgott, als denkendes Feuer, das alles durchdringt, als Vater der Götter und Menschen, als Gott des Wetters, als Schicksalsgott usw. Die Epiphanie des Zeus ist stets der Blitz, etwa bei Homer.
Da Zeus als Götterherrscher galt, war sein Kult oft mit Monarchen verbunden. So ist bezeichnend, dass der große Zeustempel in Athen, das Olympieion, während der Tyrannis des Peisistratos begonnen, durch König Antiochos IV. fortgeführt und erst unter Kaiser Hadrian vollendet wurde, während man die Bauarbeiten zur Zeit der attischen Demokratie ruhen ließ.
Die Zeusverehrung erlosch erst am Ende der Spätantike um das Jahr 600 n. Chr.
Je nach Art der Verehrung erhielt Zeus verschiedene Beinamen, etwa:
Titles, styles, honours, and arms
Zeus in den bildenden Künsten
Die wohl bekannteste Darstellung des Zeus ist die heute nicht mehr erhaltene Kolossalstatue des Phidias in Olympia. Weiterhin gibt es zahlreiche Darstellungen von Zeus als Krieger mit dem Attribut des Blitzbündels oder des Zepters, thronend als Göttervater.
Oft wurden auch die zahlreichen Mädchen- und Frauenraube des Zeus dargestellt, wie zum Beispiel der Raub der Europa und ähnliche, aber auch der des Knaben Ganymed. Seine Attribute sind Zepter, Adler, Blitzbündel, Helm, bisweilen auch der Eichenkranz, seine Begleiterin manchmal die Siegesgöttin Nike[26].
Prince of Monaco since 2005
Albert II (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi;[2] born 14 March 1958) is Prince of Monaco, reigning since 2005.
Born at the Prince's Palace of Monaco, Albert is the second child and only son of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace. He attended the Lycée Albert Premier before studying political science at Amherst College. In his youth, he competed in bobsleigh during Winter Olympic finals before retiring in 2002. Albert was appointed regent in March 2005 after his father fell ill, and became sovereign prince upon the latter's death a week later. Since his ascension, he has been outspoken in the field of environmentalism and an advocate of ocean conservation,[3] and adoption of renewable energy sources to tackle global climate change,[4][5] and founded Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation in 2006, to directly raise funds and initiate action for such causes and greater ecological preservation.
With assets valued in 2010 at US$1 billion, Albert owns shares in the Société des Bains de Mer, which operates Monaco's casino and other entertainment properties in the principality.[6] In July 2011, Prince Albert married South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock.[7] He has four children: Jazmin, Alexandre, Gabriella, and Jacques.
Prince Albert was born in the Prince's Palace of Monaco on 14 March 1958, as the second child of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace. At the time of his birth, he was heir apparent to the throne. Albert was a dual citizen of both the Principality of Monaco and the United States of America by birth, before renouncing his American citizenship in his early adulthood.[8] He was baptized on 20 April 1958, by Monsignor Jean Delay, Archbishop of Marseille, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Monaco.[9] His godparents were Prince Louis de Polignac and Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain.
Albert graduated with distinction from the Lycée Albert Premier, in 1976. He was a camper, and later a counselor for six summers at Camp Tecumseh,[citation needed] on Lake Winnipesaukee, Moultonborough, New Hampshire, in the 1970s. He spent a year training in princely duties before enrolling at Amherst College, in Massachusetts, in 1977 as Albert Grimaldi. He joined Chi Psi Fraternity and lived in the Alpha Chi Lodge. Albert spent mid-1979 touring Europe and the Middle East with the Amherst College Glee Club, and also undertook an exchange program with the University of Bristol, at the Alfred Marshall School of Economics and Management, in 1979. He graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.[10] He speaks French, German, Italian, and English.[11] From September 1981 to April 1982, Albert trained on board the French Navy's helicopter cruiser Jeanne d'Arc , attaining the rank of Ship-of-the-Line Ensign (2nd class), and is currently a reserve Lieutenant Commander.[12] From 1983 to 1985, he took training courses with companies J.P. Morgan & Co, Louis Vuitton, Rogers & Wells, and Wells, Rich and Greene in the United States and Europe, studying financial management, communication, and marketing. Since May 1993, the Prince has led the Monegasque delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations. In 2004, the Prince presided over the delegation of Monaco in Strasbourg, France, for the official accession of the Principality onto the Council of Europe.[13]
Prince Albert's mother, Princess Grace, died at age 52 as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in 1982. In 2017, the Prince stated during an interview that his mother's death was a traumatic event for him and his family, revealing that his father was "never the same man" after the loss.[14]
Albert was an enthusiastic sportsman, participating in cross country, javelin throwing, handball, judo, swimming, tennis, rowing, sailing, skiing, squash and fencing. He became a judo black belt in 1985.[15]
Albert competed in the bobsleigh at five consecutive Winter Olympics for Monaco, taking part in both the two-man and four-man events. In the two-man bobsleigh Albert finished 25th at the 1988 games in Calgary, 43rd at the 1992 games in Albertville, and 31st at the 1994 games. In the four-man bobsleigh Albert finished 27th in 1992, 26th at the 1994 games in Lillehammer, and 28th at both the 1998 games in Nagano and the 2002 games in Salt Lake City.[16] Albert was Monaco's flag bearer at the 1988, 1994, and 1998 Winter Olympics.[16] He also took part in the 1985 Paris–Dakar Rally, but did not complete it.[17] Albert has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1985, and his maternal grandfather, John B. Kelly Sr., and maternal uncle, John B. Kelly Jr., were both Olympic medalists in rowing.[16] In 2017 Albert gained OLY post-nominal status under his competition name of Albert Grimaldi.[18]
On 31 March 2005, following consultation with the Crown Council of Monaco, the Palais Princier announced that Albert would take over the duties of his father as regent since Rainier was no longer able to exercise his princely functions.[19] On 6 April 2005, Rainier died and Albert succeeded him as Albert II.
The first part of Prince Albert II's enthronement as ruler of the Principality was on 12 July 2005, after the end of the three-month mourning period for his father.[20] A morning Mass at Saint Nicholas Cathedral presided over by the Archbishop of Monaco, the Most Reverend Bernard Barsi, formally marked the beginning of his reign.[21] Afterward, Albert returned to the Palace to host a garden party for 7,000 Monégasques born in the principality. In the courtyard, the Prince was presented with two keys of the city as a symbol of his investiture, and subsequently gave a speech.[22] The evening ended with a fireworks display on the waterfront.[21]
The second part of his investiture took place on 19 November 2005. Albert was enthroned at Saint Nicholas Cathedral.[23] The Princely family was in attendance, including his elder sister, Princess Caroline with her husband Ernst, Prince of Hanover and three of her four children, Andrea, Pierre and Charlotte; as well as his younger sister Princess Stéphanie, his paternal aunt Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy, his godson, Jean-Léonard Taubert de Massy, and his cousin Elisabeth-Anne de Massy. Royalty from 16 delegations were present for the festivities throughout the country. The evening ended with a dedicated performance at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.[23]
As Rainier III's health declined, Albert's lack of legitimate children became a matter of public and political concern owing to the legal and international consequences. Had Prince Albert succeeded his father and died without lawful heirs, it would have triggered Article 3 of the 1918 Franco-Monegasque Treaty, according to which the Principality of Monaco would become a protectorate of the French Republic.[24] Prior to 2002, Monaco's constitution stipulated that only the last reigning prince's "direct and legitimate" descendants could inherit the crown.[25]
On 2 April 2002, Monaco promulgated Princely Law 1.249, which provides that if a reigning prince dies without surviving legitimate issue, the throne passes to his legitimate siblings and their legitimate descendants of both sexes, according to the principle of male-preference primogeniture.[26] Following Albert's accession, this law took full effect in 2005 when ratified by France, pursuant to the Franco-Monégasque Treaty regulating relations between the Principality and its neighbour. Prince Albert's sisters and their legitimate children thereby retained the right to inherit the Monegasque throne, which they would have otherwise lost upon the death of Prince Rainier.[citation needed]
Under the current constitution, neither Jazmin nor Alexandre are in the line of succession to the Monegasque throne as they are not Prince Albert II's legitimate children, and he emphasised their ineligibility to inherit the throne in statements confirming his paternity.[27][28] Monegasque law stipulates that any non-adulterine illegitimate child is legitimised by the eventual marriage of his/her parents, thereupon obtaining the rights to which that child would have been entitled if born in lawful marriage. Thus Alexandre would have become Monaco's heir apparent under current law if Albert were to marry Alexandre's mother. In a 2005 exchange with American reporter Larry King, Albert stated that this would not happen.[29]
Prior to the birth of Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques, Prince Albert's elder sister, Caroline, Princess of Hanover, was heir presumptive and, according to the Grimaldi house law, bore the traditional title of Hereditary Princess of Monaco.[30] Following their births, she is now third in line.[25]
In the early years of his reign, Prince Albert oversaw multiple judicial and legal reforms, including the regulation of custody, protections of the privacy of the individual in the face of technological growth, freedom of the press, legislative gender equality, and the protection of children's rights and disabled students.[12] In July 2005, in echo of Albert I, his great-great-grandfather, he travelled to Spitsbergen, Norway. During this trip, he visited the glaciers Lilliehöökbreen and Monacobreen. Prince Albert also engaged in a Russian Arctic expedition, reaching the North Pole on Easter, 16 April 2006.[27] He is the first incumbent head of state to have reached the North Pole.[citation needed]
Since his ascension, the Prince has overseen the construction of various community facilities, including social housing, railway infrastructure, educational institutes for the hospitality industry, and secondary education. He currently heads an initiative to promote ethical economic activity, criminal liability, the adopting of systems to combat money laundering and organized crime, and the introduction of tax fraud into Monegasque criminal law.[12] In 2006, Prince Albert created the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, which continues Monaco's commitment to supporting sustainable and ethical projects around the world. The foundation's focus has three main objectives: climate change and renewable energy development, combating the loss of biodiversity, and improving universal access to clean water.[31] In July 2011, Albert married South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock.[32]
On 27 August 2015, Prince Albert apologized for Monaco's role in facilitating the deportation of a total of 90 Jews and resistance fighters to the Nazis in 1942, of whom only nine survived. "We committed the irreparable in handing over to the neighboring authorities women, men, and a child who had taken refuge with us to escape the persecutions they had suffered in France," Albert said at a ceremony in which a monument to the victims was unveiled at the Monaco Cemetery. "In distress, they came specifically to take shelter with us, thinking they would find neutrality."[33]
Between 2006 and 2022, Albert's chief of cabinet was Georges Lisimachio.[34] In June 2023, Albert dismissed Claude Palmero, the manager of the Prince of Monaco's assets who had been serving for over two decades.[35] Albert said of the decision, "I exercised my right to choose the asset manager of my choice. Events have shown how much this decision was the right one." Palmero proceeded to sue Albert for €1 million and leaked information of the palace's spending to the French media.[36]
In 2016, Albert purchased Princess Grace's childhood home in East Falls, Philadelphia, which was originally built by her father Jack Kelly Sr.. Upon acquiring it, he stated the house might be used as a museum space or as offices for the Princess Grace Foundation.[37] Prince Albert does not have direct ownership of the Prince's Palace, but does possess personal homes in both La Turbie[38] and Marchais.[39]
Albert, a well-known automotive enthusiast, owns vehicles like the BMW Hydrogen 7,[40] the Lexus LS 600h,[41] the Lexus RX 400h,[41] and the Toyota Prius PHV.[41][42] He also owns a Dassault Aviation Falcon 7X, a 14-passenger leisure jet, currently stationed at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport.[43][44]
Albert was close friends with the artist Nall and owns some of his works.[45]
On 19 March 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, it was announced that Albert II had tested positive for COVID-19,[46] making him the first monarch and head of state to have contracted COVID-19.[47] It was reported that he had begun to self-quarantine from within his apartment, performing his work and duties from there.[46] On 31 March, it was announced that he had made a full recovery.[48] In April 2022, he tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time and observed a brief period of self-isolation.[49]
In 2021, Raphaël Domjan became the first pilot of an electric plane flight with a head of state. On 14 September 2021, they took off with a Pipistrel Velis128 operated by Elektropostal from Nice airport in France with Albert II and they flew over Monaco. The plane flew for 30 minutes at a maximum altitude of 900 feet.[50]
Prince Albert met South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock in 2000 at the Mare Nostrum swimming meet in Monaco.[32] They made their public debut as a couple at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics.[60] She accompanied him to the weddings of the Crown Princess of Sweden in 2010 and of the Duke of Cambridge in 2011.
Their engagement was announced by the palace on 10 June 2010. The wedding was originally scheduled for 8 and 9 July 2011, but was moved forward to prevent a conflict with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Durban on 5–9 July, which they both attended. The couple had invited members of the IOC, including president Jacques Rogge, to their wedding.[61]
The couple were married in a civil ceremony on 1 July 2011 in the Throne Room of the Prince's Palace.[60] The religious ceremony took place in the courtyard of the palace on 2 July, and was presided over by Archbishop Bernard Barsi.[60] The couple honeymooned in South Africa, where they stayed in separate hotels,[62] and Mozambique.
Prince Albert and Princess Charlene had twins, Princess Gabriella, Countess of Carladès, and Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, on 10 December 2014. Jacques is the heir apparent to the throne.[63]
Kampf gegen die Titanen
Als Herrscher der Götterversammlung wird Zeus bereits bei Homer dargestellt, jedoch ohne einen erläuternden Mythos.[9] Nach Hesiod müssen Zeus und seine Geschwister ihren Vater Kronos sowie die riesigen Titanen bekämpfen, um die Herrschaft über die Welt zu erringen. Sie kämpfen vom Olymp aus gegen die Titanen, die sich auf dem Othrys verschanzt haben. Als der Kampf nach zehn Jahren noch nicht entschieden ist, rät Gaia ihm, die im Tartaros gefangen gehaltenen Geschwister der Titanen, die Kyklopen und Hekatoncheiren, zu befreien. Von den Kyklopen erhält er Blitz, Zündkeil und Donner als Waffen, die Hekatoncheiren stehen ihm kämpfend zur Seite. Die Titanen werden von den Göttern besiegt und in den Tartaros verbannt, die Hekatoncheiren werden zu deren Wächtern.[10] Den Göttern wird von Gaia geraten, Zeus zu ihrem Herrscher zu machen. Dieser teilt die Welt in drei Reiche ein: Zeus selbst beherrscht den Himmel, Poseidon das Meer und Hades die Unterwelt.[11]
In der Bibliotheke muss Zeus zuerst die Kampe erschlagen, um die Kyklopen und Hekatoncheiren zu befreien. Zudem erhalten auch Hades und Poseidon Waffen von den Kyklopen, die sich auch aktiv am Kampf beteiligen.[8]
Über das Schicksal von Kronos gibt es viele verschiedene Versionen. Homer und andere Texte berichten davon, dass er mit den anderen Titanen im Tartaros gefangen wird. Orpheus beschreibt in seinen Geschichten, dass Kronos bis zur Unendlichkeit in der Höhle von Nyx gefangen gehalten wird. Pindar berichtet von der Entlassung Kronos’ aus dem Tartaros und dass Zeus ihn zum Herrscher des Elysion machte.
Environmental Interests
In 2001, at the 36th Congress of the Mediterranean Science Commission held in the Principality, the CIESM Member States unanimously elected Monaco in the person of Prince Albert to the presidence of the commission.[12]
The year 2007 was declared as (International) Year of the Dolphin by the United Nations and United Nations Environment Programme.[66] Prince Albert served as the International Patron of the "Year of the Dolphin", saying "The Year of the Dolphin gives me the opportunity to renew my firm commitment towards protecting marine biodiversity. With this strong initiative we can make a difference to save these fascinating marine mammals from the brink of extinction."[67]
The Zoological Garden of Monaco (Jardin Animalier) was founded by Prince Rainier in 1954. Rainier was petitioned unsuccessfully for many years by Virginia McKenna, founder of the Born Free Foundation, to release a pair of leopards at the zoo.[68] Prince Albert met McKenna after his accession to the throne, and agreed to release the leopards as well the zoo's hippo and camel.[citation needed] He intends to convert the Jardin into a zoo for children.[68]
In January 2009, Prince Albert left for a month-long expedition to Antarctica, where he visited 26 scientific outposts and met with climate-change experts in an attempt to learn more about the impact of global warming on the continent.[69] During the trip, he stopped at the South Pole, making him the only incumbent head of state to have visited both poles.[70][71]
In June 2009, Prince Albert co-authored an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal with Charles Clover, the author of The End of the Line, a book about overfishing and ocean conservation issues that had recently been made into a documentary by Rupert Murray. In the piece, Prince Albert and Clover note that bluefin tuna have been severely overfished in the Mediterranean, and decry the common European Union practice of awarding inflated quotas to bluefin fleets.[72] Albert also announced that Monaco would seek to award endangered species status to the Mediterranean bluefin, Thunnus thynnus, (also called the Northern bluefin) under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This was the first time a nation had called for the inclusion of Mediterranean bluefin under CITES since Sweden[72] at the 1992 CITES Conference, which was vehemently opposed by Japan who eventually threatened retaliation through trade barriers.[73] Sweden withdrew its proposal.
On 16 July 2009, France declared that it too would seek to have Mediterranean bluefin listed as an endangered species.[74] Only hours later, the United Kingdom followed suit.[75]
On 19 September 2017, Prince Albert expressed his great interest for the preliminary draft of the Global Pact for the Environment presented by French President Emmanuel Macron in the context of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.[76] He added that he will be very attentive to the future of this Pact, which he qualified as a "universal, legally binding agreement, which recognises the right of future generations to sustainable development."[76]
After having met Torres Strait Islander artist and activist Alick Tipoti in 2016, Prince Albert went to stay with his family on Badu Island, and collaborated with him on the film Alick and Albert (2021), a feature-length documentary film about the future of the oceans, and how climate change affects people in the Torres Strait Islands as well as Monaco.[77][78][79] The film had its world premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival in October 2021.[80]
On 12 February 2020, Albert and Victor Vescovo reached the bottom of Calypso Deep, a depth of 16,762 ft, in a submarine. They were only the second team to do so after a French group in 1965.[81]
Zeus in der griechisch-römischen Philosophie
Zeus spielt auch eine wichtige Rolle in der Philosophie der Antike. Die Orphiker sahen Zeus als den Weltgrund an,[23] der Platoniker Xenokrates identifizierte Zeus mit dem kosmischen Nous,[24] in der Philosophie der Stoa wurde Zeus als die Urkraft oder kosmische Vernunft aufgefasst.[25]
Prometheus and conflicts with humans
When the gods met at Mecone to discuss which portions they will receive after a sacrifice, the titan Prometheus decided to trick Zeus so that humans receive the better portions. He sacrificed a large ox, and divided it into two piles. In one pile he put all the meat and most of the fat, covering it with the ox's grotesque stomach, while in the other pile, he dressed up the bones with fat. Prometheus then invited Zeus to choose; Zeus chose the pile of bones. This set a precedent for sacrifices, where humans will keep the fat for themselves and burn the bones for the gods.
Zeus, enraged at Prometheus's deception, prohibited the use of fire by humans. Prometheus, however, stole fire from Olympus in a fennel stalk and gave it to humans. This further enraged Zeus, who punished Prometheus by binding him to a cliff, where an eagle constantly ate Prometheus's liver, which regenerated every night. Prometheus was eventually freed from his misery by Heracles.[255]
Now Zeus, angry at humans, decides to give humanity a punishing gift to compensate for the boon they had been given. He commands Hephaestus to mold from earth the first woman, a "beautiful evil" whose descendants would torment the human race. After Hephaestus does so, several other gods contribute to her creation. Hermes names the woman 'Pandora'.
Pandora was given in marriage to Prometheus's brother Epimetheus. Zeus gave her a jar which contained many evils. Pandora opened the jar and released all the evils, which made mankind miserable. Only hope remained inside the jar.[256]
When Zeus was atop Mount Olympus he was appalled by human sacrifice and other signs of human decadence. He decided to wipe out mankind and flooded the world with the help of his brother Poseidon. After the flood, only Deucalion and Pyrrha remained.[257] This flood narrative is a common motif in mythology.[258]
The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem attributed to Homer about the Trojan War and the battle over the City of Troy, in which Zeus plays a major part.
Scenes in which Zeus appears include:[259][260]
When Hades requested to marry Zeus's daughter, Persephone, Zeus approved and advised Hades to abduct Persephone, as her mother Demeter would not allow her to marry Hades.[261]
In the Orphic "Rhapsodic Theogony" (first century BC/AD),[262] Zeus wanted to marry his mother Rhea. After Rhea refused to marry him, Zeus turned into a snake and raped her. Rhea became pregnant and gave birth to Persephone. Zeus in the form of a snake would mate with his daughter Persephone, which resulted in the birth of Dionysus.[263]
Zeus granted Callirrhoe's prayer that her sons by Alcmaeon, Acarnan and Amphoterus, grow quickly so that they might be able to avenge the death of their father by the hands of Phegeus and his two sons.[264]
Both Zeus and Poseidon wooed Thetis, daughter of Nereus. But when Themis (or Prometheus) prophesied that the son born of Thetis would be mightier than his father, Thetis was married off to the mortal Peleus.[265][266]
Zeus was afraid that his grandson Asclepius would teach resurrection to humans, so he killed Asclepius with his thunderbolt. This angered Asclepius's father, Apollo, who in turn killed the Cyclopes who had fashioned the thunderbolts of Zeus. Angered at this, Zeus would have imprisoned Apollo in Tartarus. However, at the request of Apollo's mother, Leto, Zeus instead ordered Apollo to serve as a slave to King Admetus of Pherae for a year.[267] According to Diodorus Siculus, Zeus killed Asclepius because of complains from Hades, who was worried that the number of people in the underworld was diminishing because of Asclepius's resurrections.[268]
The winged horse Pegasus carried the thunderbolts of Zeus.[269]
Zeus took pity on Ixion, a man who was guilty of murdering his father-in-law, by purifying him and bringing him to Olympus. However, Ixion started to lust after Hera. Hera complained about this to her husband, and Zeus decided to test Ixion. Zeus fashioned a cloud that resembles Hera (Nephele) and laid the cloud-Hera in Ixion's bed. Ixion coupled with Nephele, resulting in the birth of Centaurus. Zeus punished Ixion for lusting after Hera by tying him to a wheel that spins forever.[270]
Once, Helios the sun god gave his chariot to his inexperienced son Phaethon to drive. Phaethon could not control his father's steeds so he ended up taking the chariot too high, freezing the earth, or too low, burning everything to the ground. The earth itself prayed to Zeus, and in order to prevent further disaster, Zeus hurled a thunderbolt at Phaethon, killing him and saving the world from further harm.[271] In a satirical work, Dialogues of the Gods by Lucian, Zeus berates Helios for allowing such thing to happen; he returns the damaged chariot to him and warns him that if he dares do that again, he will strike him with one of this thunderbolts.[272]
Zeus played a dominant role, presiding over the Greek Olympian pantheon. He fathered many of the heroes and was featured in many of their local cults. Though the Homeric "cloud collector" was the god of the sky and thunder like his Near-Eastern counterparts, he was also the supreme cultural artifact; in some senses, he was the embodiment of Greek religious beliefs and the archetypal Greek deity.
Popular conceptions of Zeus differed widely from place to place. Local varieties of Zeus often have little in common with each other except the name. They exercised different areas of authority and were worshiped in different ways; for example, some local cults conceived of Zeus as a chthonic earth-god rather than a god of the sky. These local divinities were gradually consolidated, via conquest and religious syncretism, with the Homeric conception of Zeus. Local or idiosyncratic versions of Zeus were given epithets — surnames or titles which distinguish different conceptions of the god.[29]
These epithets or titles applied to Zeus emphasized different aspects of his wide-ranging authority:
Additional names and epithets for Zeus are also:
The major center where all Greeks converged to pay honor to their chief god was Olympia. Their quadrennial festival featured the famous Games. There was also an altar to Zeus made not of stone, but of ash, from the accumulated remains of many centuries' worth of animals sacrificed there.
Outside of the major inter-polis sanctuaries, there were no modes of worshipping Zeus precisely shared across the Greek world. Most of the titles listed below, for instance, could be found at any number of Greek temples from Asia Minor to Sicily. Certain modes of ritual were held in common as well: sacrificing a white animal over a raised altar, for instance.
With one exception, Greeks were unanimous in recognizing the birthplace of Zeus as Crete. Minoan culture contributed many essentials of ancient Greek religion: "by a hundred channels the old civilization emptied itself into the new", Will Durant observed,[334] and Cretan Zeus retained his youthful Minoan features. The local child of the Great Mother, "a small and inferior deity who took the roles of son and consort",[335] whose Minoan name the Greeks Hellenized as Velchanos, was in time assumed as an epithet by Zeus, as transpired at many other sites, and he came to be venerated in Crete as Zeus Velchanos ("boy-Zeus"), often simply the Kouros.
In Crete, Zeus was worshipped at a number of caves at Knossos, Ida and Palaikastro. In the Hellenistic period a small sanctuary dedicated to Zeus Velchanos was founded at the Hagia Triada site of an earlier Minoan town. Broadly contemporary coins from Phaistos show the form under which he was worshiped: a youth sits among the branches of a tree, with a cockerel on his knees.[336] On other Cretan coins Velchanos is represented as an eagle and in association with a goddess celebrating a mystic marriage.[337] Inscriptions at Gortyn and Lyttos record a Velchania festival, showing that Velchanios was still widely venerated in Hellenistic Crete.[338]
The stories of Minos and Epimenides suggest that these caves were once used for incubatory divination by kings and priests. The dramatic setting of Plato's Laws is along the pilgrimage-route to one such site, emphasizing archaic Cretan knowledge. On Crete, Zeus was represented in art as a long-haired youth rather than a mature adult and hymned as ho megas kouros, "the great youth". Ivory statuettes of the "Divine Boy" were unearthed near the Labyrinth at Knossos by Sir Arthur Evans.[339] With the Kouretes, a band of ecstatic armed dancers, he presided over the rigorous military-athletic training and secret rites of the Cretan paideia.
The myth of the death of Cretan Zeus, localised in numerous mountain sites though only mentioned in a comparatively late source, Callimachus,[340] together with the assertion of Antoninus Liberalis that a fire shone forth annually from the birth-cave the infant shared with a mythic swarm of bees, suggests that Velchanos had been an annual vegetative spirit.[341] The Hellenistic writer Euhemerus apparently proposed a theory that Zeus had actually been a great king of Crete and that posthumously, his glory had slowly turned him into a deity. The works of Euhemerus himself have not survived, but Christian patristic writers took up the suggestion.
The epithet Zeus Lykaios (Λύκαιος; "wolf-Zeus") is assumed by Zeus only in connection with the archaic festival of the Lykaia on the slopes of Mount Lykaion ("Wolf Mountain"), the tallest peak in rustic Arcadia; Zeus had only a formal connection[342] with the rituals and myths of this primitive rite of passage with an ancient threat of cannibalism and the possibility of a werewolf transformation for the ephebes who were the participants.[343] Near the ancient ash-heap where the sacrifices took place[344] was a forbidden precinct in which, allegedly, no shadows were ever cast.[345]
According to Plato,[346] a particular clan would gather on the mountain to make a sacrifice every nine years to Zeus Lykaios, and a single morsel of human entrails would be intermingled with the animal's. Whoever ate the human flesh was said to turn into a wolf, and could only regain human form if he did not eat again of human flesh until the next nine-year cycle had ended. There were games associated with the Lykaia, removed in the fourth century to the first urbanization of Arcadia, Megalopolis; there the major temple was dedicated to Zeus Lykaios.
There is, however, the crucial detail that Lykaios or Lykeios (epithets of Zeus and Apollo) may derive from Proto-Greek *λύκη, "light", a noun still attested in compounds such as ἀμφιλύκη, "twilight", λυκάβας, "year" (lit. "light's course") etc. This, Cook argues, brings indeed much new 'light' to the matter as Achaeus, the contemporary tragedian of Sophocles, spoke of Zeus Lykaios as "starry-eyed", and this Zeus Lykaios may just be the Arcadian Zeus, son of Aether, described by Cicero. Again under this new signification may be seen Pausanias' descriptions of Lykosoura being 'the first city that ever the sun beheld', and of the altar of Zeus, at the summit of Mount Lykaion, before which stood two columns bearing gilded eagles and 'facing the sun-rise'. Further Cook sees only the tale of Zeus's sacred precinct at Mount Lykaion allowing no shadows referring to Zeus as 'god of light' (Lykaios).[347]
Although etymology indicates that Zeus was originally a sky god, many Greek cities honored a local Zeus who lived underground. Athenians and Sicilians honored Zeus Meilichios (Μειλίχιος; "kindly" or "honeyed") while other cities had Zeus Chthonios ("earthy"), Zeus Katachthonios (Καταχθόνιος; "under-the-earth") and Zeus Plousios ("wealth-bringing"). These deities might be represented as snakes or in human form in visual art, or, for emphasis as both together in one image. They also received offerings of black animal victims sacrificed into sunken pits, as did chthonic deities like Persephone and Demeter, and also the heroes at their tombs. Olympian gods, by contrast, usually received white victims sacrificed upon raised altars.
In some cases, cities were not entirely sure whether the daimon to whom they sacrificed was a hero or an underground Zeus. Thus the shrine at Lebadaea in Boeotia might belong to the hero Trophonius or to Zeus Trephonius ("the nurturing"), depending on whether you believe Pausanias, or Strabo. The hero Amphiaraus was honored as Zeus Amphiaraus at Oropus outside of Thebes, and the Spartans even had a shrine to Zeus Agamemnon. Ancient Molossian kings sacrificed to Zeus Areius (Αρειος). Strabo mention that at Tralles there was the Zeus Larisaeus (Λαρισαιος).[348] In Ithome, they honored the Zeus Ithomatas, they had a sanctuary and a statue of Zeus and also held an annual festival in honour of Zeus which was called Ithomaea (ἰθώμαια).[349]
Hecatomphonia (Ancient Greek: ἑκατομφόνια), meaning killing of a hundred, from ἑκατόν "a hundred" and φονεύω "to kill". It was a custom of Messenians, at which they offered sacrifice to Zeus when any of them had killed a hundred enemies. Aristomenes have offered three times this sacrifice at the Messenian wars against Sparta.[350][351][352][353]
Identifications with other gods
Zeus was identified with the Roman god Jupiter and associated in the syncretic classical imagination (see interpretatio graeca) with various other deities, such as the Egyptian Ammon and the Etruscan Tinia. He, along with Dionysus, absorbed the role of the chief Phrygian god Sabazios in the syncretic deity known in Rome as Sabazius. The Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes erected a statue of Zeus Olympios in the Judean Temple in Jerusalem.[359] Hellenizing Jews referred to this statue as Baal Shamen (in English, Lord of Heaven).[360] Zeus is also identified with the Hindu deity Indra. Not only they are the king of gods, but their weapon - thunder is similar.[361]
Zeus is occasionally conflated with the Hellenic sun god, Helios, who is sometimes either directly referred to as Zeus's eye,[362] or clearly implied as such. Hesiod, for instance, describes Zeus's eye as effectively the sun.[363] This perception is possibly derived from earlier Proto-Indo-European religion, in which the sun is occasionally envisioned as the eye of *Dyḗus Pḥatḗr (see Hvare-khshaeta).[364] Euripides in his now lost tragedy Mysians described Zeus as "sun-eyed", and Helios is said elsewhere to be "the brilliant eye of Zeus, giver of life".[365] In another of Euripides's tragedies, Medea, the chorus refers to Helios as "light born from Zeus."[366]
Although the connection of Helios to Zeus does not seem to have basis in early Greek cult and writings, nevertheless there are many examples of direct identification in later times.[367] The Hellenistic period gave birth to Serapis, a Greco-Egyptian deity conceived as a chthonic avatar of Zeus, whose solar nature is indicated by the sun crown and rays the Greeks depicted him with.[368] Frequent joint dedications to "Zeus-Serapis-Helios" have been found all over the Mediterranean,[368] for example, the Anastasy papyrus (now housed in the British Museum equates Helios to not just Zeus and Serapis but also Mithras,[369] and a series of inscriptions from Trachonitis give evidence of the cult of "Zeus the Unconquered Sun".[370] There is evidence of Zeus being worshipped as a solar god in the Aegean island of Amorgos, based on a lacunose inscription Ζεὺς Ἥλ[ιο]ς ("Zeus the Sun"), meaning sun elements of Zeus's worship could be as early as the fifth century BC.[371]
The Cretan Zeus Tallaios had solar elements to his cult. "Talos" was the local equivalent of Helios.[372]
